Robin V. Sears

While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Robin V. Sears.

How Poilievre and Singh can carve out political space during tariff war with Trump

How Poilievre and Singh can carve out political space during tariff war with Trump

The astonishing news Friday of a polite and insult-free phone call between Trump and Mark Carney — one surprisingly, the U.S. president had asked for — has pushed the Trump roller-coaster up for the first time. It may only last hours or days, probably not weeks, but it signals that Canada’s tough retaliatory posture to Trump’s trade war is giving...

Trudeau is out. Time for an economic wartime leader

Trudeau is out. Time for an economic wartime leader

Wars turn the tables in democratic elections. No one would have chosen Winston Churchill to lead in peace time, yet he became the 20th century’s iconic war leader. We are witnessing a new form of war: relentless attacks on our economy and threats to our sovereignty. And U.S. President Donald Trump’s rhetoric increasingly threatens the use of force...

How the federal Liberals have opened their leadership race to foreign interference

How the federal Liberals have opened their leadership race to foreign interference

Justice Marie-Josée Hogue will soon reveal her findings on foreign interference. (Disclosure: I was an invited presenter to the Commission). She has already noted the parties’ defences against penetration do not appear “robust.” Her recommendations will be wide-ranging. If she recommends that all parties should be subject to supervision in their conduct of nominations and, more importantly, leaderships, the reaction...

The federal Liberal party faces only high risk choices in 2025

The federal Liberal party faces only high risk choices in 2025

The New Year promises to be a painful one for Canadian Liberals. As Isaiah Berlin, the renowned political analyst put it, sometimes in politics there are only two choices — the unpleasant and the unacceptable. Arguably, this is the most unpleasant nightmare the Liberal party has faced in a century. Yes, Paul Martin’s hapless government bequeathed two incompetent leaders and...

India will pay heavily for deliberately crossing a red line in nations across the globe

India will pay heavily for deliberately crossing a red line in nations across the globe

One of the most challenging decisions any government leader must take urgently, often in a moment of crisis, with insufficient information, is to reveal a serious national security threat. When it involves activity by the government of a allied nation, it can be excruciating.

Would Trudeau stepping down trigger another Liberal civil war?

Would Trudeau stepping down trigger another Liberal civil war?

Justin Trudeau’s determination to stay the leader of the federal Liberal Party — and, of course, prime minister — is more than ego. He is probably worried about the eruption of a second Liberal civil war. Until the sudden explosion of Pierre Trudeau into leadership in the 1960s, the party was a model of unity. For more than 50 years...

You may not have realized how starved you were for great oratory until the Democrats offered a feast

You may not have realized how starved you were for great oratory until the Democrats offered a feast

Successful politics begins with faith not slogans and statistics; supporting trust in a political vision. No politician can prove their vision or values are better. Even great politicians can only convince you to have some trust and belief in them. Back in the day, building political trust was usually grounded in face-to-face contact. A voter could shake your hand, watch...

Game Change: Will Trump Debate Harris, or Chicken Out?

Game Change: Will Trump Debate Harris, or Chicken Out?

In every election campaign in every western democracy going back as far as that first, famously pivotal, televised Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960, debates have served as a potentially decisive inflection point on the road to election day. But this 2024 US presidential campaign has completely re-set the political mythology around a single debate’s potential, asymmetrical impact based on President Joe...

In 48 hours, Kamala Harris became an unprecedented political lightning bolt. Is there a lesson for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals?

In 48 hours, Kamala Harris became an unprecedented political lightning bolt. Is there a lesson for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals?

It is rare that one event can upend an entire political landscape overnight. But it happened at 1:45 on a Sunday afternoon in Delaware. Mindful that every campaign exaggerates its wins and discounts its failures, consider these statistics about U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who become the Democratic frontrunner on Sunday to replace President Joe Biden on this year’s Democratic...

Don’t fall for Pierre Poilievre’s rants that Canada is broken — it’s an insult to Canadians

Don’t fall for Pierre Poilievre’s rants that Canada is broken — it’s an insult to Canadians

These are bitter days for those who believe in the essential role of a healthy American democracy on the global stage. Bitter, too, for a large majority of Americans.For the rest of the world, terrifying.

Brian Mulroney quick to share his top advice, although it wasn't always taken

Brian Mulroney quick to share his top advice, although it wasn't always taken

To incoming prime ministers Brian Mulroney would always say you have two priorities, above all else: the nation’s security and your relationship with the president of the United States. He devoted dozens of hours schooling Prime Minister Justin Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on coping with a deeply psychologically unstable Donald Trump. They listened and saved NAFTA...

Working-Class Hero, International Statesman: Ed Broadbent, 1936-2024

Working-Class Hero, International Statesman: Ed Broadbent, 1936-2024

Years ago, near the end of a political mission to Havana about the raging civil wars in Central America, Ed Broadbent was miffed. Here was Ed, an avid cigar smoker, having just spent three hours in a bilateral with Fidel Castro, and still not a Cohiba or a Monte Cristo in sight. As we prepared for our early morning flight...

Our political parties have let their foundations rot

Our political parties have let their foundations rot

Political parties are normally conservative about their internal rules and processes. There is one exception: when a competitor makes an apparently successful big change in how it is led. Then all the others jump to copy it. The "tyranny of delegated conventions," was condemned as anti-democratic, smoky backrooms by the Reform Party in the '80s. Far more democratic to allow...