Jan 25 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — As things now stand, the so-called “freedom convoy” will not be treated to any high-level greeting party when it rolls into Canada’s capital this weekend. The rolling protest by truckers opposed to vaccine mandates may be picking up steam as it makes its way to Ottawa, but so far its disruptive potential lies mainly in […]
Jan 22 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — The more that politicians reach into their bags of communications tricks to “reinforce the message,” as they say, the less they seem like real people. Justin Trudeau made it through an entire news conference on Friday without saying his government had Canadians’ backs. This is progress. In an analysis of his latest numbers this week, […]
Jan 18 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Alexa McDonough might have been amused to see the spirited debate that erupted on social media after news of her death was announced over the weekend. It all revolved around which trails McDonough blazed for women in positions of political leadership in Canada — could the former leader of the NDP really be described as […]
Jan 16 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau is never going to move back into his childhood home at 24 Sussex Drive — this much is obvious. But he is also perfectly placed to seal the fate of the decrepit, uninhabitable official residence for Canada’s prime ministers. It is time to tear down 24 Sussex and Trudeau is exactly the right […]
Jan 10 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — No vaccination, no booze — Quebec’s new scheme targeted at the vaccine hesitant certainly gives a whole new meaning to “shots all around.” But something else may be at work here — a gamble that vaccination reluctance in Canada can be tackled with some of the same tools that governments have used to levy unpopular […]
Jan 4 2022 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — POLITICS OPINION Goodbye, BlackBerry. You were the coolest toy on Parliament Hill Many people may have forgotten how life-changing it was to type emails on a mobile device for the first time, Susan Delacourt writes. Susan Delacourt By Susan DelacourtNational Columnist Tue., Jan. 4, 2022timer3 min. read JOIN THE CONVERSATION It was only a few […]
Dec 31 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — When the New Year’s holidays rolled around last year, many Canadians were wishing that 2021 would be more like 2019. That wish, in politics at least, came true. Another federal election rolled around, with nearly the same result as 2019. As we head into 2022, Justin Trudeau is still the prime minister of a newly […]
Dec 31 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It is the one annual interview that makes the Prime Minister’s staff most nervous. When Justin Trudeau sits down for a chat with Terry Dimonte — as he has for two decades at Christmas time — he opens up about his personal life in a way he does not with any other journalist. That’s because […]
Dec 21 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It seems like only yesterday when inflation was the next big thing in Canadian politics. Actually, it was just last week. Omicron hasn’t just turned the holidays upside down. The arrival of this fast-moving COVID-19 variant means that Canada’s political conversation will almost certainly not pick up where it left off only a week ago, […]
Dec 18 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau isn’t all that fussed about turning 50 on Christmas Day this year. He shrugs, calling it an “arbitrary milestone.” “It’s not a big deal,” Trudeau says, and though we have just finished a long walk in the snow around the grounds of Rideau Hall, it wasn’t that kind of walk — the stroll […]
Dec 15 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau was attacked from the political left and right during this year’s election campaign. But he says it was the “casual cynicism” of the left that bugged him the most. “To be honest, what hit me harder, on a really personal level, was not the anger and the anti-everything of the far right, so […]
Dec 14 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau is not happy about current trade tensions with the United States, but he says that Joe Biden is still “one of the good guys” and Canada needs him to succeed. During a long walk on the grounds of Rideau Hall on Monday afternoon, Trudeau talked about how he is dealing with the president […]
Dec 7 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — Spoiler alert: Joe Biden’s big summit this week is not going to save the world for democracy. But it will offer a glimpse into just how much the current government in the United States — and even Canada — is spooked by the real prospect of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Dec 3 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, is one of the most congenial members of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, happy to shake hands with friend and foe alike. So he appeared genuinely taken aback this week when he was described in the House as spineless by former Conservative trade minister Ed Fast. “I think I […]
Nov 30 2021 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It’s too soon to tell what damage the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 will do to the physical or economic health of Canadians. But all signs are pointing already to a large, looming morale crisis, which politicians are going to have to struggle to contain in the days and weeks ahead. Just when Canadians were […]