Aug 20 2018 — Jolson Lim — Hill Times — The Toronto mayoral race saw a recent flurry of endorsements from Liberal MPs for candidate and incumbent John Tory, a move some observers say is a low-risk decision with easy political benefits at the local level, and a play to outflank PC Premier Doug Ford. On Aug. 8, Mr. Tory announced that Liberal MPs Marco […]
Aug 20 2018 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — The last-minute change introduced by Ontario Premier Doug Ford to the Toronto municipal election is pitting some colleagues against each other, including former Liberal MPs and now city councillors Jim Karygiannis and Norm Kelly in the Scarborough area in one of the most-watched races in the city.
Aug 16 2018 — Beatrice Paez — Hill Times — British Columbia is in a state of emergency for the second straight year as it grapples with controlling the wildfires that have blanketed vast pockets of the province, and one MP in the area says that while the fires aren’t as huge as last year’s, this season is breaking new records.
Aug 15 2018 — Emily Haws — Hill Times — Fewer than 10 of 84 top-level public servants identify as visible minorities: so few that the federal government won’t pinpoint exactly how many there are. That means fewer than 12 per cent of top federal managers say they are people of colour. By comparison, that’s less than the 14.5 per cent of bureaucrats as a […]
Aug 15 2018 — Charelle Evelyn — Hill Times — Although they won’t get into specifics, the country’s main national political parties all say they’re boosting their internal security to protect against foreign interference in next year’s federal election. But, according to critics and experts, the real burden rests with the Liberal government to do the necessary work to ensure the 2019 election remains free […]
Aug 13 2018 — Beatrice Paez — Hill Times — NDP MP Charlie Angus says he’s “absolutely appalled” that former foreign affairs minister John Baird appeared on Saudi state-run media over the weekend to take sides with a regime that has a “deplorable” human rights record, while undermining Canada’s government. In an appearance on Al Arabiya English, a news channel owned by the Saudi government, […]
Aug 13 2018 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — The Conservative Party will begin clawing back money from its electoral district associations after the next election, to make up for money lost when the former Conservative government eliminated the per-vote subsidy. The Conservative Party will ask the EDAs to hand over half of the money they receive when Elections Canada reimburses candidates for 60 […]
Aug 13 2018 — Beatrice Paez — Hill Times — Saudi Arabia’s “extreme” response to Canada’s tweet deploring its human rights record would not have been made without the knowledge of the White House and could be a proxy for the United States’ own frustrations with Ottawa, say political observers. “I think they had to have the green light from the Trump administration,” says Jabeur […]
Aug 8 2018 — Hill Times — Canada started its year-long, dangerous peacekeeping mission in Mali on Aug. 1 aimed at bringing peace and stability to the northwestern African nation which has been gripped by war since 2012, but the Conservative defence critic says it’s unclear if the mission is in Canada’s national interest and that he will push for a debate […]
Aug 8 2018 — Jolson Lim — Hill Times — A familiar Ottawa face is running as the NDP candidate in an upcoming byelection in the Montreal-area riding of Outremont, where one pollster said “the Liberals have all the winning conditions and the NDP have all the losing conditions.” But Julia Sanchez, who was president and CEO of the Ottawa-based Canadian Council for International Co-operation […]
Aug 6 2018 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — High-profile candidates in Brampton’s mayoral race are calling their rivals’ motivations, local achievements, and roots in the community into question, in what political observers are describing as one of the most-watched municipal races in the country. The Oct. 22 election will put former Conservative cabinet minister Bal Gosal, former Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown, and […]
Aug 6 2018 — Abbas Rana — Hill Times — A month after a former Liberal staffer lifted the lid off the dark underbelly of the Hill culture and attracted national media attention, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office is seeking “honest feedback” from political aides working for Liberal MPs, cabinet ministers, and his own office about the workplace culture on Parliament Hill, including about the […]
Aug 1 2018 — Emily Haws — Hill Times — The number of top-level federal public servants has gone up by more than 15 per cent in the last decade, with the sharpest increase in the last couple years under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to the Privy Council Office. In July 2008, there were 72 positions classified at the level of deputy minister or […]
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 30 2018 — Peter Mazereeuw — Hill Times — It’s a week before her well-publicized Immigration Committee showdown with Border Minister Bill Blair and Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel is sitting in her sixth floor Valour Building office in Ottawa, fielding questions about the no-holds barred approach to politics that has helped to make her one of the most visible and […]