Articles by Abbas Rana

Feb 18 2019 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — The unfolding SNC-Lavalin affair is causing “serious concerns” among Liberals worried about the perception that the governing party has one set of rules for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s inner circle and his home province Quebec, and another for the rest of the county, with some Liberals raising questions about the unity of the Liberal caucus. […]

Feb 6 2019 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — After 19 years in federal politics, a veteran Liberal MP from Nova Scotia—who won his riding with the highest percentage of votes in his province, in 2015—is not 100 per cent sure if he will seek re-election in October. “Well, you know, I’m 99 per cent sure,” said Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner in an interview […]

Feb 4 2019 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — The federal Liberals made history by leaping from third place to winning a majority in 2015, but the upcoming October election will have totally different dynamics than the last time, including a volatile electorate, new party leaders and positions, and a lack of enthusiasm amongst some key players in the Liberal Party base who feel […]

Jan 28 2019 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — A former Brampton Liberal MP, who was the outreach director for the successful Liberal leadership campaigns of Stéphane Dion in 2006 and Michael Ignatieff in 2008, is seeking the Conservative Party’s nomination in Brampton South, Ont. Andrew Kania did not respond to interview requests last week, but the Brampton South Conservative riding association president Parminder […]

Jan 21 2019 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — Social media platforms are making it much easier for protesters to express their nasty and sometimes hate-filled rage with today’s federal political leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has faced recent death threats on Facebook. But a leading pollster is warning that Canadians should expect more such disruptions at the governing party’s rallies and […]

Jan 19 2019 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — A former Liberal candidate who came within a five percentage point-margin of unseating Conservative Deputy Leader Lisa Raitt in the 2015 election is accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of manipulating a nomination contest to make way for their preferred candidate, Olympic gold medalist Adam van Koeverden, for the 2019 election. In […]

Jan 14 2019 — Abbas Rana — With the 2019 election campaign already unofficially underway, some federal Liberals are concerned that the party has not yet appointed a national campaign director, or campaign co-chairs at the national or provincial levels, saying it is negatively affecting the election readiness of the Liberal Party.

Jan 8 2019 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — The Prime Minister’s Office plans to hold a day of mandatory training sessions for all ministerial exempt staff and parliamentary staffers on the Hill while the House is in recess. The two sessions, one in each official language, will be held Wednesday, according to an email sent by the Liberal Research Bureau to all Liberal […]

Dec 17 2018 — Abbas Rana — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Liberals should be “exceptionally concerned” about the “very negative economic mood right now” in Canada, with potential for a recession in 2019, and the Conservatives’ attempts to paint Liberals as supporters of “unrestricted immigration,” as the combined effect could become a serious problem for the party in the next election. “There’s […]

Dec 12 2018 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — ‘Jokes in bad taste, comments about a colleague’s physical appearance, sustained looks, etc. can constitute harassment,’ reads the memo sent out Liberal MPs, and staffers. With Christmas parties on the Hill and in constituency offices across the country underway, the Liberal leadership sent out a memo on Tuesday evening, warning MPs, Hill staff, including exempt […]

Dec 10 2018 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — The federal government needs to put in place a strategy to help retrain workers in the fossil-fuel industry to transition to the green-energy sector, says an Alberta NDP MP. But unless construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline starts now and with Albertans “super angry,” the Liberals should forget about winning any seat in the province […]

Dec 6 2018 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — NDP MP Nathan Cullen has asked Commissioner of Canada Elections Yves Coté to investigate an April fundraiser organized by rookie MP Raj Grewal who is said to have raised $600,000 in one night. Mr. Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.) said he sent a letter to Mr. Coté on Thursday morning, citing unanswered questions to the Liberal-turned-Independent […]

Dec 3 2018 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — Even if Maxime Bernier and his newly launched People’s Party don’t make any significant electoral gains in the House in 2019, they’ll still be “disrupters and a nuisance” for Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, whose party could lose some seats, especially in closely contested ridings if the vote is divided on the right, says leading pollster […]

Nov 19 2018 — Abbas Rana — A Winnipeg Liberal MP is calling on all MPs to come up with a national strategy to deal with a “huge, massive, and terrible meth crisis” that he’s dealing with now in his riding, and is predicting will spread to other regions of the country if not addressed immediately through nationally coordinated action.

Nov 12 2018 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — Federal Liberal ridings with high proportions of Chinese-Canadians could be in jeopardy in 2019 if the party fails to do more to explain the rationale behind marijuana legalization, because Chinese-Canadians have deep-rooted apprehensions about drug use of any kind and some incorrectly see it as a “precursor to cocaine legalization,” say politicos. “They [Chinese-Canadians] don’t […]