Minister spars with Conservative critic on criminals, newcomers — and salad. Immigration Minister Lena Diab sparred with her Conservative critic at a tense House of Commons committee meeting Thursday as the two disagreed on everything from immigration levels and deporting non-citizen criminals to what kind of salad they prefer. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner put Diab in the hot seat...
After a messy and confusing endgame, John Rustad's leadership of the Conservative Party of B.C. is finally over — but the battle over the ideological direction of the party that he took to the brink of power may be entering a new phase. Rustad announced his resignation Thursday in the provincial legislature, citing the need for party unity. It came...
The federal government is escalating its fight with automotive giant Stellantis over the company's decision to move some production to the U.S., despite receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in Canadian taxpayer incentives in recent years. Industry Minister Minister Mélanie Joly said Thursday that the government will serve Stellantis with a notice of default under the funding contracts related to...
Canada is expected to buy close to $4-billion in air strike munitions from the United States government in a sale disclosed Thursday on the eve of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s next meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington. These are the type of bombs that can be carried by fighter jets such as Canada’s aging CF-18s or the new U.S.-made...
Two departing members of Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body say the Carney government is shredding any hope the country will meet its climate goals. Mark Carney’s government has sidelined its independent climate advisory body and is putting Canada’s climate targets at risk, charged two members of the group who resigned this week in frustration. Simon Donner, a UBC professor who was...
A new Liaison Strategies riding poll for the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada shows new Liberal MP, Chris d'Entremont firmly in the lead in Acadie—Annapolis after crossing the floor. Today’s release is the third in a series of daily riding polls Liaison will publish this week following yesterday's poll of Vancouver Kingsway and an earlier poll of...
A new Liaison Strategies riding poll for the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada shows the NDP firming up support in Vancouver Kingsway. Today’s release is the second in a series of daily riding polls Liaison will publish this week following yesterday's poll of Eglinton-Lawrence. Conducted from November 24 to 30, 2025, using Interactive Voice Response (IVR), the...
One of the more infamous scenes in the movie sketch comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail involved a sword fight between King Arthur and the Black Knight. Almost immediately, things do not go well for the Black Knight. He quickly loses a limb, then another. Despite his losses he defiantly fights on: “Just a flesh wound … I’m invincible.”...
Progressive-leaning folks are having a hard time watching Mark Carney link arms with the same forces that spent the past decade demonizing the Liberals. Whether it’s making a deal with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith or playing to the “bro” culture with all the sports talk and walking back feminist foreign policy, it seems like the prime minister is determined to...
The armoured vehicles U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is purchasing from Canadian defence firm Roshel fall under Buy American provisions, the law enforcement agency said Thursday. The department's media relations team said in an emailed statement that the "production of the Roshel Senator emergency response vehicle originates in the United States." Despite numerous requests, the ICE agency did not provide...
More than 27,000 federal public servants were paid at least $150,000 in the last fiscal year, a document tabled in Parliament shows. It says more than 20,000 employees received compensation -- salaries, bonuses, benefits and overtime pay -- of between $150,000 and $199,999 in 2024-25. The document, prepared by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, shows that nearly 5,000 employees...
Let’s face it, with 343 MPs in this Parliament and one Green Party seat, I had not imagined that any vote might be so tight that my single “yay” or “nay” could hold sway. Then, based on a combination of minority math and political machination, the knife-edge vote on Mark Carney’s first budget on November 17th came along and the...
The leadership of two of our three major parties is in the course of being determined. It’s a big moment in the political trajectory of the country. The NDP leadership race could well decide the fate of that party – whether it revives itself or is reduced to a relic. The latter would see Canada devolving into a hollowed-middle, two-party...
The Montreal riding of Laurier–Sainte-Marie is ground zero for Quebec’s media elites and the beating heart of the province’s cultural industries. Not surprisingly, it skews progressive and has reliably sent left-leaning MPs to Ottawa for more than three decades. Last week’s resignation of local MP Steven Guilbeault from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet generated a minor earthquake in Laurier—Sainte-Marie whose...
Whether he intended to or not, Prime Minister Mark Carney cast aside a tenet of the Liberals’ brand last Thursday when he signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alberta that jeopardizes the Grits’ work addressing climate change. For more than two decades, the Liberal Party of Canada told voters that it was the party that not only cared about...
