Sep 21 2023 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — Pierre Poilievre seems to pop up with his populist message everywhere these days. But even though he’s out to woo working class voters, one place you definitely won’t find him is on a picket line. The Conservative leader fumes relentlessly about today’s “affordability” crisis, and he correctly points out that workers are struggling to pay […]
Sep 7 2023 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — Like the Railroad Barons of the late 19th century, today’s Big Tech giants strut around, acting like they own the world (which they mostly do). Among their many imperious actions, they’ve taken to blocking Canadians’ access to our own news. This is their high-handed response to Ottawa’s attempt to force them to pay Canadian publishers […]
Jun 1 2023 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — There’s sure a lot of sound and fury going on, but is the Chinese-meddling-in-our-elections scandal really worth all the airtime it’s devouring? Going out on a limb, I’d argue that we have plenty of channels for spotlighting any wrongdoing (including public hearings, already announced) and for punishing any wrongdoers, including expelling foreign diplomats (already done). […]
Jan 12 2023 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — Populist leaders who inspire their angry followers to storm the national capitol seem to be in vogue these days. But if Canada is in search of such a strongman, it’s not clear that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre — or PP (as he’s affectionately called) — really fits the bill, as some are now suggesting. Donald […]
Sep 22 2022 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — Let’s face it: Pierre Poilievre is a dead-ringer for someone you’d meet at a private school debating tournament. I mean no disrespect — either to the new Conservative leader, or to private school debating tournaments (which I confess to attending in my youth). I just mean that all the media hype about him as a […]
Aug 25 2022 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — The soft-core porn magnate Hugh Hefner once said he felt like “a kid in the world’s biggest candy store.” My hunch is Doug Ford feels pretty much the same way. No, I’m not suggesting Ontario’s premier is connected to soft-core porn, but rather that his irrepressible, ear-to-ear grin reflects his sheer delight at having the […]
Jul 2 2020 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — The Trudeau government is gearing up to spend billions on new infrastructure as part of its post-pandemic economic plans. What a terrific idea! — except that it plans to do so in a way that will massively, needlessly drive up the costs and allow some of our prime national assets to be owned by foreigners. […]
Feb 12 2020 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — I want to start by turning myself in to Jason Kenney’s investigators. I admit to being against further oilsands development, making me a person of interest to the sleuths in Kenney’s $30-million “war-room” who are tasked with vilifying oilsands critics. Of course, they’re really hoping to unmask “foreign-funded special interests,” and I don’t have a […]
Oct 23 2019 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — Claiming that Albertans feel “betrayed” and “unwelcome in our own country,” Jason Kenney had clearly hit the sweet spot of Alberta politics: raging against Ottawa. Only a day after Monday’s federal election, the Alberta premier was in full battle mode, honing his mission to defend the oil industry, stir up Western resentment and stick it […]
Jul 3 2019 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — It’s possible that the world’s top climate scientists are lying. If so, we can relax and feel confident that Justin Trudeau has dealt with the climate crisis in the appropriate way. Although the prime minister approved the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline last month, he’s vowed to channel pipeline profits into clean energy projects. […]
Jan 16 2019 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — Long after the last factory has left Ontario, one can imagine Doug Ford still sporting a full-on Cheshire grin as he puts up billboards proclaiming the province “Open for Business.” Certainly, the premier didn’t seem even slightly embarrassed that he’d posted his billboards along the American border just before America’s biggest automaker announced plans last […]
May 9 2018 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — Doug Ford learned a key lesson observing the crushing electoral defeat of his predecessor: never reveal where the bodies are to be buried. Former Conservative leader Tim Hudak went into the last Ontario election humming the familiar right-wing refrain about government waste and inefficiency. But he made things specific: he said he’d eliminate 100,000 public […]
Apr 11 2018 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — Last time I checked, Alberta’s oilfields had not been seized by marauding bands of eco-warriors. But you might be confused into thinking so by the inflamed rhetoric coming out of Ottawa and Alberta. We’re told that the country faces a national crisis over the resistance to the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline, following an ultimatum by […]
Feb 15 2018 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — With opposing factions deeply entrenched on either side of the climate change divide, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to think he’s found the sweet spot of Canadian politics dithering in the middle. But trying to find some happy middle ground doesn’t work when the force to be reckoned with is nature. You can’t cut a […]
Jan 18 2018 — Linda McQuaig — Toronto Star — No doubt the offspring of the Tim Hortons business empire regret their clumsy attempt to make themselves just a little bit richer. After years of the coffee chain being feted as some sort of national icon, its heirs managed to erase much of that goodwill faster than you can pick up a drive-thru double-double, and […]