Jan 14 2019 — Colby Cosh — National Post — Maybe someone should put in a kind word for Jagmeet Singh on the rare opportunities when an occasion presents itself. The federal NDP leader found himself on the right side of a ridiculous argument over the weekend as his byelection in the riding of Burnaby South got officially underway. Singh’s Conservative opponent for the open […]
Dec 17 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — On Friday the Prime Minister promised that his government will amend the Parliament of Canada Act to allow his “reformed” Senate to organize itself a little better. The existing procedures of the Senate contemplate the presence of government and opposition blocs in the chamber, but the latest round of Senate appointments, announced in October, has […]
Nov 23 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — It has been a strange week in Calgary, all right. On Monday the city’s council met to hear the official, mathematical bad news about the plebiscite on a 2026 Winter Olympics bid. Mayor Naheed Nenshi introduced an omnibus motion annihilating all the various committees, boards and secretariats involved in preparing the doomed project. He then […]
Oct 22 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — Andrew Scheer published an “open letter to Canadians” in the Toronto Sun this Saturday. “Sunday marks exactly one year until the next federal election,” the federal Conservative leader observed, proceeding thereupon to a critique of Justin Trudeau’s government. As someone who is still trying to take stock of Scheer, I read the letter hoping for […]
Sep 17 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you have high hopes for the new Max Bernier Party. Perhaps you believe, as my colleague Andrew Coyne does, that there is still far too much fly-blown 1970s-style intervention and protectionism in Canada’s economy. Perhaps you are in favour of a more hard-headed approach to immigration policy, […]
Sep 8 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — What are the consequences of the Federal Court of Appeal’s Trans Mountain pipeline delay for electoral politics in Alberta? The FCA ruling has created undoubted consternation and rage here — perhaps not least among provincial New Democratic politicians, who had been posing proudly with shovels and hardhats at Trans Mountain’s Alberta work sites, and who […]
Aug 9 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — In yesterday’s Financial Post, the Calgary economist Jack Mintz asked the question “Why are carbon taxes so unpopular?”, pointing out that plenty of countries and jurisdictions have commitments to climate progress and energy efficiency but that few use this particular policy instrument. I guess Jack wouldn’t have had much of a column if he had […]
May 3 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — One thing Canada cannot ordinarily be accused of is being slow to pat itself on the back. And yet! When it comes to the failure of Kevin O’Leary’s quixotic campaign for the federal Conservative leadership, we have a sort of unnoticed national mystery that demands an explanation. Whether or not you were a fan of […]
Apr 21 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — On Sunday morning, Jason Kenney — who would certainly be at the top of the board if there were betting on the next premier of Alberta — tweeted a link about the Trans Mountain pipeline crisis with the comment: “Canada is broken.” This seemingly flippant remark made a lot of people angry, and most everybody […]
Apr 9 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — On Sunday night, the infrastructure company Kinder Morgan announced that it is mothballing the planned expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline and will cancel the project unless it has an agreement among “stakeholders” before May 31. Kinder Morgan’s press release goes on to describe what such an “agreement” means: the government of British Columbia has […]
Feb 7 2018 — Colby Cosh — National Post — No doubt what you all want to hear from Edmonton right now is how Alberta’s wine war on British Columbia, declared Tuesday, is affecting the common man. As far as I can tell he hasn’t noticed. Of course it will take some time for our centralized liquor warehouse (which is still, unlike the retailing end, […]
Dec 22 2017 — Colby Cosh — National Post — Everybody who has written about the prime minister’s violations of the federal Conflict of Interest Act—even if they did so cautiously, long in advance of this week’s formal finding of guilt by the Ethics Commissioner—is suddenly meeting with a great deal of social media resistance. I don’t think I’ve touched the Aga Khan-spiracy issue personally, […]
Dec 8 2017 — Colby Cosh — National Post — My favourite part of the fair has always been the sideshow. And when it comes to Justin Trudeau’s official visit to China, the sideshow definitely turned out to be the most interesting part of the proceedings. Interpreting the outcome of the visit involves a certain amount of old-fashioned Kremlinology, applied to both sides, but it […]
Oct 20 2017 — Colby Cosh — National Post — A colleague told me the other day that I should write a column about Finance Minister Bill Morneau — basically, because no columnist should pass up a chance to face wash some politician for ineptitude or deviousness. This struck me as a strong argument. But my response was that I would never dream of treating […]
Sep 18 2017 — Colby Cosh — National Post — I have a problem starting this column: what do we call the debate currently being held on Liberal changes to tax rules that mostly affect high-paid professionals? Is there a neutral label that a columnist can use to refer to the overall argument? The Liberals, as I am sure you have heard, have some proposals […]