Feb 6 2019 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — You could be forgiven if those old Heritage Minutes, seen most often on that dated medium of television, had slipped into the recesses of your mind. Not unlike the vintage National Film Board vignettes, my personal favourite being The Log Driver’s Waltz, these stories generate some warmth in a sentimental Canadian heart. Now, they are […]
Oct 31 2018 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — It is that time in the pre-election season when the framing for the next vote kicks into high gear. None of it is original but that doesn’t matter because, like the first snowfall, it seems to be all new, as if it never happened before. For a couple of weeks now, both the prime minister […]
Aug 1 2018 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Ontario Premier Doug Ford has given new meaning to starting with a bang. Out of nowhere, except perhaps the deep recesses of his mind, he announced last week that he was cutting the size of Toronto’s city council from 44 members (which was to become 47, after a planned expansion this fall) to 25. Anyone […]
Jul 4 2018 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Good for you, Paul Wernick, for speaking out on your own personal mental health and wellness. Kudos also for challenging the norms of the work routine on Parliament Hill; it is brave of you to do so. Wernick recently gained attention for coming forward to speak about his health and the influence he believed the […]
Jun 6 2018 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Kathleen Wynne’s election concession some five days before Ontarians vote in their June 7 provincial election was the latest bizarre twist in Ontario’s crazy year of politics. Some members of Wynne’s team are framing this as a great selfless act that will liberate local candidates from the premier’s current toxic brand, potentially giving some of […]
Mar 7 2018 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — There was a federal budget delivered in Ottawa last week but you’d hardly know it, as the debate coming out of the House of Commons had more to do with the prime minister’s India trip than it did on the merits or demerits of gender-based analysis. The Trudeau government, normally very good at blowing past […]
Feb 21 2018 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Patrick Brown may as well be wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat as he goes around pronouncing his innocence and looking to get his job back. He is living proof that Donald Trump’s style of politics has now fully invaded our political system. Brown has got the full Trump arsenal of tools: alternative facts, […]
Jan 10 2018 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Who thought the Showtime hit drama Homeland was fiction? Because it seems we now have a copycat program playing out for real in Canada. Yes, the Joshua Boyle-Justin Trudeau meeting and the subsequent charges laid against Boyle have the feel of life imitating art. The oddity of Joshua Boyle and his lived experience has been […]
Sep 6 2017 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Is Justin Trudeau’s government truly vulnerable for the first time? Failure to deliver on electoral reform, a badly broken deficit promise, and even a $10-million payout to Omar Khadr have had to date no real impact on his team. But what looks like an ill-conceived tax-reform package—potentially drafted by officials who have never actually run […]
Aug 9 2017 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Two weeks ago, I had the occasion to see the truly moving Broadway production Come from Away. Theatre reviews are not my specialty, but to say the show was emotionally powerful would be an understatement of gross proportions. Come from Away captures the stories of Newfoundlanders and stranded travellers in Gander, N.L. following the Sept. […]
Jul 5 2017 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Summer is upon us and so is a new political season. It is one that matters a lot for different reasons to our biggest political parties. For the opposition Conservatives, the Andrew Scheer roadshow begins. The new leader will be trotted out in communities across the country to, first and foremost, build faith among supporters […]
Mar 22 2017 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — For a second week in a row, my focus is going to be on the Senate. Not for some of the good work they have done recently on challenging bills that have come from the House of Commons or initiating reform to end genetic discrimination. No, instead it is to look at two bad apples […]
Mar 8 2017 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Old habits die hard. Witness the Liberal Party of Canada’s nomination process, if you can call it that, in Markham-Thornhill, Ont. where a former senior staffer in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office is now the Liberal candidate. While I don’t know Mary Ng, the former director of appointments in Trudeau’s office and now the Liberal […]
Feb 22 2017 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — While elements of the American and British electorate seem repulsed by elites in politics and empowered by their rejection the Canadian environment is still different. If anything, political dynasties remain very much alive in Canada. A second Trudeau is our prime minister and another man named LeBlanc is a senior minister in his government. We […]
Feb 15 2017 — Tim Powers — Hill Times — Hypocrisy is alive and well in our body politic. Is it any wonder carnival-barking outsiders like Kevin O’Leary get so much attention? By simply purporting not to be a standard politician, you can come across as a winner. In the past week we have seen some great displays of false moralizing: 1) the Liberals placing […]