Jul 27 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — Back to the Future! As the nation lurches ever closer to a widely expected election call, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be quickly receding in our collective rearview mirror. Traffic clogs our highways like bad cholesterol. Dogs howl with anxiety as their owners mysteriously disappear. A million sourdough starters have been left to die. Pre-pandemic […]
Jul 20 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — What does it mean to “represent Canada” in the 21st century? We are a nation of two official languages, 10 provinces, and three territories. Forty-one per cent of us are first-or-second generation immigrants. Eighty-one per cent of us live in cities, the rest in rural or small-town communities. In terms of gender and orientation, the […]
Jul 6 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — Sporting a new ‘do and freshly shaven mug, Justin Trudeau looks ready to rumble. In the past few days the prime minister toured a vaccination clinic in Kanata, Ont., doled out cash to a steel plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and appointed Canada’s first Indigenous governor-general, Mary Simon. He’s basking in headlines that predict […]
Jun 22 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — It’s clear that the Liberals have been paving the way for months now: one-dose summer, two-dose writ. If you have any interest in federal politics, the end of the pandemic can’t come soon enough. For over a year, Canadians have been governed by Zoom democracy: virtual question periods, committees and press conferences. It’s not like […]
Jun 15 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — Justin Trudeau, election night, Montreal, 2015: “To this country’s friends all around the world, many of you have worried that Canada has lost its compassionate and constructive voice in the world. Well, I have a simple message for you. On behalf of 35 million Canadians: we’re back.”
Jun 8 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — The discovery of the remains of 215 children, buried in unmarked graves at the Kamloops residential school, has profoundly shocked the Canadian conscience. Statues of John A. Macdonald and Egerton Ryerson, architects of the residential school system, have been removed by both fiat and force. Demands for an apology from the Catholic Church grow ever […]
May 25 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — Poor Erin O’Toole just can’t catch a break. On Friday night, the Conservative Party leader tweeted a snap of himself in a ball cap and sweaty blue T-shirt, holding a can of Legion Lager, captioned, “Starting the long weekend off right. Rebecca had a cold one waiting for me after my run. Wishing everyone a […]
May 18 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — As the countdown continues to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, human rights groups called this week for a full-blown boycott, given accusations of China committing genocide against its minority Uyghur Muslim population and its recent suppression of basic freedoms in Hong Kong. According to a coalition that includes Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hong Kong […]
May 11 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — This seems like a bad week to be in the pipeline business. On Friday, a cyberattack shut down the American Colonial Pipeline network, which carries 2.5 million barrels a day of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel to 14 states. A criminal gang called “DarkSide” is accused of holding data for ransom; it is not clear […]
May 4 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — “Oh f—, did you send that to Sajjan?” That was Liberal House leader Pablo Rodriguez, caught on a hot mic during a Zoom question period Monday afternoon. Rodriguez was reacting to a decision to have Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan answer a question about the cancellation of a defence committee meeting earlier in the day — […]
Apr 27 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — April is tax time. Like many Canadians, I spent last Sunday tallying receipts and filling in spreadsheets, my head spinning from all the calculations. But doing your taxes involves much more than numbers. The process brings on a weird sense of nostalgia: through those slips of paper, you revisit the experiences of your past year, […]
Apr 20 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — One hundred billion dollars in new spending. The promise of a “green recovery.” Money for youth to prevent a “lost generation.” All items in the Liberal budget delivered Monday, and all ready-to-go election slogans. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may claim he doesn’t want to go to the polls, but he apparently failed to tell that […]
Apr 13 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — While the country reels in the grip of COVID’s third wave, and the federal government scrambles to get more vaccines, many political issues that would normally take centre stage have been shunted to the sidelines. One of the most serious matters is the investigation by the House of Commons’ defence committee into allegations of sexual […]
Apr 6 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — Postmedia — Last month, the Conservatives held a virtual party convention; this weekend, it’s the NDP and Liberals’ turn. And what a jolly time it promises to be, with policy resolutions that veer from centre-left to downright Trotskyite. Both parties propose a guaranteed basic income, a transition to a green energy economy, and to protect worker pensions. […]
Mar 30 2021 — Tasha Kheiriddin — National Post — Flip-flop, flip-flop. What’s that sound? It’s the making of Canadian health-care policy on COVID-19. The long list of COVID policy reversals began even before the pandemic officially took hold a year ago, and continue unabated. Here’s a short trip down memory lane: