Articles by Laura Ryckewaert

Dec 10 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Despite trailing in fundraising and opinion polls, and a steady loss in vote-share in federal byelections since 2015, NDPers say they’re optimistic the party can turn things around and be competitive in 2019, but much hangs on new leader Jagmeet Singh’s upcoming byelection campaign. “There’s a corridor available for the NDP to do the critique […]

Dec 3 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — NDP MP Charlie Angus says the House should set up a new and permanent standing committee to tackle digital issues, including online privacy and regulation, in light of growing global concern over how tech giants like Facebook protect personal data and disseminate information online.

Nov 26 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Packing for any move can be a meticulous thing. Piles of papers and books and memories have to be sorted through, deciding what to take and what to toss. Artwork and furniture has to be carefully catalogued and wrapped, ensuring precious items arrive safely in new homes. It’s much the same for the remaining occupants […]

Oct 29 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Conservative MP Peter Kent says his Instagram and Facebook accounts were recently hacked and shortly before officials from the Communications Security Establishment warned MPs that federal political parties, politicians, and traditional and social media will be more vulnerable to cyber threats in the next election. Mr. Kent (Thornhill, Ont.) said he started receiving “strange” messages […]

Oct 22 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — The Conservative Party’s reported $2-million national ad push is its “opening salvo” of the 2019 election, and pollsters and strategists say the two ads currently on airwaves are both aimed at introducing new leader Andrew Scheer and putting “pocketbook” issues in focus in the lead-up to the next campaign. “I would consider this the opening […]

Oct 15 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Last week’s UN report detailing the devastating and irreversible impacts of climate change, which the world is on track to see by 2030, underscores the urgent need for Canada to “ratchet up” its efforts and targets, say experts and critics, who also say the government should drop its pursuit of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Sep 24 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Quebec is on course to be a two-way race between the Liberals and Conservatives in the 2019 federal election, say strategists, and the Québec City region is likely to be a hotly contested battleground amongst the federal parties. Despite the reunion of the Bloc Québécois on Sept. 17—with five MPs who had split from the […]

Sep 17 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — The House of Commons is back this week for the last fall sitting before the 2019 election, and trade is set to top the agenda, with NAFTA renegotiations ongoing and a bill to enact the new Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement fresh on the Order Paper. Government House Leader Bardish Chagger (Waterloo, Ont.), in a phone interview […]

Jul 2 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Conservatives are already ahead in recruiting candidates for the 2019 federal election and all the political parties are using these critical summer months to start laying the groundwork for the next national campaign, say political strategists. “This is the last summer before the election. Next summer, we’re pretty well in a writ period, regardless of […]

May 28 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, who saw a surge in support for her leadership and her party last week, has some big names working on her election team, including experienced campaigners from Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, and Ottawa. “What Andrea Horwath has done is assemble a team that combines experience and knowledge on how to […]

May 21 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — The Ontario Liberals, led by Premier Kathleen Wynne, are in the political battle of their lives to win a fifth consecutive term in government on June 7 and have recruited some top talent to help out, including a number of former aides to former prime minister Paul Martin and former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty. “It’s […]

Apr 23 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — British Columbia Liberal MPs say they’re touting environmental investments and protections brought in by the Liberal government for the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project with constituents, with some suggesting their voters are split roughly 50-50 over the issue. But outspoken pipeline opponents NDP MP Kennedy Stewart (Burnaby South, B.C.) and Green Party Leader Elizabeth […]

Apr 16 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Ontario’s provincial parties are in campaign-mode, and new Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford has a tight-knit team in place, stacked with experience at both the federal and provincial levels. “They’ve all spent a ton of time together in the last 10 to 15 years, so even though they were thrown together quickly out of […]

Apr 9 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Canada’s privacy commissioner, who is conducting an investigation into the Cambridge-Analytica-Facebook scandal and a separate probe into whether Canadian privacy laws were violated by AggregateIQ in order to sway the Brexit vote, says Canada’s federal political parties need to be covered by privacy laws and voters should have the right to find out what personal […]

Mar 26 2018 — Laura Ryckewaert — Hill Times — Conservatives and New Democrats say they have never collected private information on Canadians without their permission, or asked to access their Facebook pages to gather information to microtarget voters, while the governing Liberals say they follow a privacy policy and don’t have access to any Facebook accounts beyond their own. The explosive fallout from the […]