International partners had concern about Canada’s ‘ability to handle’ convoy protests
Two days before the Emergencies Act was invoked last February to quell anti-government convoy protests, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned cabinet ministers that international partners were concerned Canada wasn’t able to control the situation. The warning is contained in heavily redacted summaries of three meetings of the government’s incident response group and one meeting of […]
Canada considered jobs, inflation in decision to return Russian turbine: documents
Newly released documents show that Ottawa considered the impact on Canadian jobs and global inflation in its decision to return a turbine being repaired in Montreal to a Russian energy giant. The “memorandum for action” prepared by Global Affairs recommended Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly grant a permit exempting Siemens Canada from sanctions against Russia […]
Doug Ford just swallowed a bee while talking about the possibility of privatizing health care
Ontario Premier Doug Ford created quite a buzz on Friday when a bee entered his mouth and got down his throat. Ford was taking questions from reporters in Dundalk, Ont., about the provincewide health-care staff shortage and the possibility of privatization when the bee flew into his mouth. “Holy Christ, I just swallowed a bee,” […]
The federal government’s unprecedented decision to invoke the Emergencies Act came after suggestions of a potential “breakthrough” with demonstrators associated with the so-called “Freedom Convoy” came to naught. In a statement on Friday, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed a report first published by the Toronto Star on Thursday evening, acknowledging that […]
Read MorePOLITICS 2h ago Canadian trade minister vows to keep pushing U.S. on global tax deal Stephen Wicary, Bloomberg News Now ShowingOECD Says 136 Nations Agree to Global Corporate-Tax Accord1:21 OECD Says 136 Nations Agree to Global Corporate-Tax Accord Up NextIreland relents to join global tax restructuring3:22 Ireland relents to join global tax restructuring Canada’s trade […]
Read MoreFormer British Columbia premier Christy Clark is endorsing Jean Charest to be the next leader of the federal Conservatives at a time when she says the party is running to the extremes. Clark was speaking to Conservatives at a conference in Edmonton hosted by a group that advocates for the federal Tories to veer toward […]
Read MorePolice in Quebec City are reopening their investigation into an alleged group sexual assault eight years ago involving four players with the 2014 Gatineau Olympiques, according to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Karl Janhke, the hockey league’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement to CBC News that “we will offer our complete co-operation […]
Read MoreA majority of Albertans aren’t sold on the idea of replacing the RCMP with a provincial police force, a recent survey suggests. Fifty-five per cent of Albertans oppose Alberta ditching the Mounties for its own police service, according to a Pollara survey commissioned by the National Police Federation, the union representing RCMP officers across the […]
Read MoreCanada’s national police force has briefed MPs about the risk that foreign states are using sophisticated spyware to intercept their electronic communications, Global News has learned. It’s not clear which states are believed to be spying on Canadian politicians, but the RCMP’s top national security official, Mark Flynn, told the House of Commons Ethics committee […]
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Today in Canada’s Political History: Churchill, FDR announce Atlantic Charter, after talks in Newfoundland
The world’s eyes were on Placentia Bay, Newfoundland on this date in 1941 where U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had held talks the previous three days. They signed the Atlantic Charter which was announced to the world on August 14, 1941. The agreement made it clear that FDR and America […]
Where would Poilievre take the Conservatives? Not to the far right, but the far out
People keep trying to get a read on where Pierre Poilievre would take the Conservative Party. Would he, as some fear and others hope, position it on the far right – fiscally severe, socially intolerant and so on? Or is he, as others argue, more of a mainstream conservative than his hard-line rhetoric would suggest […]
With the Centre Ice Conservatives
It’s hardly the first time some people got together in Canada and said, “Let’s not.” According to legend, the country itself was founded, in part, by opters-out. At the time they were called United Empire Loyalists. They found George Washington and his lot a bit rambunctious. Their influence persists. On Thursday the Loyalists’ spiritual descendents […]
Our healthcare is broken — fear-mongering won’t fix it
Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones touched the third rail of Canadian politics last week when she said the Ford government wouldn’t rule out private healthcare to improve services to patients.
