Oct 18 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — “Are there really Canadians out there who want to see more MPs added to the House of Commons?” This is not an original question, nor even a recent one. Almost exactly 10 years ago, a Liberal backbencher named Justin Trudeau posed it during a Commons debate about adding 30 new seats to the chamber. A […]
Oct 16 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — They came to the campaign trail, they saw Justin Trudeau — and they were conquered. It’s a fascinating footnote to all those ugly protests that dogged Trudeau throughout the election. In all but a couple of the ridings where the angriest demonstrations took place, voters sent Trudeau’s Liberals to Parliament. Liberals won in London North […]
Oct 1 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was never supposed to be about politicians. Nor was it intended to be a vacation. It has now become about both, thanks to Justin Trudeau’s puzzlingly ill-timed decision to begin a vacation in Tofino, B.C. — exactly on Canada’s newest day of remembrance. The prime minister, perhaps […]
Sep 27 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Annamie Paul didn’t resign as Green party leader on Monday. She surrendered, with an extraordinarily vivid description of how it felt to be tormented out of a Canadian political party. Paul talked of how she staggered, “spitting up blood,” to the finish of the recent federal election, admitting she just didn’t have any fight left […]
Sep 23 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Online life is great, especially in a pandemic. But in-person life is far superior, most would agree after a year and a half of living through COVID-19. Will Canada’s 44th election — the most virtual one in history — be remembered for that lesson too? All the major political parties are sifting through the results […]
Sep 17 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Never mind all this election talk about “forward” and the future. What this campaign apparently needed in its final week was a blast from the past — several blasts, actually. As if by some unspoken agreement, the Conservative and Liberal campaigns decided to haul a couple of past prime ministers out of retirement and put […]
Sep 15 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — This election campaign, soon to be over, has essentially been a bad mood looking for a place to land. It isn’t just those wild-eyed crowds dogging Justin Trudeau’s tour and expanding the support of the People’s Party of Canada, either.
Sep 13 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — One week from now, Canadians should know whether they’ve had an election about change or stability. It’s one of the most fundamental questions in any election campaign, but the pandemic has made it incredibly complicated in 2021 — especially for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole. If this was an election held […]
Sep 10 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau went into this election campaign looking for a majority. But he was a minority of one when plunged on to the stage of the English-language leaders’ debate Thursday night. If this is a nation grumpy about the pandemic and the mere fact of an election while COVID-19 still rages, the mood of this […]
Sep 7 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — “I can’t back down,” Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau declared on Monday, kicking off what may be two of the most crucial weeks in his political career. Trudeau may not have entered this election seeing Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole as the man who could take his job from him later this month. But he clearly does […]
Sep 4 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — As the federal election passes an important milepost over this Labour Day weekend, the prospect of a Conservative government has gone from a remote chance to a real possibility after Sept. 20. Successive polls are showing that Erin O’Toole is having a good election campaign. Justin Trudeau? Not so much. The Star’s own poll analysis […]
Sep 1 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — So much for the election truce between Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau. The detente appears to have crumbled over the issue of vaccinations — proof of vaccination, in particular — an off-and-on wedge issue of this pandemic election. It has given a whole new meaning to “shots exchanged,” which wouldn’t make a bad title for […]
Sep 1 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — As most Canadians are now keenly aware, viruses can mutate. So can elections, it seems. A dominant strain has emerged in Canada’s 44th general election, a variant on what was supposed to be a campaign to debate how best to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes in the form of angry protests dogging Justin […]
Aug 28 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It’s time to talk about this rage against Justin Trudeau — not just the mob spectacles on the campaign trail, but all the toxic strains of that fury simmering through Canadian politics for some time now. The incredible scene of Trudeau haters in Bolton, Ont., their faces contorted in gleeful rage, has elevated this phenomenon […]
Aug 27 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto.com — Finally, it’s here: the great Canadian election debate over vaccination passports. Well, maybe it’s the beginning of one. Just short of two weeks into the campaign, divisions have emerged between three main parties on the question of what kind of vaccination proof is going to get Canadians past the pandemic. At this stage, the choice […]