Aug 15 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — One week before the first Conservative national convention on Andrew Scheer’s leadership watch — and the last such gathering before the next federal election — one would not normally expect Conservative MPs to be debating each other on social media about whether to draw a line on Canada’s diversity.
Aug 15 2018 — Emma Teitel — Toronto Star — In the world according to Conservative MP Maxime Bernier, there’s nothing wrong with diversity. There is something wrong, however, with “ever more diversity.” Confused? Me too, but I’ll try to break it down for you. Bernier made a series of ill-advised tweets around 8:30 on Sunday night. When many Canadians were presumably relaxing and spending […]
Aug 14 2018 — Bruce Campion-Smith — Toronto Star — Canadians are giving the federal government mixed reviews for its handling of the diplomatic dispute with Saudi Arabia, a new poll shows. A poll done by Forum Research shows that 44 per cent say they approve Ottawa’s response to the surprise tiff, with almost one-quarter saying they strongly approve.
Aug 14 2018 — Rob Ferguson — Toronto Star — Premier Doug Ford used his new government’s majority muscle Tuesday to push through a controversial bill cutting the size of Toronto city council in half with municipal elections just 10 weeks away, a move NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called “a blatant abuse of power.” The legislation, named the Better Local Government Act, also scraps planned […]
Aug 13 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — This is the time in the life of a majority government when minds usually turn to the drafting of a final throne speech. For a ruling party going into its last year before a general election, the occasion is an opportunity to try to articulate an auspicious ballot-box question but also, if need be, to […]
Aug 12 2018 — Jaime Watt — Toronto Star — When political parties, who have spent years wandering aimlessly in the wilderness of opposition, eventually come to power, they are often counselled by their new advisers to pause and take a moment to catch their breath. This advice is offered not just with the best of intentions, but for good reason as well: campaigns are […]
Aug 10 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It’s official. Jagmeet Singh now has the worst political leader’s job in Canada. Granted, there may be other leaders struggling to keep their parties relevant, solvent and in contention for the next election. But none of them have to wrestle with those challenges while also on a high-wire bid to get a seat in Parliament.
Aug 8 2018 — Tim Harper — Toronto Star — There is often a penchant among Canadian politicians and pundits to over-analyze byelection results and search too hard for tipping points or tectonic shifts that may be merely mirage. But this time, it cannot be overstated. The political future of Jagmeet Singh and the foreseeable fortunes of his federal NDP now sit with voters in […]
Aug 7 2018 — Michael Coren — Toronto Star — I will never forget the time I first heard my father in genuine distress. He and my mum were speaking in what they thought were hushed tones, whispers of privacy, but in our small home I could hear through the walls some of what was being said. I was too young too understand the full […]
Aug 7 2018 — Nicholas Keung — Toronto Star — Canada has been trying to deport Franklin Godwin since 2000 when the former refugee was declared a danger to the public for his lengthy criminal convictions of drug offences and fraud. Twice, in 2003 and 2005, Canada Border Services Agency escorted the 54-year-old Toronto man to Liberia, where he said he ran away from due […]
Aug 6 2018 — David Rider — Toronto Star — Mayor John Tory is renewing his call on Ottawa to toughen bail rules for people accused of gun crime, including no bail at all for repeat offenders. “We want to ensure that repeat gun offenders not be granted bail in the event of a subsequent gun charge and remain in custody until the charges have […]
Aug 5 2018 — Andrew MacDougall — Toronto Star — Justin Trudeau is an overhyped commodity, one that doesn’t sell. That’s one possible reading of the Liberal Party’s relatively anemic second quarter fundraising totals, a haul that leaves the party of government — and their celebrity leader — looking (a long way) up at the more quotidian Andrew Scheer and his Conservative opposition.
Aug 5 2018 — Toronto Star — Mayor John Tory’s signature transit plan is facing an uncertain future under the new provincial government, with Premier Doug Ford’s Conservatives refusing so far to commit to a key policy that underpins the SmartTrack project.
Aug 3 2018 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — It wasn’t exactly the wisdom of crowds on display in Florida this week, when supporters of President Donald Trump got openly hostile with CNN reporter Jim Acosta. Chanting “CNN sucks” and “go home, Jim,” the mob seemed intent on chasing the veteran reporter out of the pro-Trump rally in Tampa. But then something unexpected happened: […]
Aug 2 2018 — Tim Harper — Toronto Star — The federal Liberals may be taking a pragmatic approach to its carbon tax plan by softening the blow to heavy emitters. We are, after all, living beside a U.S. president who once believed global warming was a plot hatched by the Chinese to hurt American business and is already wreaking economic havoc in some key […]