Everyone could find something to hate about the energy agreement – technically, the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding – Mark Carney and Danielle Smith struck last week. For the right, the conditions on federal support for a heavy oil pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast – notably, a tightened provincial carbon pricing regime – are too onerous, if not altogether...
With hearings underway in Washington regarding the future of the CUSMA, U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade representative has signaled that the administration might withdraw completely unless it secures a “good deal.” To rattle our cages further, Trump recently reiterated his tired accusation that Canada and Mexico have taken advantage of the United States like just about every other country, threatening...
On the day last May when Mark Carney and his newly elected cabinet were sworn in, the Prime Minister promised, “Our government will deliver its mandate for change with urgency and determination. We’ve been elected to do a job. We intend to do it quickly and forcefully.” At the time, that sounded like a solid recipe for governing, but it’s...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has displayed a remarkable willingness to dismantle the legacy of his predecessor across the public policy board. In the coming months, he may be tempted to take another look at one of the more indefensible decisions made by former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government: the expansion of its medical assistance in dying legislation.
Back in October, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wiped her hands clean of any scandal involving Alberta Health Services (AHS). Seven months earlier, the Premier had tapped retired Manitoba judge Raymond Wyant to probe alleged political interference involving the procurement of children’s medicine from abroad, and contracts for private surgical facilities in the province, both of which had ties to a...
When the Carney government’s honeymoon is over, and its missteps on a variety of fronts become more evident, the search will begin in earnest for “alternatives.” Looking ahead, what might such alternatives be? On the fiscal front, the recent federal budget gets off on the wrong foot by attributing Canada’s economic woes to major global events and Donald Trump’s tariffs...
Mark Carney didn’t run as a conventional politician. He ran as the outsider who wasn’t. It’s an appealing contradiction: a first-time candidate who also happened to be one of the most connected people in the country and abroad. Carney spent years at the centre of power in both Ottawa and London. He advised governments, soothed markets, briefed prime ministers, and...
Is Canada going continental? This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney quietly signed Canada up for the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, part of the European Union’s plan to rebuild its military industrial base by 2030. Membership gives countries access to 150-billion euros (C$243 billion) in loans to back defence manufacturing. Canada is the first non-EU country to join. In...
For weeks now, rumours have circulated that Mark Carney could be doing a major shuffle of his cabinet before the end of this year. The shuffle that happened on Monday wasn’t the one people were talking about — or expecting.
Let’s set the record straight: Mark Carney is not Justin Trudeau; and that is a good thing. The continued fixation of former Trudeau-era loyalists in insisting that Carney is pandering to the ‘bros’ because of his “rejection” of the word ‘feminist’ in Canada’s foreign policy reeks of nostalgia for a government that often mistook optics for substance. It’s time for...
They were among the few long faces at last Saturday evening’s annual Press Gallery Dinner. Stephen Guilbeault looked as though he had just lost his best friend. Green Party Elizabeth May looked as though she would break into tears. Guilbeault had resigned two days earlier from his job as heritage minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Carney over...
If you listen to the noise coming out of British Columbia, rather than pay attention to what’s actually going on, you might conclude the province’s NDP government simply hates pipelines. A new line to the B.C. coast, they keep saying, is a terrible idea. It’s just a pipe dream, a “fantasy” in the words of Premier David Eby. Worse, the...
More than eight months have passed and it’s now safe to bring friends of Justin Trudeau back into the cabinet. Marc Miller was one of the Trudeau-era ministers tossed over the side of the ship of state when Mark Carney became prime minister, when the political imperative was making Canadians see his government as something new and different.
Danielle Smith was flying high last Thursday as she and Mark Carney signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Calgary. Interesting that it was called an MOU and not an agreement, although most of the news media, and Smith herself, talked about it in those terms. So now Carney and Smith have an “understanding” that an oil pipeline may be...
You couldn’t have faulted Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for thinking she might receive something of a hero’s welcome at this weekend’s United Conservative Party convention. After all, she would be waving a freshly signed memorandum of understanding with Ottawa to build a new pipeline to the northwest coast of B.C. Sure, there were literally mountains to cross before it came...
Premier Danielle Smith faces an uphill battle with her own party, which appears to be increasingly untethered from Alberta’s current reality. The United Conservative Party annual general meeting was a fractious affair, marked by divisions over separatism and policy resolutions mired in the 1950s. Albertans would be wise to pay attention to those resolutions – they have a habit of...
