Oct 18 2017 — Martin Patriquin — iPolitics — Political parties project well-deserved stereotypes of themselves — earned through years of either governing the country or kvetching in opposition. The Conservatives — bless their tar paper souls — are petty, secretive, bullying and utterly doctrinaire in spirit if not always in practice. The NDP, having never tasted real power in its nearly 60 years […]
Oct 18 2017 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — Liberal backbench MP Wayne Long may “respect and understand” his party’s decision to remove him from two House committees after he voted with the opposition on a motion calling for the government to extend the public consultation period on its plan to tighten the tax rules that govern private corporations, but his Conservative colleagues aren’t […]
Oct 17 2017 — L. Ian MacDonald — iPolitics — Are the Americans just behaving like Americans in the NAFTA talks, or like Trumpians? There’s a difference. The Americans have always thrown their weight around in trade talks. It’s what they do. Their interlocutors expect it, and know how to deal with it — at the table and in the back halls of the negotiations […]
Oct 17 2017 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — Justin Trudeau has never been very fond of the “old” Liberal party — “old” generally being defined as people who were Liberals before Trudeau became leader. Is he paying a price now for that bias against the party’s history? Trudeau, who spent his childhood at 24 Sussex Dr., is probably one of the few people […]
Oct 16 2017 — Tasha Kheiriddin — iPolitics — It’s official: the shine is coming off the pony. Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Liberals will not be proceeding with some of the changes they have proposed to small business taxes. After insisting defiantly in September that “we’re doing more for the people who need it and doing less for the people […]
Oct 16 2017 — Martin Patriquin — iPolitics — Niki Ashton would like you to know that she has been treated unfairly. The Manitoba MP and erstwhile NDP leadership contender, who placed third in that particular dustup a couple of weeks ago, recently blamed her loss on a lack of media coverage and a soupçon of sexism permeating the mainstream press. “It was under-reported […]
Oct 13 2017 — Amanda Connolly — iPolitics — Civil rights advocates are calling on the government to withdraw its attempt to quash a human rights tribunal probe into whether the RCMP engaged in racial profiling when Mounties raided the home of an Ottawa man — saying the secrecy surrounding the case only makes them wonder what the police want to keep hidden from […]
Oct 12 2017 — Tasha Kheiriddin — iPolitics — “Canada is a very liberal country that believes in freedom of religious practice and equality between men and women. What is your opinion on this subject? How would you feel if your boss were a woman? How do you feel about women who do not wear the Hijab, Dupatta, Chador, Niqab or Burka?” No, this […]
Oct 12 2017 — Paul Adams — iPolitics — Jagmeet Singh does not yet have a seat in the House of Commons. So when the new NDP leader comes to visit, he’ll have to sit up in the Leader of the Opposition’s Gallery and gaze down on the body he wishes someday to join. If all the MPs are there that day, Singh may […]
Oct 10 2017 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — In what’s becoming an annual holiday tradition, Liberals all over the country were called to the Thanksgiving feast this past weekend armed with talking points. Yes, I said ‘talking points’. Called ‘Turkey Talk Tools’, they were emailed to any Liberal who needed snappy answers ready for when grumpy uncles or sarcastic cousins started piping up […]
Oct 5 2017 — Michael Harris — iPolitics — Canada owes Justin Trudeau a great deal. After all, long before he really wanted to, he took on the most difficult task of all: trying to meet the soaring and unreasonable expectations of a political institution circling the toilet bowl — the Liberal Party of Canada. First, an anecdote: I was speaking with then-Liberal Senator […]
Oct 5 2017 — Tasha Kheiriddin — iPolitics — Abortion. It’s the issue that all federal parties pledge not to touch. It keeps cropping up, though — especially when it’s politically useful. When Justin Trudeau became Liberal party leader in 2014, he used abortion to boost his female-friendly credentials by demanding party unanimity on the matter. “I have made it clear that future candidates […]
Oct 3 2017 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — Jagmeet Singh’s victory in the NDP leadership race is, no question, a major cultural achievement. For the first time in this country’s political history, a person of colour has been elected to lead one of the major national parties. Momentous as that is, let’s not get carried away with triumphal declarations about the dawn of […]
Oct 3 2017 — Martin Patriquin — iPolitics — First, a declaration: That the New Democratic Party has elected Jagmeet Singh as leader is nothing short of extraordinary. Canada’s democratic institutions have been too slow for too long to reflect the populations they serve. That we now have a brown-skinned young man in a turban as the leader of a major political party brings […]
Oct 2 2017 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton didn’t always agree during their political careers, but they’re sounding very similar warnings these days about the descent of democracy. Both former residents of the White House were in Toronto late last week, doing what former presidents (or would-be presidents) do when they leave elected politics: speaking to large crowds […]