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 […]
Jun 5 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Postmedia — As his party continues to lead in the polls in the run-up to this fall’s federal election, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer does not plan to march in any Pride parades this year. The Conservative Party confirmed Scheer’s plans this week, even as Ontario premier Doug Ford faces criticism from some quarters for announcing he will […]
May 30 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Postmedia — At a time when Canada’s federal government is engaged in a full-court press to demand the release of two Canadian detainees in China, the premier of Nova Scotia appears to be prioritizing his province’s economic interests over the federal foreign minister’s pleas to raise the issue with Chinese officials. Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil did not […]
May 29 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — Postmedia — A former long-shot candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party will be running for the Conservative Party in this year’s federal election. David Bertschi won the Conservative nomination for Orleans on Tuesday evening, according to a spokesman for the party. An Ottawa trial lawyer who had run and lost as the federal Liberal candidate […]
May 23 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — National Post — In a move the Monarchist League of Canada decries as “unhelpful” to Canadian identity, the federal government is no longer sending prints of the Queen’s portrait to Canadians who request them. Although images of Her Majesty are still available to download, the League, which hitherto helped Canadian Heritage distribute physical copies, is concerned that the […]
Apr 30 2019 — Marie-Danielle Smith — National Post — Conservatives accused Liberals of a different sort of SNC-Lavalin cover-up in question period Tuesday after a report revealed the names of employees involved in the Montreal firm’s illegal attempts to influence Canadian politics between 2004 and 2011.