Oct 20 2017 — Althia Raj — Huffington Post — In the months leading up to the last election, Justin Trudeau delivered a moving speech at McGill University. The backdrop was the Conservative government’s pandering to part of its base and to Quebec voters with a ban on the niqab during citizenship swearing-ins — a policy the Tories had championed since late 2011. Trudeau decried […]
Oct 17 2017 — Althia Raj — Huffington Post — Conservatives demanded to know Tuesday whether Finance Minister Bill Morneau had sold his shares in his family company, suggesting that if not, he’d broken the law. “The law requires that ministers put their assets in a blind trust within 120 days of being appointed, but we have learned that the finance minister chose not to […]
Oct 17 2017 — Althia Raj — Huffington Post — The secretive committee of MPs that governs the House of Commons will hold its first public meeting Thursday. The Board of Internal Economy has long been criticized for its in-camera nature. The committee oversees MPs’ budgets and spending, security and building management, and adjudicates human resources issues, such as allegations of wrongful dismissal and of […]
Oct 16 2017 — Althia Raj — Huffington Post — Canada’s revenue minister denied throwing public servants under the bus Monday, a few days after her staff blamed her department’s civil servants for a public outcry over taxing employee benefits. Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier told reporters four times Monday that she had not been made aware of a changing interpretation of the Income […]
Oct 16 2017 — Ryan Maloney — Huffington Post — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer each had unusual exchanges with reporters Monday as they tried to keep separate press conferences on message. In Stouffville, Ont., Trudeau thwarted a reporter’s attempt to directly press Finance Minister Bill Morneau and, minutes later, told another journalist aiming to speak with Morneau that he had […]
Oct 15 2017 — Althia Raj — Huffington Post — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh thinks a controversial CBC interview in which he was asked repeatedly to denounce the veneration of alleged Air India mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar was racist. “Should I just say ‘yes’ directly? I think there was definitely some sort of clear problematic line of thought behind that question, so I’m definitely concerned […]
Oct 13 2017 — Mohamed Omar — Huffington Post — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has assured Mexico that he remains committed to renegotiating NAFTA and, evidently, appearing in photographs with practically anyone who asks. Trudeau was taking questions from the media at a joint news conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto Thursday when one journalist had a, shall we say, different kind of inquiry.
Oct 11 2017 — Zi-Ann Lum — Huffington Post — The federal Conservative candidate vying for Rona Ambrose’s former seat once tried to recruit enough members to incorporate a Canadian chapter of the National Rifle Association. Dane Lloyd, who is a 26-year-old candidate running in the Sturgeon River-Parkland byelection, started a Libertarianism-inspired Facebook group in 2009 with the intention to turn it into a “big […]
Oct 11 2017 — Althia Raj — Huffington Post — Campaigning in a byelection in sovereigntist territory Tuesday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh suggested he would be comfortable if Quebecers decided to split from the rest of Canada. Speaking to reporters in Alma, Quebec, in the riding of Lac-Saint-Jean where residents twice voted to separate — by an almost three-to-one ratio during the 1995 referendum — […]
Oct 4 2017 — Zi-Ann Lum — Huffington Post — A Liberal MP skipped his party’s weekly caucus meeting Wednesday, a day after he went rogue and voted in favour of a Conservative motion to extend consultations on the government’s proposed tax reforms. Wayne Long was the only Liberal to vote “yea.” He was applauded by Tory MPs when he rose from his seat. “I’m […]
Oct 2 2017 — Huffington Post — Shortly after he was declared the federal NDP’s new leader Sunday, Jagmeet Singh announced to his party’s supporters that he was officially kicking off his “campaign” to be the next prime minister of Canada.
Oct 2 2017 — Huffington Post — Freshly-elected NDP leader Jagmeet Singh gave his first press conference in the foyer of the House of Commons Monday since winning his party’s leadership race. Singh, who was meeting with MPs in Ottawa, told reporters that he is confident that his lack of a federal seat will not impede his ability to hold the Liberal […]
Sep 30 2017 — Althia Raj — Huffington Post — “Why is he so mean?” Jagmeet Singh asks. The NDP leadership hopeful leans back against the window in the boardroom of the NDP’s headquarters in Ottawa. He has just concluded back-to-back interviews with members of the parliamentary press gallery and “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.” Dressed in a pinstriped dark blue suit, no socks and […]
Sep 28 2017 — Ryan Maloney — Huffington Post — Jagmeet Singh is making no apologies for saying that he’s got the federal NDP leadership in the bag, even if a rival finds it disrespectful to voting members. In fact, Singh doubled-down at a debate in the Toronto studio of HuffPost Canada Wednesday, by proclaiming he “absolutely” will become the party’s next leader. The Ontario […]
Sep 26 2017 — Zi-Ann Lum — Huffington Post — In the twilight of his career as an MP, Gerry Ritz is seemingly giving less of a hoot about what he says in public. Not even a week after he was engulfed in controversy for referring to a federal minister as “climate Barbie,” the veteran Conservative linked Shariah law to the Liberals’ handling of ongoing […]