Jul 30 2020 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Maclean's — It was the moment they’d all been waiting for, some of them with cackling anticipation, some of them with dismay, some of them stuck on “mute”: The first-ever testimony of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a parliamentary committee. Trudeau and his opponents were, as always, worlds apart. To him, his family’s dealings with a charitable […]
Jul 30 2020 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Maclean's — The much-anticipated questioning of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, finally played out on the country’s laptop screens and televisions Thursday afternoon. It was MPs’ first opportunity to grill Trudeau on an ethics scandal during his five years as Prime Minister. They would be able to hear him explain, in […]
Jul 28 2020 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Maclean's — There were no tough questions on the name of the charity itself, which could understandably cause confusion in how to read particular statements: “We (WE?) regret that WE (we?) didn’t recognize how this decision would be perceived.” Or: “WE (we?) wish that we (WE?) had never answered the phone.” But WE, and we, as it […]
Jul 14 2020 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Maclean's — Quoting Canada’s foreign minister as part of their justification, 62 MPs, four senators, a former House of Commons speaker and more than 20 community groups have signed a letter urging the government impose Magnitsky sanctions against Chinese officials. Organized by the Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK), the letter made public on Tuesday morning asks Prime […]
Jul 14 2020 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Maclean's — For people to be surprised or upset that she doesn’t fit into their desired boxes is “par for the course,” says Leslyn Lewis. She is the first-ever woman of colour vying to lead the Conservative Party of Canada. But some have argued that, because of her policy positions, the Toronto lawyer poorly represents her own […]
May 31 2020 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Maclean's — It’s 1999. A fresh-faced lawyer just shy of 30 walks into the headquarters of a major European transportation company in Stuttgart, Germany. “Where’s your boss?” asks one of the higher-ups that greets him. “It’s me,” he says. “I’m the head of the delegation. I’m the one in charge.”
May 7 2020 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Maclean's — The nation has already reckoned with the beard. The beard—to some a harbinger of a more-serious style of governance, or a more-mature prime minister, and to others just a goddamned beard—is here to stay. The beardless Justin Trudeau had been a Justin Trudeau of hope and colourful socks. A politician of close shaves, on his […]
Jan 2 2020 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Maclean's — The Tory MP is sorry he lied to me—and to Parliament. Let’s not waste his moment of truth. Politicians aren’t primarily in the business of truth-telling. Reporters fully expect partisans to lie to us, sometimes, in service to their cause, their leader or the preservation of their own political asses. Conservative MP Scott Reid recently […]
Oct 9 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Politico — The tall, blue-eyed man in the off-white shirt cuts open an English muffin and tears off a piece of paper towel as his kids banter next to him in the kitchen. His wife wipes something off of his cheek. Folk music plays in the background as the couple piles their children into a minivan and […]
Aug 1 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Postmedia — Justin Trudeau’s longtime adviser Gerald Butts accused India’s government of trying to “screw” the Liberals to help his Canadian Conservative rivals during the prime minister’s controversy-ridden trip to India. Trudeau’s visit to India in early 2018 was widely panned because of his dressing in traditional garb; the invitation of a convicted attempted murderer to high-level […]
Jul 4 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Postmedia — When Canada signed on to a massive Asia-Pacific trade deal last year, the Liberal government faced some mockery for insisting on putting the term “progressive” in the title. A few months later, bureaucrats were quietly instructed to drop the word in favour of describing it as an “inclusive approach to trade” instead, newly released documents […]
Jun 26 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Postmedia — She is 27 years old, a tattoo artist, the co-founder of her own shop in Kitimat, B.C. She’s got lots of ink, including leopard spots on her arm, and black piercings in her dimpled cheeks. “Obviously,” she says in a video posted on social media, “there is a fair bit of stereotype out there that […]
Jun 20 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — National Post — After making almost $35,000 from selling odds and ends such as mittens, headphones and chairs at an Ottawa sale Saturday, the federal government is considering opening the doors to more of its surplus warehouses. GCSurplus’s first “Cash and Carry” sale attracted more than 1,500 people, according to a spokesman for Public Services and Procurement Canada. […]
Jun 12 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — National Post — Ahead of a climate policy announcement from Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, the Tories are going all-in on attacking the Liberal government for its projected failure to meet emissions reduction targets, according to an internal memo obtained by the National Post. The memo to chief of staff Marc-André Leclerc, dated June 5, outlines the party’s communications […]
Jun 6 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Postmedia — The auditor general and deputy minister of finance will be invited to a House committee next week, MPs decided Thursday, to explain a funding shortfall that’s causing cuts to the independent auditor’s work, including a planned performance review on government cyber security. The public accounts committee heard last month from the interim auditor general, Sylvain […]