U.S. President Donald Trump is again saying the American economy does not need anything from Canada or Mexico and he is "not looking to renew" the continental trade pact. Trump made the comments in the Oval Office Wednesday when asked about the July 1 deadline to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement on trade, known in Canada as CUSMA. If the deadline...
The Liberal government’s new online safety legislation would force social media platforms to block access for kids under 16. The government says social media platforms can obtain an exemption if they have put in place sufficient safeguards. Platforms that offer adult content would not be able to obtain an exemption. The bill introduced in the House of Commons today would...
Moscow is calling Canada a "warmonger" for signing a drone-production deal with Ukraine and is vowing to publish the address of a Canadian company working with Kyiv. Two weeks ago, Ottawa announced a corporate partnership between Canadian and Ukrainian drone makers that could see drones made in Canada deployed to Ukraine's front line.
'If it takes a little longer, it'll take a little longer,' Carney says of Trump-delayed border crossing. Prime Minister Mark Carney says the Gordie Howe bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan might not open at the end of the week as he initially said, but insisted "there's no big drama." "Everyone is working hard to make sure the bridge is open...
Chrystia Freeland is returning to her writing roots with a new book named after a quip she made about the United States on an American talk show. "Unreliable Boyfriend: An Insider's View of Dealing with a Chaotic Superpower, Plutocrats, and Other Complicated People" will be published in October. Its title is a reference to a comment she made on "Real...
Economic concerns continue to dominate the public mood, though with less intensity. Mentions of jobs and the economy have eased from 24.2% to 21.0%, while inflation has risen from 10.8% to 13.4%, suggesting a shift in emphasis rather than a reversal of priorities. Healthcare (7.2%) and immigration (4.7%) have also inched upward, even as housing concerns have declined from 5.7% to 3.9%.
Between May 28 and June 2, 2026, Abacus Data surveyed 1,910 Canadian adults to better understand attitudes towards climate change, federal government performance on the issue, and how Canadians believe climate action should fit alongside economic priorities.
There’s a lineup of imperfect candidates who could make the case for Canada ahead of Alberta’s referendum-to-have-a-referendum on sovereignty in the fall. There’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, of course, the most prominent federalist in the country and one who happened to spend the majority of his childhood and adolescence in Alberta. But Mr. Carney is Albertan in the same way...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Quebec MP Bernard Genereux is in hospital after suffering a heart problem earlier today. Poilievre told MPs in the House of Commons an ambulance was called to the Quebec Conservative caucus meeting this morning. He says Genereux, 64, is in relatively stable condition.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says that based on the data he’s seen to date, this country’s economy is weak but “it is not clearly in recession.” “There’s been a lot of volatility, month to month, quarter to quarter, but when you look through the bumps, I mean the economy hasn’t really grown in the last year, but it...
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon’s recent acknowledgment that new legislation may be needed to accelerate approvals for major projects is an admission of long-standing failure. Canada’s regulatory system for infrastructure and resource development has become slow, uncertain, and politicized. While Ottawa now speaks of one or two year approval windows and continues expanding entities like the Major Projects Office, deeper...
The UCP is cooked if separatists take control. Well aware of the threat, Premier Danielle Smith's forces are quietly acting against UCP rebels who want to kick her out of office. It's happening in battles for riding nominations as well as party board elections at the UCP convention Nov. 27 to 29. This is heating up fast. Smith simply can't...
In recent days, both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail have written pieces on some limited degree of dissension in the federal Liberal caucus around how Prime Minister Mark Carney allegedly interacts with his team members. The Star story talked about how the prime minister apparently yells, and wants solutions not problems brought forward by his MPs. While...
Fears of artificial intelligence tend to fall into two camps. On one hand, there is widespread anxiety that we are allowing AI to develop too fast, too far, beyond our ability to prevent or mitigate its potential harms. These range from the threat to privacy, to the problems of telling what is real or human from AI-generated fakery, to the...
When Avi Lewis was elected leader of the New Democratic Party just over two months ago, he issued a boast that was almost Trumpian in its braggadocio. "Canada, mark your calendar. The NDP comeback starts now," he said. But it turns out, he was right. A Liaison Strategies poll released on Monday had NDP support at 15 per cent, with...
