Matt Gurney: Let’s open with something of a confession. Or maybe a strategic repositioning of the shield I use to cover my bottom from being called out for bad predictions. In the immediate aftermath of the election, I would have said, with no reservations, that I thought Pierre Poilievre was safe as Conservative leader. I still think that, but now...
Hard work in Canada has never paid less, in economic opportunity or quality of life. For most young Canadians, it doesn’t really matter how much you make in dollars and cents: without family money, the big picture is largely the same. No homeownership. No path to building wealth. Delayed family formation, or none at all.
What happens when Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise of massive new federal spending on public infrastructure and speedy approval of “nation building projects” runs into the fact the federal public service routinely ignores the rules for spending public money and approving such projects?
After last month’s throne speech, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet lamented that he feels Prime Minister Mark Carney “sees himself culturally as the CEO of Canada.” With his background in corporate finance, it’s no surprise Carney has been likened to a stereotypical finance boss. Article content But is bringing CEO-type leadership to the federal government a bad thing, particularly at...
Will a pipeline be considered as one of the projects Prime Minister wants fast-tracked? 'It depends,' says Carney.
Like it or not, it’s forcing Canada to transform the economy. Fortunately, the rest of the world also needs what this country has. That means there are tremendous incentives to build new partnerships, unlock opportunities, and deliver our resources to new customers.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been in political purgatory since the Conservatives’ loss in the April election, worsened by his own loss in the Ottawa riding of Carleton. Instead of grilling Prime Minister Mark Carney in question period — his longstanding battleground of choice — Poilievre has been making calls to Conservatives around the country, both to gather their thoughts...
The new Carney government got elected on a promise of results. The core team he’s assembled to back him was purpose built with a single goal top of mind: Getting things done. Economic issues generally and trade issues, in particular, were dictating the agenda. What was new was the single-minded determination. The threat of a trade war with our closest...
On January 7, Donald Trump said publicly for the first time that he wanted to force Canada to become the 51st state. The president-elect had spent two months waiting to be inaugurated. He seemed to be yearning for action, to be on TV, to signal how he would lead. So he invited journalists to a gilded room in his Mar-a-Lago...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Canada for the G7 has generated a lot of chatter. Unfortunately, there’s a lot that has been missing in the conversation. For starters, the Indian government’s belief that Canada is soft on extremists seeking to establish an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan isn’t exactly new. In...
So we’re agreed. The Canadian economy is in such a state of crisis that bold measures, previously unthinkable, are now in order. To quote the Prime Minister, we must do things we never imagined at speeds we never thought possible. Or is it we must do things we never thought possible at speeds we never imagined? Whatever. Things! Speed! Just...
Hell froze over. The lion lay down with the lamb. Quebec nationalists agreed English-speaking Quebecers aren’t actually a big threat to French in that province. On the list of unlikely events, that last one might not seem earth-shaking outside Quebec. But after years of treating the province’s million-strong Anglo community as a convenient punching bag, it’s a very hopeful sign...
For over a week now, rockets have crossed the skies between Tel Aviv and Tehran after Israel launched an attack on Iran last Friday. But though the focus has understandably been on the conflict between the two nations, an overlooked contest is occurring inside Iran, where weary Iranians weigh whether to support a battered regime or consign it to history...
Does Prime Minister Mark Carney doubt the resolve of Canadians? It is one conclusion that can be drawn from the apparent softening of the Carney government’s stance towards the Americans, and Donald Trump in particular.
Six days after protests erupted in Los Angeles over mass ICE raids that targeted schools, businesses, and homes, a video featuring a series of inflammatory images circulated over social media. Scorched cars, devastated homes, their roofs shattered by rioters, even a stray airplane turbine, signalled the complete breakdown of civil order.
On Feb. 1, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, stood at the top of the stairs of an Air France jet that had just landed in Tehran. This stern, robed man had been whisked from his country villa provided by the French government (then led by President Valery Giscard d’Estaing) to a waiting jet...
The Carney government has set some ambitious targets. Defence. Productivity. Housing. Trade diversification. Infrastructure. Projects of National Interest. All of it. Every problem, fixed. Every policy lever, pulled. Every chart, up and to the right. And look, good for them. I sincerely mean it. I love these ambitious goals. The truth is, you do not get into government to manage...
When Mark Carney stood before Canadians on June 9 to announce a bold leap toward NATO’s defence spending benchmark of two per cent of GDP, the subtext was revolutionary. What could have been framed as an act of geopolitical compliance or national security enhancement was instead narrated as an economic renaissance. “Rebuilding, rearming, and reinvesting” was not just rhetorical symmetry...
