Maybe the federal Conservatives were getting so excited about Jason Kenney’s impending victory in Alberta’s provincial election that they were blinded to the stupid thing they were doing. In Alberta, there was, and is, so much anger about the economy, unemployment, the glut of oil and the lack of pipelines to ship it, that Mr. […]

Jason Kenney was recently elected premier of Alberta after campaigning against Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberals, rather than Rachel Notley’s provincial NDP. Now Trudeau is weighing the prospect of returning the favour. Sources suggest the Trudeau government is actively considering the idea of blocking the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which the federal government owns, […]

It’s been a dozen years since I was assigned to follow garbage trucks down the 401 and across the U.S. border to watch them dump Toronto waste into Michigan landfills. To furious residents posting protest signs along the quiet streets rattled by thousands of our trucks every year, we were reprehensible Canadian trash. Their understandable […]

Facebook and Canada’s political parties have three things in common in 2019. First, they are going to be vital parts of the federal election coming this fall. Second, they don’t seem all that fussed about privacy laws. And third, perhaps related to that second thing, they are suffering from a serious trust deficit.

Had it been contested on the same basis as the election that accompanied it, Tuesday’s referendum on electoral reform in Prince Edward Island would have passed handily, winning a solid majority of the province’s 27 ridings. As it was, however, the proposition failed for having the support of only 48.8 per cent of the vote […]

Six months out from an election is usually when an incumbent party at the helm of a first-term majority government is setting the table for its re-election. There is action on all fronts: one or two people-pleasing bills left to pass in the House of Commons and Senate; a raft of policies to finalize for […]

The anger was to be expected; the hurt, less so. A new study of public opinion in Alberta by communications firm Navigator, based on eight post-election focus groups, suggests Albertans want premier-designate Jason Kenney to get very aggressive very quickly when it comes to taking on the federal government, environmentalists, intransigent provinces and anyone else […]

P.E.I. voters have spoken, and it’s more bad news for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Premier-designate Dennis King, elected party leader a scant two months ago, won 12 seats in the Island’s 27-seat legislature, putting him in place to form a minority government. After four terms in office, the incumbent Liberals were reduced to six seats […]

Over-dramatizing is an occupational hazard in my line of work, and you’re right, I’m not immune. A lot of the coverage about Jason Kenney’s election, and the situation it puts Justin Trudeau in, might suggest it’s some kind of unprecedented thing. No, it is amply precedented. Precedented in many ways. At the most general level, […]

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer of being a closet supporter of white supremacists, the Conservatives are countering with an election ad accusing Trudeau of lying to Canadians. And it’s still six months away from the Oct. 21 election, suggesting it’s going to be a long and brutal campaign. The […]