Across Canada, at all times, we are an appropriately judgmental people when it comes to holding our political leaders accountable. This is particularly true when we think our leaders have failed us, disappointed us or misled us. Whether it is a municipal politician caught in a scandal, a provincial cabinet minister who makes a terrible decision, an opposition backbencher who...
It seems like a million years ago now, but do you remember the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership? It was signed between Canada and some Pacific nations plus the United Kingdom way back in that long-ago time of 2018. I remember being amused by it—not because of what was in the deal, but because of some of the...
What happens when a government survives a big test, but the country still feels stuck? That is where Canada finds itself today. The Carney government survived its first major budget vote and avoided a holiday election. On paper, that is a win. Our latest Abacus Data survey, conducted between Nov. 20 and 27 with 2,421 adults, shows the Liberals have...
Premier Danielle Smith is no dummy. She is well aware the pipeline deal she made with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday would not be an easy sell but sell it she must. There are UCP voters and UCP members motivated enough to spend a couple of days at a political gabfest in Edmonton who have had it with Canada...
Issues around leaders' scrums, participation caused controversy. The head of Canada's Leaders' Debates Commission says the independent body should stop organizing post-debate news conferences and will make changes to how it decides what leaders to invite after this spring's leadership debate was surrounded by controversy. Michel Cormier, the commission's executive director, appeared before a committee of MPs on Thursday to...
Several key federal cabinet ministers addressed the Assembly of First Nations gathering in Ottawa Thursday, including Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. But Energy Minister Tim Hodgson -- who is helping to advance Prime Minister Mark Carney's major projects agenda -- has been taken off the agenda, despite being previously scheduled to appear Thursday.
In the midst of the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa, the MP criticized his own government for politicizing the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2021 election. In 2017, Quebec politicians of all stripes marched in unison in Lévis to demonstrate their support to Davie shipyard workers and blast Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government for failing to provide enough contracts to avoid hundreds...
The potential election of the Parti Québécois is causing concern among some federal politicians. The Parti Québécois's dominance in the polls for nearly two years and its leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon's promise to hold a referendum on Quebec sovereignty during his first term have reverberated all the way to the federal capital. Officials in Prime Minister Mark Carney's government held...
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney isn’t planning to discuss trade with US President Donald Trump when they meet for the FIFA 2026 World Cup event on Friday, even though talks have been stalled for more than a month.
The Canadian military is undertaking a structural reorganization designed to make the force more nimble and adaptable to new technology, the Department of National Defence said Thursday. Following the lead of allies such as Australia, it has created a new joint forces command that will house major support elements such as military health services, logistics and operational support branches and...
QUEBEC -- The Quebec government will table a bill on Friday to ban vote-buying in political party leadership races.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is planning to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at a FIFA World Cup event Friday in Washington as trade negotiations between Canada and the United States remain on pause. The Prime Minister's Office said Carney will meet with Trump at the Kennedy Center, where the event is being held, and the meeting is expected to...
President DONALD TRUMP is flirting with Canada’s worst-case scenario — setting the wheels in motion for the U.S. to pull out of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The cost of an initial order of U.S.-supplied equipment for Canada’s new fleet of warships has almost tripled as more American systems are being purchased, according to new information released by the U.S. government. The order for U.S. systems has increased from $1.25 billion ($900 million U.S.) to $3.6 billion ($2.6 billion U.S.), according to a public notice published by...
It’s a tough conclusion that Bob Rae draws from a lifetime in politics, one he began as as a New Democrat in Ottawa and at Queen’s Park and recently ended as Canada’s newest former ambassador to the United Nations. Can the country’s relationship with the United States be repaired by a change of heart, a change of tariff policy or...
Food prices in Canada could increase by four to six per cent next year, largely driven by pricier meat products, according to a forecast by researchers at Dalhousie University. Beef in particular is expected to get more expensive, potentially rising seven per cent, as cattle sizes shrink (those markets are susceptible to tariffs) and more ranchers leave the industry, said...
Canadian officials lower expectations around trade developments ahead of Mark Carney’s brief visit to D.C. When Prime Minister Mark Carney touches down in Washington on Friday morning, Canadian officials say this brief visit is all about celebrating FIFA soccer. Really, they insist. Expectations for any sort of breakthrough that could see trade talks with the U.S. resume are low. At...