Canada’s new governor-general, Louise Arbour sums up Canadian pride this way: “We don’t think we are perfect, but we believe we’re pretty well on the way there.” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, chose the very day of Arbour’s installation to lay out what’s standing in the way of perfection — namely, the federal government.
Sixty-five years ago, on a state visit to Ottawa, President John F Kennedy planted a tree on the grounds of Rideau Hall, the Governor General’s residence. What should have been an anodyne ritual turned into a nightmare for him. The President injured his back so severely that it made the front page of the New York Times, affected his performance...
In an event with as much prescribed formality as the installation of Louise Arbour as Governor-General, it was the tiny moments of humanity and individual expression that spoke most loudly of how she sees her role and the country she’s now serving in a new way. Guests at the ceremony in the Senate on Monday morning included two former prime...
AI needs data centres. Lots of them. But as the race to build them is gathering momentum, so too is opposition. A Washington Post poll found voter "comfort with a new data centre in your community" was cut in half from 69% to 35% in just 3 years. Unusually, Trump voters and Democrats are mostly on the same page expressing...
“Do you thank your AI?” It’s a question I’ve heard asked more than once in recent weeks. It’s not just Canadian politeness: The trend of users trading niceties with their chatbot has become so prevalent that OpenAI oligarch Sam Altman has asked users to stop, as it’s wasting compute power.
The big question in American politics is whether the country will deal with United States President Donald Trump’s moral bankruptcy or be destroyed by it. The latest atrocity committed by the malignant narcissist who is running America is the debacle on the grounds of the White House.
A non-verbal 11-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and severe scoliosis that is repositioning her organs could be the face of the Carney government’s recent cuts to refugee and asylum-seekers’ care. The girl and her mother — who will be identified here as “Emma” and “Olivia,” because Olivia fears using their real names will put them in danger —...
One of the basic skills of being a politician revolves around how to avoid an unwelcome question. Some are pretty good at it, either deflecting or changing the subject, frustrating though it may be to journalists. Some, less expert, are visibly awkward. Others, the ones who can master charming candour, simply say, “I can’t answer that question.”
Regular readers know that this column has not been an inexhaustible source of flattering reflections on the Carney government. This makes it a particular pleasure to support a number of the prime minister’s initiatives last week. The tenor of his speech to the Economic Club of New York was a complete change from the antagonism of his confected Churchillian defiance...
The poll numbers sting. The numbers should sting, if you are for Alberta splitting from Canada. Article content It appears, in this early snapshot in time, the Alberta separatists are spinning their wheels.
If there is one common theme in much of the Canadian commentariat of late that I cannot understand, it’s the hostility to Pete Hoekstra, the United States ambassador to Canada. How do you guys not realize he is perfect? We could not ask for a better American ambassador to our country at this time.
Mark Carney's Liberal government wants Canada to embrace the arrival of artificial intelligence technology. It apparently believes that, for the country's economic sake, Canada needs to embrace AI. But it, quite reasonably, sees Canadians' lack of trust in AI as an obstacle. "Trust is the North Star of this strategy," the Carney government said in the AI strategy it released...
Words matter in politics. Few carry the weight of ‘recession’, a term that doesn’t just describe an economic condition, but conjures one in the public imagination. Mass layoffs. Shuttered businesses. Families in crisis. You don’t even need to prove a recession is happening to cause harm with the word. You just need to say it loudly enough, often enough, that...
This week, there were competing political messages regarding the state of the Canadian economy: the Conservatives labelled it a full-blown recession, while the Liberals and economists pushed back on that notion. Political insiders Greg MacEachern, Mélanie Richer and Fred DeLorey stop by Power & Politics for the Political Pulse Panel, where they also weigh in on everything from the challenges...
Donald Trump’s man in Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra, managed to achieve the trifecta of Canadian journalism this week: he had pundits from three leading papers across the political spectrum calling for his head. On the left, more or less, John Lorinc argued in the Star that the Carney government “should kick Hoekstra out” for retweeting a Trump jibe about Canada being...
