Dec 9 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Many believe that, in politics, your successor is your legacy. Consider the straight-as-an-arrow Sunday school teacher Jimmy Carter after the Machiavellian Nixon years. Or the steady, competent, experienced John Tory after the roller coaster term of Rob Ford. Or more recently, Doug Ford’s approach to smaller government focused resolutely on every day family affordability after […]
Dec 2 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake,” ranks as one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s most famous quotes. And it is one that a number of the politicians around Parliament Hill would do well to remember.
Nov 25 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Those of us who had hoped for a more placid year ahead are likely to be disappointed. If anything, Canada’s closest allies are facing even more difficult and uncertain times than had been predicted. Brexit, which by any measure was a monumental task, has grown more complicated and troublesome in recent weeks. Whilst once it […]
Nov 11 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Another day, another bump in the road for the Canada-U. S. relationship. Spare a moment for Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland. After years of arduous negotiations over a renewed North American trade agreement with a temperamental and fickle President Donald Trump, she had finally come to ground on what the government believed was an […]
Nov 4 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — On Tuesday, Americans will go to the polls to elect a third of the Senate and all the members of the House of Representatives in what’s known as the mid-term elections. It is an American political tradition that the sitting President’s party is punished during these elections, with most tending to lose seats in Congress.
Oct 28 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — This past Monday, John Tory won big at the polls. To say it was a resounding victory doesn’t do the mayor’s win justice. He crushed his opponents: he won every ward in the city, capturing a plurality in each and a majority in most. He earned 63.5 per cent of the vote, 301,446 votes more […]
Oct 21 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — In politics, there are two factors — over which you have no control — that determine your fate: timing and luck. In running for office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to have taken his father’s advice that “the essential ingredient of politics is timing” to heart.
Oct 15 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — In an age of social media and intense global competition, “brand” has become more important than ever. While it was once the exclusive domain of consumer-focused companies, now individuals, organizations and nations alike have become acutely aware of the image they project and the benefits that come with successfully building brand equity.
Oct 7 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks at the political landscape across the country, he must be reminded of just how true is the political axiom that time is your enemy. When he won a majority mandate just two years ago, the country was in the midst of what could best be described as a love […]
Sep 30 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — The more things change, the more they stay the same. In spite of the acute attention paid to the ongoing negotiations week after week, the NAFTA narrative remains fundamentally the same: meetings take place, another “all-nighter” makes headlines, and so-called deadlines evaporate into thin air.
Sep 23 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Ask any Canadian conservative about federal politics during the mid-’90s, and you will be met with a grimace. Just when right-of-centre provincial parties were making substantial headway across the country, the Reform, Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties were insisting on a futile battle for voter support that saw them languish in second, third or even […]
Aug 12 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — When political parties, who have spent years wandering aimlessly in the wilderness of opposition, eventually come to power, they are often counselled by their new advisers to pause and take a moment to catch their breath. This advice is offered not just with the best of intentions, but for good reason as well: campaigns are […]
Jun 24 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this month’s Pride celebration doesn’t still matter. For the young lesbian woman living in Northern Ontario who travels to Toronto for the first time and finds a community of over a million supporters. For the closeted refugee who sneaks off to Pride because his family does not accept […]
Jun 17 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — The fact Doug Ford won a majority government is now old news, so let’s turn to why he won. In the days after the polls closed, my firm, Navigator, undertook a research study to determine why voters made the choices they did. The research was based on a simple premise: If we could figure why […]
Jun 10 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — A deeply revealing moment occurred just minutes after having led the PC party to a large majority government after years in the political wilderness, Doug Ford was declared the next Premier of Ontario. Traditionally, the political party leaders speak in order of their placement. With Premier Wynne and the Liberals placing a distant third, it […]