The critics are in high dudgeon. Our prime minister appears to be applying rules to his own conduct that are different from the ones he established for his own MPs. When he gets accused of groping a young reporter many years ago, he writes it off as a misunderstanding. Meanwhile, when members of his own […]

The Lord may not yet have answered the prayers of a thousand Alberta bumper stickers but a rising oil price suggests he is listening at least. The plea for a divinely-inspired oil boom, in exchange for the assurance that this time it wouldn’t be “pissed away,” is bearing fruit. There has been a nine-month run-up […]

The Ontario sex-ed curriculum has been dogged by controversy since the start – thanks in part to a flawed consultation process. When Doug Ford repealed it last week, he also instructed his new education minister, Lisa Thompson, to fix the process. It’s a worthy task. As someone who does engagement for a living, I’d like […]

A nasty public boardroom brawl at Hydro One Ltd. was averted because Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government played the activist card. Blindsided by an executive compensation package designed to enrich management, the newly elected government of Premier Doug Ford flexed its muscle as the utility’s single largest shareholder and forced the ouster of Hydro One’s […]

Bowing to the opposition parties’ demands, the Commons Citizenship and Immigration committee will hold special hearings this month on what Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel is calling the “border crisis.” The notion that there is a crisis on the border — that Canada is being inundated by a tide of asylum claimants crossing the border […]

The Liberal government didn’t create the problem of floods of asylum seekers crossing the border illegally. Donald Trump did that when he signalled the U.S. would allow temporary protected status on significant migrant populations from countries like Haiti to expire. But the Liberals can be fairly blamed for making decisions that have exacerbated the problem […]

Canadian taxpayers are shocked, shocked to find out that Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has wasted their hard-earned money on trifles at magnificent Castle Stornoway in Ottawa. There he dwells at the expense of poor-but-honest citizens with his new coral-lined chimney and majestical roof fretted with golden fire. For Scheer is spending what could add up […]

In these opening weeks, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s team has moved swiftly to implement a populist, socially conservative agenda. You may hate that agenda, but this is a focused, capable government. It is also the ideological antithesis of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in Ottawa, which is why the animus between the two is deep and personal.

Next year’s federal budget may be months away, but preparations have already begun in earnest. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance’s call for prebudget submissions was launched in June and closes in early August. There will be hundreds of recommendations from various organizations for the committee and the Finance Minister to consider between […]

Do “zero tolerance” policies make us safer? Do they fight crime or make our communities more just? Does zero tolerance achieve anything positive at all? I think it achieves very little. In fact, I have become decidedly intolerant on the subject. Zero tolerance takes zero thinking, betrays zero insight and often produces zero positive results. […]