Jan 13 2021 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — “Exclusive interview,” the headline blared. The Rebel was letting us know that Conservative leaders were talking to it again, officially. Erin O’Toole had done an interview with the far-right media website. Or maybe he hadn’t. Or maybe he had. Both, actually. And in that little riddle lies the sticky little problem that Mr. O’Toole and […]
Dec 16 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — Justin Trudeau has brought in Michael Sabia as economic czar with a mission to improve growth. But let’s hope Mr. Sabia brings the policies with him. The Liberal growth plans are looking a little tired. Mr. Sabia is the high-profile former CEO recruited to become deputy minister of finance with the implicit promise that he’ll […]
Dec 3 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller can be surprisingly frank about the federal government’s failings. He’s the odd minister who furrows his brow in a press conference and answers a reporter thoughtfully. But he is not the prime minister. When Mr. Miller came out on Tuesday to admit, for the first time officially, that the Liberal […]
Nov 18 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — This is a moment that calls for a refresher on the basics of nepotism and conflict of interest. Not for ordinary Canadians, who remain capable of applying a smell test to determine if things seem fishy. But rather for members of Parliament, who have codes and guidelines and advisers, but apparently still can’t figure out […]
Nov 16 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — The Joe Biden green revolution will be coming to the United States – and Canada – a lot more slowly than people think. But one part, the decision on nixing the Keystone XL pipeline, could be here a lot faster than Justin Trudeau’s government would like. As a candidate, Mr. Biden was in a hurry […]
Nov 4 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — For much of its history, Canada has been a lucky country, sharing the prosperity of its U.S. neighbour, tucked under its security umbrella, supporting a U.S.-led world order. The divided nation to our south on view during the 2020 election campaign has to make you wonder whether that luck is running out. It was cast […]
Oct 29 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — Once again, Canada’s Finance Minister has told the country the government has to do what it takes, spending-wise, to get through this crisis and that things would be worse if it didn’t. This time, it was a relatively new Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland. But on Wednesday she gave a speech that could have been given […]
Oct 22 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — Even 20 years ago, some of Erin O’Toole’s habits stuck out as old school. He was a Dalhousie law student still in his 20s, but when his new wife, Rebecca, left the table, he stood. The Nova Scotia Tories he was meeting often noticed that after lunch or breakfast with him, he’d send them a […]
Oct 5 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — There were two milestones in the Green Party’s choice of a new leader, one a first in Canadian politics, the other a fundamental decision on the Greens’ direction. Annamie Paul is the first Black person, and the first Jewish woman, to lead a party with seats in the House of Commons. That is, and she […]
Sep 29 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — First it was a lockdown to flatten the curve. Then governments talked about reopening. Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that for much of Canada, the second wave is already here. In private, federal officials talk increasingly about the pandemic lasting a year or two. And so as Mr. Trudeau’s government tabled a new […]
Aug 24 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — Get ready for a whole new ball game, Erin O’Toole. The Liberals are going to throw the ball at your head. They were doing it even before you were elected leader. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s move to prorogue Parliament and come back in weeks with a Throne Speech and mini-budget wasn’t only about disrupting hearings […]
Jul 20 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — Beyond the conflict of interest, beyond the details of WE Charity’s payments to members of the Trudeau family, beyond recusals from cabinet discussions, there is one key thing we need to know: Whose idea was this? The “this” in question is the Canada Student Service Grant, the $900-million program that WE Charity was, for a […]
May 22 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — Remember the Resistance? The four small-c conservative premiers were lined up on a magazine cover alongside a pre-election Andrew Scheer and touted as the real counterweight to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. More recently, last year’s election left an apprehended national-unity crisis in its wake, with the revival of the Bloc Québécois and the seething rejection […]
Apr 3 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — Once the White House’s coronavirus task force released its own model predicting that 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die from COVID-19, it was inevitable that there would be more questions about what Canada’s projections say. If there’s one thing that social distancing and self-isolation have made common, it is wondering where all this is going. […]
Mar 24 2020 — Campbell Clark — Globe and Mail — “Enough is enough,” Justin Trudeau said to Canadians flouting self-isolation guidelines. “Go home and stay home.” That wasn’t all. He once again raised the prospect that if people don’t listen, the government can and will step in with tough measures to enforce the social-distancing rules. It doesn’t want to, but … Any parent will recognize […]