Jun 18 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — The Conservatives have made clear their preferred ballot question in the 2019 election — the cost to the average family of Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax. They filibustered all night last Thursday to highlight their point that finance minister Bill Morneau won’t release that figure, despite having the analysis to hand. Meanwhile, the Conservative Party’s Twitter […]
Jun 14 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — The office of the auditor general has been deemed infallible since Sheila Fraser almost single-handedly brought down Paul Martin’s Liberal government with her report on the sponsorship scandal. Ministers whose departments have been unfortunate enough to fall foul of a critical audit have genuflected and promised to fix the problem pronto. That’s what made a […]
Jun 14 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — The idea that Bill Blair was ever an undercover cop in the Toronto Police Services drug unit does not speak well to the intelligence of the city’s felons. He stands erect as a grenadier at six foot four and might as well have: “Keep Calm, I’m a Police Officer” etched on his forehead. He maintains […]
Jun 13 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — When you’re ahead in the polls and raising twice as much money as your nearest rival, why would you do something that is likely to upset half of your party membership? Andrew Scheer might want to ask himself that question, after stripping his former leadership rival Maxime Bernier of his position in the Conservative shadow […]
Jun 12 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — The trade war against American gherkins and strawberry jam will start on Canada Day, which is when the government’s retaliatory action against U.S. steel tariffs will come into effect. The date is no coincidence. It was picked to optimize unity among patriotic Canadians in opposition to Donald Trump’s policies and public statements. But it turns […]
Jun 11 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — It’s as if Donald Trump has sent a convoy of frigates down the St. Lawrence. The potent brew of indignation and patriotism among Canadians at the president’s bully tactics has produced conditions ripe for a Boycott America backlash. The House of Commons voted unanimously to condemn the attacks on the government by Trump and economic […]
Jun 8 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — It’s as if Justin Trudeau is being preyed upon by an incubus that takes the form of robust, right-wing populists with a fondness for provocative statements and self-tanning products. It has not been a good week for the prime minister. A quick scan of Friday’s headlines revealed a feud crystallizing with U.S. President Donald Trump; […]
Jun 6 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — Well at least now we know why Donald Trump considers Canada a national security threat. “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” he reportedly asked Justin Trudeau in a phone call late last month, referring to the War of 1812, when British troops burned down the presidential residence in retaliation for an American attack […]
Jun 4 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — Justin Trudeau performed faultlessly on NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd on Sunday — if you were watching from a Canadian perspective. But the point, presumably, was to change the hearts and minds of a U.S. audience about the judiciousness of Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum — and from that point of […]
May 31 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — Justin Trudeau’s reputation as the “Trump whisperer” looks to be in tatters after the U.S. president rebuffed efforts by Canada to have the two leaders meet this week in Washington, and the concern in Ottawa is that the meeting of the heads of G7 governments in Charlevoix, Que. next week — the pinnacle of Canada’s […]
May 31 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — The mercury, and tempers, were rising in the House of Commons Wednesday, as politicians sparred over the Liberal government’s controversial nationalization of the Trans Mountain pipeline. There is a sense that this is serious business and that the passion and exasperation in Parliament will be nothing compared to the rage on the ground in British […]
May 29 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — You couldn’t make this stuff up. On the day the Auditor General released a report blasting “incomprehensible failures” in the government’s capability to do much of anything, the Liberals announced that Ottawa is getting into the pipeline business. Michael Ferguson’s report found there were fundamental failures of project management and oversight in implementing the Phoenix […]
May 24 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — Psst – want to buy a pipeline? All the signs suggest Ottawa will very shortly have one to sell. We are not party to the discussions between the Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, and the boss of Kinder Morgan, Steve Kean, but I like to imagine there is a Pythonesque air to them. Morneau: “We’d like […]
May 23 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — Donald Trump’s negotiating strategy is to sow confusion among those sitting across the table. A report last year suggested he schooled his top trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, in the art of the deal. “You tell them ‘this guy is so crazy he could pull out at any minute’. And by the way, I might,” he […]
May 18 2018 — John Ivison — National Post — The Liberals have done it to themselves. Just as Henry Ford’s customers could have any colour of Model T car, as long as it was black, so the Liberals can have any pipeline they want, as long as it’s Trans Mountain. By reducing the number of options, they are now engaged in the politics of […]