Apr 1 2020 — Chris Selley — National Post — When it comes to looking on the bright side of the COVID-19 pandemic — no easy task — many Canadians have clearly taken solace in outperforming the United States. We locked down quicker, and more people seemed to take heed. Our young weren’t caught on video making drunken, infectious asses of themselves on beaches. Our […]
Mar 24 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — On Sunday, Erin O’Toole became the first of the two presumptive front-runners to call for the Conservative leadership race to be put on hold. “I’m proposing that we put the needs of our fellow citizens first,” he said — which on the one hand suggests it’s not really that important to have an able-duck Opposition […]
Feb 21 2020 — Chris Selley — National Post — It is easy, in the midst of this mind-boggling, all-consuming rail blockade, to lose sight of a very important point: It’s all Ontario’s fault. The RCMP in their role as British Columbia’s provincial police are happy to enforce court orders against blockades and encampments. Quebec Premier François Legault vowed Thursday that the Sûreté du Québec […]
Feb 20 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — The stupefying weightlessness of Justin Trudeau’s government has never been more evident than in recent days, as it tries to arrange an end to the Mohawk blockade of CN’s main line near Belleville, Ont. At times it seems as if it might just float away, like an improperly tethered bouncy castle in a thunderstorm. This […]
Feb 12 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — If the contest for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership is a race of ideas, then Erin O’Toole is running away with it — mostly because Peter MacKay is still tying his shoes. With MacKay widely assumed to be a moderate force within the party, the less known O’Toole has been free to cast himself […]
Jan 28 2020 — Chris Selley — National Post — Peter MacKay may or may not have a French problem. In Quebecor’s newsrooms, he does: The cover of Sunday’s Journal de Québec alleged he had officially declared his candidacy for Conservative leader with the words “j’ai sera candidate” (not “je serai candidat”). It was marked wrong in red pen. The headline underneath, in English, was […]
Jan 23 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — There is no “Donutgate.” It is not a thing. At a rough guess, perhaps five real people care that Justin Trudeau went to an upmarket instead of mass-market donut shop in Winnipeg to pick up treats for the Liberal cabinet retreat. Five people does not make “scandal,” “outrage” or “controversy.” Not even close. Donutgate is […]
Jan 22 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — Certain pundits — well, one at least — had speculated in recent weeks that Jean Charest might be a plausible defender and leader of a Canadian conservative coalition that sometimes seems scared of its own shadow. If nothing else, it seemed reasonable to assume Charest appreciated the nature of that coalition. He lived its glory […]
Jan 16 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — CBC’s and CTV’s newsrooms published rather important “clarifications” to online news stories on Tuesday afternoon, the main point of which was that Stephen Harper never uttered the phrase “regime change” at an international policy gabfest in New Delhi. The topic was Iran and its shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner with 176 souls aboard, the […]
Jan 10 2020 — Chris Selley — Calgary Herald — Glee is spreading among Liberal partisans at the thought of Pierre Poilievre succeeding Andrew Scheer as Conservative leader. The theory is he is so pugnacious, so obnoxious, so poisonously, sneeringly partisan as to be literally unelectable.
Dec 30 2019 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — It’s not good to be cynical about politicians in general. Most are in the game for the right reasons. But over the past 10 years, a good few of them — and their advisers — have really let the side down. With an obvious bias toward Central Canada and federal politics, here are the Top […]
Dec 5 2019 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — In advance of Thursday’s throne speech, strategists both professional and amateur had advised Canadians to listen for a certain humility — a new tone that we weren’t accustomed to during the four years Justin Trudeau led a majority government. There would be calls for collaboration, and cooperation, and partnership, all that crap. This is what […]
Nov 15 2019 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — It has been more than a month since Federal Court Justice Russell Zinn forced the Leaders’ Debates Commission to accredit Rebel Media and the True North Centre for Public Policy to cover the Oct. 7 English-language debate. The commission had already been under fire for inviting People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier to participate, based on […]
Nov 8 2019 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — At a Wednesday press conference in Ottawa, a Globe and Mail reporter asked Andrew Scheer if he believes homosexuality is a “sin.” He didn’t answer, as has become his trademark on this file; instead he pledged, for the umpteenth time, simply to stand up for gay rights in all their forms. It has been maddening […]
Oct 31 2019 — Chris Selley — National Post — There are many things for the Conservative Party of Canada to ponder in the wake of their election-night performance last week, and one of them is certainly Andrew Scheer’s leadership. It should by no means be beyond reproach. Quite apart from anything else he signed off on a dispiriting grab-bag of a platform that seemed […]