Oct 17 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Yup, that was me. They guy in the big black car casually blocking southbound traffic on the Allen Expressway last Sunday evening at about 9:30 p.m. The guy who was such a jerk and so inconsiderate that he simply refused to move his car out of a live traffic lane and on to the shoulder. […]
Oct 10 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Enough is enough. After six years in office, the pattern has become painfully familiar. First, the prime minister makes a decision so blatantly problematic that the term hubris does not begin to do it justice. After some initial acrobatics from the PMO (in this case, claiming on his official itinerary that he was in Ottawa), […]
Sep 26 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — The dust is quickly settling on an acrimonious and confusing election campaign. And with post-mortems well underway, parliamentarians find themselves returning to a House of Commons that, at first glance, looks much like it did at dissolution. Throughout the country, there is a pervasive sense that this was the election that nobody wanted, that it […]
Sep 19 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — One of the most unfortunate stories from this campaign is that of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC). Once an annoying, perhaps even amusing, splinter group, the collective has now firmly found its place, alone, along on the extremist fringe. Two years ago, the PPC was a quaint curiosity for journalists to cover on a […]
Sep 12 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — As their respective war rooms gear up for the final week of the election campaign, Conservatives and Liberals alike will be working overtime to launch one final knock-out blow. Those hoping such a blow might have come during the leaders’ debates this week are no doubt disappointed. Although these debates do not usually have a […]
Sep 5 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — In the early days of this campaign, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole proudly introduced his party’s platform. In doing so, he managed, for a few days at least, to have a conversation with Canadians about — wait for it — policy. This week, as the Conservatives overtook them in the polls, the Liberals thought they’d give […]
Aug 29 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — After what some observers saw as a slow start, Erin O’Toole is making this election campaign his. O’Toole understands the difficulty of fighting an election as the new face of a centre-right party. History, after all, is rife with Tory leaders who failed to make their mark or take control of their party early enough. […]
Aug 22 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Over the past week, as each federal leader has criss-crossed the country, each has tried to use personality and personal charisma to steal the show and run away with the momentum that’s needed to win. RCAF Dad, a.k.a. Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, has been meeting Canadians and pitching his platform. Green Leader Annamie Paul has […]
Aug 15 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Finally, the wait is over. After months of will-he-or-won’t-he speculation, the prime minister is expected to walk across the lawn today and knock on the door of Rideau Hall. There he will ask its new occupant, Governor General Mary Simon, to take a few moments away from unpacking moving boxes to sign the writ dissolving […]
Jun 27 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Finally, summer is well and truly here. After a particularly gruelling spring complete with a few intermittent “false” summer days, the weather has warmed and reminded us just how lucky we are to live in this beautiful country — glorious and free. Yet, as the idyll of summer approaches, there lurks a disruption on our […]
Jun 20 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Last week’s G7 summit in Cornwall was the very model of modern, multilateral politicking. Against the backdrop of sunny beaches and clear blue skies, leaders of some of the world’s largest economies walked and talked, posing together every step of the way. Pre-summit hopes had been in overdrive. Cornwall was, after all, the first such […]
Jun 13 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Inevitably, over time, the differences between elected governments and the bureaucracies that serve them blur. The result? They join together in one of the great pursuits of governing: the creation of the unnecessary regulation. Then the pendulum swings and a new government comes to power, having campaigned on a promise to sweep away the cobwebs […]
Jun 6 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — Happy Pride. It’s become a refrain you’ll hear again and again this month — from colleagues, friends, family, your favourite sports team, your bank, your dentist… Indeed, Pride, and the deluge of rainbow ribbons that arrives with it, has become the event of the season for corporate Canada. Most would agree that the rush of […]
May 31 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — As the end of the pandemic mercifully nears, everything old is becoming new again. Nowhere is that more evident than in the ongoing debate — revisionist history and all — over the origins of COVID-19. You may already be familiar with the widely accepted version of the story, which involves animal-to-human transmission beginning in or […]
May 23 2021 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — From the beginning of this bloody thing, even with uncertainty and confusion on all fronts, one thing was always known: vaccines would save the day. Everything else — from PPE to stimulus — has simply been to tide us over, to keep us safe and save our lives until that wondrous day arrives when our […]