National Newswatch

The Leap: Alberta Conservative Lee Richardson on Why He’s Voting NDP

May 19 2023 — — Lee Richardson has been a conservative for about just as long as he’s been anything at all. Executive assistant to John Diefenbaker at 25, chief of staff to Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed, deputy chief of staff to Brian Mulroney, then, federal Progressive Conservative MP for Calgary Southeast, Richardson is as closely associated with Alberta Conservatism […]

Canada and China: Rhetoric and Reality

May 15 2023 — Eddie Goldenberg — The rise of China in the 21st century not only as an economic superpower but also as a rapidly emerging military superpower is so significant that future historians are likely to look at the period we are now living in as a turning point in world history. How to deal with China going forward will […]

The Auto Sector Needs More Canada

May 15 2023 — Sarah Goldfeder — The re-negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, now USMCA/CUSMA/T-MEC, re-defined the rules of origin for the automotive sector, ensuring the survival of North American manufacturing. It also added a consideration for labour value content, new in this agreement, that effectively upped the ante, requiring that at least 40 percent of the value of […]

Trump Redux: Return of the Tinfoil Foil

May 12 2023 — Lisa Van Dusen — During the 2016 US presidential election campaign, the unprecedented political stylings of Donald J. Trump – from his characterization of immigrants as rapists during his campaign launch to that instant-classic pussy grabbing tutorial — were so relentlessly outlandish that, at a certain point, it became both editorially sensible and just plain fun to change his […]

Trudeau Performs, Delivers

May 5 2023 — L. Ian MacDonald — Justin Trudeau does not perform so much as deliver a speech. It’s simply not his style. And the prime minister was in high form Thursday evening a he gave the keynote address at the Liberal Party policy convention in Ottawa. And Trudeau had plenty of help for the occasion. From Quebec, Francois-Philippe Champagne reiterated that […]

Stop Blaming Democracy for the War on Democracy

May 3 2023 — Lisa Van Dusen — There has been a rhetorical trend among well-intentioned leaders to blame democracy for the ongoing global war on democracy, as though democracy was dressed too provocatively, or perhaps left its widescreen TV sitting out on the lawn. The gist of this argument is that democracy has failed to deliver, and therefore made it easier for […]

24 Sussex—Fix It

Apr 24 2023 — L. Ian MacDonald — Welcome to the convoluted Canadian conversation about what to do with official residences in Ottawa and the people who live in them. None more so than the Prime Minister and the Governor General, the former living in a guest house, Rideau Cottage, on the hallowed grounds of Rideau Hall. One is a 14-room red brick […]

Now is the Time for Canada to Re-think Middle East Policy

Apr 3 2023 — — A new Middle East is taking shape. We outline why it’s time Canada’s Middle East policy caught up, or risk being irrelevant. First, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly deserves credit for landing a solid Indo-Pacific strategy early in her mandate. A re-aligned Middle East policy is essential not only to a successful Indo-Pacific strategy but to […]

Why Canada Needs an Electricity Strategy

Mar 30 2023 — — The federal budget released on March 28 confirmed in dramatic fashion that Canada is facing a major construction challenge. Our electric power grids, which provide essential power services across the country, will need huge upgrades over the next 26 years. “Canada’s electricity demand is expected to double by 2050” the budget predicted, saying “our electricity […]

Mr. Biden Came to Canada: Takeaways from the Visit

Mar 30 2023 — Colin Robertson — As presidential visits go, the nearly 30 hours that Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden spent in Ottawa last week was as good as it gets. And while the optics were so exuberant and the mood so jubilant that it may actually go down in history as the “Fun Summit”, the substantive takeaways attest to […]

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