Federal minister in charge of student volunteer grant program can’t say how much of $30 million paid to WE has been reimbursed
When questioned at a parliamentary ethics committee, the minister responsible for the Canada Student Service Grant could not say how much of the $30 million advanced by the government to the WE organization had been repaid since the charity organization pulled out of the deal to run the federal program. “We can share that … […]
N.B. premier says snap election coming if opposition won’t sign ‘stability’ deal
New Brunswick’s premier says he’s willing to call an election as early as next week if opposition parties refuse a deal to keep his minority government in power until the fall of 2022, or until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Blaine Higgs told reporters today he would “absolutely” call an election if talks fail, adding […]
Where’s Mark Carney? With no suitable vacancy in Ottawa, he’ll be serving the country as advisor on economic recovery
The echo chamber of Canadian politics reverberated with some particularly juicy scuttlebutt last week. Mark Carney was set to announce as a Liberal candidate and become Canada’s finance minister, it was heard and said. The utterly imaginary ascended to the level of sure thing, thanks to two events. First, well-regarded York Centre Liberal MP Michael […]
A former Québec Liberal MP’s company was awarded a federal contract for 10,000 pandemic ventilators though none of the machines were “approved in any jurisdiction to date”, according to a Department of Health memo. Ex-MP Frank Baylis did not comment: “I never planned on being a career politician.”
Read MoreA new opinion survey suggests Donald Trump’s recent decision to slap a tariff on Canadian raw aluminum is garnering poor reviews on both sides of the border. In a web survey conducted by polling firm Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, 58 per cent of American respondents said they disagreed with the 10 per […]
Read MoreThe prime minister’s office and the finance minister’s both office refuse to say if Chief of Staff Katie Telford’s husband ever communicated with them since he became senior vice-president at a major private mortgage company that is now running the government’s commercial rent subsidy program. “That’s very disturbing, considering that both the prime minister’s and […]
Read MoreThe Ottawa police hate crimes unit is investigating after a man screamed obscenities outside Infrastructure and Communities Minister Catherine McKenna’s constituency office last week. A 90-second video, posted to social media over the weekend, shows a man approaching the door of the Ottawa Centre MP’s Catherine Street office around 10:30 a.m. ET Thursday and ringing […]
Read MorePrime Minister Justin Trudeau is not committed to keeping Bill Morneau on as the key architect of the federal government’s economic revival plan after the two men clashed over the Finance Department’s policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis, sources say. Insiders say Mr. Trudeau is uncertain whether Mr. Morneau is the right fit to navigate […]
Read MoreA serving member of the Canadian military has launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against the Department of National Defence after his flying career was cut short because of health issues which he claims are related to mould exposure aboard a navy frigate. Capt. Felix Dunn, of Bedford, N.S., served aboard HMCS Vancouver for six months […]
Read MoreFeatured Ink
Canada’s economy does not need a new guru. But its government might
It began with a story in Saturday’s Toronto Star. The Prime Minister, it said, was thinking of ways to seize the “once in a century opportunity” of the COVID-19 pandemic to radically expand the scope and reach of government. “Now is the time,” the story said, summarizing the views of those close to him, to […]
Ottawa’s fig-leaf excuse for inviting Chinese X-rays into Canada’s embassies just blew away
A story in the Taipei Times earlier this year detailed how a senior official in Taiwan’s airport security police was convicted of taking kickbacks related to a multimillion dollar contract to supply X-ray scanners to the Taiwanese government. Investigators alleged that the Chinese company supplying the scanners had sent a 30-something female sales manager to […]
How We Handle the End of CERB Will Determine our Future
Communities across Canada are holding their collective breath awaiting the expiration of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). The reason is simple: what comes next is unclear. For significant periods during the pandemic CERB was both a life-saver and an emotional boost in a time of deep concern. It successfully rounded off the harsh edges […]
Justin Trudeau‘s team-management skills keep getting him into trouble
Victory has a thousand fathers, the late president John F. Kennedy famously said, but defeat is an orphan. While this is an apt description of the loneliness at the bottom of the political heap, it is also true that loss, scandal and controversy can be team sports too. For Justin Trudeau, the SNC-Lavalin saga of […]
We must insist on straight answers from Derek Sloan
Derek Sloan won’t win this month’s Conservative Party leadership, but the MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington will be influential in deciding who does become the new leader of the opposition. The darling of social conservatives and the Christian right, he’s positioned himself as an almost Trump-like figure and was rightly criticized when he questioned the […]
New report finding racism at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was shocking — but predictable
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. It has joined the ranks of several prominent institutions, from Rideau Hall to the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, that have been rocked by allegations of discrimination and harassment.
