Jul 26 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Between the tabling of the federal budget in April and the end of the parliamentary sitting in June, Conservative Erin O’Toole asked dozens of questions in the House of Commons and spoke thousands of words. Not one of those words was “deficit.” Granted, what happens in question period doesn’t always reflect what actually matters most […]
Jul 13 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — In one respect, the summer of 2021 is a lot like the fall of 2005: with the possibility of an election looming, a minority Liberal government is pursuing agreements with provinces to expand access to child care — an initiative the opposition Conservatives apparently disagree with. The Conservatives effectively won that debate when they won […]
Jul 6 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Mary Simon should have been Trudeau’s pick in 2017. Better late than never. Mary Simon is going to Rideau Hall at a difficult moment — both for the office she will soon hold and for the country itself. There is a risk of putting too much on her shoulders. The mere fact of her appointment […]
Jul 3 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Two weeks ago, the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices released a report on the public health impacts of climate change and the need for action to adapt to a new reality of extreme threats. “Climate change,” Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, wrote in the report’s introduction, “is an escalating public […]
Jun 30 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Given the atrocities this country has been forced to confront over the past month, Canada Day — normally a moment for celebration — was always going to be difficult to frame this year. But in recent comments, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole seems to be angling for a political fight over the national holiday. “As someone […]
Jun 27 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Midway through the last session of question period before the House of Commons adjourned for the summer on Wednesday, Conservative MP Raquel Dancho called on the prime minister to present a plan for the country. “Where is the plan to secure the future for Canadians?” she asked. “The plan,” Justin Trudeau replied, “is in budget […]
Jun 23 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — “Canadians are waking up,” Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde told Rosemary Barton Live this weekend. “Governments are waking up.” That awakening is overdue. By no means should it have taken the reported discovery of the remains of 215 children on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia to […]
Jun 20 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — When the second session of the 43rd Parliament began last September, Canada was said to be at a crossroads. Nine months later, it’s fair to say the country is still facing a fork in the road. That’s not because nothing has happened since then, but rather because so much remains unsettled. With a possible (and […]
Jun 17 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — The tumult and accusations engulfing Annamie Paul’s Greens are most obviously a major problem for the party and its leader — but the unfolding war of words increasingly seems to be a potential setback for Canadian politics. It was just eight months ago that Paul’s victory in the Green leadership race seemed to breathe new […]
Jun 11 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — In a speech in 2015, while reflecting on Canada’s treatment of minorities, Justin Trudeau said that the inclusive idea of liberty that typifies the best of Canada “requires Canadian political leadership to be sustained.” Six years later, the killing of four members of a Muslim family in London, Ontario is a moment of reckoning for […]
Jun 9 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Bill C-12, the Liberal government’s net-zero emissions accountability act, could be a landmark law in the history of Canada’s efforts to combat climate change. But first it has to actually become a law — and it’s suddenly not obvious that the bill will get through both the House of Commons and Senate before both chambers […]
Jun 3 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — At the end of his remarks during Tuesday night’s “take note” debate on the possible discovery of the remains of up to 215 children on the grounds of a former residential school in British Columbia, Justin Trudeau acknowledged the limited utility of words. “Saying sorry for the tragedies of the past is not enough,” the […]
May 27 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Stephen Harper once signed a photograph for Mike Duffy with a caption telling the senator for Prince Edward Island that he was one of his “best, hardest-working appointments ever.” Harper himself probably would dispute that description now. But it’s possible that Duffy, who retired from the Senate this week, will go down as Harper’s most […]
May 22 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — Canadians are very lucky. Just a few months after the vaccination campaign was assailed by politicians and pundits as a disaster, this country of 38 million people had received 23 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday morning. Millions more doses are expected in the coming weeks. Canada caught up to the United […]
May 15 2021 — Aaron Wherry — CBC — In an interview last fall, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault compared the Internet giants of today — platforms such as Facebook and Google — to the big polluters he fought for many years as an environmental activist. The comparison is intriguing, perhaps even apt — and it might explain how Guilbeault is going about the task […]