Jun 25 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — When I first heard of the newly released notes that implicate RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki in a nauseating but all-too-believable plan to leverage the murder of 22 people to bolster the Liberals’ gun-control agenda, my first thought was that someone must have let those notes out by accident. Or maybe someone forgot to redact the […]
Jun 15 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — By now, the Liberal playbook on untenable pandemic-related policies is clear: They defend each square inch of policy territory like Tony Montana at the top of the staircase until ordered to retreat, at which point they drop their weapons, flee into the night and claim science made them do it.
Jun 3 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — The last poll Abacus Data conducted before Ontarians went to the polls Thursday pretty much summed up the story of the campaign: Doug Ford attracts extreme antipathy from his legions of detractors, but those legions simply aren’t large enough to trigger the sort of humiliating defeat they think he is owed — or indeed, defeat […]
May 22 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — Candidates for the federal Conservative leadership have until June 3 to sign up new members; at that point, almost three months before the actual election date, the result may be more or less baked in. Pierre Poilievre must hope that’s true — not just because he seems to be the prohibitive favourite, but because his […]
May 14 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — On Friday morning, University of Windsor law professor Noel Semple became the latest Liberal candidate in the 2022 Ontario election campaign to come under fire thanks to some third-party vetting: In 2004, when Semple was a law student at the University of Toronto, it seems he wrote a letter to campus newspaper The Varsity opposing […]
May 5 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted on Wednesday, not for the first time, that Canada might need abortion legislation … or maybe new abortion regulations … or maybe neither … or maybe something else. Not for the first time, it made little sense. “A woman’s free choice is a choice to be made by her alone,” […]
May 4 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — Four years ago, Doug Ford offered Ontarians $1 beers if they installed his Progressive Conservatives in government. And he delivered, though only briefly: The cheapest six-pack in Upper Canada now costs a shocking $9.30. This time around, the swag in the PC loot bag comes with many trailing zeroes, and many goodies are transportation-themed: $1.1 […]
May 3 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — Ontarians are set to go to the polls soon, with Premier Doug Ford beginning the election period on Tuesday, and the consensus among both Progressive Conservatives and many neutrals is that it’s Ford’s race to win. “I view it as a race for second place,” says Shakir Chambers, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategies who worked […]
Apr 28 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — For Ontarians who think it’s time government tightened our belts and dragged us quickly out of the budgetary hole we’ve been hiding in for two years, there is some very modest good news in the budget Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tabled Thursday by. As expected, the 242-page document projects significantly smaller deficits than previous economic […]
Apr 21 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — At some point relatively late on Tuesday, the Steam Whistle brewery felt it necessary to disassociate itself from Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre, to whom it had rented an event space at the historic railway roundhouse in downtown Toronto for a meet-and-greet event. The brewery “is in no way affiliated with Pierre Poilievre (and) does […]
Apr 20 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre was pretty clear in a video released last week about his basic plan to address Canada’s housing crisis: “Fire the gatekeepers, build houses.” Essentially, the federal government would use its considerable financial means to strongarm municipalities into softening zoning restrictions, cutting pre-construction red tape and reducing regulatory and development charges […]
Apr 13 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — Pierre Poilievre will not find much support for his Conservative leadership campaign, or for anything else, among Canada’s Gen-X and Millennial urban progressives. But judging by the reaction on social media, some in that demographic are surprised to find themselves nodding along with Poilievre’s new housing-policy video, in which he bemoans the insane price of […]
Mar 22 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — In the past, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has been mocked for propping up the Liberals and not getting anything in return. As of Tuesday, that narrative is at least on hold: In exchange for three years of support in the House of Commons, the Liberals have promised Singh more than 800 words’ worth of NDP-friendly […]
Mar 21 2022 — Chris Selley — National Newswatch — Would-be federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre faced a small but intense backlash on social media recently when someone unearthed an old newspaper advertisement he had taken out offering his Christian constituents best wishes for Easter: “He is Risen!” it read, with a photo of Poilievre’s mug attached and his contact information below.
Mar 9 2022 — Chris Selley — National Post — Supporters of Pierre Poilievre’s bid for the Conservative leadership are said to be disappointed in the party’s decision to opt for a long race: Candidates have until April 19 to enter, then 20 more weeks to win over the party membership before a Sept. 10 vote. That disappointment is understandable. Out of the gate, Poilievre’s […]