Finally, a major Canadian media owner sees the future — and it’s digital
Well, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. The battle for success in the world of Canadian journalism — which had been looking very bleak — has taken a turn for the better with the acquisition of The Toronto Star by Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett. Why? Unlike other media owners in the country they […]
Used to Donald Trump’s tantrums, Justin Trudeau has a tried-and-true response
In the olden days, before a global pandemic, a Canada-U.S. trade war would set off all-points alarms all over the federal government. But unlike a pandemic, Donald Trump’s bully gambit with tariffs is something Justin Trudeau’s government has handled before — over and over, again and again. You could say that Trudeau and his team […]
The Tragic Legacy of Bill Clinton’s China Doctrine
On March 8, 2000, then-President Bill Clinton delivered his most persuasive pitch to Washington’s foreign policy elite, Congress and the international community on the merits of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). With a key vote looming, the case was made in a speech at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies […]
Common sense says Trudeau was in a conflict of interest
Based on what we now know, it’s obvious Prime Minister Justin Trudeau put himself into a conflict of interest in the WE Charity controversy in the common sense meaning of that term. Whether he violated the Conflict of Interest Act, which he’s already done twice in the five years he’s been prime minister, is up […]
Based on her actions since taking office, Julie Payette comes across as someone who never even wanted to be Canada’s Governor General, or at least didn’t understand the public profile the job would require. Despite that, however, she seems stubbornly insistent on remaining in the position.
Read MoreSun., Aug. 9, 2020timer3 min. read At each phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians were told that the safest way of life was to “shelter in place,” but what happens when that shelter is snatched away? Thousands of families with eviction filings are anxiously queued up in Canadian courts; their cases began being processed this […]
Read MoreUpon the death of a great person, there’s often a personal tale that shows their true measure. Few are as moving and beautiful as this story about Jock Osler, long the voice of the Stampede grandstand but also a man who touched every area of Calgary life from politics to the arts and the economy.
Read MoreProving that politics does indeed make for strange bedfellows, Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Friday positioned himself as Canada’s pit bull in the Trudeau government’s looming fight against U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 10% tariff on Canadian aluminum. Denouncing Trump in an impromptu diatribe against the US president’s decision before his regular […]
Read MoreCanada is currently weighing whether or not to make a COVID-19 vaccine in some way mandatory, according to Navdeep Bains, the Liberal government’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. Good luck getting everyone on board with that one. As if the various measures imposed upon Canadians hasn’t been contentious enough, imposing mandatory vaccines could easily […]
Read MoreTwo questions arise from the fallout over the WE Charity debacle. Why do we hold elected officials to a lower standard of ethical behaviour than the private sector and how can the government fix the mess they created? I spoke to Howard Levitt, senior partner of Levitt LLP employment and labour law, about his recent […]
Read MoreNow that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Chief of Staff Katie Telford have testified at length about the Memorandum to Cabinet (MC) approving WE Charity’s delivery of the Canada Student Service Grant, I wonder when we might be able to see a copy? Because anyone who’s been around the policy process in Ottawa knows […]
Read MoreIn case anyone missed this important story earlier this week, The New York Times made more money in the latest quarter – in the middle of a pandemic – from digital rather than print. If it’s behind the paywall for any of you, here are the relevant paragraphs: As much of its staff worked remotely, […]
Read MoreTrying to find a silver lining in the current COVID crisis is not easy, but there is a growing realization around the world that the place to look is in the transition to a greener economy. The European Union is well out in front on this issue, recently unveiling a 1 trillion euro ($1.57 trillion […]
Read MoreThere’s a very faint pulse to the Conservative leadership race, which will be decided in just over two weeks. And yet, these are heady days for an Official Opposition watching a Liberal government trying its best to hand them the next election. By any realistic political calculation, the Conservatives should be sleepwalking with terminal dread […]
Read MoreEntertainment Plus
Toronto film festival announces venues, pricing for pandemic-shaped showcase
TORONTO — The Toronto International Film Festival is giving more details on a hybrid festival that will largely feature digital screenings for home viewers but will also offer in-person screenings at venues such as TIFF Bell Lightbox and the Isabel Bader Theatre. TIFF co-heads Cameron Bailey and Joana Vicente say the cost will be the same whether in-person or […]
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