John Ivison

While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from John Ivison.

It will be Carney vs. Poilievre. And neither has a clear advantage

It will be Carney vs. Poilievre. And neither has a clear advantage

The sense that the Liberals need to be consigned to the penalty box remains strong and may be a decisive...

Trudeau won’t deter Trump, but Doug Ford just might

Trudeau won’t deter Trump, but Doug Ford just might

On regulation, taxes, China and so much more, Ford is speaking Republican

Poilievre revives ‘use it or lose it’ Arctic plan. Hopefully it’s not already lost

Poilievre revives ‘use it or lose it’ Arctic plan. Hopefully it’s not already lost

Canada’s hold on the Arctic is, in the words of former defence chief Wayne Eyre, 'tenuous' — and it is...

Trump’s tariff position is weakening. We need to make ours stronger

Trump’s tariff position is weakening. We need to make ours stronger

We may not have been traditionally considered an adversary, but we are now — and we should reciprocate that sentiment

Trump fools around and finds out the foolishness of fighting Canadians

Trump fools around and finds out the foolishness of fighting Canadians

'The only way out of a mess that is not of our choosing is not only to inflict pain on...

Tariffs should get us thinking differently, but Ottawa lacks the mental capacity

Tariffs should get us thinking differently, but Ottawa lacks the mental capacity

This government’s instinctive reactions have helped to get us into this mess — and are unlikely to get us out...

The more that President Donald Trump feigns disinterest in all things Canadian, the more you have to think he really, really wants what Canada has.

The more that President Donald Trump feigns disinterest in all things Canadian, the more you have to think he really, really wants what Canada has.

As Justin Trudeau gets ready to step out of the spotlight, his oldest son is poised to step into it...

The curse for Carney of the ‘crazy carbon tax’ minister endorsement

The curse for Carney of the ‘crazy carbon tax’ minister endorsement

There are legitimate concerns about Guilbeault’s influence on Carney’s policies on energy and growth

How Carney plans to win the Liberal leadership and hold Poilievre to a minority

How Carney plans to win the Liberal leadership and hold Poilievre to a minority

Mark Carney will oppose the carbon tax and oil and gas emissions cap, while hoping to turn his elitist experience...

Bureaucrats try stopping Trudeau from going out in a spending blaze of glory

Bureaucrats try stopping Trudeau from going out in a spending blaze of glory

Everyone knows the 'business as usual' directive is an illusion: the Liberals know it, the opposition knows it and, most...

Justin Trudeau left Canadians feeling like strangers in their own land

Justin Trudeau left Canadians feeling like strangers in their own land

Critics have often accused me of having my head in the clouds, if not somewhere darker and more malodorous. But...

Crises caused by Trudeau and Trump are finally shaking our complacency

Crises caused by Trudeau and Trump are finally shaking our complacency

Western democracy has weathered severe tests in the past, from fascism to Bolshevism. The United States, though often late to...

The more at sea Trudeau has seemed, the more assured Poilievre has been

The more at sea Trudeau has seemed, the more assured Poilievre has been

The week in politics has been defined by a series of momentous events but Friday’s lame duck cabinet appointment process...

Chrystia Freeland's savage exit

Chrystia Freeland's savage exit

Who saw Chrystia Freeland pulling a gun, after Justin Trudeau unsheathed a knife? The finance minister is an unlikely champion...

Freeland to reverse promised $250 ‘working Canadians’ cheques in mini-budget Monday

Freeland to reverse promised $250 ‘working Canadians’ cheques in mini-budget Monday

Cancelling the PMO's questionable giveaway may be a victory of sorts for Freeland. If you are one of the nearly...

With our ‘post-national’ leader it’s no wonder Trump thinks we aren’t a real country

With our ‘post-national’ leader it’s no wonder Trump thinks we aren’t a real country

Trudeau has undermined the idea of citizenship that held us together, with its sense of obligation, sacrifice and collective mission

Another wake-up call to ready for war as Canada slumbers on

Another wake-up call to ready for war as Canada slumbers on

On the day that Vladimir Putin said NATO members are now directly involved in the war in Ukraine because they...

Canada is ‘rolling out the red carpet’ for radical Islam

Canada is ‘rolling out the red carpet’ for radical Islam

Western democracies are not pushing back on violent Muslims who seek to dismantle our way of life, says author Yasmine...

Trudeau already has Trump irritated. He might soon make it worse

Trudeau already has Trump irritated. He might soon make it worse

Trudeau doesn’t have many options left. He might be tempted to use Trump as an insult against Conservative Leader Pierre...

