Jun 20 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — The 2019 federal election campaign is little more than a year away, and yet you could be forgiven for believing it had already begun. On stages big and small — at conventions, at the doorstep, at lunchtime podiums, and especially on the floor of the House of Commons — Canada’s federal political parties are hammering […]
Jun 14 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland urged the United States to resist the temptation to abandon the rules-based international order and Western alliances for a “mano-a-mano” approach to trade and security in the world during a wide-ranging speech to a Washington audience. In a speech to the Foreign Policy forum — an influential D.C.-based group that […]
Jun 10 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — U.S. President Donald Trump greeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warmly Friday morning as he arrived at the G7. Although he’d tweeted grumpily the night before that Trudeau was “so indignant” about American tariffs, Trump looked happy to see the prime minister. They shook hands and smiled for the cameras, as all eyes were on them.
May 30 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — The Canadian government is preparing options including trade retaliation against the United States as high-level talks to resolve a NAFTA logjam and a looming American threat of tariffs against Canadian steel and aluminum imports stall, the Star has learned. Publicly, the Canadian government is stopping short of an outright threat of trade retaliation in the […]
May 29 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — The federal Liberal government has agreed to buy the troubled Trans Mountain expansion project from Kinder Morgan to ensure the controversial expansion of an Alberta-to-B.C. crude oil pipeline gets built. The price tag is less than the company’s estimated $7.4-billion projected cost but taxpayers will be on the hook for $4.5 billion according to details […]
Apr 14 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hug just about anyone. But he is about to drop the niceties. He’s asked B.C. Premier John Horgan and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley — NDP leaders both — to meet him in Ottawa Sunday to grapple with what seem like irreconcilable differences. Texas-based Kinder Morgan Inc. announced last Sunday it […]
Mar 2 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Finance Minister Bill Morneau is again fending off accusations he is in a “perceived conflict of interest” on the newly promised national pharmacare program because of his previous ties to Morneau Shepell, a pension and benefits consulting firm. After first winning plaudits for Tuesday’s budget announcement that the Liberal government is looking to chart the […]
Feb 15 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland met unexpectedly with Donald Trump’s trade czar out of the public eye Wednesday, a meeting her office described as “cordial and constructive.” Freeland met with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer at his office at the end of the afternoon on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. – a meeting his […]
Feb 13 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — The Liberal government will propose Criminal Code changes next month to reform jury selection rules, bail processes and other justice measures that it says have long led to unfair treatment of Indigenous people in Canada’s legal system. It comes on the heels of the controversial acquittal of a Saskatchewan farmer in the death of Colten […]
Feb 12 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — The family of a slain young Cree man met with Trudeau government ministers Monday, and afterwards issued a quiet but forceful call for change, saying reforms to jury-selection rules in the wake of his killer’s acquittal are one “quick fix.” Hours later it appeared their voices and the voices of hundreds of supporters had been […]
Jan 29 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — NAFTA trade talks look set to go to the next round of negotiations in Mexico City and possibly another round after that, a sign that, at the very least, nobody has quit trying to reach a deal. Round seven is set for Feb 25th in Mexico, said one source speaking on background. Round eight was […]
Jan 25 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his decision to sign a trans-Pacific trade deal that excludes the United States and says he is sure a new North American trade pact is within reach. “I know that we are going to be able to get there,” Trudeau said, “because so many jobs in Canada, in the United […]
Jan 5 2018 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — The Toronto Right to Life Association is taking the federal Liberal government to court over its decision to limit Canada Summer Jobs Program funding to groups whose “core mandate” respects charter rights, including the right to have an abortion, according to government officials. Two officials who spoke to the Star say the Liberal government hasn’t […]
Dec 9 2017 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — For once, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin’s famous composure crumpled. As Canada’s top judge bade a public farewell Thursday from her centre perch on the bench of the Supreme Court of Canada, she struggled to steady her voice and stop the tears.
Nov 29 2017 — Tonda MacCharles — Toronto Star — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce his selection for a vacant seat on Canada’s top court Wednesday. In an invitation sent to faculty and students at the University of Ottawa law school, Trudeau revealed he’ll name the person to fill the Supreme Court of Canada seat that, by tradition, has been held by a judge […]