Nov 23 2020 — John Ivison — Postmedia — The etymology of the phrase “useful idiot” is debated. Some people suggest it was coined by Lenin. Others credit Stalin, who used it to describe the confused and misguided American sympathizers who aided the Soviet agenda. It came to mind when reading about a virtual event being held Tuesday in anticipation of the second anniversary […]
Nov 19 2020 — John Ivison — Postmedia — While the government is pondering over a new approach to dealing with China, the Conservative Party is urging the Liberals to consider a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The idea was raised on social media by Canada’s former senior public servant, Michael Wernick. “Perhaps it is time to start preparing the Canadian public […]
Nov 19 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — The peculiar idea of “a perceived conflict of interest” being fundamentally and usefully distinct from “a conflict of interest” has been getting a workout in Ottawa lately. Most famously, it formed a key part of Justin Trudeau’s defence in the WE-bacle (pending results of the ongoing ethics investigation). He should have recused himself from discussions […]
Nov 18 2020 — John Ivison — Postmedia — Caesar-Chavannes was having a ‘mad as hell and not going to take this anymore” moment.’ ‘Who the f**k do you think you are speaking to?’ she howled and hung up. The Liberal filibuster of the ethics committee was a master-class in droning inactivity on Monday. Government MPs intent on frustrating the inquiry into the WE […]
Nov 18 2020 — Postmedia — Rogers Sports & Media cut its Breakfast Television shows in Vancouver and Calgary on Tuesday — favouring a national version — and cut senior jobs in radio. According to Broadcast Dialogue, the Breakfast Television formats in Vancouver and Calgary have been shuttered, making way for a national BT show to start in early 2021. In […]
Nov 18 2020 — Postmedia — A journalist for far-right news site Rebel News has lost a court challenge to the quarantine order he faced after crossing the border to cover a campaign event for President Donald Trump in Michigan. It was a rare legal test of the cabinet order that largely closed the Canada-U.S. frontier eight months ago.
Nov 2 2020 — Postmedia — It may take long past Tuesday to decide who their next president will be, but for the Canadian officials in charge the last time America’s choice was disputed, the advice to the Liberal government is simple: Stay quiet. Americans go to the polls Tuesday, but with so many voters choosing to cast their ballots through […]
Nov 2 2020 — Tyler Dawson — Postmedia — Alberta’s New Democrats will be calling on members of the provincial legislature on Monday to condemn Western separatism. Albertans deserve to know where their representatives stand on independence, says Rod Loyola, the NDP MLA for Edmonton-Ellerslie, who is behind the motion. The NDP, he says, firmly opposes separation.
Oct 30 2020 — Brian Platt — Postmedia — Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says Canadian workers have been betrayed by political and financial elites, and bemoans the falling rates of private sector unionization as industrial jobs have migrated to China. His remarks, given in a virtual speech to the Canadian Club Toronto on Friday, are another example of how O’Toole is changing the party’s […]
Oct 29 2020 — Tyler Dawson — Postmedia — A conservative legal group is challenging new restrictions on gatherings in Alberta, saying they are a violation of Charter rights to assembly. The province implemented the group gathering restrictions this week as it faces record-breaking numbers of new COVID-19 cases. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, headed by lawyer John Carpay, has been involved in […]
Oct 29 2020 — John Ivison — Postmedia — Around the mid-point of her virtual speech to the Toronto Global Economic Forum, Chrystia Freeland stopped and said the thinking she had outlined was “entirely uncontroversial.” The finance minister was right – protecting Canadians’ health, jobs and living standards by using aggressive federal stimulus is an article of faith for politicians across the spectrum.
Oct 27 2020 — John Ivison — Postmedia — Another incumbent provincial government wins a resounding majority. But the federal party loses support in two Toronto byelections. Opinion polls suggest the Liberals would regain their own majority if an election were held today.
Oct 26 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — At time of writing, it seems historians may have to live without a definitive answer to the question that gripped Canada’s political obsessives on Sunday evening: Was federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu sufficiently engaged in eating or drinking to justify not wearing a mask at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, where a spy photographed her barefaced and […]
Oct 22 2020 — John Ivison — Postmedia — The folly around the confidence vote the Liberals survived in the House of Commons on Wednesday has never been more disconnected from the stress being endured by citizens, whose movement and ambitions have been constrained by the pandemic. A candidate who proposed to bar from public office anyone who expressed a desire to be a […]
Oct 21 2020 — Jesse Snyder — Postmedia — Political strategists say the NDP under Jagmeet Singh risks falling into the role of permanent Liberal prop-up after the party on Wednesday again voted alongside the government to avoid triggering an election. Singh and 23 other NDP members voted against a Conservative motion on Wednesday that would form a committee to investigate the Liberal government’s […]