Mar 17 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — This week, Conservative Party deputy leader Melissa Lantsman joins John Ivison to talk about her political journey and the prospects for the Pierre Poilievre-led party in the next election. Lantsman says her involvement in politics started before she was a teenager, sparked by vigorous debates around the family dinner table.
Mar 16 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Trust is defined as the firm belief in the reliability, truth or ability of someone or something. It is a commodity that is in short supply in Canadian politics these days. The appointment of David Johnston by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the government’s special rapporteur to investigate foreign interference in the electoral process is […]
Mar 15 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Credible deterrents to threats don’t come cheap, and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has boxed herself into a corner with prior reckless spending. Is the defence of Canada a national priority for the Liberal government? We will find out when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveils the 2023 budget in two weeks. But, despite alarms being sounded […]
Mar 14 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — The Canadian government contracted with a U.S.-based military supplier to buy 76 armoured Toyota Land Cruisers for its diplomatic missions around the world in 2018. Five years later, only 33 have been received and it appears that the government has paid millions of dollars up-front for vehicles that have not yet been delivered.
Mar 10 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — The motion introduced at the House of Commons’ ethics committee on Friday to call the prime minister’s chief of staff to testify on its investigation into foreign interference means there are now two parliamentary committees seeking an audience with Katie Telford, and, presumably, two committees that are about to be gridlocked by Liberal filibusters.
Mar 9 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Senior Liberals say privately that they are relaxed about the foreign interference controversy. They dismiss any suggestions of collusion with Beijing and consider the whole issue to be overblown. Moreover, they believe that the process Justin Trudeau has set in motion will take time to come to any conclusions, and, absent any new revelations, the […]
Mar 7 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Justin Trudeau’s selective amnesia as he unveiled a package of measures to address foreign interference induced a sense of déjà vu, conjuring up all the other times he’s forgotten his previous viewpoint. When revelations about Chinese interference in Canadian elections emerged, the prime minister downplayed the reports, saying Beijing’s attempts were “not a new phenomenon.”
Mar 6 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Ottawa is understood to be negotiating a deal to supply Ukraine with hundreds of high-tech, Canadian-made drones the Ukrainians have identified as “the only product on the market that satisfies all our operational requirements.” A letter from Yukliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister and minister of economic development, to Anita Anand, Canada’s defence minister, […]
Mar 3 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Two is just a coincidence, three makes a trend, so it is going too far to suggest that the resignation of progressive first ministers is a thing. There were similarities to the departures of New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern and Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon — both stressed the toll of leadership, the time away from family and […]
Mar 1 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — If China’s goal when it interfered in the last general election was to reduce public trust in Canadian democracy, increase polarization and weaken confidence in our political leaders, Beijing must be absolutely bloody delighted with the results. It may have taken 18 months, but dabbling in a handful of seats has — thanks to the […]
Feb 27 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — In common with many others, I have always thought Justin Trudeau’s receptiveness to China was down to naivete. But, unless he is more transparent about the Liberal party’s dealings with Beijing in the last two elections, it looks like his sympathies were at least in part driven by partisan considerations. There was an air of […]
Feb 25 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Justin Trudeau probably knows the value of trust better than most, given that most Canadians once had faith in him and now, apparently, they don’t. The allegations contained in a CSIS document, as reported by The Globe and Mail, that Beijing sought to ensure a Liberal minority government and to defeat several Conservative candidates in […]
Feb 22 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — The footage has a surreal, almost cinematic, quality. The viewer sees the grenade being released by the drone and watches it fall, almost in slow motion, into a foxhole filled with six unsuspecting Russian soldiers. We know about the deadly consequences before they do. On the anniversary of Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, it is […]
Feb 17 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Walking past the Parliament Buildings on the way back from the release of the Rouleau commission report on last year’s public order emergency, it felt preposterous that this was the same place as the protest site that seethed with such noise, fury and resentment one year ago. Today there is no traffic, no airhorns and […]
Feb 16 2023 — John Ivison — National Post — Buried deep in the new report by a committee of MPs and senators on medical assistance in dying, Dr. Gordon Gubitz, a professor of medicine from Dalhousie University, is cited as saying the Canadian public may not be ready for minors to receive MAID in cases where death is not imminent. He recommended the government […]