The latest. The freshest numbers. Let's go straight to the math of the Postmedia-Leger poll on the October referendum question. The envelope please. Alberta should remain a province of Canada. 68 per cent. The government of Alberta should commence the legal process required to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada. 24 per cent.
One day, Steven Guilbeault, Justin Trudeau’s activist environment minister, quit Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus. The next, the Prime Minister was in New York to sell CEOs and fund managers on investing in Canada, touting this country as an energy superpower that could help “make America great again.” Things have changed. The style is a long way from Mr. Trudeau’s era...
Yes, Donald Trump and Pete Hoekstra’s tag-team 51st-state trolling this week was symptomatic of just how insane our bilateral relations with the United States have become. But what’s truly worth noting is what started out Monday as the subtext of Trump’s revived annexation threat — pegged to Canada’s now-notorious “technical recession” as all the more reason to capture the country...
As Canada seeks to rearm and move to a modern, effective military capable of defending this country and meeting its treaty obligations to allies, the procurement choices underway by the Carney government will have implications far beyond the type of submarines and jet fighters necessary to meet those goals. The government is committed to buying new jet fighters to replace...
Canada and Turkey have agreed to restart initial discussions on a free-trade agreement. Global Affairs Canada says the decision reflects the ambition of both countries to unlock the full potential of their commercial partnership. A news release from the department says International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu and his Turkish counterpart also have agreed to explore opportunities in renewable and nuclear...
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem doesn't think the economy is in a recession, but he does acknowledge some recent weakness — something other economists argue should give the central bank more leeway to keep its key interest rate steady for the rest of the year.
Prime Minister Mark Carney chaired a virtual meeting with the premiers Wednesday afternoon as his government prepared for major trade talks with the U.S. and Mexico. A statement from the Prime Minister's Office said Carney updated the premiers on the status of engagement with the Trump administration on the future of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA...
A former top Canadian government official who has clashed often with President Donald Trump is writing a book about her country's tense relationship with the United States. Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday that "Unreliable Boyfriend," by former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, comes out Oct. 13. "This is a book about power, democracy, and the choices countries make when the...
The White House had voiced complaints about Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Washington reception with Ross Perot Jr., board chair at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, before it was abruptly cancelled, according to two American industry sources. The reception, which was scheduled for Monday, was one of the most high-profile events that Mr. Ford was set to attend during his two-day...
Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs will be alongside agricultural producers and citizen groups from Quebec and Ontario to oppose Alto's high-speed rail project. The demonstration is expected to rally hundreds of people on Parliament Hill around noon. A press release from l'Union des producteurs agricoles, a trade union representing agricultural workers in Quebec, said the protest aims to raise awareness...
British Columbia’s Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions expressed frustration Tuesday over last week’s revelation that the Alberta government is studying the possibility of four different pipeline routes to the north coast of B.C. Adrian Dix, who was in Calgary on Tuesday for the start of the Global Energy Show, called it “pretty late in the process” for the B.C...
The federal government will introduce legislation today addressing social media and AI chatbot safety. Ottawa is set to introduce legislation to enact what the government is calling the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act. It's expected to be introduced later today, with Culture Mi
India is eyeing Canada to “balance the imbalance” in any upcoming free trade agreement, with Canadian investment in the South Asian nation an option on the table. Both Canada and India are aiming for a completed pact by the end of the year after the two countries have spent years trying to negotiate a deal.
The co-founder of Ottawa's independent net-zero advisory body says she has been "disappointed" by Prime Minister Mark Carney's commitment to climate action to date. Catherine Abreu was speaking at a parliamentary committee on the environment Tuesday, along with fellow co-founder Simon Donner. They both resigned from the federal government's net-zero advisory body in December after accusing the Carney government of...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed the long-awaited opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, calling it “positive news” after reports on Monday said that the bridge would open later this week. “The bridge will be open at the end of the week. A symbol of, but also a fact of co-operation between our countries,” Carney said to reporters on...
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on the United States are an ongoing “problem” for trade negotiations, U.S. President Donald Trump‘s trade envoy said Tuesday as next month’s deadline to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade (CUSMA) draws ever closer. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox Business he’s focused on addressing “flaws” in the trade pact signed during Trump’s first term...
