National Newswatch
Jun 8 2023 — Alexander Panetta

The Canadian government has confirmed its participation in a first-of-its kind international meeting on unidentified flying objects hosted at United States military headquarters. The gathering at the Pentagon late last month comes amid a burst of activity in Washington and eye-popping news reports related to so-called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). It featured a U.S.-led briefing […]

Jun 8 2023 —

The financial fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hit home a long-standing problem in Canada, according to internal government documents: regulators don’t have basic information about who really owns key companies and assets. As Canada ramped up economic sanctions against Russian elites last year, officials across the Western world realized it’s impossible to crack down […]

Biden speaks with Trudeau about Canadian wildfires as air quality issues persist in US

Jun 8 2023 —

President Biden on Wednesday spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and offered federal support to respond to wildfires burning in Canada, which have caused widespread air quality issues across the eastern United States. Biden directed his administration to deploy “all available Federal firefighting assets that can rapidly assist in suppressing fires impacting Canadian and […]

Premiers’ Performance: Smith approval static after election win, Stefanson struggles ahead of October contest

Jun 7 2023 —

Manitoba premier’s approval remains at one-quarter for sixth consecutive quarter. As wildfires ravage the country from coast to coast, the crises in communities are manifold. Emergency responses must be marshalled. Firefighting efforts need to be coordinated. Residents forced from their homes need shelter. Most of these responsibilities rest on the shoulders of provincial governments where […]

Jun 7 2023 — Kady O'Malley

For a few hours, it had all the makings of a classic mid-June cross-aisle cliffhanger — a high-stakes standoff over the legislative package containing many of the big-ticket measures laid out in the latest budget. Accompanied by a full contingent of his front bench critics, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre hit the House of Commons Foyer […]

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Jun 7 2023 — Robert Fife and Steven Chase

A majority of Canadians would like the Liberal government to call a public inquiry into Chinese state meddling in this country’s democracy and respond more forcefully to alleged election interference by Beijing, according to a poll. A Nanos Research survey, commissioned by The Globe and Mail and CTV News, also found 72 per cent of […]

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Jun 7 2023 — Aaron Wherry

While smoke filled the air outside, the debate in the House was focused on metaphorical fires. The first crisis of Justin Trudeau’s time as prime minister was the wildfire near Fort McMurray, Alta. in May 2016. At the time, he felt it necessary to attach caveats when answering a question about whether climate change had […]

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Jun 6 2023 — Catharine Tunney

While David Johnston’s first report into foreign interference disputed claims made about Independent MP Han Dong, the special rapporteur said Tuesday he never spoke to the Toronto-area MP in the course of his investigation. “We did not reach out to him,” the former governor general told CBC’s Power & Politics Tuesday after appearing before a […]

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Featured Ink

Today in Canada’s Political History: Sir Wilfrid Laurier delivers his famous eulogy of Sir John A. Macdonald; a future PM watches from the public galleries

Jun 8 2023 — Arthur Milnes

On this date in 1891, two days after the passing of Sir John A. Macdonald, and with an entire nation in mourning, Wilfrid Laurier rose in the Commons. He then delivered what has become the most famous eulogy in Canadian political history. “Sir John Macdonald now belongs to the ages,” Laurier told the hushed chamber, […]

Poilievre is Right, It’s Time to Cut, Cut, Cut

Jun 8 2023 — Fred DeLorey

Picture our nation’s finances as a once meticulously-tended backyard garden, a sanctuary of fiscal discipline and calculated growth. However, under the Liberals’ care, this space has been let to grow wild, overrun by their unrestrained spending. Today, Pierre Poilievre, the steadfast gardener of fiscal responsibility, stands at the gate, pruning shears in hand, and eyes […]

Building a Lasting Oceans Vision for Canada

Jun 8 2023 — Dallas Smith and Timothy Kennedy

There is no future for our oceans without flourishing human communities. And there is no future for our coastal communities without flourishing oceans. This is the fundamental nature of a sustainable “blue” (ocean or water-based) economy, where we live both healthy human and non-human ecology together. In 2019, the federal Liberal government committed to a […]

Trudeau’s Ottawa and another day of adventure in absurdity

Jun 7 2023 —

This is all you need to know about Ottawa. This is all you need to know about what’s wrong with Ottawa. It is so bad, in the cocoon of the capital, acting students seeing the surreal spectacle would consider it a clumsy example of theatre of the absurd led by, of all people, a former […]

Blind to the obvious, David Johnston testifies against himself

Jun 6 2023 — John Ivison

A recent episode of the excellent podcast The Rest is History explored the world of freemasonry, debating whether the masons are “a secret cabal of devil worshippers that run the world” or a “fraternity of like-minded individuals who enjoy eccentric rituals.” As with most conspiracy theories, the truth tends towards the banal. However, the appearance […]

At the National Gallery, an olive branch

Jun 7 2023 — Paul Wells

I’m amazed by news that the new director of the National Gallery of Canada will be Jean-François Bélisle. In important ways the appointment of Bélisle, who had lately been running the art museum in Joliette, northeast of Montreal, is a repudiation of a management style that had rocked the Ottawa-based national art museum. Expect nobody […]

Jun 7 2023 — Les Whittington

As the next federal election draws nearer, Canadians will be hearing a continuing refrain from the Conservatives on the need for tax cuts to reduce the tax burden and help spur economic growth. Party leader Pierre Poilievre is already playing this card, as has every leader of Canada’s main right-wing party going back 40 years. […]

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Jun 7 2023 — Kennedy Stewart

COVID-19 was a tough stress test for Canada’s federal system of government. Our largest cities continue to suffer significant pandemic-related economic and social damage, in part due to provincial governments sweeping constitutional responsibilities they wish to avoid onto municipalities. These “creatures of the province” have become rugs provinces use to hide their problems. COVID-19 lifted […]

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Jun 5 2023 — Robin V. Sears

If you have interviewed many candidates in recruitment or in politics you probably came anyway with this insight: character should always outweigh credentials. Character is usually strengthened over time and has meant showing great courage against long odds. In politics character is often revealed by supple coalition-building skills and the ability to maintain a sharp […]

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