Articles by Andrew Coyne

Sep 22 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — The 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 […]

Sep 20 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — For the Indian government to kill an Indian citizen, without trial, in India would be a grievous wrong. To kill one of its citizens on foreign soil would be worse still: not just extra-judicial but extra-territorial. But to assassinate a Canadian citizen, in Canada, would take matters to a whole new level. It is the […]

Sep 15 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — By the time you read this the federal government will have unveiled its latest suite of policies designed to address the crisis in the Canadian housing market, or at least the crisis in Liberal polling. Whether these are likely to be any more effective than the policies it has introduced to date we shall see. […]

Sep 13 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — By now the consensus has more or less become set in stone. Why are housing prices in Canada so high – fifth highest, relative to income, in the OECD? Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? It’s because we’re taking in too many people. Supply and demand and all that. Common sense, really.

Sep 8 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — A wise old pollster once put it to me this way: “When people have decided to get rid of a government,” he said, “it doesn’t matter who the other guys are.” Somewhere along the way this summer, large numbers of Canadians appear to have suddenly decided they want to get rid of this government. The […]

Sep 6 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — Lately there’s been a surge in concern about money in politics. No, not the familiar scourge of Big Money: a handful of well-heeled donors buying influence with hefty political contributions. At the federal level, at least, contributions are strictly limited, while corporate and union donations have been banned since 2004. (The provinces are another story.) […]

Aug 11 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — “The conservative consensus is over,” blares the headline on a recent post on The Hub, the lively conservative website edited by Stephen Harper’s former policy adviser, Sean Speer. That is, it is over in the United States, writes Mr. Speer, who is in fact the author of the piece. For whatever reason, the internal divisions […]

Aug 9 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — CLIP ONE: EXT. FIELD – DAY (A verdant meadow, covered in dandelions and Queen Anne’s lace. Larks sing, insects hum. PIERRE strolls into view, smiling, a sweater tied around his shoulders. He is picking a daisy.) PIERRE Oh hi, it’s me. Pierre. No, just… Pierre. What was it Shakespeare said? “Shall I compare thee to […]

Aug 3 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — The day before Donald Trump was indicted for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election – the third time the former president has been criminally indicted this year, and it’s only August – The New York Times released a poll showing him leading the race to be the Republican nominee in 2024 by 37 points. In […]

Aug 2 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — Okay, let’s see what’s happening on Twit – OH MY GOD. As anyone who uses it knows, the notorious hellsite, never conspicuously well-run, has been in a state of chaos ever since it was bought by Elon Musk. The mercurial billionaire indeed seems bent on running it into the ground, firing much of its staff, […]

Jul 26 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — To say first what can be said: Anita Anand and Jean-Yves Duclos will each bring a reputation for competence to portfolios – Treasury Board and Procurement – that could sorely use some. Dominic LeBlanc is a safe pair of hands to throw Public Safety to. Marc Miller will bring passion and commitment as Minister of […]

Jul 21 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — This week’s inflation numbers could hardly have been more encouraging. The headline 12-month rate fell to 2.8 per cent in June: lower than expected, and within the Bank of Canada’s 1- to 3-per-cent “control range” for the first time since March, 2021. This was not just a statistical artifact, a reflection of year-ago price increases […]

Jul 19 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — Gracious, I seem to have hit a nerve. I had wondered how the Conservatives would react to the suggestion that Justin Trudeau might continue governing after the next election, with the support of the NDP, even if he failed to win the most seats. Would they recognize how fundamentally federal politics had changed in the […]

Jul 14 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — Last week’s column considered the diverting possibility that the Liberals could “lose” the next election but remain in power. That is, they could finish with fewer seats than their Conservative rivals and yet govern with the support of the NDP, as they do now. The idea is both constitutionally proper – the government is whoever […]

Jul 11 2023 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — The question is not whether Ukraine will join NATO, but whether NATO will join Ukraine. Ukraine has been on the front lines of a bloody war these past 17 months, or truth to tell the last nine years, that is every bit as much NATO’s war, even if no NATO troops are involved. While Ukraine […]