Jun 29 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It’s probably a good thing Canada is avoiding a federal election for the next few years. It might take that long to find people willing to run for office. All of the political news of late seems like a repeated warning label against the toxicity of a career in public life. On Monday, it was […]
Jun 22 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Almost half of Canadians polled last month are not entirely sure Donald Trump lost the last presidential election in the U.S., according to the newest release from Abacus Data. “Almost 5 million Canadian adults (16 per cent) think it’s definitely or probably true that ‘the U.S. election was stolen from Donald Trump,’” Abacus reported. “Another […]
Jun 11 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau went to California this week. Cue the Hollywood treatment. “You’re here to pitch a show to HBO Max, right?” Trudeau was asked when he strolled into the Los Angeles studio of the popular podcast “Pod Save the World.” “Esthetically, you look like you could be brothers or at least cousins,” one hard-hitting reporter […]
Jun 8 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Eleven years ago, all bets were off on whether the federal Liberal party would continue to exist. Today, it’s the Ontario Liberals’ turn to ask that question. Is there anything about the federal Liberals’ near-death experience of more than a decade ago that gives clues to where the Ontario Grits should go today? Beyond finding […]
Jun 6 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — How exciting is politics in this country these days? Ask the voters in Ontario, and the answer would be “not much” — fewer than half of eligible citizens in the province bothered to cast a ballot in last Thursday’s election. No one is going to call that result exciting. Conservatives, however, would tell you political […]
Jun 3 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It’s a good thing Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau have learned to get along so well together over the past couple of years. Both leaders have won the gift of extra time in office this year. Ford is now in office at Queen’s Park until at least 2026 after his stunning majority victory this week, […]
Jun 2 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — If the Ontario election has struck you as a rather dreary exercise — neither hope nor change in the air — it may not be your imagination. Advertising campaigns often set the tone for elections and one expert in political communication says Ontarians have been subject to a sustained exercise in negativity in the weeks […]
May 31 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — “When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.” It’s an immortal line from the 1966 film “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” and reportedly one of the most memorable quotes about guns ever uttered in the history of movies. It is also good advice for the politics of handguns. There has been a lot […]
May 27 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — More debates, please. With more than three-and-a-half months remaining in the Conservative leadership, surely this isn’t the end of debates among the six people who aspire to be the next prime minister of Canada? Wednesday night’s debate in French marked the last of the formal, party-organized debates for the Conservative leadership. But that shouldn’t stop […]
May 25 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — No one is going to accuse Pierre Poilievre of practising restraint in his campaign to be the next leader of the federal Conservatives. Show him an institution and Poilievre will knock it down — the Bank of Canada, the media, anyone deemed a “gatekeeper,” or the World Economic Forum. He doesn’t just disagree with his […]
May 19 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Federal Conservative leadership candidates were curiously silent on social media in the immediate aftermath of Jason Kenney’s surprise downfall in Alberta. No thanks or goodbyes, no public comment on the Alberta premier who was once seen as a leading light for modern-day conservatism in Canada.
May 18 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau isn’t on the ballot in this spring’s Ontario election. But the prime minister does have a strange, recurring cameo role as Doug Ford’s reliable friend in Ottawa. Wait — shouldn’t it be Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca making those claims of closeness to all things Trudeau?
May 11 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It may not be fair to compare them, but the first Ontario leaders’ debate on Tuesday was far superior to last week’s debut debate between the federal Conservative leadership candidates. Here’s one big difference: the Ontario leaders spared some words for lives lost and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 6 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Jean Charest, the former premier of Quebec, was the odd man out in this week’s dust-up between Conservative leadership candidates at the Ottawa convention centre. The crucial question for Charest, if not Conservatives themselves, is whether the same is true about the entire federal party. If the crowd at the Canada Strong and Free Networking […]
May 3 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — The annual “March for Life” in Ottawa, billed as “the nation’s premiere pro-life event,” is always political — some years more so than others. Next Thursday, May 12, the march is bound to be extremely political, thanks to events exploding around abortion rights in the United States, as well as a Conservative leadership race in […]