Oct 19 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — In the wake of the election earlier this month of a Coalition Avenir Québec government, Parliament Hill insiders and Quebec watchers have been scrambling to figure out how the new dynamics will play out in next year’s federal vote. It is testimony to the uncertainty that attends the arrival of an unknown untested quantity in […]
Oct 17 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — The sound of one hand clapping greeted the fulfilment of Justin Trudeau’s signature cannabis promise in Quebec on Wednesday. To mark the occasion, the Journal de Montréal, the province’s most-read tabloid, gave pride of place to not one but three scathing columns on the ills of the legalization of marijuana.
Oct 15 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — It is not a drill. When legal cannabis hits the shelves in Canada on Wednesday, it will be there to stay. Come next year’s federal election, no party will be committing to turn back the clock on Justin Trudeau’s signature policy; not even the Conservatives who spent the last campaign painting nightmare scenarios about the […]
Oct 1 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — If Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are defeated in next fall’s federal election, it will almost certainly not be on account of their management of the NAFTA file. Notwithstanding a poor initial reception in his home province, nor is the prime minister likely to lose Quebec over the concessions he made on the way to keeping Canada […]
Sep 24 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Three years ago, millennial voters helped Justin Trudeau’s Liberals vault from a distant third place in the House of Commons to a majority government. Next Monday in Quebec, that same cohort could deal a lethal blow to the once mighty Parti Québécois. PQ Leader Jean-François Lisée spent the past month trying to restore his party’s […]
Sep 22 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — This is the time in past election campaigns when the Quebec Liberals would set aside their platform to focus single-mindedly on the Parti Québécois’s referendum agenda. Forcing the question of whether voters wanted to risk a return to referendum politics on the ballot did not always result in a Liberal victory but it did make […]
Sep 19 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives may want to push pause on plans to make immigration a signature federal campaign theme next fall long enough to take stock of the turn in the Quebec election conversation. Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault thought he was reaching for a low-hanging fruit when he embraced the issue. With less than […]
Sep 14 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — With all the friendly fire coming his way, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer may need a political flak jacket to campaign in next year’s federal election. The next 12 months are about to test his capacity to keep the conservative movement from splintering into fratricide factions.
Sep 12 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Chances are Ontario’s Doug Ford will not for long be the only premier to bypass the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to push through a controversial item on his legislative agenda. Depending on the outcome of the Quebec Oct. 1 election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s home province could be next.
Sep 10 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Among Canada’s larger provinces, none is greying faster than Quebec. For the first time in its modern history, the province is struggling with labour shortages. To varying degrees all its regions including Montreal are affected. Those shortages are projected to become more acute as the last of the baby boomers retire over the coming decade. […]
Sep 7 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Were the federal New Democrats to conduct a leadership review this fall, Jagmeet Singh would likely be handed his walking papers. Over his first year as leader, he has presided over a steep decline in the party’s byelection fortunes. The New Democrat family is more divided today than it was on the day he won […]
Sep 5 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — If U.S. president Donald Trump’s threat to exclude Canada from a post-NAFTA U.S.-Mexico trade deal was meant to drive a wedge within Justin Trudeau’s free trade coalition it has so far failed. In the days since Trump formalized its intention to submit to the U.S. Congress new trade arrangements with Mexico that might not include […]
Sep 1 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau lost more than a big court battle in the pipeline war this week. He also lost part of his re-election narrative. In 2015, Trudeau promised Canadians he would have the environmental back of the communities that host new pipeline developments. He also vowed to establish a real partnership with First Nations. The Federal […]
Aug 29 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Every premier has a stake in the latest episode of the NAFTA political drama. But as a make-or-break round of Canada/U.S. negotiations unfolds in Washington this week, one stands more directly in the line of fire. Quebec’s Philippe Couillard already faces long odds as he campaigns for re-election on Oct. 1.
Aug 27 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — It is not a Maxime Bernier-led breakaway party that stands to most damage Conservative prospects in Quebec in next year’s federal election but rather some of leader Andrew Scheer’s own promises. In a keynote speech to his party’s national convention on Friday, Scheer laid out part of his 2019 battle plan. As expected, it borrows […]