Jul 1 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — “It is as difficult a moment as we have ever faced as a country,” Bob Rae wrote last week. So, uh, Happy Canada Day. Rae, the former NDP premier of Ontario and federal Liberal leader, refers here, of course, to Donald Trump. And the trade wars, tantrums and global instability the American president entails. It […]
Jun 21 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — “Canadians sent us to Parliament Hill with a clear mandate,” Justin Trudeau told a roomful of reporters assembled Wednesday to mark the end of Parliament’s spring sitting. Although that agenda has, in many ways, come to seem more timely — embracing diversity, growing the middle class, fighting climate change — Trudeau’s mandate did not include […]
Jun 19 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — There was no tweet this time. As the world awoke this weekend to the grief-filled images and sounds of a new American policy on asylum seekers that forcibly separates children from their parents, Justin Trudeau kept his thoughts to himself.
Jun 14 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Maxime Bernier’s dismissal from the Conservative shadow cabinet isn’t really about supply management — just as Donald Trump’s decision to launch a trade war with his country’s closest ally isn’t really about how Canada manages its dairy sector. In both cases, subsidized milk is just the pretext covering for a larger issue. For Bernier, the […]
Jun 2 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — This week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau bought the country a pipeline and found himself in a trade war with Canada’s closest ally. Which seems like a lot for one week. But next week, the people of Ontario might make Doug Ford their next premier. And then Trudeau will convene the leaders of the G7 for […]
May 31 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Justin Trudeau has spent 16 months being especially careful with Donald Trump. That was not an option on Thursday. And so now there will be a new tariff on American cucumbers and gherkins. Such is life in a world where Donald Trump is president of the United States. In joining a trade war — just […]
May 31 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — For months now, two MPs — Liberal Celina Caesar-Chavannes and Conservative Maxime Bernier — have been locked in a very public Twitter battle over identity politics. Liberal MP Greg Fergus thinks they should actually talk to each other. Face to face. “It sounds really personal now. And they do work about five metres away from […]
May 30 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — It could be worse for Justin Trudeau. He could be not buying a pipeline. The collapse of the Trans Mountain pipeline project — which we assume is what would have happened without a deal this week — would have been a significant setback for one of Canada’s most significant industries, a setback that would be […]
May 26 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — The Trudeau government gets another chance to do election law reform right
May 19 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Doug Ford is not Donald Trump. Whatever the controversies and criticisms he now faces, Ford has not promised to build a wall along any of Ontario’s borders. He has not suggested that Muslims should be banned from immigrating to the province. He has not been caught on tape bragging about sexual assault. But “not being […]
May 17 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — The Liberal government offered this week to indemnify Kinder Morgan for any losses related to political opposition to the Trans Mountain project — but Justin Trudeau effectively bought us a piece of the pipeline five years ago. “It is in keeping with what I believe is a fundamental role of the government of Canada,” Trudeau […]
May 12 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — After the Liberal government tabled its proposed changes to federal elections law, the Conservatives started issuing new warnings about the spectre of voter fraud. The Liberals, said Conservative MP Blake Richards, “are trying to force through changes in Bill C-76 that would make up to one million votes susceptible to fraud in the election.” That […]
May 8 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Stéphane Perrault has been nominated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Canada’s next chief electoral officer. But New Democrats are demanding to know why the government put forward a different nominee just three weeks ago. Marc Mayrand, the previous chief electoral officer, announced in June 2016 that he intended to resign at the end of […]
May 8 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Six people were called to testify Monday afternoon before the House of Commons finance committee on carbon pricing: an economist, a researcher, three individuals from prominent environmental organizations — and one politician. A few days after he and the other members of Alberta’s United Conservative Party boycotted a vote on creating ‘safe zones’ around abortion […]
May 5 2018 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — The law hasn’t caught up yet to the way politics gets done in the 21st century. But Bill C-76 — the Liberal government’s new package of changes to federal election laws — could be a small step toward regulating the “permanent campaign” that took over Canadian public life in the past decade.