Aug 21 2019 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Even before the Liberals used their majority on a parliamentary committee on Wednesday to shut down future inquiries into the federal ethics commissioner’s scathing report about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin file, there were signs that Mario Dion’s findings were not destined to become a turning point of the pre-election season. By […]

Aug 21 2019 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — Many Canadians have been understandably flummoxed, with gusts to outraged, by news that Elections Canada has warned organizations advocating for more forceful action against climate change that they may have to register as “third parties” for the upcoming election, and be subject to limits on advertising expenditures during the campaign. “The climate crisis is objectively […]

Aug 21 2019 — Andrew Coyne — Postmedia — To listen to the squawking, you’d have thought Elections Canada had cancelled the election. Or at least forbidden environmental groups to participate in it. Or at least told them they could not advise the public of the threat posed by climate change — for many of them, their raison d’être. Or at least — you […]

Aug 21 2019 — Michael Harris — The Tyee — Besides broken promises, there are a lot of things that could hurt Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in this October’s federal election. There is the bratty sense of entitlement, the dubious judgement and the furtive backroom dealings with a company charged with fraud and bribery.

Aug 21 2019 — Mark Jaccard — Policy Options — A leading climate expert’s modelling of the Conservative climate plan shows emissions will rise, as the proposed tools are not proven to work. For over two decades I have evaluated promises by Canadian politicians to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. My work would be straightforward if a politician committed to a rising carbon price or to […]

Aug 21 2019 — Tom Mulcair — Sun Media — Elizabeth May is by far the most experienced party leader in this campaign. She has been hammering home variations on the same themes for decades as an activist and as a politician. She can emote with the best of them. Because she has, for most of that time, been a one-woman show, she’s never developed […]

Aug 20 2019 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — The People’s Party of Canada is really big on freedom of expression. A whole section of its platform, laid out over the party website, is devoted to the rights of people to say whatever the heck they want. “What some people find politically incorrect, offensive or even hateful cannot serve as the legal basis for […]

Aug 20 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — There’s a short but jarring paragraph in Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion’s report last week on what went wrong in the SNC-Lavalin controversy. When the commissioner asked Finance Minister Bill Morneau what kind of analyses his department had done on the economic damage that could flow from SNC-Lavalin having to go to trial, Morneau replied that […]

Aug 20 2019 — Dianne Saxe — The Conversation — There is a serious erosion of democracy underway in Canada. Elections Canada is preventing environmental charities from telling the truth about the climate crisis during this fall’s election, when it will be a critical issue. Elections Canada’s job is to run elections that are fair and trustworthy so that the government chosen by Canadians will […]

Aug 20 2019 — Aaron Wudrick — Policy Options — The pundits will be chattering about the political impact of federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion’s bombshell report into the SNC-Lavalin affair until election day. But this is also an opportunity to strengthen government accountability to prevent a repeat of the circumstances that gave rise to the scandal. Dion concluded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke conflict-of-interest […]

Aug 20 2019 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — On Sunday we learned that Jack Letts, known in the British press as Jihadi Jack, is no longer a British subject. Then-home secretary Sajid Javid and then-prime minister Theresa May reportedly approved stripping the alleged ISIL fighter of his citizenship as one of their administration’s final acts and it seems they didn’t even send a […]

Aug 20 2019 — Glen Pearson — National Newswatch — We are all endeavouring to enjoy the fading days of summer before the hyper-activity of the federal election fires up.  The political parties have used the warmer days to hit the hustings in an attempt to tenderize voters for the melee that is about to ensue. But this election will be held against a backdrop […]

Aug 19 2019 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — Keeping track of Quebec and Alberta’s premiers these days is like watching two runaway trains on a pipeline-driven collision course. Neither Jason Kenney nor François Legault seems inclined to put his foot on the brake. It is not clear that either of them can alter course without derailing his agenda. By all indications, Canada’s s […]

Aug 19 2019 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — In the lead-up to its first national campaign this fall, Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party had the opportunity to test the waters in four byelections. The sample was not scientific by any measure but the ridings in play featured a wide range of political dynamics. To wit, over the first half of 2019 the Liberals, the […]

Aug 19 2019 — Colin Robertson — Globe and Mail — The Hong Kong demonstrations are a reminder that the desire for freedom is the elementary force driving all liberties. Those who should be liberty’s champions – the G7 democracies – are meeting next week in Biarritz. They need to speak out on Hong Kong and keep watch on what is happening. The joint statement on […]