A planned reception with Doug Ford and American billionaire Ross Perot Jr. in D.C. was cancelled Monday, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A spokesperson for the Chamber tells CTV News the event was “pulled down due to scheduling reasons,” but did not provide further information. Perot Jr. is the chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Premier’s...
Ontario’s 15-month prohibition against American booze on LCBO shelves will end if the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement is renewed, says Premier Doug Ford. “I just want to get this deal done,” Ford told reporters Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where he was meeting with U.S. officials.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says he is now open to shortening the time electronic service providers would be required to keep digital metadata under a proposed bill intended to help police and spies. Just days ago, Anandasangaree flatly rejected the idea of changing a provision in the legislation that could require service providers to retain metadata -- digital traces...
The man who paid for a billboard urging Alberta leave Canada says the Town of Taber is ordering it be taken down. Cory Morgan says the town sent a letter last week ordering the billboard be removed. The billboard, located on town land, shows the Alberta shield surrounded by the words: Send Ottawa a Message: Choose Alberta. Morgan says the...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservatives have tapped a former federal conservative cabinet minister and lobbyist to help redraw the map marking electoral ridings across the province. Monte Solberg is one of four panel members appointed Tuesday by a legislature committee overseeing the new map-making process.
The Parti Quebecois is threatening to withdraw Quebec from the federal government's proposed high-speed rail network if the party wins the October provincial election. PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says he can't justify to Quebecers that their money be spent on what risks becoming a "financial fiasco."
The federal government is expected to bar kids under the age of 16 from social media in new legislation set to be introduced as early as Wednesday. The government gave notice Tuesday that it will introduce a bill "to enact the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act." Culture Minister Marc Miller, who is taking the...
Chief Justice Richard Wagner says artificial intelligence is proving to be both promising and problematic for Canadian courtrooms. At his annual news conference today, Wagner said distinguishing fact from fiction has become more difficult -- and more important -- in a time when information can be generated and shared rapidly. Society is grappling with the emergence of machine learning and...
Economic concerns continue to dominate the public mood, though with less intensity. Mentions of jobs and the economy have eased from 24.2% to 21.0%, while inflation has risen from 10.8% to 13.4%, suggesting a shift in emphasis rather than a reversal of priorities. Healthcare (7.2%) and immigration (4.7%) have also inched upward, even as housing concerns have declined from 5.7% to 3.9%.
Sitting at their kitchen table, Luc and Caro lock eyes and hold hands tightly. They lost their son, David, last year. And it helps to talk about it. "David was a curious little boy," recalls his father, Conservative MP Luc Berthold. "He wanted to touch everything. Try everything, do everything."
The Global Energy Show kicks off today with an address from the federal natural resources minister, followed by sessions featuring a diverse slate of political and corporate leaders from Canada and abroad. Along with Tim Hodgson's speech on "building an energy superpower," Day 1 of the three-day conference is set to include discussions with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and, later...
A Liberal MP says she and her parliamentary colleagues will take part in a delegation to Taiwan this fall, despite a warning from China's envoy that such visits are "hurtful" to relations with Beijing. MP Judy Sgro, chair of the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, told The Canadian Press Liberal and Conservative MPs in the group will visit the self-governing island...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is halfway through a two-day trip to Washington, D.C. to talk trade, with no events open to the media Monday and limited visibility as to exactly what he’s up to beyond a few social media posts. The Premier posted a photo of himself with Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Mark Wiseman, on the rooftop of the...
A ribbon-cutting event for the long-awaited Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan is set to go ahead later this week. A source with knowledge of the plan, who is not authorized to speak about it publicly, said the event is tentatively scheduled for Friday. The Detroit Free Press has reported that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and former governor Rick...
Albertans are set to head to the polls in October to vote in a referendum on whether to stay in Canada or start the process to hold a later, binding referendum on seceding. But, that's not the question separatists wanted to see on the ballot, who instead prefer the more direct language of Stay Free Alberta and Mitch Sylvestre's question...
Extreme polarization and consensus are dangerous and a better Canada can only be built through the "peaceful management" of our differences, Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour said Monday, in her first speech as the King's representative in Canada. The former Supreme Court justice said our ability to coexist peacefully, despite our differences, is critical to maintaining a lawful, rules-based society. "It...