Vicious online attacks won’t silence voices in Canadian media
When it comes to the news and information we consume these days, there’s a broader variety of voices and viewpoints — female, Black, Asian, Muslim, Indigenous, members of the LGBTQ community, etc. — than was the case when I first entered journalism many years ago. Canadians have benefited immensely from this change, in my opinion. […]
Pierre Poilievre Is a Symptom of the Conservatives’ Sickness
Ever since Stephen Harper took the Conservative Party of Canada below 100 seats in the House of Commons back in 2015, the history of the party has been like a sequel to the movie Groundhog Day. Like the weatherman in that film, the Conservatives are caught in a time loop. The only way they can […]
ArriveCAN’s a menace. It needs to be shelved
The ArriveCAN app has gone from bad to worse. It was once merely annoying and cumbersome, like having to babysit a too-drunk friend. It’s now a constitutional threat, more like your sloshed buddy, having declared himself Batman, commandeering a police van and “apprehending” passersby.
How I’ve spent my summer break — under threat from terrorist missiles
One day last week, I was on the beach. It was a beautiful evening in Tel Aviv, the sun dropping like a red marble into the Mediterranean. Families played in the surf and people rode scooters down the boardwalk. A few days later, I watched a video of that same stretch of beach. Those families […]
The first step for Ontario’s Health Minister is admitting the system is in crisis
The vacuously comforting, deceptive words Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones uttered in response to the crisis plaguing the province’s health care system should be blasted over loudspeakers across Ontario’s emergency rooms (the ones that are still open). “Let’s be clear: There is not a crumbling system in the province of Ontario.” Her voice will bellow […]
Recruiting and training is the number one concern for SMEs
Rising inflation. Increasing fuel costs. Supply chain backlogs. The list of issues facing businesses in 2022 is growing and while these challenges require solutions, the reality is they’re also adding to problems that already exist. Take for instance the growing talent gap – the distance between the skills that employees have and those they want […]
The death this week of former foreign affairs minister Bill Graham has rightly given rise to many tributes and prompted the sharing of many memories. After a number of health challenges, Bill’s passing was not a complete shock, but for many of us, especially his wife Cathy, his family and many close friends, it has […]
Read MoreWill Justin Trudeau know when it’s time to go? Surely, this is something occupying at least some of his energy during his much-discussed vacation to Costa Rica. Will he return reinvigorated, primed for a fall battle against the presumptive new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre? Or will he begin laying the […]
Read MoreDoug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives went into the 2018 Ontario election campaign promising, among other things, to fix the province’s “hydro mess.” In practice, fixing the hydro “mess” turned out to be a lot more complicated than it sounded. In the end, the first Ford government did little more than double down on its Liberal predecessor’s […]
Read MoreThe least of the crimes Donald Trump committed as president were the actual crimes. The law stands at the far end of the range of norms and conventions that presidents – and adults – are expected to obey. What set Donald Trump apart was his unwillingness to be bound by any of them: not civility, […]
Read MoreThere is a void at the heart of Canadian politics. If we don’t fill it, we will lose our country. Turning from the political centre, drawn by the Siren howl of extremists, amplified by social media and the tone-deafness of our elites, our incredibly complex and delicate society will crack, break, and collapse on the […]
Read MoreToday we mark the birth, in Reading, UK, on this date in 1823, of Goldwin Smith, an academic and intellectual who was one of the most important voices (for good and ill) in late 19th century English Canada. He arrived in Canada after teaching at Cornell University, in New York, and following a successful career […]
Read MoreArthur Meighen had only been Prime Minister for a month when he visited Toronto on this date in 1920. Accompanied by legendary city Mayor Tommy Church, the PM toured the harbour and held a variety of meetings as Torontonians checked out their nation’s new leader. Reporters eagerly interviewed Meighen’s wife and mother, with the latter […]
Read MoreThere will be an abundance of responses and memories shared this week prompted by the passing of former Liberal interim leader Bill Graham. They will be honest, heartfelt, and uniquely welcome in a season where politics has become something Graham himself would have never been suited for. As a humble contribution to all the tributes […]
Read MoreDoctors, nurses and other health care workers across the country are struggling to treat patients flooding into hospital emergency departments. It’s all part of the pandemic squeeze and it’s no different in Alberta. Of course things could always get worse for all those frontline workers and they did last week when it was revealed that […]
Read MorePrime Minister John Diefenbaker and his government made Canadian bilingualism history on this date in 1958. Dief, who had swept Quebec just months before, fulfilled an election promised he had made to French Canadians. The unilingual Prime Minister stood in the House on this date in 1958 and tabled the following motion, destined to be […]
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LAPD ends investigation into Anne Heche car crash
The Los Angeles Police Department has ended its investigation into Anne Heche’s car accident, when the actor crashed into a Los Angeles home on Aug. 5. Heche, 53, is brain dead and on life support, pending evaluation for organ donation. “As of today, there will be no further investigative efforts made in this case,” the […]
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