iPolitics

Jun 13 2019 — Marieke Walsh — iPolitics — While provinces are allowed to intervene in federal campaigns, Elections Canada says it will monitor provincial involvement this year amid heightened public awareness and concerns about maintaining an even playing field. In an exclusive interview with iPolitics, Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault said he will “actively” look at how provincial governments intervene in the federal […]

Jun 12 2019 — Tim Naumetz — iPolitics — With just over a week before the Commons adjourns for the summer and an October election, the Liberal caucus remains divided over possible measures to ban handguns or assault-style semi-automatic rifles, two senior Liberals say. The rift is between MPs who represent rural electoral districts, or small city ridings in rural areas, and incumbents representing […]

Jun 12 2019 — Graham Thomson — iPolitics — We’re not exactly in “Where’s Waldo?” territory yet but Albertans could be forgiven for wondering, “Where’s Jason?” Even though he won the provincial election less than two months ago, Premier Kenney is not exactly a fixture in the province these days. He’s certainly not a regular in the legislature, now in its third week of […]

May 31 2019 — Marieke Walsh — iPolitics — The federal government spent an estimated $3.4 million telling Canadians about the carbon tax rebate they could claim on their taxes this year — the number is more than triple the price first reported by CTV. According to a spokesperson for the Canada Revenue Agency, the cash covered a direct mail-out and a digital, radio […]

May 24 2019 — Martin Patriquin — iPolitics — Andrew Scheer really, really doesn’t want to reopen the abortion debate. So little does the Conservative Party leader not want to talk about the roiling societal debate that it took him just under three hours to swat down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s declaration, couched in a fundraising pitch, that “some Conservative MPs are trying to […]

May 23 2019 — Jolson Lim — iPolitics — Pens costing $78 each purchased by a Crown corporation lending money to farmers, 5,274 rubber ducks procured by Canada’s cyber security agency and $66 bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar bought by Canada’s small-business bank. Those were just some of the more interesting items federal organizations bought to promote themselves, documents recently tabled in […]

May 14 2019 — Kevin Dougherty — iPolitics — Conservative premiers in other provinces may complain loudly about the carbon tax and other actions of the Trudeau government they judge to be unfair. But while Quebec’s small-c conservative Coalition Avenir Québec government has its disputes with the federal Liberals, Premier François Legault is not playing on those differences to boost the electoral chances of […]

May 13 2019 — Marco Vigliotti — iPolitics — A new poll suggests Canadians are largely in favour of maintaining or increasing funding for the CBC, though Conservative voters are far less enthusiastic of supporting the country’s public broadcaster. The Nanos Research poll, commissioned by advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, found that 46 per cent of respondents want CBC funding increased, while 33 […]

May 1 2019 — Tim Naumetz — iPolitics — Members of Parliament received a pay hike this month that many of their constituents might envy. The $3,300 increase on April 1 took their basic salary to $178,900 for 2019, a jump of nearly two per cent from $175,600 last year. It was an automatic yearly adjustment, based on a government aggregate of private and […]

Apr 30 2019 — Marieke Walsh — iPolitics — The threat that Canada Proud poses to the federal Liberals is rallying Grit supporters and boosting the party’s bottom line, according to numbers released by the Liberals. On Thursday, iPolitics reported on the new federal political action group that’s aimed at ousting the Liberals from power. Canada Proud, is the federal offshoot of a conservative […]

Apr 25 2019 — Marieke Walsh — iPolitics — The braintrust behind the conservative group that helped to unseat the Ontario Liberals in 2018 has unveiled their federal counterpart aimed at taking out Canada’s Liberal government. “We want to defeat Liberals all over the country,” Canada Proud founder Jeff Ballingall told iPolitics in an interview. Ballingall, who is also the founder of the highly […]

Apr 24 2019 — Marieke Walsh — iPolitics — Finance Minister Bill Morneau says he has “no regrets” over his government’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair, as polls show the Liberals bleeding support to the Conservatives. The latest numbers from Nanos Research, CBC’s poll tracker and the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy all show the governing Liberals have lost […]

Apr 9 2019 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — This week the ultra-right-wing Canadian commentator Faith Goldy was banned from Facebook and Instagram, after earlier being prevented from crowdfunding on Patreon, from the online payment system PayPal, and even from Airbnb. The ban extends to pages and groups affiliated with her, and Facebook also banned, among others, the Canadian Nationalist Front, Aryan Strikeforce, Wolves […]

Apr 3 2019 — Tim Naumetz — iPolitics — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of his cabinet raised more than $882,950 in contributions to the Liberal party during 14 exclusive fundraisers held between the beginning of the year and March 14, according to the first accounting from a new reporting regime under Elections Canada. While Trudeau and several of his top ministers appeared […]

Mar 31 2019 — Jolson Lim — iPolitics — Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s office is disputing the characterization of comments his deputy chief of staff allegedly made to Jody Wilson-Raybould’s chief of staff, which were documented in a submission to the House justice committee and published Friday. Morneau’s office also said conversations between his chief of staff, Ben Chin, and the former attorney general’s […]