Mar 6 2021 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Anyone involved in Canadian politics knows that being leader of the Official Opposition is hard, and that growing the fractious Conservative coalition is even harder. That doesn’t change the fact that Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole needs to do a better job. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are vulnerable. Canada’s performance in acquiring vaccines has been mediocre at […]
Feb 22 2021 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — With the Liberal backbench in open revolt, the House of Commons unanimously declared Monday that the government of China is committing genocide. In the short run, little will come of it. Meaningful action to constrain the increasingly aggressive Chinese government will only occur if the United States rallies its allies to act. But the House, […]
Jan 11 2021 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — The Trudeau government is investigating whether the extreme right-wing group the Proud Boys should be declared a terrorist organization. That is a legal decision. But there’s politics in it as well. The Liberals are trying to discomfit Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives by linking the party to extremists. On the Proud Boys, “officials will be analyzing useful […]
Dec 31 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — In the grocery store on Wednesday morning, people were talking about Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips’s trip to St. Barts. “Can you believe it?” a customer asked the cashier, who shook her head in disgust. Premier Doug Ford knows better than anyone how bad that moment was for his government. If you think that we […]
Dec 17 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — The federal NDP has informed lenders that it will pay off its last tranche of debt on Dec. 31. The party is performing respectably in the polls. If it’s too soon to call Jagmeet Singh “veteran,” the New Democrat Leader has grown in the job, comfortable in front of a camera as well as a […]
Dec 7 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Michael Sabia, who has instantly become the most powerful public servant in Ottawa, will advise Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on the rollout of the green infrastructure plan for the 2021 budget. That plan will involve far more than spending on windmills and public transit. Mr. Sabia, who is joining the Department of Finance as deputy […]
Dec 2 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s fall economic statement is an act of deception – or maybe self-deception. While this Liberal government promises to invest up to $100-billion over three years in stimulus, to move toward a new national child-care system and “national, universal pharmacare,” and to launch major new initiatives to fight climate change, combat systemic […]
Nov 8 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Most Canadians welcome Joe Biden’s likely victory over Donald Trump in the race for the U.S. presidency. A Léger poll last month found that 72 per cent of the 1,500 Canadians surveyed would vote for Mr. Biden if they could; according to an Ipsos poll in the days before this week’s election, seven in 10 […]
Oct 19 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Another day, another cheap threat from a Chinese diplomat. The Trudeau government sharply rebuked the official, but went no further, which was the right thing to do. “Wolf warrior” diplomacy, as it’s called, was on full display Thursday when China’s ambassador to Canada warned Ottawa against accepting pro-democracy dissidents fleeing Hong Kong in the wake […]
Sep 28 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — In the next election campaign, whenever it comes, Justin Trudeau won’t have Doug Ford to kick around any more. In last year’s federal election, the Liberal Leader focused as heavily on the Ontario Premier, who was then unpopular because of spending cuts, as he did on then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer. At one news conference, in […]
Aug 18 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Chrystia Freeland as the first woman to become Canada’s finance minister, he also advanced her prospects for becoming the first female leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. The appointment tells us something else. The centralization of power in the Prime Minister’s Office is now complete. Replacing Bill Morneau […]
Aug 5 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Derek Sloan is going full-on Donald Trump. The Member of Parliament for Hastings–Lennox and Addington is expected to place last in his bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party, once the ballots are counted later this month. But winning may not be his goal. There are people who long for the Canadian equivalent of […]
Jul 2 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — The lacklustre race for leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is further evidence of the impossibility of conservatism in our time. A confluence of health, economic and political crises has rendered the right irrelevant. When asked for answers to the challenges we face, conservatism is mute. Former senior Conservative cabinet minister Peter MacKay and […]
Jun 4 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Canada and the United States will almost certainly agree to keep the border between the countries closed beyond the current deadline of June 21. With the U.S. struggling to contain COVID-19, even as demonstrations rock American cities, some Canadians may wonder whether that border should reopen anytime soon. Yes it should. This country’s economic survival […]
Apr 17 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — The House of Commons is scheduled to return Monday. Obviously, all 338 MPs must not convene. But the time has come for regular sittings of the House, either real or virtual. Despite the COVID-19 emergency – no, because of it – we need the return of politics in Canada. Over the past month, federal and […]