Doctor: You need to go to the emergency room. Patient: I’m not going.
Over the weekend, I was travelling around doing my normal errands when someone in a pickup truck turned in front of me. On the bumper was a sticker that read “F*ck Carney.” Really? Mark Carney was just elected prime minister not even two months ago and we already have nasty bumper stickers?
When The Hill Times’ intrepid journalist Abbas Rana reports something, it is best to pay attention. He is good at his job, and always on to something interesting. In the June 16 edition of this newspaper, Rana wrote about how Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is reaching out to unsuccessful candidates to get their feedback. On the surface, that is a...
Recently, I took part in a public service workshop examining hypothetical risks to Canada. Each table of participants was provided a dozen risks that we were asked to rank in order of perceived importance. Article content One potential risk card read something akin to: “Diminished Male Relevance.” I blinked twice, unsure if I’d read it correctly. Women are still crawling...
Lyndon Johnson famously talked about pushing ahead with the things he believed in, regardless of political risk, arguing ‘what’s the power of the Presidency for, if not to use it’. The routine of politics is one of cycles - where newly elected leaders lose political support as they encounter problems, try to do difficult things, and annoy or disappoint people...
Among the foreign leaders kowtowing to Donald Trump, Britain’s Keir Starmer leads the pack. The image of him at the G7 summit, bending over and scrambling to pick up papers dropped by the U.S. President, was splendid symbolism. Remember when Tony Blair was labelled as George W. Bush’s poodle? Now Mr. Starmer is the pooch.
If diplomacy, as influence impresario Henry Kissinger once said, is “the art of restraining power”, then Mark Carney’s first G7 was a success. As host of the most bizarre gathering of the group in its half-century history based on the attendance of Donald Trump as an American president whose entire second term has been an homage to unrestrained power, Carney...
Donald Trump’s abrupt departure from the G7 meeting on Monday night wasn’t exactly an insult to his host Mark Carney, who, with typical Canadian courtesy, thanked the president for showing up, however briefly. Trump left behind him, as usual, a collection of eyebrow-raising remarks, including some throwaway lines as he departed on Air Force One about how Canada, his host...
Well, at least he didn’t walk out. While U.S. President Donald Trump left the G7 meeting in Kananaskis Monday night, it wasn’t in the huff the world witnessed at Charlevoix in 2018. This time, after a day of huddles and the signing of a U.K.–U.S. mini-deal that slashed auto tariffs, Trump hurried back to the White House because of “what’s...
Donald Trump is a tariff man. He said so himself, this Monday at the G7 summit in Kananaskis. Nevertheless, the protectionist American president says, there’s no reason why Canada and the United States can’t hammer out their trade differences. “It’s achievable,” he nodded. Standing next to him, Prime Minister and host of the summit Mark Carney kept his poker face...
Bill C-5 is walking backwards into the future if it aims to support an outdated and expensive fossil fuel industry while moving in the direction of more climatic and environmental breakdown.
In 2018, during his first term as President, Donald Trump famously responded to a question from Lesley Stahl of CBS about tariffs he had slapped on US allies with the quip, “I mean, what’s an ally?” Prime Minister Mark Carney is about to find out. The upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague June 24-25 will be his first. And it...
It didn’t take long for the Alberta government to follow in the footsteps of the U.S. health secretary, anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., by making it more difficult — and more expensive — to get a COVID-19 shot. At the end of May, Kennedy announced that the COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be among the recommended vaccines for pregnant women...
In Canadian politics, few ideas cut across party lines as cleanly as how much we love nature. Policies on protecting our environment — and opinions about what harms it — vary widely. But you can bet that any campaign ad, throne speech or holiday message is likely to include a reference to the Maple Leaf along with the Rocky Mountains...
Perhaps Mark Carney has no desire to be re-elected as prime minister and doesn’t care if the federal Liberals fail to win another mandate. Why else would he bring in legislation that runs roughshod over democratic norms in this country, sidelines experts testimony, opens the door to corruption and to lawsuits that could stymie projects, never mind hand the Grits’...
TEPHEN MAHER’S BOOK The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau landed in spring 2024, just as the then prime minister’s brand was in free fall. The year before, he had announced his separation from his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau. Then, last September, a no-confidence vote was tabled by the Conservatives. Trudeau survived it, as well as two more no-confidence...
