What happens if the House of Commons speaker resigns?
Without commenting on whether or not the suddenly embattled House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota should step down over his ill-advised, albeit allegedly entirely inadvertent, decision to pay a very public tribute to a constituent who fought in a Ukrainian military unit under the command of the Nazis during World War II, Process Nerd can, […]
Liberal MPs were ‘very, very tough’ and gave ‘straight goods’ to Trudeau at caucus meeting in London, Ont.
The national Liberal caucus that met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau behind closed doors two weeks ago in London, Ont., for its summer retreat “blasted” senior staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, some cabinet ministers, and their chiefs of staff for their attitude toward backbenchers, and expressed disappointment that the party has not defined Conservative […]
Feds shift focus to safety, one year into Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan
The federal government’s 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan just passed its first anniversary, and while the plan is intended to be evergreen and regularly updated, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien says that the new focus on safety against the rise in hate was not where she expected to be a year ago, […]
The federal government now has the results of a probe it launched into a federal agency tasked with funding early-stage green technology — an agency that has been the target of employee complaints about hundreds of millions of dollars paid to the green tech sector. Radio-Canada has learned the final report, drafted by an outside […]
Read MoreParole Board of Canada employees were fearful of threats after it was revealed a mass killer in Saskatchewan was on statutory release at the time of last year’s rampage, emails show. The emails in partially redacted documents, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, show staff at the Parole Board of […]
Read MoreSpeaker of the House Anthony Rota apologized Sunday for honouring a man who fought in a Nazi unit during the Second World War. Rota was responding to condemnation from Jewish groups and others stemming from a moment during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Parliament on Friday. During the visit, Rota said the man was […]
Read MoreFederal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is expected today to stop a study of the Rouge National Urban Park that was launched after Ontario Premier Doug Ford opened nearby protected lands to development. Guilbeault says in a statement obtained by The Canadian Press that he is indefinitely suspending the study in response to Ford announcing last […]
Read MoreSome small businesses say they might have to refinance their government-backed pandemic loans at higher interest rates if Ottawa doesn’t extend the deadline for accessing the forgivable portion of the loans. The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) was introduced at the height of the pandemic to help out small businesses forced to close or limit […]
Read MoreAfter a week of fallout from the prime minister’s accusation that India was involved in the murder of a prominent a pro-Khalistan activist, Defence Minister Bill Blair sought to shift focus away from questions of intelligence on Sunday and toward the ongoing criminal investigation into the issue. Following the allegations put forward by Justin Trudeau […]
Read MoreFeatured Ink
The tribute to a Nazi in the House of Commons is an utter disgrace that could have easily been avoided
Jews across Canada were preparing for the holiest day on the religious calendar on Sunday, as word was spreading about a major snafu in Ottawa two days earlier. Ahead of a 24-hour fast to atone for sins committed in the previous year and ask to be inscribed into the Book of Life for the year […]
Housing is a monster issue, but it’s not affecting everyone the same way
Here’s what we know about the hottest issue in Canadian politics. Two out of three Canadians see housing affordability as a “crisis”. Even most Liberals (59%) agree. But expensive houses don’t affect everyone the same way. Rising prices have been only bad news for half the population, but only good news for 17%. Others see […]
Challenging times ahead for Trudeau, Poilievre, and Singh
After the first week back in Parliament, it is obvious that all three leaders of the national parties have their work cut out for them. The prime minister has the most obvious problem. Justin Trudeau’s press these days reads like a savage review of a Broadway flop. Maybe he’s playing rope-a-dope with Conservative Leader Pierre […]
“Dupe culture” and other indicators of womenflation: this fall’s hot political trend
Over the summer, something remarkable happened. Women, across every voting demographic, started migrating their voting intention away from the Liberal government. But that trend shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that economic data from that period suggests that high interest rates and sustained high inflation – particularly in the cost of fuel and groceries – […]
Tories’ silence is golden on trans issues, but might not be sustainable
Protests and counter-protests on the rights of children to use their chosen pronouns were held across the country last week. New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh led a counter-protest in Ottawa, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to X (formerly Twitter) to condemn “hate and its manifestations,” and reiterate his support for the 2SLGBTQ+ community […]
Today in Canada’s Political History: Happy anniversary Robert and Laura Borden!
