Jul 8 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — It’s said that if a nation ceases to believe it can win the war, the war is lost. If you accept the raft of new polls that suggest a Liberal landslide is as certain as thunder after lightning, the war is over before a shot has been fired. Three recent opinion surveys put the governing […]
Jul 3 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — Justin Trudeau is probably feeling unwell right about now. The prime minister got his second dose of vaccine on Friday and the pharmacist warned him the side effects are likely to be worse than the slight chills and fever he had after his first dose. “I know,” he said. “Sophie got hers yesterday. She had […]
Jul 1 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — Maybe it was a slip of the tongue but when Justin Trudeau called Canada “one of the very best countries in the world”, he may inadvertently have revealed that on the eve of the nation’s birthday, the country’s political leader thinks there are better places in the world to live and raise a family.
Jun 29 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are languishing in Chinese jails while Meng Wanzhou is detained on what increasingly look to be trumped-up, politically motivated charges. The extradition case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is premised on the allegation that Meng fraudulently misled HSBC Bank about the Chinese telecom giant’s ownership ties to Skycom, a company […]
Jun 24 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — Erin O’Toole’s leadership pledge to “take back Canada” was viciously lampooned. “Indigenous folks, did you hear Erin O’Toole wants to give you your land back,” quipped one social media satirist. The slogan may have helped O’Toole get elected leader but its Trumpian undercurrent ensured it was retired after he decided to present a more moderate […]
Jun 22 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — Defence ombudsman Gregory Lick catalogued the harm done by the misconduct in the military scandal, not least the threat to national security caused by a Canadian Forces convulsed by internal preoccupations. “Our allies are watching these events unfold in real time. Worse, those who are out to do us harm are also watching,” he said […]
Jun 22 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — Voters have short memories, which means you can never count out any political leader. It’s almost forgotten now but Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were lagging in third place just six months before the 2015 election, as the NDP’s Tom Mulcair saw his fortunes revived by the “Orange Chinook” that swept Rachel Notley to power in Alberta […]
Jun 16 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — If you asked Justin Trudeau who worries him more – Erin O’Toole or Jagmeet Singh – the odds are high he would say the NDP leader, rather than the Conservative. With the march to a fall election apparently inexorable, O’Toole has focused on the prime minister’s competence, or lack of, to no great effect.
Jun 11 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — A freshly-elected Justin Trudeau promised to win back the trust of Canadians, who he said were tired of the cynicism that debased federal politics. One wonders what that idealistic young man would have made of the Liberal Party’s latest electoral manoeuvre – supporting a Bloc Québécois sponsored bill to make concessions on supply management in […]
Jun 11 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — PLUS: Conservative premiers in peril thanks to some dumb moves; and whether Canada should already be donating COVID vaccines and opening the border
Jun 9 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — Emotions are running high after the detection of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in B.C. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had it right when it concluded that the policy of separating Indigenous children from their parents to weaken family ties and indoctrinate them with Christian values constituted “cultural genocide.”
Jun 8 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — The NDP has never been dogmatic about raising money before spending it. In the 2019 election, it booked $22 billion in new revenue from “cracking down on tax havens,” without having a realistic plan on how it might collect money stashed in Bermuda and the Bahamas by Canadian multinationals.
Jun 3 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — John F. Kennedy articulated the golden rule of politics when he said that the only unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable. Last June, Justin Trudeau rejected the idea of intervening in the extradition of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou as a means of securing the release of two Canadians — Michael Kovrig and […]
Jun 2 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — There is nothing distorted or exaggerated about the use of the words “cultural genocide” to characterize Canada’s residential schools policy. The description was used by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 and it accurately illustrates a policy designed to separate Indigenous children from their parents, to weaken family ties and indoctrinate them with “Christian […]
May 27 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — Dominic Cummings is an odd duck. Boris Johnson’s former chief advisor is portrayed in the Spitting Image political satire puppet show as an alien from the planet Zargon, who feeds ideas into the British prime minister’s empty head. It’s funny because there is something unearthly about him. Cummings may find future employment hard to come […]