The Defence Department just gave Trump a bigger stick to whack us with
Liberals discover that Trudeau was never really a team player

Liberals discover that Trudeau was never really a team player

I don’t know what it’s like to be part of a political team — as former Maclean’s columnist Allan Fotheringham...

Canada can save our friendship with India, but probably not while Trudeau's around

Canada can save our friendship with India, but probably not while Trudeau's around

Canada must convince India that it is prepared to counter Khalistani extremism on its soil

Trudeau deftly turns the foreign interference inquiry into a Liberal attack ad

Trudeau deftly turns the foreign interference inquiry into a Liberal attack ad

On any other day, the prospect of interfering in a police matter would have dominated the news

Seeds for a Liberal revolt against Trudeau were planted long ago

Seeds for a Liberal revolt against Trudeau were planted long ago

The first rule of regicide is: “if you come for the king, you best not miss.” Another useful axiom is...

Canada and India need to call a swift end to their diplomatic war

Canada and India need to call a swift end to their diplomatic war

While Canada has arguably 'provided space' for extremists, it is equally apparent that the Modi government has been engaging in...

The Senate is already spoiling for fight against a Poilievre Conservative government

The Senate is already spoiling for fight against a Poilievre Conservative government

If the latest polls are to be believed, the Conservatives are on course for a 220-plus seat majority. That could...

Government policy is now in the hands of pro-Palestinian radicals

Government policy is now in the hands of pro-Palestinian radicals

The NDP ripped up its deal with the Liberals but that hasn't stopped radicals in both parties from combining to...

Poilievre won’t axe all of the carbon tax, ex-Harper adviser says

Poilievre won’t axe all of the carbon tax, ex-Harper adviser says

'I just don't see any government in any future getting rid of that, Conservative, Liberal or New Democrat,' Ken Boessenkool...

Liberals are already acting like the unofficial opposition to Pierre Poilievre

Liberals are already acting like the unofficial opposition to Pierre Poilievre

Hints of the Conservative 'hidden agenda' folklore that has been used to scare progressive in every election for the past...

Mark Carney gets hired to tell Liberals they've been doing it all wrong

Mark Carney gets hired to tell Liberals they've been doing it all wrong

Why is Carney doing it? I think he wants to keep himself in the public eye, in case there's a...

The NDP sold its soul. The Liberals might not give it back

The NDP sold its soul. The Liberals might not give it back

Voters have likely tired of sunny ways, unfulfilled promises and vacuous slogans such as the NDP’s new motto: 'It’s the...

What an irate steelworker can tell us about the hole Trudeau is in

What an irate steelworker can tell us about the hole Trudeau is in

Justin Trudeau’s exchange with a steelworker at the Algoma plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., last Friday suggests two things...

Union finally does the right thing after a whole lot of wrong

Union finally does the right thing after a whole lot of wrong

The news that the national board of the Canadian Public Employees Union has called on its vice-president, Fred Hahn, to...

How do the Liberals fix skyrocketing immigration? By lowering the entry standards

How do the Liberals fix skyrocketing immigration? By lowering the entry standards

The government will create a new economic class of permanent residency candidates for people with high school education or less...

Can the foundering federal Liberals pull a Kamala out of their hat?

Can the foundering federal Liberals pull a Kamala out of their hat?

A repeat of the Kamala effect would require the Liberal party to ease aside its leader and replace him with...

Cheap Chinese EVs are coming, even if Ottawa tries to stop them

Cheap Chinese EVs are coming, even if Ottawa tries to stop them

The panic is understandable. The auto sector supports around 500,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, contributing $18 billion to the economy

Canada and the West prove impotent against the fraudulent dictator of Venezuela

Canada and the West prove impotent against the fraudulent dictator of Venezuela

Venezuela’s election “result” made it a black Sunday for democracy around the world. The opposition parties claimed they won the...

Trudeau’s signature pot legalization is failing on all fronts

Trudeau’s signature pot legalization is failing on all fronts

Ottawa's attempts to outflank the illicit market has been undermined by the clumsy and unresponsive nature of the tax regime

Trump survived a bullet. American democracy will survive this, too

Trump survived a bullet. American democracy will survive this, too

Another likely Trump presidency will test the guardrails imposed by the Founding Fathers. But they are robust

How the Liberals accidentally triggered an avoidable, nightmarish WestJet strike

How the Liberals accidentally triggered an avoidable, nightmarish WestJet strike

It was O’Regan’s order to enter binding arbitration that stopped the collective bargaining process in its tracks

Poilievre tries on the prime minister’s boots at Stampede

Poilievre tries on the prime minister’s boots at Stampede

He seems increasingly to be turning his mind to what he might do as the country’s next chief executive

20-point comeback election wins are as rare as hen’s teeth, history shows

20-point comeback election wins are as rare as hen’s teeth, history shows

The difference in this case is the government has been in power for almost a decade with the same leader...

