Jun 19 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Yes, the Conservatives had a popular hockey coach as candidate, but their thumping of the Liberals in Chicoutimi-Le Ford, Monday night, should worry the Grits. Canadian voters are not rallying to the Liberals in solidarity as Justin Trudeau confronts Donald Trump over tariffs and trade. If that confrontation damages the economy, watch out. Next year […]
Jun 11 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — After June 29, when the Ontario Progressive Conservatives take office, we will get two Doug Fords. There will be days when a disciplined leader draws from the collective wisdom of a talented team to deliver effective conservative government. There will be days when a rogue premier riles up his base by raging against the elites. […]
Jun 8 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Doug Ford’s majority-government victory in Ontario’s election, Thursday, cements the arrival of populism in a province that once was governed by common sense. For the 14 million people living in Canada’s most populous province, the question now is whether and when pragmatic government will return, and how the province is to be governed in its […]
May 30 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — One of the boldest and riskiest qualities of the Trudeau government is its resolve, on certain key priorities, to decide first and worry about ”how” later. So marijuana use will become legal. Canada will have a carbon tax. The Trans Mountain pipeline will be built. If this approach works, at the end of their first […]
May 21 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Suppose that, after almost 15 years of Liberal government, you’re ready to see the back of Kathleen Wynne. But the thought of what Andrea Horwath’s NDP might do to Ontario’s finances worries you, and you find Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford’s populist anger just plain scary. Should you decide not to vote in the Ontario […]
Apr 30 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — This is so frustrating. Because of a perceived flaw, the Senate may send back to the House a bill that would expunge the criminal records of men who were convicted of committing homosexual acts in the years when such acts were illegal. The Senate may amend the bill and return it to the House of […]
Apr 27 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — The Trudeau government refuses job grants to students who would have worked at summer camps and soup kitchens, but happily gives money to students to organize pipeline protests. The government has an explanation, but it doesn’t matter. Your jaw dropped when you first heard about this. That matters.
Apr 13 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Good news! We are facing a crisis in national unity, but for once it’s not about Quebec. The dispute over the Trans Mountain pipeline is a major challenge both for the country and for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But that dispute also reflects how Canada has changed. This is not about language or culture. Rather, […]
Apr 2 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Someone needs to send this Liberal government an urgent message: Stop calling us deplorables! Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, under calm but persistent questioning from Evan Solomon on CTV’s Question Period, blurted out Sunday that “I have no time for folks who are like, you know, ‘we shouldn’t take action,’ ” on climate change. She later […]
Mar 21 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — With its message of hope transmuting dangerously into hectoring, the Trudeau government needs to be wary about the upcoming national consultations on racism. The exercise could further damage an already-weakened Liberal brand. Justin Trudeau won the 2015 election on a promise of transformative change after a decade of Conservative inaction. The new government pledged to […]
Mar 12 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Doug Ford will try to assemble a conservative coalition first forged more than 20 years ago by Mike Harris. He will be opposed by the same urban progressive voters who despised Mr. Harris’s Common Sense Revolution. Both sides will fight for the support of the immigrant voters in suburban ridings inside and surrounding Toronto, which […]
Mar 6 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Yes it’s only one poll, and yes it’s only halfway through the mandate, but Liberals should be worried by last week’s Ipsos survey, for two reasons: First, the Conservative coalition that sustained Stephen Harper’s governments appears to be realigning. Second, the agenda may be shifting away from social issues and toward economic management, which is […]
Mar 2 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Allies left furious by mixed messages and a missed meeting in Vietnam. A trip to China that accomplished nothing. And the debacle of the visit to India. Even Roland Paris is growing frustrated. The Ottawa academic who served as Justin Trudeau’s first foreign policy adviser is sounding a warning: This government must stop dropping the […]
Feb 22 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — A wise mind once observed that politicians don’t rise to power because of some strength, and then fall from power because of some weakness. The same quality accounts for both rise and fall, he said. We may be witnessing proof of that maxim in Justin Trudeau’s disastrous Indian excursion, capped by the discovery that the […]
Jan 25 2018 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Too often, movements of social protest force themselves on public consciousness, own the moment for a time, then fade from what used to be called the front page. Occupy. Idle No More. Even Black Lives Matter. But not #MeToo, which is transforming our society literally overnight. The ranks of powerful men laid low by allegations […]