New U.S. ambassador to Canada signals a return to civility
The voice recorders are turned off in our interview with David Cohen, when a U.S. embassy spokesperson corrects the record: Canada-U.S. trade is $2.6 billion a day, not $26 billion as the new ambassador to Ottawa has mistakenly said.
Legault fires back at Ottawa after comments on Bill 96 and Bill 21
Canada’s justice minister criticized Quebec’s newly adopted language law on Wednesday, while also providing details on how and when the federal government could get involved in the legal challenge of the province’s controversial religious symbols law. His statements appear to have angered Quebec’s premier. “It makes no sense,” said François Legault, who added that the […]
Judge decides ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizer Tamara Lich stays out on bail, allowed to visit Ottawa
Tamara Lich, a key organizer of the “Freedom Convoy” protest that gridlocked Ottawa for weeks, will remain released on bail while awaiting trial, a judge ruled Wednesday. Ontario Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips said he made his decision because she has followed her bail conditions, her surety has supervised her well and she’s already had […]
Pierre Poilievre is on a quest to replace Justin Trudeau. He’s not out simply to upend the political establishment — he wants to burn it down. “The most powerful people in the country … will be accountable when I’m prime minister,” Poilievre, the frontrunner in the race for the Conservative Party leadership, says in a […]
Read MoreAttempts to follow the threads that led to the federal government’s historic invocation of the Emergencies Act in February have come upon a knot — the question of who, if anyone, provided the advice that led the government to declare an emergency. Unravelling that knot is vital to understanding how the Emergencies Act came to […]
Read MoreSupport resources on the Hill, particularly interpretation services, have been stretched thin amid continued hybrid virtual proceedings and the addition of late-night sittings, leading to a wave of committee meeting cancellations last week. Conservative House Leader John Brassard says he sees “one simple solution” to the problem: putting an end to hybrid proceedings. “The pressure […]
Read MoreA court has set aside 13 days next year for the criminal trial of the military’s former head of human resources. Vice-Admiral Haydn Edmundson was charged in December 2021 with sexual assault and committing indecent acts. Edmundson has denied any wrongdoing. The trial is set to start Aug. 8, 2023 in an Ottawa civilian court, […]
Read MoreConservative ethics critic James Bezan is asking the federal ethics commissioner to probe what he calls a $17,000 “sweetheart” deal given out by International Trade Minister Mary Ng’s office one month into the first COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020. In the letter sent to Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion on Tuesday, Bezan asked for an investigation […]
Read MoreCandidates running for leadership of the federal Conservative party will appear on stage tonight for its French-language debate. The event is taking place in Laval, Que., north of Montreal, and comes as a deadline approaches for candidates to have their supporters signed up as party members in order to be eligible to vote in the […]
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Today in Canada’s Political History: Former PM Paul Martin Receives Order of Canada
It was on this date in 2012 that our 21st Prime Minister, Paul Martin, received the Order of Canada, at a ceremony at Rideau Hall. In a country that does so little to honour its past leaders, the practice of awarding past PMs the Order of Canada stands out. The Rt. Hon. Mr. Martin’s official […]
Pierre Poilievre is inching toward the dark places where Donald Trump found votes
No one is going to accuse Pierre Poilievre of practising restraint in his campaign to be the next leader of the federal Conservatives. Show him an institution and Poilievre will knock it down — the Bank of Canada, the media, anyone deemed a “gatekeeper,” or the World Economic Forum. He doesn’t just disagree with his […]
Kenney caught in quagmire of his own making
Prior to the pandemic, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was arguably the most powerful and influential conservative leader in Canada. Andrew Scheer, when he was federal opposition leader, had Kenney campaign for him in Ontario, while at the same time staying away from Ontario Premier Doug Ford. When Erin O’Toole was seeking to replace Scheer, he […]
338Canada: Doug Ford and Ontario’s race for second
Doug Ford is heading toward a second majority at Queen’s Park — not that anyone is paying attention. In the unlikely scenario all the polls released in Ontario ahead of its June 2 election turn out to be wrong, or if tens of thousands of voters do indeed vote strategically to deny the premier his […]
Get Everyone Online
Often, it can be a challenge to define a problem without specifying a solution. In many cases, we find it easier to think in terms of familiar solutions. Unfortunately, at a minimum, doing so limits the degrees of freedom for developing more creative solutions; or indeed, it could result in not solving the root problem, […]
Supply management fails the centrist test
Why would a centrist conservative support the elimination of supply management? Well, first off, the push for a more centrist conservative party, and movement more generally, is not advocating for more of the status quo. The centrist position is, simply put, a focus on policy, avoiding the chaos politics we see on both the fringes […]
Entrepreneurship—not redistribution—true path to First Nations prosperity
