Nov 15 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — The Lords of the Rings gazing down from their Mount Olympus headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland may have cause to furrow their collective brow at the goings-on in Calgary this week. On the ballot of a civic plebiscite was permission to pursue a $5-billion government-backed bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics. And for the first time […]
Nov 8 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — Craig Oliver is usually among the first to show up in the Ottawa bureau in the morning. Legally blind for decades, CTV’s political commentator straps on headphones to get an audio rundown of the day’s top stories while peering into his heavily magnified computer screen to scan the news feed. An hour later, Craig will […]
Nov 1 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — Being Governor General means living the dream of super elite status in Canada. It comes with the biggest house in Ottawa, so big the prime minister is currently a tenant on the estate grounds. There’s a salary of $270,000, even though the taxpayer covers all expenses mere mortals have to pay themselves.
Oct 25 2018 — Don Martin — CTV News — Canada, brace yourself. Both the prime minister and the Official Opposition leader warn this year-long fight for your election vote is going to be particularly “nasty.” What a hoot.
Oct 18 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — Amid euphoric media coverage of the first Canadian to buy legal pot, the more interesting and ignored angle would be the last person charged with possession of cannabis in this country. It was probably some lippy kid living on a city street who was busted in tandem with another minor offence. But the record for […]
Oct 11 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — She was a breath of fresh air into a stale job. Incredibly bright and charismatic with an instant connection to average Canadians, Michaelle Jean checked every box on a list to shake up the staid image of a Canadian Governor General. Her vice-regal performance, despite a few hiccups, lived up to the hype – particularly […]
Oct 4 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — It’s not often both major federal parties are right and wrong at the same time. But as the rehashing of the tragic 2009 murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford echoes through the House of Commons, the Liberals and the Conservatives have accomplished this rare feat. There’s a monster living in Saskatchewan’s Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge. Her […]
Sep 27 2018 — Don Martin — CTV News — You see them driving up and down streets in beat-up pickups on garbage day, rummaging along the curb for items with flea market sales potential. With reports of Canada negotiating for a used surveillance drone, one stripped of its hi-tech navigating equipment and considered scrap-worthy by German defense officials, we are at risk of becoming […]
Sep 20 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — When a Liberal MP marched across the House of Commons aisle to sit as a Conservative this week, reaction in the national press gallery was almost unanimous. Who’s that? Reporters blitzed Google for details on this unfamiliar face and debated how to pronounce Leona Alleslev’s last name.
Sep 14 2018 — Don Martin — Even among the truest believers in the NDP, doubts are growing about their rookie leader. They say Jagmeet Singh lacks communications skills beyond photo-ops, stands for everything left and nothing definitive at the same time and rarely projects the aura of being in command of his caucus. Meanwhile, the NDP is polling near electoral road-kill […]
Sep 6 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — Alberta separation talk is not intended as a threat. Yet. It’s the sort of grumble which rumbles when Albertans feel they’re undervalued as a mere gas tank for Canada’s economic engine. But the man who wants to be Alberta premier if the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion stays above ground told Power Play that the volume […]
Aug 23 2018 — Don Martin — CTV News — Far from handing the Liberals the next election, Mad Max could trigger the Belinda Effect. Maxime Bernier’s backstabbing exit has the potential to unify the Conservatives in the same way that party’s runner-up leadership candidate Belinda Stronach’s defection to the Liberals in 2005, after insisting Stephen Harper was too extreme, energized a demoralized caucus. The […]
Jul 18 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — It’s bigger, but that’s not to say it is any better. Boosted by five new ministers—who in turn will be bolstered by plenty of support staff and the costly perks of executive office—the Trudeau election-ready cabinet is bordering on bloated with overlaps and carved-out creations aimed at tackling nagging problems. Yet there’s never been proof […]
Jul 12 2018 — Don Martin — CTV Power Play — It’s that time of the pre-election cycle when MPs ponder their private lives and then take the pulse of their ridings to gauge the odds of being rewarded with re-election or facing the risk of a voter pink slip. A dozen MPs are on the way out so far, but more are expected to engage […]
Jul 5 2018 — Don Martin — CTV News — As a boycott, it was a bust. While the U.S. ambassador’s July 4th bash – usually a social highlight of the summer in Ottawa – was undeniably smaller than the 4,000 overcapacity crowd of recent years, so was the invitation list of roughly 1,000 names, embassy officials say. And if there’s flared-up tension with the […]