Aug 20 2019 — Maclean's — Maclean’s and Citytv are hosting the first National Leaders Debate of the 2019 election calendar, to take place on Thursday, Sept. 12 starting at 8 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. PDT). The two-hour debate in English will centre on four major themes: the economy, foreign policy, Indigenous issues and, lastly, energy and the environment. After the […]
Aug 19 2019 — Paul Wells — Maclean's — Under the proposed ‘McLellan protocol’ the incessant piling-on the attorney general by staffers would not have been possible. I want to talk more about Anne McLellan’s report, which the Prime Minister’s Office released last week on the same day Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion released his own report into the SNC-Lavalin affair. Of course Dion’s report […]
Aug 16 2019 — Anne Kingston — Maclean's — Justin Trudeau doesn’t apologize, at least for non-historical transgressions. His non-apology apologies tend to follow a formula: to assert his behaviour was “appropriate” and unimpeachable, to suggest “people can experience interactions differently” (and that his interpretation of the experience is the correct one), and then to wrap it all into a “teachable” moment.
Aug 16 2019 — Nick Taylor-Vaisey — Maclean's — Sixty-seven times a day, typically somewhere in Ottawa, a lobbyist has met a federal official in 2019. The first six months of the year saw 12,219 such meetings, according to lobbying commission data. But most of the folks trying to persuade power brokers will take what they can get. They don’t have two former Supreme […]
Aug 15 2019 — Maclean's — In mid-September 2015, several prominent Canadian polling firms like Nanos, Forum Research, Ipsos and EKOS were all measuring a tight three-way race between the Conservatives, NDP and Liberals. The federal campaign had been under way for more than a month already and voting intentions had barely moved.
Aug 14 2019 — Paul Wells — Maclean's — When he was the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, before his current job as Ethics Commissioner, Mario Dion came in for sharp criticism for “procedural delays” in his office. Dion was contrite, saying at the time, “I want to assure federal public servants that we are doing our utmost to make sure this does not happen […]
Aug 12 2019 — Terry Glavin — Maclean's — All flights out of Hong Kong International Airport were cancelled this afternoon as authorities blamed protesters for disruptions following a brutal police crackdown on street demonstrations over the weekend. In the most dramatic civil disturbances since Hong Kong was turned over to China in 1997, more than 600 people have been arrested in what has […]
Aug 12 2019 — Stephen Maher — Maclean's — On June 16, after Amrit Kaur attended her graduation ceremony in Ottawa, she drove with her parents and brother back to the family home in Vaudreuil, a suburb of Montreal, and, still in her graduation dress, sat down at the dining room table to upload photos. Kaur, 28, has just completed a bachelor of education […]
Aug 12 2019 — Paul Wells — Maclean's — My assignment was to write about the Liberal campaign director. So I looked at the internet and there was a release from the Liberal Party of Canada from May 1: “Liberals Announce 2019 Campaign Director.” The photo at the top of the release was Jeremy Broadhurst’s. The release featured glowing praise from Justin Trudeau. “Jeremy […]
Aug 12 2019 — Maclean's — With plenty of fresh new data published on Canadians’ voting intentions of late, it’s time to update the 338Canada federal projection. Here is a short recap of the last seven days:
Aug 12 2019 — John Geddes — Maclean's — When Justin Trudeau was hurting in the polls this past spring, the obvious tack for the Conservatives was to stick with what was working. The outcry over the SNC-Lavalin affair had the Liberals reeling. The opposition’s job, it seemed, was just to keep its focus relentlessly on allegations that the Prime Minister and his aides […]
Aug 7 2019 — Paul Wells — Maclean's — Britain’s foreign secretary spewed encouraging words about Canada-U.K. relations after Brexit. Freeland didn’t need to say a thing. Sometimes it’s harder to spot what doesn’t happen than what does. It was a few hours after Chrystia Freeland’s news conference with Dominic Raab before I realized what she hadn’t said. Freeland is Canada’s minister of global […]
Aug 7 2019 — Sarmishta Subramanian — Maclean's — Election after election around the globe of late has had to confront the spectre of an information crisis. To address the challenges posed by disinformation and fake news, nonprofits and media organizations have launched a massive chain of fact-checking projects in more than 50 countries including France, the U.S., Argentina, South Korea, Brazil and Canada. […]
Jul 29 2019 — Maclean's — Philippe J. Fournier: This week’s projection shows no favourite, but the trend is clear: the Conservatives’ advantage has faded into the distance. Polling firms across Canada were once again busy last week measuring the mood of Canadians towards the up-coming general federal election. Here is a short recap of these new pieces of data:
Jul 22 2019 — Jason Markusoff — Maclean's — In April, Prince Edward Island became the fifth straight province to reject its Liberal or NDP government in favour of a more right-leaning party. But anybody expecting Progressive Conservative Leader Dennis King to join the anti-Trudeau, anti-carbon-tax movement quickly had their hopes dashed. King has kept in place his province’s carbon levy, while working collaboratively […]