A political analyst says John Rustad's disputed leadership of the B.C. Conservatives appears "unsustainable" after he refused to step down in the face of a caucus mutiny. University of British Columbia political science lecturer Stewart Prest says he can't see a way for Rustad to regain control of the Opposition, but he can make it "ungovernable." Rustad refused to quit...
A British Columbia Liberal MP says Prime Minister Mark Carney "will have to answer" why he reversed a budget commitment on tax credits when he signed the Alberta pipeline deal. The memorandum of understanding between Ottawa and Alberta extends federal tax credits for carbon capture to enhanced oil recovery, overturning a commitment made in the recent federal budget not to...
Former environment minister Steven Guilbeault, who resigned last week from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet over a “profound” disagreement in climate policy, says it will now be “impossible” for the federal government to reach its 2030 emissions targets in the wake of the energy deal with Alberta. “I think that my government needs to be honest with Canadians,” Guilbeault said...
OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Mark Carney met Wednesday with chiefs representing Treaties 6, 7 and 8 on Parliament Hill, who expressed openness to the idea of pipeline ownership days after Carney signed a memorandum of understanding with Alberta that opens the door to get one to B.C.'s coast.
The B.C. Conservative Party announced that John Rustad was "removed" as leader of the Opposition on Wednesday and a caucus vote had installed Trevor Halford as interim leader after 20 MLAs representing a caucus majority said they had lost confidence in Rustad and wanted him out. But if Rustad's opponents thought that was the end of the matter they were...
Ontario spent a record $112 million on taxpayer-funded advertising last year, with the province’s auditor saying 38 per cent of the campaigns were meant to leave people with a “positive impression” of Premier Doug Ford’s government and came ahead of the snap election.
The B.C. Conservative Party says John Rustad has been "removed" as leader of the Opposition and a caucus vote has installed MLA Trevor Halford as interim leader. The announcement comes after 20 MLAs representing a majority of Rustad's caucus said they had lost confidence in him and wanted him out, but he refused to resign and said there was no...
The European Union says Canada will need to pay 10 million euros to join a defence procurement agreement with the continent -- a price tag that is raising questions about how much investment the pact will generate. Canada this week officially joined the 150-billion euro program called Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, which is part of the ReArm Europe...
A B.C. legislator who previously argued Truth and Reconciliation Day should not be recognized as a statutory holiday is proposing a new one that would celebrate the self-described “Freedom Convoy.” Tara Armstrong, one of two MLAs who formed the right-wing One BC Party after being elected as B.C. Conservatives, introduced the Freedom Convoy Recognition Act Tuesday. “The bill’s purpose is...
The federal and Ontario governments are defending their decision to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to Algoma Steel, despite knowing the company’s business plan to lay off workers. “What I know is that without federal support, Algoma would not be in the position that they are today,” Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said while speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill...
EDMONTON -- A woman looking to launch a recall petition to oust Alberta Premier Danielle Smith from her seat in the legislature says her campaign has been officially approved.
The federal government is in the process of sending information on its planned early retirement program to almost 70,000 employees as it works to reduce the size of the public service. Mohammad Kamal, director of communications for the Office of the President of the Treasury Board, says letters are being sent to roughly 68,000 public servants who may be eligible...
Meetings arranged as government lowered TFW cap following height of pandemic. For more than a year, Canadian coffee giant Tim Hortons has been pushing the federal government to lift the cap on temporary foreign workers some of its franchisees can hire, CBC News has learned. The requests occurred over at least 18 months, in writing and in lobbying meetings with...
Former federal minister Chrystia Freeland says Ukraine can become an economic juggernaut and boost European economies by taking up the opportunities it missed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Freeland, appointed in September by Prime Minister Mark Carney as his special envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine, gave her first major speech in Canada about the role on Tuesday.
Premier Danielle Smith appears to be the latest United Conservative Party (UCP) MLA facing a recall effort. According to documents sent to CTV News by petition organizers, a recall drive in her Brooks–Medicine Hat riding has been approved by Elections Alberta.
The public relations war between supporters of the F-35 and Gripen has taken another twist as an internal Department of National Defence document comparing the two fighter jets has been leaked. Canada’s fighter jet debate continues with still no decision from Prime Minister Mark Carney on which aircraft his government will purchase. The choice comes down to the U.S.-built F-3...