Everybody loves to hate the Indian Act. In 2010, Sean Atleo, then-National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, called upon the federal government to repeal the Act within five years. In 2012, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government endorsed a private member’s bill to repeal certain sections of the Act, saying this was the first step […]
The government is trying to create a new legal threshold to authorize invasive search
What is a reasonable general concern? That’s not a rhetorical question. I really don’t know the answer. I’m not sure anyone else does, either. And that’s exactly the problem with Bill S-7, a new piece of government legislation, which amends both the Customs Act and the Preclearance Act. Bill S-7 set a new standard to […]
Understanding Doug Ford’s political durability
As the June 2 Ontario provincial election approaches, political observers are presented with a confusing landscape. With more than two-thirds of Ontario voters indicating a strong or moderate desire for a change in government and widespread dissatisfaction with its management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ford government would seem to be at serious risk of […]
Liberals’ PMPRB scale-back not a “win” for Big Pharma or patients
Times Colonist columnist Lawrie McFarlane and CBC’s reporter Kelly Crowe wrongly claim that the federal Liberals sold out Canadians to Big Pharma when Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced the government’s decision to cancel most of its revisions for the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB). McFarlane and Crowe, together with anyone else who believes the government conceded to the industry, […]
“Will get back to you soon,” Pierre Poilievre’s press secretary wrote to me on May 12 when I asked for an interview with the Conservative leadership candidate. He hasn’t. That’s perfectly fair. Whether to grant an interview is always a tactical decision. Candidates are busy people. Nobody’s at any reporter’s beck and call. But neither […]
Read MoreThe political plague of populism is sweeping across the United States at an alarming rate. Who could have imagined a traditional political party like the GOP standing for the Big Lie that Joe Biden and the Democrats stole the 2020 election, especially after that allegation has been thoroughly debunked in every official recount and court […]
Read MoreCandidates for the federal Conservative leadership have until June 3 to sign up new members; at that point, almost three months before the actual election date, the result may be more or less baked in. Pierre Poilievre must hope that’s true — not just because he seems to be the prohibitive favourite, but because his […]
Read MoreGovernments in Canada define working age as being between 15 and 65, but this misrepresents the lives of Canadians. The 2016 census found that one-in-five Canadians aged 65 and older — nearly 1.1 million people — are still working and that one-third do so full-time. Many in the private sector and those who are self-employed […]
Read MoreIt’s that time in our economic predicament when predicting a little bit of stagflation passes as optimism. Canada’s former central banker, Stephen Poloz, is looking at climbing prices, volatile oil markets and lower growth prospects. And what he sees as a best-case scenario is stagflation — that oxymoron that tripped us up in the late […]
Read MorePolitical conservatism has come a long way, but, in the spirit of the word and the ideology, that doesn’t signify progress. In fact, the decline and decay of the organized conservative movement in the democratic world is one of the most worrying phenomena of contemporary politics. Worrying because, unlike the extremes of right and left, […]
Read MoreLess than two years away from being sworn-in as President of the United States, Richard Nixon, a former Vice President, was in Toronto on this date in 1967 where he delivered an after-dinner address to members of Toronto’s famed Empire Club. By then the most traveled VP in American history – President Eisenhower had sent […]
Read MoreMost of us are a little fuzzy about what our central bank actually does. It speaks only occasionally, and in the opaque language of a Delphic oracle. But we all know that it is powerful, essential to our financial system and has a reputation for absolute integrity. Strangely, in most countries they are an invention […]
Read MoreOn the eve of a provincial election, the NDP were counting their losses. Many of their union members, particularly male workers, were not just flocking to the Progressive Conservatives but doing so in droves after the progressives had alienated them. Policies that had been designed to save public sector jobs ultimately did not represent their […]
Read MoreMy first ever op-ed was published in the Montreal Gazette on March 3, 2011. Directly above my piece in the print edition of the paper was a column from Don Macpherson, a venerated, long-time Gazette columnist, entitled “Quebec toying with rights for short-term political gain.” His column detailed how a proposed bill by the Quebec […]
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Alanis Morissette to be inducted into Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
Alanis Morissette is getting a place in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Organizers have named the Ottawa-raised “Jagged Little Pill” singer-songwriter as the newest inductee, saying she will appear at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Sept. 24. Fellow Juno Award winners Charlotte Cardin, Jessie Reyez and Serena Ryder will perform at the evening of inductee […]
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