Canada continues to call for independent inquiry into Gaza violence
Canada continues to push for an international probe into recent violence in Gaza. The calls come even as Canada opposed a UN Human Rights Council vote on Friday to establish an investigation into Israel’s killing of Palestinians during protests along the Israeli-Gaza border. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told the House of Commons on Tuesday […]
Senators bow to will of elected government on transport modernization bill
The Senate has bowed to the will of the Trudeau government on an omnibus transportation modernization bill. Senators voted 41-31 Tuesday to drop their insistence on amendments to Bill C-49 — which, among other things, is aimed at preventing rail shipments of grain from getting backlogged again. The bill had been bouncing back and forth […]
Doug Ford’s PCs falter as Andrea Horwath’s NDP makes gains: polls
The Ontario election campaign isn’t even two weeks old and already everything has changed. From a wide double-digit lead in the polls, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are now ahead by only four points in the CBC’s Ontario Poll Tracker. Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats, meanwhile, have made gains in poll after poll — and according to […]
Halifax police will not be charging Liberal MP Francis Drouin following allegations he groped a woman at a bar during last month’s Liberal Party policy convention. The Ontario MP, who represents the riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, was alleged to have committed the offence at the Halifax Alehouse, near the facility where the Liberal Party policy convention […]
Read MoreThe British Columbia government is going to court asking for an injunction and damages against Alberta over that province’s recently passed fuel restriction law. B.C. Attorney General David Eby says the government filed a statement of claim in Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench challenging the constitutionality of Alberta’s Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act. The statement […]
Read MoreLiberal MP Terry Beech wades into the front lines of daily protest on Burnaby Mountain, saying he doesn’t want to get arrested but wants to ensure that those who do are treated with respect. He speaks calmly and confidently about the federal government’s approval of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline proposal — a project he […]
Read MoreJustin Trudeau says he welcomes amendments from opposition parties to his government’s proposed reforms to laws governing federal political parties and elections. The prime minister is stressing his openness to amendments in response to Conservative demands that government advertising and ministerial travel be limited in the three months preceding an election call. Bill C-76 would […]
Read MoreNew figures tabled in Parliament show the federal government has been increasing its use of paid Facebook advertisements over the last three years, spending tens of millions of dollars on boosted posts, videos and ad campaigns. From 2016 to March 2018, federal government departments and agencies spent more than $24.4 million on Facebook and Instagram […]
Read MoreConservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre plans to press Bill Morneau for a better explanation of the impact of the federal government’s carbon pricing plan when the finance minister takes the hot seat tonight in the House of Commons. Morneau is one of two ministers chosen by the Conservatives for a special once-a-year extended Q-and-A session, […]
Read MoreFeatured Ink
Trudeau’s chance to diffuse the India debacle
The Prime Minister’s trip to India earned him a lot of laughs this year — all at his own expense. This weekend, however, Justin Trudeau has a chance to solicit some laughs on his own terms, at the annual Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner in Ottawa. Will this finally be a chance to put that trip […]
The referendum on Andrea Horwath’s NDP is just beginning
At the midpoint of the election campaign, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is in uncharted territory. Has she gone from third to second? And thence from second to first? No one knows. Never mind that pundits and pollsters don’t really know what’s on the minds of most voters. Bear in mind that many voters may not […]
Consigning the Bob Rae monster to the pages of history
“Pink Floyd” and the Clampetts. Rae Days and massive deficits. With Andrea Horwath’s NDP showing continued momentum in the Ontario election, is it time again for the Bob Rae monster to burst out of the bedroom closet at night? Will he do an encore as a scary apparition at the stroke of midnight around the […]
Ontario PCs searching for weak spot in surging New Democrats
Let us peer back through the mists of history to a time called A Few Months Ago. Ontarians were telling pollsters they were sick of Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government, but they nevertheless seemed tolerant of some of their policies: polls found solid support for the $15 minimum wage, expanding rent control and cutting […]
Team Trudeau, skating through spring with a little less grace
At the height of these hockey playoffs, let us pause for a moment and remember the way Team Liberal used to skate. Ballet on ice it was; Canadians oohed and aahed as Captain Trudeau carved his blades like Connor McDavid, shot the puck with hands soft as Brad Wheeler’s, with the precision of Mark Schifele. […]
Melinda Gates may be just the person to help push for gender equality at the G7
Melinda Gates is enormously wealthy. She is a philanthropist who does good works. She commands attention. She is a role model for women. She also said, not all that long ago in a Time magazine video, that she “originally thought that women’s issues were the soft issues. And I was just wrong about that.” Gates […]
U.S. stalling on NAFTA could give Trudeau Liberals a windfall
As the latest real or imagined deadline for a new North American free trade deal came and went last week, concern in Ottawa and Mexico City grew acute. Time is running out to put an agreement to the U.S. Congress and talks are stalled. Senior ministers from Canada and Mexico, while frustrated, suggested the bones […]
Safeguarding the independence of the Senate
In April, Senator Peter Harder, the Trudeau government’s representative in the Senate, shared the government’s agenda for the upper chamber. His paper aims to advise senators from all parties and groups on how they should conduct themselves when reviewing government legislation.
