National Newswatch

Pierre Poilievre is becoming a liability to Conservatives

Jun 25 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Pierre Poilievre’s leadership victory last September was the curtain raiser of a new political season on Parliament Hill. Nine months into his tenure, there is no denying that the latest CPC leader is having a measurable impact on Canada’s federal dynamics. But is it the kind of impact the Conservatives need to return to the […]

Pierre Poilievre is wasting his chance to become prime minister

Jun 3 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Justin Trudeau’s government has been on the defensive in the House of Commons for months. By now, fewer than one in three Canadians approves its handling of the China electoral interference file, a topic that has monopolized the federal political conversation throughout the first half of the year. To listen to the furor in the […]

Pierre Poilievre needs to unite Canada’s conservatives. This looming battle is a must-win test of his leadership

May 13 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Since Pierre Poilievre secured a first-ballot leadership victory last fall, peace has broken out on the Conservative caucus front. Those of his MPs who harbour doubts about their latest leader’s bare-knuckled approach to politics have so far been discreet. Some of them want to protect their chances to be appointed to a future Conservative cabinet. […]

Pierre Poilievre is in trouble in Quebec, and he has himself to blame

Apr 23 2023 — Chantal Hébert — More than six months after his election as Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre has yet to meet Quebec Premier François Legault one on one. That stands in stark contrast with his two immediate predecessors. Notwithstanding the pandemic, Erin O’Toole and Legault met face-to-face less than a month after the former became leader in August 2020. Andrew […]

Justin Trudeau is failing a test of leadership

Mar 18 2023 — Chantal Hébert — If the debate over Chinese interference in Canada’s politics is a test of leadership, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre are going out of their way to fail it. That starts with Trudeau, who came peculiarly late to the realization that the issue of the integrity of Canada’s democratic system could […]

Justin Trudeau’s MPs may yet rush to the exits, but this resignation wasn’t the start of a stampede

Mar 11 2023 — Chantal Hébert — In a CTV interview earlier this week, former Liberal cabinet minister Marc Garneau described the defence of the language rights of Quebec’s anglophone minority as a “hill worth dying on.” Garneau was referring to his concerns about his own government’s revised version of the Official Languages Act and the door it has opened to harmonizing […]

Justin Trudeau’s MPs are fighting over a language law. They should get their facts straight

Feb 19 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Where to start? Over the past few months, there have been simmering tensions within Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s caucus over the government’s plan to overhaul the Official Languages Act. Those tensions have now morphed into the most public show of internal divisions of Trudeau’s tenure, with at least one minister suggesting he might vote against […]

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