Inequality has only widened amid Freeland’s obsessive war on wealth

Inequality has only widened amid Freeland’s obsessive war on wealth

The conclusion is that the Liberals have misdiagnosed Canada’s major economic weakness and applied remedies that have not made things...

Ottawa’s cruising for another trade bruising from Donald Trump

Ottawa’s cruising for another trade bruising from Donald Trump

The sense that Trump would guarantee Canada access to U.S. markets under the renegotiated CUSMA is naive

MPs suspected of foreign influence deserve justice, but not frontier justice

MPs suspected of foreign influence deserve justice, but not frontier justice

If the names of senators and MPs suspected of foreign influence were released, they would be ruined, possibly without appropriate...

Behold the shattered wasteland of Liberal government credibility

Behold the shattered wasteland of Liberal government credibility

It is hard to remember a time when faith and trust in the federal government were at such a low...

Freeland claimed deficits were under control. We're now discovering the truth

Freeland claimed deficits were under control. We're now discovering the truth

It turns out the deficit was actually $50.9 billion, making it much harder to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio. Canadians may...

If 2025 becomes the mortgage-pain election, the Liberals have already lost

If 2025 becomes the mortgage-pain election, the Liberals have already lost

Freeland brushed off Poilievre’s concerns with a dismissive: 'Tory times are hard times.' But the data suggest Canadians have never...

Eco-activist Liberal ministers could ruin a $300M lifeline for a struggling First Nation

Eco-activist Liberal ministers could ruin a $300M lifeline for a struggling First Nation

The Ehattesaht First Nation's chief makes clear that his people know better than 'misinformed activist business leaders and political leaders'

A high-stakes fish fight is fracturing Trudeau’s cabinet

A high-stakes fish fight is fracturing Trudeau’s cabinet

Eco-activist ministers are clashing with the fisheries minister over a proposal to renew salmon farming licences in British Columbia

The sudden, mysterious muteness of Pierre Poilievre

The sudden, mysterious muteness of Pierre Poilievre

If lowering taxes is the Conservatives' strength, it's strange that the leader isn't fighting a capital gains hike

The Liberals’ response to the arrest warrants against Israel is mired in typical fudge

The Liberals’ response to the arrest warrants against Israel is mired in typical fudge

The world doesn’t allow for moral relativism. Israel is a fellow democracy under attack. We can be critical of the...

Mark Carney keeps appearing like a ghost at Trudeau’s feast

Mark Carney keeps appearing like a ghost at Trudeau’s feast

Friends say Carney is not messianic about a career in politics, but he believes at some point it will be...

CUPE is being held to account for its obsessive anti-Israel vitriol

CUPE is being held to account for its obsessive anti-Israel vitriol

Lawyer Kathryn Marshall is intent on showing there are consequences by going after CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn personally

Madness in the House is the prelude to a powerful reckoning There is a new pugnacity to the Liberals.

Madness in the House is the prelude to a powerful reckoning There is a new pugnacity to the Liberals.

There is a new pugnacity to the Liberals. But the day will come when the NDP feels it is in...

India is too important for cheap Liberal domestic politics

India is too important for cheap Liberal domestic politics

The world is becoming too dangerous to surrender foreign policy to diaspora vote-hustling

The decline and fall of Canada

The decline and fall of Canada

A state's citizens must have the will for it to exist in the world. Has there been any moment in...

Trudeau’s budget comeback tour isn’t proving popular enough to save his career

Trudeau’s budget comeback tour isn’t proving popular enough to save his career

Millennials do not seem to have forgiven or forgotten what Trudeau failed to deliver for them earlier in his mandate.

The federal budget is a Liberal strategy driven by panic

The federal budget is a Liberal strategy driven by panic

Chrystia Freeland is so averse to private enterprise, she’s now trying to put satirists out of business. Fairness demands more...

Liberals have a chance to reverse their fiscal doom spiral. Expect them to pass

Liberals have a chance to reverse their fiscal doom spiral. Expect them to pass

Canada’s coveted triple-A credit rating is in danger, but a government with the political will could spark a recovery. The...