Mar 31 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — FOR THE SAKE OF CLARITY — There have been lots of different messages floating around lately about the third wave, variants, vaccines and lockdowns. To help you keep everything straight, Corridors would like to offer this amalgamated transcript of several recent press conferences from federal and provincial leaders and health officials. You’re welcome. Prime Minister […]
Mar 24 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — CARBON TAX ON TRIAL — The Liberals seem confident they’ll emerge victorious when the Supreme Court of Canada rules Thursday on the constitutionality of the carbon tax. And they have some reason to be. Anyone watching the September hearing would have noticed several of the justices seemed sympathetic to the federal government’s argument that climate […]
Mar 17 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — TALE AS OLD AS TIME — Seven months after winning the leadership of the federal NDP, Jagmeet Singh kicked one of his MPs out of caucus. There were claims he’d acted unfairly, but Singh stuck to his guns. That was just one episode in an extended rough patch for the NDP leader. At the time, […]
Mar 10 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — WELCOME TO YEAR TWO — A year ago, the Parliament of today would have been hard to imagine. The House of Commons is nearly deserted. Almost all MPs participate in debates and committees remotely. Oh, and that budget never did materialize — and won’t until at least mid-April, according to the Globe and Mail’s Bill […]
Mar 3 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — TO SPEND OR TO SPEND MORE: The Liberals show no sign of veering from Freeland’s mantra that spending too little would be far worse than spending too much on the Covid-19 recovery. And they’re hardly alone. Last month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told her G20 counterparts it was time to “go big” with stimulus […]
Feb 24 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — BEST BUDS — Despite the awkwardness of Tuesday’s virtual meeting, the Trudeau and Biden camps were both eager to put their friendship on display. “The United States has no closer friend, no closer friend, than Canada,” President Joe Biden said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned the official dinner he held for Biden in 2016, back […]
Feb 17 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — WHAT IS GENOCIDE, ANYWAY? According to Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, the forcible relocation of Uighur Muslims into internment camps and reports of torture, mass rape and sterilization are proof enough that China is committing genocide in Xinjiang. On Tuesday, he said Canada should call on the International Olympic Committee to relocate the 2022 Winter Games […]
Feb 10 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — SPRING FLING — After getting pretty good marks for his response to the pandemic over the last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now taking a hit in public opinion polls over Canada’s slow vaccine rollout. If the Liberals were hoping to turn their minority into a majority in the next few months, an election […]
Jan 27 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — CALLING THE SHOTS — The delay in shipments from Pfizer’s production slowdown has set the stage for a sitting that will be dominated in part by vaccines: how fast they arrive, where they come from, and who gets them when. As the House of Commons returned this week, the vaccine interruption was easy fodder for […]
Jan 18 2021 — Maura Forrest — Politico — Canada’s Liberals wasted no time after the Capitol Hill riot trying to tar the Conservatives with the brush of Trumpism. The governing party dug up Parler accounts supposedly belonging to Conservative members of Parliament, reminded everyone of Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s “Take Back Canada” slogan, and passed around photos of deputy leader Candice Bergen wearing […]
Jan 6 2021 — Maura Forrest — National Newswatch — NEW YEAR, SAME PROBLEMS — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised on Tuesday that 2021 will be better than 2020, pointing once again to shipments of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines being delivered to provinces and territories and repeating his government’s pledge that anyone who wants a vaccine will have one by September.
Dec 23 2020 — Maura Forrest — Politico — A LOOK BACK — Trudeau spent the first two months of 2020 lurching from crisis to crisis, long before the big one hit. On Jan. 8, the Iranian military shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing 138 people with ties to Canada.
Dec 16 2020 — Maura Forrest — Politico — CHANGING CLIMATE — Conveniently, the Liberals waited until the last day of the sitting to announce their new climate plan, meaning they won’t have to face questions about it in the House of Commons before late January. Even then, unlike when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first promised a carbon tax, there will be no new […]
Dec 9 2020 — Maura Forrest — Politico — ADJOURNMENT PROCEEDINGS — It wouldn’t be the end of a parliamentary sitting without a nail-biting, will-they-or-won’t-they drama surrounding passage of a controversial bill. This time around, it’s the Liberals’ assisted-dying legislation, Bill C-7, which would extend medical assistance in dying to those whose deaths aren’t reasonably foreseeable. The Liberals want to get it passed in […]
Dec 2 2020 — Maura Forrest — Politico — THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS — It’s not been easy for the new leader of the official opposition to make a name for himself in the thick of a global pandemic. Standard Conservative talking points about reining in government spending don’t have quite the same cachet just now, and O’Toole has had to find new ammunition […]