Jul 18 2020 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Populism is sweeping the globe, but so far Canada has been relatively untouched. Our luck may be running out. Albertans’ satisfaction with Canadian democracy has fallen 19 points in the last two years. In Saskatchewan, high-quality candidates are said to be standing in line to run for Wexit in the next federal election. So, how […]
Jun 30 2020 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — What if Canada and Alberta agreed to turn the page on history? What if Justin Trudeau and Jason Kenney set aside their differences and pledged to work together to make Canada and Alberta global leaders in a new energy era? Fanciful? Maybe, but history is full of unlikely alliances that suddenly make the impossible possible. […]
Jun 24 2020 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Like many westerners, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney believes that Confederation has treated his province unfairly. He is determined to do something about it, starting with a province-wide referendum on Equalization in 2021. The rest of Canada should take note – especially, Ottawa. This comes at a critical time. Western alienation may have been around since […]
Jun 2 2020 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Ottawa is rumoured to be working on an ambitious stimulus package for the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan, apparently, will be green. So, has the Trudeau government given up on the oil and gas industry? In his first mandate, Justin Trudeau declared that balancing the environment and the economy was a signature […]
Mar 25 2019 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — If the Liberals hit the ball out of the park in 2015, things will be a lot tougher this time around. But here’s an idea that not only Liberals, but all progressives should rally around: Canadians need a progressive model of cabinet government – and the 2015 Liberal platform points us in the right direction. […]
Mar 9 2019 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Last Thursday morning, Justin Trudeau spoke out on the SNC-Lavalin crisis. Anyone who tuned into the press conference expecting to hear an apology would have been disappointed. The advance billing was wrong. This was an ultimatum, not an apology – a last chance to lay down arms or face the consequences. Will it work? To […]
Mar 5 2019 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Last week, Jody Wilson-Raybould’s testimony rocked Ottawa like a Category 8 earthquake. Jane Philpott’s resignation is a second seismic event, possibly worse than the first. Trudeau’s challenge now is not just to respond to Wilson-Raybould, but to demonstrate that his government still has a moral compass. All eyes, of course, are on the Commons, where […]
Feb 23 2019 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Never waste a good crisis. Winston Churchill’s words must be ringing in the PM’s ears. First, the SNC-Lavalin controversy swallowed his star Indigenous minister, then it took his principal secretary. No one knows what’s next, but a crisis this surely is. So, can any good come of it for the Liberal government? Maybe, and it […]
Feb 9 2019 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Franz Kafa couldn’t script it better. The Trudeau PMO stands accused of interfering in a legal process and the former Attorney General is the only one who can clear the air; but she refuses to do so, citing solicitor/client privilege. Meanwhile, the prime minister, her client, twists in the wind yet, inexplicably, fails to waive […]
Feb 5 2019 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Senate hearings on C-69 are about to begin and the critics are lining up. It will be a critical test of the government’s approach to climate change AND of the new senate’s role as a house of sober second thought. There’s a lot hanging in the balance and senators need to get this right. So, […]
Jan 26 2019 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — He’s done it again. After retracting his original comments on Meng Wanzhou, John McCallum has weighed in a second time. Has he lost it? Maybe not. Maybe he is simply blurting out – however inarticulately – what the government can’t say out loud, namely, that in our rush to uphold the rule of law, Canadians […]
Jan 22 2019 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — With an election on the horizon, Justin Trudeau wants to start planning our transition to a green economy and he’s asked Bill Morneau to develop an “economic argument” that will get Canadians on side. My advice is to start with the premise that we have no choice; responding to climate change really is a matter of […]
Jan 3 2019 — Don Lenihan — Jason Kenney is in combat mode: if he wins the upcoming election in Alberta, he says he’ll “fight back hard” against the “anti-oil activists” and he is calling on CEOs from the oil patch to join him. They should resist. Driving an even deeper wedge between climate change and the oil patch is a really […]
Dec 22 2018 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Rachel Notley’s win in 2015 may have been a stunning defeat for conservatives, but few pundits saw it as a game-changer for progressives. I didn’t. I thought of Bob Rae’s ill-fated victory in 1990, but this time with Notley cast as the accidental tourist, about to be hit by a bus. Four years later, I’m […]
Dec 10 2018 — Don Lenihan — National Newswatch — Tomorrow, Canada will sign the United Nations Global Compact on Migration in Marrakesh, Morocco, and so it should. For Canada, at least, this is a no-brainer. At least, it seemed to be, until Andrew Sheer shot up a flare in Question Period last week. Now everyone has a view. Sheer claims that the Trudeau government […]