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 […]
Sep 11 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — After the initial shock of the Federal Court of Appeal’s judgment on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, life is returning to normal for Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. That is, the new normal that exists in the long, cold shadow of the court’s verdict, with the many ramifications for her government that flow from it.
Aug 29 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — It’s been a rough 11 months for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. Since assuming the top job in his party last October, Mr. Singh has had to exert his authority over 42 NDP MPs in Ottawa from the outside looking in. As strategies go, it’s been a washout. Many people in the country don’t know who […]
Jul 20 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Once Jason Kenney kicked Derek Fildebrandt out of Alberta’s United Conservative Party, you knew there’d be a counter-move. Perhaps no one expected this one, however. Mr. Fildebrandt has announced the formation of a new right-wing political association in the province – the Freedom Conservative Party. And if that sounds a little Ayn Rand-meets-American Tea Party, […]
Jul 18 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — By all measures, Jason Kenney should be feeling pretty good these days. His United Conservative Party recently won two by-elections in Alberta by whopping margins. Sure, they might have been in extra-safe seats, but still, the magnitude of the victories was notable. In one, the UCP candidate was 73 points ahead of the NDP’s sacrificial […]
Jun 27 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Does Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government really dislike Alberta and the West or is this just a convenient narrative, peddled by conservative politicians who have nothing but their own self-interest in mind? The question is asked again in the wake of last week’s revelation that the federal government quietly renewed, for another five years, […]
May 18 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Stephen Harper is back! Those words will send shivers down the spines of many Canadians but not all. In fact, there are undoubtedly even old critics of the former Conservative prime minister who now miss his bland, plodding leadership style. A few years of Justin Trudeau’s travelling roadshow will do that. Since resigning from politics […]
Apr 13 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — It wasn’t long ago that the thought of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being a one-term wonder would have been unthinkable. Not any more. A confluence of issues and events – hello, India! – have reshaped the Liberal Leader’s image in the unkindest of ways. However, it’s his government’s contentious environmental agenda, and his handling of […]
Mar 3 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — If there was one thing Patrick Brown’s advisers never stopped worrying about, it was the women. It was an all-encompassing concern virtually from the outset of his ill-fated leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party. Today, more than a month after a CTV report alleging sexual misconduct with two women led to Mr. Brown’s resignation, […]
Feb 26 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Of course, there was always a chance that Patrick Brown’s bizarre entry into the Ontario Tory leadership race would blow up before it ended. If it didn’t look like he could win, he might opt to “play the role of kingmaker,” his campaign spokeswoman Alise Mills told me on a couple of occasions over the […]
Feb 22 2018 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — The low point of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s eight-day work-trip-disguised-as-a-family-vacation to India might have been a toss up – until recently. Things got off to a poor start when he stepped out of his plane with his wife and three children to be welcomed by the country’s agriculture minister – not Prime Minister Narendra Modi, […]
Dec 14 2017 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — What is Kent Hehr still doing in the federal cabinet? Mr. Hehr is the Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities who has been making news recently, and not in a good way. He has been accused by a number of women of conducting himself inappropriately in meetings, mostly by making comments that were rude, […]
Dec 13 2017 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Back when I was a young political reporter, a colleague and I decided to write a book about the shambolic government of Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm. Keith Baldrey and I were both reporters for The Vancouver Sun based in the capital, and had unparalleled contacts and access to those in the best position […]
Sep 16 2017 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — As soon as Monday, British Columbia will be put on a path that will change its politics forever. It will come in the shape of legislation that will reform the province’s embarrassingly outdated campaign-finance rules. The new government has finalized a bill that will transform the way elections are waged and how parties govern themselves, […]
Aug 11 2017 — Gary Mason — Globe and Mail — Canada’s first ministers might be happy to see the back of Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall. After all, for much of his decade-long reign in office, he was proclaimed the most popular provincial leader in the country, with approval numbers that were off the charts.