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- The Justice Department failed Thursday to secure a new indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James after a judge dismissed the previous mortgage fraud prosecution encouraged by President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Navy admiral told lawmakers Thursday that there was no "kill them all" order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as Congress scrutinizes an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela.
The Pentagon's watchdog found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.
Republicans held onto a reliably conservative U.S. House district in Tennessee's special election, but only after a late burst of national spending and high-profile campaigning helped them secure a margin less than half of last year's race.
The European Union says Canada will need to pay 10 million euros to join a defence procurement agreement with the continent -- a price tag that is raising questions about how much investment the pact will generate. Canada this week officially joined the 150-billion euro program called Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, which is part of the ReArm Europe...
Former federal minister Chrystia Freeland says Ukraine can become an economic juggernaut and boost European economies by taking up the opportunities it missed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Freeland, appointed in September by Prime Minister Mark Carney as his special envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine, gave her first major speech in Canada about the role on Tuesday.
The government is pledging another $235 million in funding for Ukraine, with National Defence Minister David McGuinty and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand announcing Canada's latest commitments. McGuinty says Canada will work with NATO allies to purchase a package of critical military capabilities sourced from the United States valued at around USD $500 million. Canada's contribution to the Prioritised Ukraine...
A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump's urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie amount to a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration's efforts...
Contentious issues that put Canada’s southern neighbour in the spotlight were kept off the agenda for the second straight G7 ministerial meeting. When the Group of Seven interior and security ministers huddled in Ottawa from Nov. 22-23, neither American tariffs on Canada, nor the Trump administration’s air strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean were up for discussion, according...
In September of 2023, Michael Miltenberger, former deputy premier of the Northwest Territories, spoke at a Massey College-Forum for Leadership on Water conference called The Future of Freshwater. Miltenberger described how just weeks earlier, wildfire had forced the evacuation of his own community of Fort Smith (yes, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s hometown). As he prepared to escape the Wood Buffalo...
Canadians rarely stop to think that everything they own, from their homes and savings to their farms, vehicles, and small businesses, exist only so long as government allows it. A single regulation, order, or policy change can erase a lifetime of work, uproot families, and disrupt lives. Indeed, across Canada, property owners have watched livelihoods disappear overnight through land-use restrictions...
When Canada legalized cannabis in 2018, it launched a national experiment in health, safety, and economic policy. Seven years later, the results are clear enough to measure and complex enough to debate. Cannabis has moved from the margins of public life and to the mainstream of the Canadian economy. Yet much of the federal framework that governs it remains frozen...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
I went back to Ottawa this week. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the nation’s capital to talk about peace issues, so when the Senate of Canada contacted me, I had to go. Prime Minister Carney’s Budget 2025 is making its way through Parliament, and the Senate’s Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs asked me and...
Pierre Poilievre’s recent video attacking Mark Carney could have been a strong argument. If not for the air quotes. When he says Carney promised he could “handle Trump” and “negotiate a win,” his fingers twitch into the familiar inverted-comma gesture. It’s a tiny move, but it says everything. Air quotes don’t persuade; they perform. They turn conviction into commentary and...
As Prime Minister Mark Carney said, “Donald Trump wants to break us so America can own us.” But what if Trump decides to use military power along with economic tariffs? An Arctic expert writing in The Globe and Mail says we shouldn’t think of tanks or helicopters streaming over the border. Instead, an American show-of-force could begin with a single...
Mark Carney battles pipeline fallout and adds a new face to his Cabinet, while Parliament gears up for a sprint to the end of the year. Then, Northwest Territories Premier R.J. Simpson joins Nick and Mickey to discuss grand strategy in the Arctic and how selling jeans prepared him for politics.
The U.S. Supreme Court is soon expected to rule on the legality of President Donald Trump's sweeping worldwide tariffs. The court will rule on whether his use of a 1970s national security law violates the U.S. constitution, which clearly states that only Congress has the authority to implement taxes — of which tariffs are a type. But regardless of which...
Host Noor Azrieh unpacks this deal with The Hub’s Falice Chin. Plus, a mini cabinet shuffle. And reporter Sam Konnert takes us behind the velvet rope of the Hill’s E-list “exclusive” event. Host: Noor Azrieh
Canada has strict consumption regulations for cannabis products, although government-owned weed shops decorate plazas across the country. That gap between retail shops versus consumption spaces has hospitality and business experts alike urging Ottawa to take advantage of a tourism goldmine.
