Sep 29 2023 — National Observer — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have a tremendous problem at hand: the Conservatives’ war chest is overflowing with cash, their popularity is soaring, and Canadians appear exhausted with his government that will be approaching a full decade in power by the next scheduled election. With Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre launching daily attacks at the Trudeau […]
Sep 28 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — Over the last 83 million years, the Earth’s magnetic poles have reversed 183 different times. Political history is measured in much shorter time frames, but it too has seen its share of these sorts of dramatic inversions. Take the U.S. Democratic Party’s evolution in the wake of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which turned its […]
Sep 27 2023 — Brian Kingston — National Observer — One year has passed since President Joe Biden signed the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, unleashing more than US$370 billion to fight climate change. The IRA sent shock waves around the world, particularly in industries such as automotive that stood to benefit from incentives designed to accelerate the clean energy transformation.
Sep 27 2023 — John Woodside — National Observer — A dozen nuclear energy experts are calling for a formal risk assessment of emerging nuclear technologies and warning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau if a company in New Brunswick were to be successful, its product could be used by other countries to make nuclear bombs. The open letter sent to the Prime Minister’s Office is dated […]
Sep 21 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — On Monday, the dozens of Canadians watching question period on CPAC happened upon the political equivalent of a solar eclipse: agreement between Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre. After the prime minister dropped the bombshell accusing India of being involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Poilievre responded with an uncharacteristic outburst of agreeability. “If […]
Sep 13 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — It’s generally a bad idea to fight a war on two fronts, especially when your forces are as depleted as the Liberal Party of Canada’s right now. But Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault might want to open a second one anyways in Ontario, despite the major battle already brewing in Alberta and Saskatchewan over his proposed […]
Sep 7 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — Canada’s housing market is a complex stew of political and economic ingredients that includes federal indifference, provincial mismanagement, local NIMBYism and global economic factors that include a pandemic. They have all conspired to drive up interest rates faster than at any point in decades, and put a long-simmering crisis into a rolling boil. But for […]
Aug 31 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — Sometimes, it pays to read past the headline. That’s certainly the case with a recent National Post story titled “Trudeau’s Law Society,” one that suggested “it’s no coincidence that more judges who donate to the Liberal party are brought to the bench than Conservative donors.” The Investigative Journalism Foundation, a news organization that partnered with […]
Aug 29 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — Sheila Annette Lewis, the terminally ill Alberta woman who needed a life-saving organ transplant but chose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine required to receive one, died last week. Lewis’s death is a tragedy, and all the more so because it seems to have been so unnecessary. But it wasn’t an act of “medical discrimination” […]
Aug 24 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — In 1971, after more than three decades in power, Alberta’s Social Credit government was finally defeated. The kooky economic policies and constant red-baiting that defined its time in office — along with the good fortune of governing alongside an oil boom — were replaced by Peter Lougheed’s more pragmatic and market-oriented approach to governing. Now, […]
Aug 23 2023 — Michelle Woodhouse — National Observer — Recently, a court ruled that fossil fuel giant Enbridge must shut down a section of the Line 5 oil pipeline that runs through the territory of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa by June 2026. The band has been fighting a legal battle against Enbridge since 2019 to have the pipeline removed […]
Aug 22 2023 — National Observer — As Conservatives mount political attacks against Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault over his upcoming trip to China, his office is accusing them of attempting to mislead Canadians. Since news of the trip broke, Guilbeault, who has been a lightning rod for Conservative premiers in Canada looking to fight Ottawa over climate policy, has […]
Aug 22 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — Like most Conservative MPs, Tracy Gray has spent much of her time over the last few years railing against the Trudeau government’s carbon tax. Last Thursday morning, for example, she tweeted that “Canadians cannot afford Trudeau’s carbon tax. It’s time to axe the tax and bring home lower prices.” But few have had the audacity […]
Aug 21 2023 — National Observer — Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has cancelled a handful of upcoming events, often billed as anti-carbon tax rallies, in B.C. and Yukon as this year’s historically wildfire season tears through communities. “Due to the seriousness of the situation,” Poilievre is postponing his upcoming tour of B.C., Sebastian Skamski, Poilievre’s director of media relations, said in […]
Aug 18 2023 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — As a general rule, fighting fires with canisters of gasoline is a good way to get burned. But that lesson hasn’t resonated with Pierre Poilievre or his political allies, who are busy fending off accusations that they trade in conspiracy theories by trading in yet more conspiracy theories. In the process, they may well torch […]