Jun 15 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — This week, we learned that Donald Trump’s screen addiction can no longer be viewed as a simply an eccentric hobby. Trump’s fixation with screens, on TV, on the iPad, on his smartphone, helped alter the course of international diplomacy this week — most certainly in Canada-U.S. relations, but perhaps in North Korea as well.
Jun 13 2018 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — If a referendum were held across Canada right now on the trade fight between Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister would most certainly win. So is anyone in the mood for a summer election? Nobody panic — the question is posed in wild speculation — mostly. Trudeau has given every indication since the […]
Jun 9 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Very few things about modern Canadian politics are as old as the former Ontario Liberal government. This doesn’t just apply to tenure of parties in power — most other governments in Canada have been switching party colours during the past 15 years — but to the now-standard tools of the political trade, too.
Jun 5 2018 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — Politicians are fond of saying that they don’t deal in hypothetical questions. But Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne has just answered the mother of all hypothetical questions — the what’s-going-to-happen-in-the-election question. As Wynne has now said, succinctly, repeatedly and often emotionally since this past weekend, she’s going to lose her job as premier when Ontarians […]
Jun 1 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It’s being called a “change” election, but when it comes to tactics, ads and strategy, the current Ontario campaign hasn’t exactly been a game-changer. Exciting, yes. Interesting, too. But it’s not writing any big new chapters in the story of modern political campaigning in Canada.
May 29 2018 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford really likes to call people his “friends.” It’s not clear that Andrew Scheer, his federal counterpart, is one of them. As iPolitics’ Marieke Walsh is reporting, time is running out for a joint Ford-Scheer event and there’s nothing scheduled right now before the June 7 vote. Is it just […]
May 29 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Facts or fear? Arithmetic or anger? The winner of the Ontario election, it seems, will be the one who figures out whether the huge band of undecided voters — still making up their minds in the final two weeks of the campaign — are driven by emotion or reason; personality or policy.
May 22 2018 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — The Prime Minister’s trip to India earned him a lot of laughs this year — all at his own expense. This weekend, however, Justin Trudeau has a chance to solicit some laughs on his own terms, at the annual Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner in Ottawa. Will this finally be a chance to put that trip […]
May 17 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — The most formidable foe for Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne in the current election isn’t a person or a party. It’s time — specifically the “time for a change” sentiment surging through the public-opinion polls. Three out of every four Ontarians believe it’s time for a change and more than half of them say they strongly […]
May 15 2018 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — It’s bad when the Finance Minister’s officials are accused of bullying an interest group. But the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says it can think of one thing worse — the cold shoulder. And that’s precisely the frosty situation the CFIB says it has now with Bill Morneau, the first finance minister to refuse to […]
May 11 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — You could see it as a milepost on the road to true gender equality in Canadian politics. In two stories in the political headlines this week, female members of Parliament were cast as alleged perpetrators of harassment — not victims of it. Is this a reason to celebrate? Obviously not. But it’s interesting. One of […]
May 9 2018 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — Premier Kathleen Wynne stood right in the middle of the stage on Tuesdaynight, in the first leaders’ debate of the looming Ontario election. If current polling trends hold, that was an appropriate spot — in Ontario, it’s said, both the political middle and Wynne’s fortunes are shrinking. So has political polarization arrived in Ontario? This […]
May 4 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Stephen Harper was back in the Commons this week in a big way — not in person, but definitely in spirit. The former prime minister’s name is being increasingly invoked by the Liberals to take pokes at Conservatives, with the current prime minister, Justin Trudeau, leading the charge. During just one question period this week, […]
May 1 2018 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — That huge package of election-law reforms unveiled by the federal Liberal government this week is not the radical shakeup to Canada’s democracy that Justin Trudeau once promised to deliver by 2019. But inside that massive bill are some pretty big changes in our voting system. In fact, these are arguably more sweeping than the former […]
Apr 20 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hauled out not one, but three of his 2015 election slogans last weekend when he held his pipeline-crisis meeting with the premiers of Alberta and British Columbia. He talked of “hope and hard work” and declared that “better is always possible.” Trudeau even urged the warring provinces to see their rivals […]