If the theme of 2025 in Canadian politics was to expect the unexpected, the ways in which the political world turned upside down will reverberate into 2026. Everyone will have their own surprise developments of this truly tumultuous year, but here are my top five picks for the big country-shaking shifts of 2025.
Sergio Marchi got himself elected to North York city council at the tender age of 26, and just two years later, became a Liberal MP, just in time to see his party thrashed by Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservatives in 1984. But he stuck around, eventually earning three different jobs in Jean Chretien’s cabinets between 1993 and 2000. He chronicles it...
Last week I carefully read the statement of strategic purpose of the Trump administration, a document published by every recent incoming administration within a year of its inauguration. The strategic statement has been received with misgivings by members of the Fortress America school that holds that the United States should be ready at all times to repulse any initiative from...
There’s an old clip going around on social media this week showing Stephen Harper on his feet in the Commons batting away a question about the supposed impropriety of a Liberal MP crossing over to join his Conservatives. It was 2006 and Harper was being accused of “seducing” Liberal David Emerson over to his side. The then-PM first shrugged it...
Ten months away from a crucial provincial election, the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) finds itself without a leader. Pablo Rodriguez, elected head of the party just last June, was forced to resign following a series of internal disputes and allegations of improprieties in the funding of his leadership campaign. For Rodriguez, a kind, affable man, this is nothing short of...
As Energy Minister Tim Hodgson says he's getting 'a lot of inquiries' about supporting the Liberal agenda, the Power & Politics panel of party insiders discusses whether Prime Minister Mark Carney's policies may 'attract' enough opposition MPs to reach a majority in the House.
A few days after Michael Ma decided to cross the floor to the Liberals, Pierre Poilievre was asked whether the loss of another MP was a problem for his leadership of the Conservative Party. On the contrary, Poilievre argued, it was a problem for the leadership of Mark Carney. The prime minister was, in Poilievre's words, "trying to manipulate his...
Given the economic and geopolitical events of the past year, it’s tempting to say that Mark Carney’s introduction to elected politics has been a baptism by fire. On closer inspection, it has really been defined by the kind of cosmic luck that most politicians can only dream of. There’s no disputing that 2025 was an unprecedentedly disruptive year in the...
Canada is being battered by an especially bad flu season. None of this should be particularly surprising, since we had data from the southern hemisphere’s flu season to suggest once winter reared its head here we would be in for the same flu-induced misery as our cousins below the equator. In a normal country, this kind of advance notice would...
At some point, Danielle Smith is going to have to pick a side. For months now, Alberta’s premier has been catering to the separatists who dominate the membership of her United Conservative Party while insisting she doesn’t explicitly support their cause. But their appetite just keeps growing, and with Smith’s government clearing the way for a referendum on Alberta independence...
As Canada prepares to enter its second year navigating the aggressive trade policies of Donald Trump, it’s worth pausing a moment to take stock and remind ourselves of what will and won’t work as the focus shifts to the future of the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). While most Canadians would agree that the tariff policies of Donald Trump have created challenges...
Pierre Poilievre’s weekend appearance on CBC with Rosemary Barton wasn’t remarkable for what was said. It was revealing for what still couldn’t be said. There was no acknowledgment that losing an election he was widely expected to win might merit reflection. No acceptance that losing his own seat could justify a rethink of a political style built almost entirely on...
I thought long and hard before going to a public Hanukkah candle lighting recently. I wouldn’t have gone if my grandson were with me. As it was, my husband asked me to promise to remain on the periphery of the crowd in case I had to run. We’ve been to Bondi Beach. It’s one of those picture-perfect beaches you see...
NDP leadership hopeful Avi Lewis earlier this month released his shoot-for-the stars climate policy, titled A Green New Deal for Canada. It’s a retooled shopping list of laudable ideas, starting with a complete ban on new fossil fuel extraction projects, which we know are the single biggest contributor to global warming. Lewis proposes investing billions in “clean energy, building retrofits...
Over lunch the other day, the talk was about how 2025 had triggered a surge of patriotism in this country on account of the back-of-the-hand treatment from the United States. “It’s extraordinary,” said Duncan Ault, a lawyer friend. “As a Canadian I feel a foot taller.” For much of our history we’ve been in the thrall of the U.S., so...
December is becoming a cruel month for some of Canada’s opposition leaders, from Quebec to B.C. Now, with the second floor crossing from the federal Conservatives to the Liberals in under a month, Pierre Poilievre must consider his own future. Having lost the April federal election in spectacular fashion — including losing his own seat — the hits keep coming...
It was one year ago that federal politics changed dramatically. Then-deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland wrote her poison pen letter to then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, stepped away from cabinet, didn’t deliver the planned fall economic statement, and set in motion a chain of events no one could have foreseen. Within a few weeks, Trudeau announced he was...
Canada is still adjusting to the dramatic political changes that affected the country in 2025. The coming year will likely include the same kind of disruptions both at home and elsewhere that will shake the political firmament in 2026. The dramatic comeback of the Liberal Party this past year and its victory in the April general election stood the political...
Henry VIII divorced or executed his wives not because they failed in their duties, but because they could not satisfy his constant quest for personal validation and desire for a male heir. Canada is dealing with a sovereign with a similar outsized ego in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement trade negotiations. U.S. businesses and consumers want the marriage to last. However...
