Articles by Stephanie Levitz

Sep 10 2023 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Conservative MP Michael Chong, twice the target of alleged Chinese state interference, will make the case to American legislators Tuesday that more international co-operation is urgently required to thwart Beijing’s efforts to meddle in Western democracies. His top-line message: If influence operations go unchecked, they will threaten economic prosperity, undermine public confidence in democracy and […]

Sep 7 2023 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — A multimillion-dollar ad buy and a summer of campaign-style travel appear to be paying off for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. A new poll provided exclusively to the Star from Abacus Data suggests that for the first time, more Canadians have a positive view of Poilievre than those who have a negative one, which Abacus Data […]

Oct 26 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has been fined $100,000 by the federal Conservative party amid the ongoing probe by Elections Canada into his ill-fated campaign for the party’s leadership, the Star has learned. The party sent Brown a letter informing of him of the fine last Thursday, just days before Brown won re-election as mayor — […]

Mar 31 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — The federal Conservative party said Thursday its membership list wasn’t compromised in an incident involving fake financial pledges made to Jean Charest’s leadership campaign. The Charest campaign discovered multiple pledges all linked to an IP address originating in Ukraine after a long-time Conservative party member raised concerns. Strategist Melanie Paradis said she received an email […]

Mar 4 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — A two-week break for the House of Commons that began Friday is setting the stage for an uptick in action in the federal Conservative leadership race. Former MP Leona Alleslev is now adding her name to the list of candidates eyeing a run, while the one official candidate so far has nabbed a major endorsement […]

Aug 20 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — Peterborough Examiner — Early on in election campaigns, federal political parties tend to brush off poll results, pointing to the old maxim that the only poll that matters is the one on election day. Except, for Maxime Bernier, the early polls do matter: for him to participate in the official leaders’ debates during this campaign, his People’s Party […]

Jun 10 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — What pandemic? Any premise the health and economic crisis created by COVID-19 is the preoccupation of Parliament vanished Thursday with a series of cascading events: allegations the Liberals’ entire agenda is being deliberately driven off the rails, a scathing ethics report, an MP crossing the floor and oh, the story of Louis Riel. Can an […]

May 23 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Decisions to retire by three of Hamilton’s five members of Parliament — a Liberal, a New Democrat and a Conservative — have created the conditions for a political fight that none of the parties can afford to lose. And that’s expected to put local issues front and centre whenever the next federal campaign begins. Conservative […]

Mar 25 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — OTTAWA — A withered Public Health Agency dithered on pandemic preparedness, the federal auditor general has concluded, leaving officials no choice but to scramble to respond to COVID-19. And if such a scramble is to be avoided in future, auditor general Karen Hogan found, it's time for an independent review of the eternal Canadian conundrum: […]

Mar 23 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — OTTAWA — China lashed out Tuesday against Canada and other western countries, saying they have no right to criticize the regime's human-rights record, considering their own. The criticism was part of the regime's response to the sanctions against it this week over alleged human-rights violations against minority Muslims in China.  Canada, the U.S., U.K. and […]

Mar 23 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole brushed off the idea Tuesday that a vote by the party's grassroots on climate change should colour Canadians' opinion of his party. "I'm the leader, I'm in charge," O'Toole said a press conference as he reiterated his pledge that his party will present a plan to address climate change […]

Mar 22 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — OTTAWA — Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union levelled sanctions against Chinese officials Monday over human rights violations against minority Muslims in that country.  "These measures reflect our grave concern with the gross and systematic human rights abuses taking place in the region," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at an […]

Mar 20 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — OTTAWA — Efforts to enshrine the reality of climate change in official Conservative party policy failed this weekend, marking a blow to Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole's efforts to position his party as serious on environmental issues.  A vote on the matter came at the party's official policy convention, which concluded on Saturday. Though the party's […]

Mar 20 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — OTTAWA — In a video played at the federal Conservative policy convention Saturday, leader Erin O'Toole's son Jack did a mock news segment called "Jack has your back." But the question for the party's grassroots after nearly three days of discussion on the path forward for their movement was to what extent their leader has […]

Mar 19 2021 — Stephanie Levitz — OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole unveiled elements of his election pitch to Canadians Friday, seeking to ease his party's jitters that they're without an offering solid enough to woo voters away from the Trudeau Liberals.  His marquee speech to the party's policy convention contained what he billed as a "recovery plan" that would within […]