Feb 9 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — The prime minister still has confidence in Veterans Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, a senior government source says, despite an explosive series of stories over the past few days appearing to indicate that the relationship has totally blown apart. Justin Trudeau has not spoken personally to Wilson-Raybould since reports emerged of her falling-out with the Prime […]
Feb 7 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It’s been a burning question for weeks in politics — what did Jody Wilson-Raybould do to get bounced out of her job as justice minister in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet? Well, now we know one theory about her firing offence: an alleged refusal to do a legal favour for SNC-Lavalin, the Quebec firm with long and […]
Feb 5 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau dropped a couple of big hints about the coming budget in a video he released on social media this week. It’s a transit-themed video. The prime minister appears at a variety of transit stops — including the GO station he visited in Milton, Ont, just last week — to boast that his federal […]
Feb 1 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau became prime minister in 2015 without a foothold in Milton, the sprawling GTA community where he landed on Thursday as part of this winter’s cross-country town hall tour. But if Trudeau wants to stay on as prime minister after this fall’s election, a lot will depend on how his Liberal government is grappling […]
Jan 30 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — All politics is local, as the old saying goes, especially in an election year. So while China and other international tensions are raging in the headlines, and no doubt causing some sleepless nights at the top levels of the federal government, there’s a distinctly local tilt to the concerns of MPs returning to the partisan […]
Jan 26 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — John McCallum had two big jobs in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. First, as immigration minister from 2015 to early 2017, he managed the influx of Syrian refugees to this country; then, for the last two years, McCallum was Canada’s man in China. On a day that both of those issues collided spectacularly in the […]
Jan 11 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Raymond Muise, an 81-year-old retired electronic technician living in Dayton, N.S., was catching up on news online last week when his phone rang and a familiar voice said: “Happy New Year.” It was Justin Trudeau, calling about a letter Muise had written to the prime minister after General Motors announced the shutdown in Oshawa late […]
Jan 11 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It often takes a death of some sorts to get political rivals speaking civilly to each other in this era of deep political polarization. Karl Rove and David Axelrod are a case in point. Rove, master Republican strategist behind the George W. Bush administration in the 2000s, lost his mother to suicide when he was […]
Jan 9 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to be gearing up for this 2019 election year with an early reset of his government — including a possible cabinet shuffle in the days ahead. Shuffle speculation has been heating up over the past couple of days in Ottawa in advance of next week’s cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Que.
Jan 1 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — This is the time of year when a lot of people are resolving to live a healthier life in 2019. That wouldn’t be a bad resolution for political life in general, particularly after the glimpses we’ve received in 2018 about how Parliament Hill can take a serious toll on people’s well-being — elected and unelected.
Dec 30 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Elizabeth May heads into 2019 with hopes of gaining some new, Green Party company in the House of Commons by year’s end. But May is already gaining some extra company in her personal life this year, even before the election. On Earth Day in April, the Green Party leader will marry John Kidder in a […]
Dec 24 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau’s disastrous trip to India can now be considered globally infamous. The Washington Post released a list of the 10 most-read columns in its Global Opinions section on Thursday, and not one but two of those pieces were about Trudeau’s trip to India last February. At the No. 3 spot was a Bharka Dutt […]
Dec 21 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — The last federal election campaign was one of the longest in Canadian history. But if you thought the 78-day election of 2015 was a prolonged drama, wait until you see what’s in store for next year. Essentially, the political year of 2019 will be a three-act play.
Dec 19 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau has admitted that outrage came easier to him before he became prime minister. While that kind of candour is often refreshing in politics, his end-of-year news conference in Ottawa could have used some of that old opposition fire — whether it was on Canada-China relations or, even closer to home, on the economic […]
Dec 17 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — The fates of two Canadians detained in China need to be sorted out by the rules of international law, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, because law and order are Canada’s best bulwarks in a global world swirling in populism and disruption. “We are right now going through our usual process of standing up for them, […]