Jun 25 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — 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 […]
Jun 17 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — When voters go to the polls in four federal byelections spread across Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec on Monday, the results will not alter the dynamics in the House of Commons. But they will provide a reality check on some of the assumptions that underpin the strategies of the main parties. At the time of the […]
Jun 11 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — For all the brave talk on both sides of the House of Commons about sitting through the summer, Parliament will almost certainly rise in time for Canada Day. The annual celebrations will mark the beginning of a season of political uncertainties, including some caused by events outside the control of any of the party leaders. […]
Jun 3 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — 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 […]
May 21 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Ever since the 1995 referendum, the Quebec sovereignty movement has been searching for a spark to rekindle the secessionist flame. Could a fiery debate over immigration policy do the trick? What is certain is that some of its leading proponents believe they may have hit on a narrative liable to breathe new life into their […]
May 13 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — 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. […]
May 6 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Had former Quebec premier Jean Charest beat Pierre Poilievre for the leadership of the federal Conservative party last summer, chances are Justin Trudeau would have delivered a farewell speech at the opening of his party’s convention on Thursday night. At the very least, his address would have been significantly different. For the fun of it, […]
Apr 23 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — 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 […]
Apr 15 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — As Justin Trudeau celebrates a decade as Liberal leader this week, questions abound as to his future, as well as that of his party and his government. Here are some of them: 1. Trudeau beat long odds when he brought his party from third place in the House of Commons to a majority government in […]
Apr 1 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — It is a rare budget, at the federal or the provincial level, that results in an opposition leader rushing to do a victory lap about its content. And yet that’s exactly what happened Tuesday on Parliament Hill. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was still in the process of delivering her budget speech when a jubilant NDP […]
Mar 25 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Twenty years ago this week, Canada declined to join the United States in its war on Iraq. At the time, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was on the receiving end of a lot of flak for breaking ranks with the U.S. and U.K. on the leading global file of the time. Had Chrétien followed the bulk […]
Mar 18 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — 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 […]
Mar 11 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — 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 […]
Feb 19 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — 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 […]
Feb 4 2023 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — By appointing Amira Elghawaby as his lead representative on the Islamophobia file, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has thrown the equivalent of a political grenade into his Quebec trenches. The damage to his party and to the cause she is tasked with advancing could be consequential.