Canada’s future Prime Minister, Robert L. Borden, was married on this date in 1889. His bride was his fellow Nova Scotian, Laura Bond. Prime Minster Borden’s biographer, Robert Craig Brown, gives this description of the woman who would become Lady Borden. “She was seven years younger than Robert, a bright, attractive, strong-willed young woman,” he […]
A Zero-Sum Mindset and Canadian Politics & Business
I get to ask thousands of Canadians, hundreds of questions each week and I’ve been doing this for 13 years now at Abacus Data. At no point in that time have I seen the kind of shifts and surprising results in our surveys than I do today. Take for example the rapid shift in vote […]
How did the India allegations play out in Parliament this week?
It was supposed to be a parliamentary sitting about affordability and public safety but quickly became about India and allegations of a politically motivated murder. How does this all influence the political pulse of the week?
Canada vs India: Where Does This Lead?
Is there a way out of this India story or are the two sides just too entrenched in their positions? Chantal and Bruce have their thoughts on the story that has dominated the headlines all week. And Doug Ford — does saying you’re sorry clean up the Greenbelt mess?
It’s Trudeau’s world and the Liberals are trapped in it
The problem for the Liberals these days is that they’re trapped in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s world and it’s imploding around them. An illustration of this is an interview Immigration Minister Marc Miller did last week with The Hill Times in which he called Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre a “charlatan”, “snake-oil salesman”, “classless jackass” and […]
Danielle Smith has always been on the side of Alberta going it alone with a provincial pension. What we didn’t know until this week is what a stunningly big chunk of the pie the Premier would seek in that separation from the Canada Pension Plan. The Alberta claim is so huge – Ms. Smith’s United […]
Read MoreON JUNE 18, Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead as he left the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, at night. The forty-five-year-old was a prominent figure in the Sikh community in BC. He had moved to Canada from the Indian state of Punjab in 1997 and worked as a […]
Read MoreSometimes a lowly travel advisory can shed light on high geopolitical drama such as the one playing out right now between Canada and India. It can show how mistrust can turn the most innocuous of moves into an act of aggression and lead to a series of escalations. This week saw Canada cause a churn […]
Read MoreAs far as channel-changing gambits go, ginning up the murder of a Canadian citizen into an international conspiracy would be a bold one. Which is probably why Justin Trudeau isn’t lying about possible Indian government involvement in the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Read MoreIn June, violent riots overtook more than a dozen French cities after a police officer shot and killed Nahel Merzouk, a French teen of Algerian and Moroccan descent who had driven through a red light while escaping police. The reaction in Canada was as predictable as it was self-assured. Many commentators said the destructive events […]
Read MoreCanada’s 23rd Prime Minister paid tribute to the 17th Prime Minister on this date in 2020 in the House of Commons. John Napier Turner, a cabinet minister under Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, who served as PM in 1984, had passed into history only a few days before. You can read Justin Trudeau’s tribute below. Arthur Milnes is […]
Read MoreRoland Paris, a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa and a former adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was testifying before a Senate committee studying Canada’s foreign service last year when a Conservative senator pressed him to agree with a long indictment of recent Canadian foreign policy. “Canada is not alone in […]
Read MoreIt was a tough-talking Sir Wilfrid Laurier who spoke to a gathering of the Methodist General Conference being held in Ottawa on this date in 1914. The First World War had started a month previously with the German invasion of Belgium. Germany’s attach was in violation of the Treaty of London, which guaranteed the neutrality […]
Read MoreThe tendency of our current politics to view absolutely everything through the lens of partisanship has rarely been on better display than in the aftermath of the Prime Minister’s dramatic announcement in Parliament Monday: that Canadian intelligence officials were pursuing “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the assassination of a Canadian Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh […]
Read MoreWednesday’s cross-Canada “gender ideology” protests and counterprotests about schools and sex education et al were something of a flop. That’s more of a compliment than an insult. Good: They were mostly peaceful, which is a triumph given that current gender quarrels are an American construct born of MAGA Republicans and thus about right vs. wrong […]
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