A WestJet spokesperson says the company “strongly opposes” the federal government’s offer to dole out loans to airlines, amid the still-ongoing conflict in the Middle East and resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz causing a spike in fuel prices. “The government faces a choice: continue with costly and market distorting subsidies or build a sustainable future for Canadian aviation,”...
Ottawa will direct the broadcasting regulator to scrap its requirements for foreign streaming platforms to fund local news and niche broadcasters in Canada, according to two senior government sources. The federal government is planning a series of steps that would require the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, to roll back key decisions it has made implementing the controversial...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have lobbied President Donald Trump to immediately name a permanent director of national intelligence to make it easier for Congress to renew a key surveillance authority before it expires. But Trump has so far resisted.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran is taking "too long to negotiate a deal" and that "now they will have to pay the price." What that means for Tehran wasn't clear. His latest statement came after the U.S. launched airstrikes early Wednesday against Iran after Trump blamed Tehran for the crash of an American attack helicopter. Iran fired...
The U.S. military announced that it has begun strikes against Iran following the crash of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman.
WARNER, N.H. (AP) -- For Rahm Emanuel, the road to the White House runs through the uphill climbs of rural New Hampshire.
Moscow is calling Canada a "warmonger" for signing a drone-production deal with Ukraine and is vowing to publish the address of a Canadian company working with Kyiv. Two weeks ago, Ottawa announced a corporate partnership between Canadian and Ukrainian drone makers that could see drones made in Canada deployed to Ukraine's front line.
A Liberal MP says she and her parliamentary colleagues will take part in a delegation to Taiwan this fall, despite a warning from China's envoy that such visits are "hurtful" to relations with Beijing. MP Judy Sgro, chair of the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, told The Canadian Press Liberal and Conservative MPs in the group will visit the self-governing island...
As this country seeks to diversify trade partners amid strained relations with the United States, a former top Canadian soldier is warning the Canadian government against pivoting to China at the expense of Ottawa’s relationship with Washington. “Geography matters,” said retired Gen. Wayne Eyre, former chief of the defence staff, said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday...
Former foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion says Canada needs to substantially staff up its embassies in Europe and set deadlines for following through on the flurry of agreements Brussels has signed with Ottawa. Dion's comments come after Canada's former military chief said Ottawa must stop cutting back on diplomats to boost defence spending. "These agreements and partnerships must not remain...
With United States President Donald Trump increasing pressure on Cuba, his country’s State Department is looking to Canada to build support for regime change in Havana. Foreign Affairs deputy minister Arun Thangaraj was at the U.S. State Department last week where he met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. During that meeting, the topic of Cuba came up...
Canada and Australia cannot afford to be passive actors in the increasingly turbulent world of resource geopolitics.
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
In 2007, Roger Martin, then dean of the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, wrote a book called The Opposable Mind. It argued that the most successful leaders tend to be “integrative thinkers,” by which he meant they tackled problems holistically rather than breaking them down into component parts. Instead of seeking trade-offs, they are at ease with...
“Despite the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel which has resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries…Lebanon moved forward with the ban on antipersonnel landmines,” said the Ottawa-based group Mines Action Canada in a statement, celebrating the new addition.
Canada’s privacy laws are supposed to protect ordinary citizens from unwarranted intrusions into their personal lives. But they can also protect pedophiles. Dead pedophiles. Dead pedophiles from America.
Apparently, some in Mark Carney's caucus don't like the way their leader treats them. He "yells at us" claims one. It's a small majority government, but if these stories are true, does this warrant concern? That's one of the topics for James Moore and Gerald Butts today in their latest conversation.
In this episode of On The Line, host Matt Gurney is joined by two guests for conversations about politics, technology, and trust.
As Alberta hurtles towards a referendum on whether or not to hold a separation referendum, we wanted to take a look at how the campaigns on both sides are shaping up. Who are the players? Are they cohesive? Organized? Charismatic?
It's been an interesting past few months for the Federal Conservatives, from several MPs crossing the floor, to reports of inner-circle fighting, to Pierre Poilievre questioning PM Carney's education in economics.
