Sep 21 2021 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — There will be war. Elections that produce minority governments in Canada always set off gyrations in the country’s two main political parties. This one will be no different. Justin Trudeau will certainly hear rumblings inside the Liberal Party after failing to deliver the majority government that seemed, at the time he called the election in […]
Sep 14 2021 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Election campaigns are bruising, generally thankless affairs, in which the mood of the candidates is inextricably linked to the proximity of the finish line. That is, unless you have nothing to lose, then you can often enjoy the experience and get more exposure than you ever imagined – or frankly, deserved. Welcome to Mad Max […]
Aug 17 2021 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — There may be no better example of the unique and difficult challenge Erin O’Toole faces as leader of the federal Conservative Party than his recently announced policy on mandatory vaccinations. Mr. O’Toole is against measures that force Canadians to get vaccinated, regardless of what line of work they may be in. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau […]
Jul 27 2021 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — To his supporters, it all sounded so right, so promising. An Alberta Premier who was going to stick up for his province against those wanting to tear it down. Shortly after winning power in the spring of 2019, Jason Kenney announced a public inquiry to look into the Canadian environmental organizations behind what he branded […]
Jul 10 2021 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Describing it as one of those hinge moments in history that prompts fundamental change around the world, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the pandemic will irrevocably alter Canada as well. “The last big one was the Second World War,” Mr. Trudeau said. “I think we all sense we’re in that time again, building up to […]
Jan 27 2021 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — A few years ago, before he would become Premier, Jason Kenney gave a talk to a group of Albertans that veered into the subject of corporate welfare. The leader of the United Conservative Party took his audience back to the late 1980s, when the government of premier Don Getty decided to offer grants and loan […]
Mar 26 2020 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — You could argue that U.S. President Donald Trump’s short-sighted and bungled handling of the COVID-19 pandemic began before the virus took hold in his country. Two years earlier, Luciana Borio, the president’s biodefense preparedness advisor, warned that a flu pandemic – not a 9/11 redux – was the country’s No. 1 health security threat. As […]
Sep 14 2019 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — It takes a person with a strange sense of humour to make the unlawful imprisonment of environmental activists by an authoritarian regime fodder for a speech laugh line. But for Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, the arrests served as a sort of teachable moment, a poignant and even funny illustration of the power that such acts […]
Jun 25 2019 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Since its introduction last week, the federal Conservatives’ plan to fight the growing impact of climate change has been met with eye-rolling derision. The plan has been broadly portrayed as facile, vacuous and a cynical attempt to dupe a gullible public. Other than that, the rollout went swimmingly. You would think that this type of […]
Apr 4 2019 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Being a politician isn’t easy, with all those rubber chickens you’re forced to eat while gobbling for votes. Perhaps worse is the stomach you must have for taking positions you know in your heart aren’t right, or good for humanity, but nonetheless give your party the best chance at scoring cheap political points. And if […]
Mar 7 2019 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail —
Jan 16 2019 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — The only thing worse than being talked about, Oscar Wilde once said, is not being talked about. I’m not sure federal NDP stalwarts would agree. They wouldn’t mind if their leader, Jagmeet Singh, wasn’t talked about for a while, I’m sure. Every time he is, it doesn’t seem to reflect well on him. The seatless […]
Oct 31 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — If federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer declares journalists the “enemy of the people,” we will know he will have unburdened himself of any final reservations about adopting U.S. President Donald Trump’s war with the press as a means of winning and maintaining power. To this point, Mr. Scheer and his Conservative colleagues have mostly taken […]
Oct 26 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Not long after the federal government announced details of its carbon tax rebate plan, Maxime Bernier, founder of the People’s Party of Canada, took to Twitter to render his verdict. “Libs can only sell their carbon tax if they lie,” Mr. Bernier wrote. “Lie #1: You’ll get your money back. Lie #2: It’s a price […]
Oct 10 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — The world can’t say it wasn’t warned – repeatedly. But unfortunately, the dire cautions being levelled by climate scientists these days don’t seem to be precipitating the global panic and outrage that they should. The latest report from the United Nations indicates the planet is warming at a far greater rate than previously thought. At […]