Articles by Alex Ballingall

Mar 15 2019 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — The NDP’s newly-named deputy leader, Alexandre Boulerice, is looking to hire unpaid interns at his Montreal constituency office, but says he wouldn’t have to if the Liberal government heeded his party’s long-standing call to ban such positions. The MP for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie has distributed at least three job advertisements seeking university students for unpaid trainee […]

Mar 7 2019 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes fell silent Thursday after publicly challenging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership style without providing context or explanation. Caesar-Chavannes made the statement on Twitter shortly after Trudeau’s much-anticipated news conference about the ongoing SNC-Lavalin controversy, which has rocked his government over the past month.

Mar 6 2019 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — A new poll says Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives are leading in support among decided and leaning voters as the SNC-Lavalin controversy continues to buffet Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government. The automated telephone survey by Forum Research found that 42 per cent of decided and leaning voters would support the Conservative Party in a federal election. […]

Mar 2 2019 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — A new poll suggests many Canadians are paying attention to the Liberal government’s alleged political interference scandal and that it is souring opinions of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The poll by Forum Research, provided exclusively to the Star, included 1,301 randomly selected Canadian adults who responded to an interactive telephone survey on Wednesday and Thursday […]

Feb 15 2019 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — The NDP’s director of communications is one of three party staffers leaving their jobs as leader Jagmeet Singh campaigns for his first federal seat in a British Columbia byelection. Kerry Pither, a communications specialist who joined Singh’s front office last spring, will resign March 1 to spend more time with her family, said Singh’s chief […]

Jan 4 2019 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — The newly-acclaimed Liberal candidate in the B.C. riding of Burnaby South is touting community connections in her bid to beat NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in a federal byelection expected next month. Singh relocated to British Columbia from Ontario last fall to run in the riding, after months of questions and speculation about where the former […]

Dec 27 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — If you look back to this time last year—before Doug Ford and the carbon tax resistance, before the Trans Mountain purchase and the alarm bells from the United Nations—climate politics in Canada look calm, even quaint. At the start of 2018, more than 85 per cent of Canadians already lived with a price on greenhouse […]

Dec 26 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — The leader of the New Democratic Party is talking about fear and insecurity. Not his own, mind you; nor that of his party. Perched on a couch in his Parliament Hill office, Jagmeet Singh is in his usual high spirits, his ebullience by now a well-known characteristic.

Dec 14 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — Through decades of influence in the inner sanctum of Liberal politics, Richard O’Hagan worked closely with two prime ministers, befriended an American vice-president and helped establish the archetype for the modern press secretary. He also garnered a reputation as a snappy dresser.

Dec 5 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — A lawyer speaking for Raj Grewal says the Brampton East MP wants to clarify it was “only” his family that helped pay back money he borrowed to fuel his gambling problem. The lawyer’s statement comes in the wake of questions prompted by Grewal’s 11-minute video statement last Friday, in which the 33-year-old politician describes how […]

Dec 3 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — The New Democrats’ ethics critic is raising concerns that Raj Grewal’s decision to stay on as MP for Brampton East will make investigations into his gambling activity more difficult. Nathan Cullen, an NDP MP from British Columbia, said special rights afforded to MPs under the centuries-old convention of “parliamentary privilege” mean that potential investigations into […]

Nov 22 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is welcoming news the prime minister will schedule a byelection in his riding of Burnaby South next February, even as he questions why the vote for the vacant seat won’t be held sooner. A government official confirmed Thursday that Justin Trudeau intends to schedule three byelections for some time in February, […]

Nov 22 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — A new report shows Canada’s export credit agency provides far greater backing to oil and gas companies than to makers of clean technology, a trend the authors contend undermines the country’s commitment to fight climate change under the Paris Agreement. Released Thursday and sponsored by a host of environmental groups, the report from the research […]

Nov 20 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair is slamming a Conservative MP for hosting a “Guns and Guinness” fundraiser last weekend. In a statement to the Star, the former Toronto police chief said it is “deeply disappointing” that an opposition member would hold a firearms- and alcohol-themed event when Canada is seeing “seeing […]

Nov 4 2018 — Alex Ballingall — Toronto Star — The symbolism, to Avi Lewis’s eye, was spot on. The leader of the federal New Democratic Party, on Bay St. on Friday morning, talking about how the “ultra-wealthy” need to pay their share. But, for Lewis, the imagery fizzled with Jagmeet Singh’s message: a trio of policy proposals about stocks, corporate wealth and taxation that […]