Want to vote ‘none of the above’ in Ontario’s election? Here’s how you can
Suppose that, after almost 15 years of Liberal government, you’re ready to see the back of Kathleen Wynne. But the thought of what Andrea Horwath’s NDP might do to Ontario’s finances worries you, and you find Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford’s populist anger just plain scary. Should you decide not to vote in the Ontario […]
Why we should care what Stephen Harper says
It was a surprise to see Stephen Harper’s name streak through the news recently. Why would anyone write about him? His party was defeated in 2015 and he subsequently retired. So why were Conservative pundits defensive about his recent activities? And why did the Liberal Party pounce on the situation with a cheeky fundraising email […]
The fairy tale that best fits this Ontario election: Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The voters, playing the role of Goldilocks, find the Liberal porridge has grown cold and, for many, Doug Ford’s Conservative bowl a trifle hot. That leaves Andrea Horwath and the NDP an opportunity: to serve porridge that is exactly right temperature […]
Read MoreIn his passionate defence of a politics of values over tribes, Bob Rae said the most important was an acceptance of the importance of facts. He was being honoured last week by hundreds of Canada’s finest political leaders of all three parties for his contribution to public life. “Facts matter,” he concluded, “Our politics needs […]
Read MorePolitical movements usually have a pedigree, so is there some interesting history behind Trumpism? I think so. And it goes back to none other than Bill Clinton – husband of Hillary – who, ironically, can be said to have laid the political foundation for Donald Trump. In 1992, Clinton was a left-leaning Democrat who wanted […]
Read MoreJust to recap: In the quest to ship Alberta crude to overseas markets, the federal Liberals are down to one pipeline, having killed off Northern Gateway and allowed Energy East to die. That pipeline, the Trans Mountain expansion, is now itself in considerable doubt, in part owing to the Liberals’ previous encouragement (previous, that is, […]
Read MoreMany party leaders spend years trying to perfect every aspect of their pitches to voters, only to be doomed by a single mistake or sudden shift in mood. Doug Ford had a couple of months to prepare for his first election leading Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives. He lacks a coherent message and is constantly on the […]
Read MoreDoug Ford is not Donald Trump. Whatever the controversies and criticisms he now faces, Ford has not promised to build a wall along any of Ontario’s borders. He has not suggested that Muslims should be banned from immigrating to the province. He has not been caught on tape bragging about sexual assault. But “not being […]
Read MoreUse the term The Calgary School in most academic, or even just policy-wonk circles, in Canada and they know what you’re talking about, even though it’s not really a formal entity. The Calgary School is, at its core, an ad-hoc band of four amigos — all University of Calgary political science professors — who shook […]
Read MoreAt least he didn’t call the prime minister a complete and utter a–hole. For those upset with United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney’s personal attack this week against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as an “empty trust-fund millionaire,” keep in mind it could have been worse. Kenney could have resorted to the kind of language he […]
Read MoreSeemingly without provocation this week, the Official Opposition Leader in Alberta decided to blast the prime minister as stupid. Jason Kenney seems to be very proud of his hyper derision in the Calgary Sun, refusing to recant after belittling Justin Trudeau as “empty” and having “the political depth of a finger bowl” incapable of digesting […]
Read MoreKathleen Wynne did something Thursday night she’d never done in the current Ontario election campaign: She made a stop in a riding where Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are the incumbent. And on Friday, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will do something almost as rare. For just the second time in this campaign, she’ll be playing defence, […]
Read MoreEntertainment Plus
Judge authorizes class-action against former impresario Gilbert Rozon
A Quebec judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit against former Just For Laughs head Gilbert Rozon for the alleged harassment and sexual assault of several women. The women sought permission last fall to file the suit against the co-founder of the popular Montreal comedy festival, seeking $10 million in punitive damages as well as additional […]
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