Sep 28 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canada has made contact with Ukrainian officials in the days since Parliament celebrated a veteran of a Nazi unit in the presence of Ukraine’s president. Trudeau said Canada is one of Ukraine’s “strongest allies” and Ukraine’s leaders “full well know that,” despite the embarrassing episode. He said Canada […]
Sep 27 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized on behalf of Canada after a veteran of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi forces was included in a parliamentary event last week honouring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “All of us who were in this House on Friday regret deeply having stood and clapped even though we did so unaware of the […]
Sep 20 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — A non-affiliated senator from Manitoba is the biggest spender in the Red Chamber — but she defends her expenses by saying she’s an active parliamentarian who needs a lot of help and wants to pay her consultants fairly. Marilou McPhedran, named to the Senate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016, spends comparatively more than […]
Sep 14 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre released Thursday a housing plan he said would fast-track the construction of new homes in Canada as the country grapples with an acute shortage of affordable places to live. Poilievre said that after eight years in government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have failed to stimulate the construction of […]
Sep 10 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre appears to be in the pole position with an enviable lead over the governing Liberals in most public opinion polls and he commands near-total loyalty from the Tory base. The party’s three-day policy convention, which ended Saturday, broke past attendance records with more than 2,500 delegates registered for the Quebec […]
Sep 9 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Conservative delegates voted Saturday to add some new social conservative policies to their policy playbook, including a proposal to limit access to transgender health care for minors and do away with vaccine mandates. While some members warned these policies could be weaponized by their political opponents to hurt their standing among more moderate voters, a […]
Sep 8 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — The chair of the federal Conservative Party’s powerful fundraising arm said Friday the Tories are flush with cash and they’ll spend more money than previously planned to roll out additional ads touting leader Pierre Poilievre. As part of Poilievre’s summer rebrand, the party has deployed a multimillion-dollar ad campaign that depicts the leader as a […]
Sep 7 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Conservative party members will assemble in Quebec City starting Thursday for a three-day policy convention — a chance to craft a playbook to woo voters who are showing signs of fatigue with the governing Liberals. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has seen his fortunes improve over the summer months with the party registering higher support in […]
Sep 1 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — As part of an effort to save 24 Sussex Drive for future prime ministers, a group of heritage-minded construction industry figures has come forward with a plan to restore the dilapidated residence. Historic Ottawa Development Inc. (HODI) — a non-profit organization that includes noted architects, conservationists and project managers with a track record of saving […]
Aug 16 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — The federal government has earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars to improve customer service at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) — but people who regularly deal with the country’s tax collector say it hasn’t had much of an effect, with telephone wait times sometimes clocking in at more than two hours. The union that represents […]
Jul 20 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is sporting a new look after the party underperformed in a series of recent byelections — a makeover the Tory leader says is driven by fashion input from his wife. Poilievre has followed a strict business dress code in the nearly 20 years he’s been on Parliament Hill. Rarely seen without […]
Jul 14 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Nearly three years ago, the Bank of Canada announced a plan to remove from the $5 bill the face of Sir Wilfrid Laurier — the only French-Canadian prime minister on a banknote — and replace him with someone else from the country’s past. But the effort to swap out one of the most consequential leaders […]
Jul 12 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the Bank of Canada’s decision to raise interest rates again Wednesday, saying government spending has fuelled inflation. The central bank hiked its overnight rate by 25 basis points to five per cent — a move meant to tamp down persistent inflation in an economy that’s […]
Jun 29 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Google said Thursday it will remove Canadian news content from its search, news and discover products after a new law meant to compensate media outlets comes into force. The move to pull news from the world’s most dominant search engine could have a devastating impact on media outlets, which often depend on third-parties like Google […]
Jun 28 2023 — John Paul Tasker — CBC — Canada is grappling with a severe shortage of family doctors — but Canadian-born family physicians working abroad are fighting to obtain the paperwork they need to practise here. Dr. Stephanie DeMarchi, a general practitioner born in Hamilton, Ont. who has worked in Australia for the past ten years, is one of those doctors. She trained […]