Apr 23 2021 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — On April 19t Minister Freeland delivered her long awaited budget- the government’s first budget in two years. By some measures, it was an impressive document: 740 pages long making it the longest budget document ever. The budget can best be described as a “big announcement” budget with proposed spending initiatives sprinkled around to everyone and […]

Apr 23 2021 — Tanya Talaga — Globe and Mail — There have been many moments during this dark pandemic where, after hearing or seeing something chilling flash by in a news headline or on the radio or on social media, I’ve thought to myself: No, it cannot be, we cannot sink any lower, things just can’t get any worse. Perhaps you’ve felt the same way. […]

Apr 23 2021 — Andrew MacDougall — Ottawa Citizen — Although it feels like years, it’s only been a matter of weeks since Erin O’Toole addressed the Conservative Party policy convention and made his big play for the here and now. In his speech, O’Toole left talk of any “great reset” to Justin Trudeau, preferring instead to show Canadians his plan for a return to […]

Apr 23 2021 — John Ivison — National Post — The federal government finally did the right thing by banning flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days — but only after it had tried everything else. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the higher number of cases of new variants required him to issue a notice halting direct passenger traffic from the two countries from […]

Apr 23 2021 — National Newswatch — As always at “Art’s History,” we pause to mark the birthdays of our Prime Ministers and today it is Lester Bowles Pearson’s turn. Canada’s 14th Prime Minister was born on this date in 1897 in Newtonbrook, a small town that was later consumed by the outward expansion of Toronto. As the son of a Minister, […]

Apr 23 2021 — Byron Holland — National Newswatch — Just as the pandemic exposed troubling gaps among factory workers, healthcare providers, and vulnerable communities it also laid bare a technology gap between city and country.  When lockdowns took hold and Canadians (who could) started working from home, we learned as never before that access to the internet is an essential service. But it is […]

Apr 22 2021 — Zach Paikin — The Institute for Peace & Diplomacy — What are Canada’s interests in a shifting international order? This question presents two layers of difficulty. First, it requires that Canada think systematically and strategically about the scope of its core interests on the world stage, how to prioritize those goals, and how to achieve them. A laundry list of varied, disconnected wants is insufficient. […]

Apr 22 2021 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — On April 14, three flights from Delhi arrived in Canada carrying passengers infected with COVID-19. Though the number of infected passengers on each was not disclosed, Canadian authorities labelled multiple rows throughout the planes as “affected,” which would suggest that more than one passenger was carrying the virus. On April 15, two more flights from […]

Apr 22 2021 — Michael Taube — National Post — Ontario Premier Doug Ford has had a rough few weeks in office, to put it mildly. Ford has been criticized for announcing yet another provincial stay-at-home order due to escalating COVID-19 cases. Critics have blasted him for everything from keeping struggling businesses closed to halting in-person learning in Ontario schools on several occasions. He announced […]

Apr 22 2021 — Matt Gurney — TVO — If we strip away all the sideshows and diversions, there are three stories that matter in Ontario’s third-wave response today. They matter more than the premier’s obvious emotional struggle as he faced voters for the first time in nearly a week — via a video press conference from isolation at his late mother’s Etobicoke home […]

Apr 22 2021 — John Michael McGrath — TVO — Premier Doug Ford is sorry. Sorry, he says, for his government’s panicked reaction to the legitimately frightening modelling it was presented with last week. It went too far because the cabinet moved too fast, he says, and he sincerely apologizes. The opposition at Queen’s Park — the New Democratic, Liberal, and Green MPPs — are […]

Apr 22 2021 — Bruce Campbell — The Conversation — The 724-page federal budget made vital spending commitments to extend supports to Canadians as the pandemic shock waves continue. It also made critical social safety net improvements, most notably universal child care and increases in old age security and supports for eldercare. But where is the road map to reduce Canada’s carbon emissions? If we […]

Apr 22 2021 — Max Fawcett — National Observer — Of all the controversial covers Maclean’s magazine has run over the years, few attracted a bigger backlash than its December 2018 edition. It featured Conservative Party of Canada Leader Andrew Scheer flanked by Doug Ford, Jason Kenney, Brian Pallister and Scott Moe, all wearing their best blue suits and sporting their best tough-guy demeanours. The […]

Apr 22 2021 — Joe Oliver — Financial Post — Sadly, it was predictable. Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland tabled a profligate, something-for-everyone budget, with scant attention to affordability, economic growth or intergenerational fairness. As I forecast in a recent column that it would, it contains “extravagant spending in the guise of investment, undeserved self-congratulation, wokeness on steroids, empty promises of fiscal rectitude and soak-the-rich […]

Apr 22 2021 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — A big date to celebrate for past Prime Minister Brian Mulroney today. It was on this date, in 2006, that Canada’s 18th Prime Minister was named our greenest-ever leader. From the Montreal Protocol to the Acid Rain Treaty with the United Sates and on through the Green Plan, Mr. Mulroney put the protection of our […]