Any time you hear someone say “Canadians want this” or “Canadians think that,” you should be skeptical. There is no single Canadian consumer of politics. There is no unified national preference waiting to be discovered and satisfied. What we call public opinion is not one market but many, layered on top of each other, shaped by different pressures, levels of...
Speculation abounds over who is waiting to take over the party.
In the wake of the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney – in which 15 people were murdered and more than two dozen injured – politicians and other public figures commenced the now-typical routine of issuing condemnations. The routine began after the unspeakable mass atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023 – the worst antisemitic...
Ambassador Kirsten Hillman announced last week that she will be leaving her role as Canada’s Ambassador to the United States. Through some of the most challenging diplomatic contexts imaginable, Ambassador Hillman has served Canada with incredible distinction, poise, substance and grace. She was named to the role in March 2020, but before that she was part of the team that...
The Carney Liberals are in grave danger of repeating a mistake the Conservatives made a year ago. They’re running the risk of eliminating the person they see as their principal opponent — but who is also one of their biggest assets, maybe the biggest of all.
Timing is everything. The Liberals won a series of elections under Justin Trudeau in part by promising to significantly lower carbon emissions, and offering a more credible plan than their Conservative opponents. That plan, headlined by consumer carbon pricing, helped boost support for the Liberals and drain support from the Conservatives, particularly among swing voters in suburban Canada, in federal...
Just one seat to go. And it’s likely to happen as the Conservative leader causes the bleeding.
If there’s one conclusion we can draw from the recently released National Security Strategy put out by the Trump administration, it’s that the current crop of Americans in power really do feel like victims of the world that America created. In that strategy, the White House outlined the Trump administration’s priorities, outlooks and hoped for direction. While it’s common for...
Premier Danielle Smith’s antics earlier this year didn’t exactly help the Conservative election cause, so perhaps it’s unreasonable to expect federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to be doing her any favours right now. Article content Still, it’s incumbent on Poilievre to tread lightly when it comes to potentially undermining the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that Smith signed with Prime Minister...
Though superficially promising, last month’s “memorandum of understanding” between Alberta and Ottawa is in fact restrictive and self-contradictory, leaving the over-arching economic and strategic question of Canada’s future energy development mired in uncertainty. Questionable support for pipelines from the prime minister and his energy minister, obstructive laws and regulations, and at least implied vetoes for the provinces and Indigenous communities...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is on the verge of recruiting his way to the majority government that evaded him back in April. Now that both Chris d’Entremont and Michael Ma have crossed the floor to join the Liberal caucus, all Prime Minister Carney needs is for one more MP to do the same. And if statements Monday by Energy Minister...
Fun week. A couple more defections by Conservatives you never knew existed, plus a New Democrat in the Speaker’s chair, plus Elizabeth May talking herself into whatever she’ll talk herself into next — well, that’s a half-Fizzbin already. Some Conservatives are worried all these floor-crossings insult democracy. Wajid Khan and David Emerson could not be reached for comment. I’d offer...
POLL ANALYSTS will caution that “we need more data” when debating whether freshly released numbers herald genuine trends or whether we are simply reacting to statistical noise. Don’t get me wrong: overreacting to blips is a wonderful (and lucrative) click generator in this dopamine-craving age of social media. But it rarely provides analysis that genuinely informs voters.
Losing one MP to the Liberals may be regarded as a misfortune. Losing two smacks of carelessness. Now Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative leadership is really in danger. Even a victory in the upcoming leadership review in January won’t necessarily make it safe. Now, Mr. Poilievre will be looking over his shoulder and into the shadows. Maybe one more of his MPs...
The new national-security strategy issued by the Trump administration has caused shock waves among the United States’ allies. It contains a retreat by the United States from global leadership and an abandonment of any principled foreign policy. It fails to address threats posed by authoritarian regimes and castigates Europe as a continent in decline, which needs U.S.-style political change. It...
The Prime Minister’s Office is taking a decidedly corporate approach. Then it should make sure that the essential piece of corporate governance is included by being transparent with the board of directors. In this country, the board is made up of voters.
Markham—Unionville MP Michael Ma goes to all the best parties. On Wednesday, he attended the Conservative party’s holiday gathering in Ottawa, even lining up for a photo with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his wife, Anaida.
Let’s start with a few assumptions. U.S. President Donald Trump has reached his political ceiling.
In the last federal election, the Liberals pledged to better protect children online from sexual exploitation. They also promised a suite of measures aimed at cracking down on sexual and intimate partner violence, including making murder motivated by hate like femicide a first-degree offence. Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, introduced earlier this week is a direct result of the...
The Liberal government has cribbed from the Conservative playbook as opponents on the left and right have faltered. But in 2026 they may face new challenges – including a renewed opposition
In response to the federal government’s memorandum of understanding with the Government of Alberta on a new oil pipeline, prominent Quebec Liberal member of Parliament and longtime climate activist Steven Guibeault resigned from cabinet, declaring the agreement a “fire sale.”
In Quebec, certain words don’t land softly. Corruption is one of them. It’s a word that once even earned Quebec the cover of Maclean’s magazine as “the most corrupt province in Canada,” a headline that infuriated the political class precisely because it cut so close to a long, uncomfortable narrative. So, when that word is once again associated with the...
Pierre Trudeau famously said that opposition MPs are nobodies 50 yards from Parliament Hill – and today it’s a handful of Conservative nobodies who are laying the foundation for another Liberal dynasty in Ottawa.
