Oct 16 2019 — Kelly McParland — National Post — If Vladimir Putin were on speaking terms with Chrystia Freeland, the Russian president might be on the phone to Ottawa now, requesting a clarification. For the past three years, Putin has been the object of regular denunciation for alleged attempts to influence the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Special Counsel Robert Mueller dug […]
Oct 15 2019 — Justin Ling — National Post — The Canadian government has suspended new weapons sales to Turkey as its NATO ally invades northern Syria. Global Affairs Canada confirmed that Ottawa has “temporarily suspended new export permits to Turkey.” Canada joins fellow NATO members Germany and France in pausing military sales to Ankara, as the Turkish army pushes into Kurdish territory in Syria. […]
Oct 14 2019 — John Ivison — National Post — The Liberals feel the disturbance in the Force that saw the NDP and the Bloc Québécois surge after the leaders’ debate has passed, and they’re convinced they will now progress to victory as relentlessly as Justin Trudeau cruised up Highway 401 on Monday. The Liberal tour started the day in Windsor, Ont., where the party […]
Oct 14 2019 — Kelly McParland — National Post — The Great Almighty — whatever name you might wish to give him or her — obviously likes a joke. With less than a week to go before election day, Canadian voters appear to be the butt of one. The punchline is “coalition government.” Har har har. Get it? One of the bigger promises Liberal Leader […]
Sep 30 2019 — John Ivison — National Post — It may just have been the universe having a laugh but as I was reading the Liberal election platform, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” fired up on my random playlist. It was a timely reminder that the fiscal projections the Liberals swear you can take to the bank are likely to prove as reliable as a […]
Sep 27 2019 — John Ivison — National Post — Andrew Scheer quit Montreal under cover of darkness, just hours before hundreds of thousands of mainly young Canadians took to the streets to protest climate inaction. Justin Trudeau, who is trying to rebuild his tattered credibility post-blackface with the young voters he needs to win, flew into town and may have wished he hadn’t. He […]
Sep 27 2019 — National Post — The Liberal Party has apologized to a journalist who was booted from one of Justin Trudeau’s public rallies in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Wednesday. Andrew Lawton, a conservative broadcaster who has worked in journalism since 2013, says despite the apology he’s still fighting to get access to the kind of media events the party has […]
Sep 25 2019 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — Two weeks into the campaign, the differences between the two major parties’ platforms are starting to emerge. In brief, the Conservatives’ promises are specific, costed and mostly stupid, while the Liberals’ are vague, uncosted and mostly meaningless. Where the Tories seem intent on bribing voters, one absurdly microtargeted tax credit after another, the Grits prefer […]
Sep 24 2019 — Maura Forrest — National Post — Green Party leader Elizabeth May was holding a disposable coffee cup in a photo on the party’s website that was later altered to show her holding a reusable cup with a metal straw, contrary to her party’s earlier claims. A party spokesperson previously told the National Post that May had been holding a reusable cup, […]
Sep 17 2019 — John Ivison — National Post — Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. Things are very different than the last time I travelled on an election campaign with the Conservative Party of Canada. In the Harper era, travelling reporters were treated like enemy combatants. Staff were told: “Don’t talk to the media” — orders that appeared to extend to the […]
Sep 14 2019 — Joseph Brean — National Post — In the strategic context of the election, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer talks about religion the way teenagers talk about sex with their parents, reluctantly, downplaying his personal enthusiasm. Whereas Liberal leader Justin Trudeau talks about religion the way parents talk about sex with their teenagers, awkwardly, downplaying his personal experience. As parties trade smears of […]
Sep 13 2019 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — The safest thing to say about this election is that it’s “too close to call.” After all, aren’t the Liberals and Conservatives virtually tied in the opinion surveys? A weighted average of the major national polls, as calculated by the CBC’s Poll Tracker website, puts the Conservatives at 34.0 per cent, the Liberals at 33.7. […]
Sep 13 2019 — Christie Blatchford — National Post — While the other party leaders were slugging it out in Toronto at the first debate of the federal election campaign, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was basking in the warm glow of the already converted. From Victoria, where he announced modifications to the already announced first-time home buyers incentive at a housing construction site while photogenic […]
Sep 13 2019 — Chris Selley — National Post — “Now with 25 per cent fewer leaders.” That was Maclean’s writer Paul Wells’ very apropos quip to introduce the first leaders’ debate of the 2019 federal election campaign. Despite what Liberal partisans might tell you, Justin Trudeau’s absence is neither justifiable nor a good look. On Aug. 6, 2015, Stephen Harper, Trudeau, Thomas Mulcair and […]
Sep 9 2019 — National Post — It wouldn’t be a crazy theory to suggest the Liberals are worried about the fate of their three precarious seats in Alberta as the Oct. 21 election approaches. The province is home to widespread ire toward the government and a provincial conservative party that just swept to power with a crushing majority. And then there’s […]