Oct 7 2018 — Jen Gerson — Maclean's — Sitting at the back of Jason Kenney and Doug Ford’s “Scrap the Carbon Tax” rally, it became clear how this is all going to work. It’s the Friday night before the long weekend and a windowless conference hall in downtown Calgary is standing room only, more than a thousand people inside. Another 200 were locked […]
Aug 23 2018 — Jen Gerson — Maclean's — It speaks to just how shallow and affected my cynicism actually is that I never thought I would have to write this column. But if Maxime Bernier is going to try to ride the great global alt-right wave by spewing nativist rhetoric, complaining about “more diversity,” and raising the spectre of a breakdown of social […]
Aug 14 2018 — Jen Gerson — Maclean's — Brian Pallister figures it must have taken his father, a lifelong farmer and a man of few words, more than a week sitting on his tractor to formulate a response to his son’s first political win. It is 1992 and Pallister the younger has been elected to the provincial legislature. “He says, ‘Congratulations, boy. If […]
Jul 7 2018 — Jen Gerson — CBC — A funny tweet popped up on my feed recently. It was in response to a rambling speech delivered by U.S. President Donald Trump in South Carolina. After accusing our prime minister of high crimes in an unprecedented volley of barbs and insults after the G7 meeting in Quebec, Trump said: “Canada, you know, Canada? Nice […]
Jun 1 2018 — Jen Gerson — CBC — So, I guess Kinder Morgan wasn’t bluffing. Remember that, only a lifetime and two weeks ago, Finance Minister Bill Morneau seemed downright plummy after announcing his plan to indemnify Kinder Morgan against any losses incurred on the Trans Mountain pipeline. “We think plenty of investors would be interested in taking on this project, especially knowing […]
May 1 2018 — Jen Gerson — Maclean's — Of late, I have struggled with a radical proposition. A thought experiment I can’t seem to shake: what if Doug Ford would be an adequate premier for the province of Ontario? Maybe Doug Ford would be fine. If one is even a moderately fiscally conservative Ontario voter, the prospect of spending billions more in an […]
Feb 24 2018 — Jen Gerson — Maclean's — Only 15 minutes before CTV went to air with explosive allegations of sexual misconduct against Patrick Brown, the Ontario Progressive Conservative leader delivered a tearful press conference and, to the shock of many, refused to resign. In the era of #MeToo, the claims by the two young women were thought to be politically unsurvivable. Brown […]
Feb 3 2018 — Jen Gerson — CBC — Brother turned against sister this week. The House of the West divided. It’s hippie vs. rig pig; British Columbia against Alberta. B.C. Premier John Horgan announced this week plans to bar increases to diluted bitumen shipments off his coast until the province conducts an extensive study of the crude’s effects in water. It’s a direct […]
Jan 29 2018 — Jen Gerson — Maclean's — It could once be fairly said that the sign of a struggling political party was a woman at the helm. From former prime minister Kim Campbell, to Christy Clark, Alison Redford and Kathleen Wynne, most of this generation of female leaders can tell a similar tale of gamely stepping up to lead stale, scandal-ridden or […]
Jan 4 2018 — Jen Gerson — National Post — As a general rule, it’s wise to approach any feel-good initiative coming out of Hollywood with one eyebrow entrenched in the upward position. But I’m going to have to concede that the Time’s Up initiative — an open letter signed by more than 300 actresses, writers and entertainment industry veterans to combat sexual harassment in […]
Jan 1 2018 — Jen Gerson — National Post — By universal consensus, this past year has been deemed one of the more terrible in living memory. Beset by mass shootings, historic hurricanes, refugee crises, genocides and American politics, it’s difficult to remember a year more generally loathed. In fact, 2017 was so terrible that a birthday Instagram post by Taylor Swift that read “I […]
Jan 1 2018 — Jen Gerson — National Post — Let’s put aside, for a moment, the questions of ethics and law. Those were resolved in the days before Christmas, when federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson ruled that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated the conflict of interest act several times over when he flew on the Aga Khan’s private helicopter en route to a vacation […]
Dec 18 2017 — Jen Gerson — National Post — It’s fair to say that Jason Nixon failed to cover himself in glory when he fired a single mom a few days before Christmas back in 2005 shortly after she complained about being sexually harassed on a construction site. Nixon — now the United Conservative Party’s house leader in the Alberta legislature — didn’t harass […]
Dec 3 2017 — Jen Gerson — National Post — The Alberta NDP may be on track to accomplish something the previous Progressive Conservative government never could: slow down the growth of public sector wages. Given the NDP’s traditional affinity for unions and the working class, this may seem like an incongruous goal. During a fiscal update at the end of November, Finance Minister Joe […]
Nov 27 2017 — Jen Gerson — National Post — One must say this for Alberta Premier Rachel Notley: She really has learned how to land the punchline. Two years ago, when she was elected to lead the province, the surprise NDP premier addressed the Calgary Chamber of Commerce with praise for federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and the promise of a royalty review. The […]