Oct 28 2020 — Tony Charles — Policy Options — Back in 1999, the Supreme Court’s Marshall decision recognized that Mi’kmaq First Nations have had, and continue to have, a treaty right to catch and sell fish. As a result, First Nations have been increasing their presence in the fishery over the past 20 years. Yet all that time, what the Court specified as the […]

Oct 28 2020 — Maura Forrest — Politico — ‘WHAT IS DEAD MAY NEVER DIE’ — But can Keystone XL rise again harder and stronger? Anyone who’s followed the saga of this pipeline over the last dozen (!!!) years knows that placing bets is a fool’s game, as proponents and opponents alike have used politicians and the courts to sway the project’s fate.

Oct 28 2020 — Andrew Coyne — Globe and Mail — Throughout the past week of parliamentary manoeuvring, it was hard not to detect in the government’s reactions a note of astonishment, even shock. The notion that a committee of Parliament might have the temerity to demand that ministers appear before it or that government papers be released to it – or worse yet, that the […]

Oct 27 2020 — John Ivison — Postmedia — Another incumbent provincial government wins a resounding majority. But the federal party loses support in two Toronto byelections. Opinion polls suggest the Liberals would regain their own majority if an election were held today.

Oct 27 2020 — Michael Smyth — Global News — John Horgan easily won re-election as Canada’s only NDP premier on Saturday, but you could make an argument the real winner was someone not even on the ballot. Dr. Bonnie Henry, the province’s medical health officer, has become a trusted and reassuring voice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her performance during the crisis — including coining […]

Oct 27 2020 — CTV News — Of all the COVID-19 symptoms, the most unexpected is election fever. A third clinical trial ended Monday night, an election suggesting the best treatment for party leaders in these uncertain times is a snap inoculation by their voters. Delaying the writ drop risks voter rejection as pandemic Band-aids are ripped off to heal unsustainable deficits […]

Oct 27 2020 — Percy Downe — Policy Magazine — The notion of a global village has been driven home this year, as a worldwide pandemic has had an impact unprecedented in the living memory of Canadians. Through lockdown, gradual reopening and further setbacks, and as concerns mount over what comes next, we have watched as countries the world over continue to deal with this […]

Oct 27 2020 — Lorrie Goldstein — Sun Media — Whenever Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces a new government spending program, it’s always good to remember there’s no such thing as a free lunch. A case in point is the fulfillment of Trudeau’s signature 2015 election promise to create a new and enhanced Canada Child Benefit (CCB).

Oct 27 2020 — Michael Coren — CBC — Alistair Campbell, advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, once famously said, “We don’t do God.” Canadian politicians don’t much either, but Americans of both major parties do so in abundance and it’s on full display in the run-up to the U.S. election. One of the ironies of the United States is that a […]

Oct 27 2020 — Eric Grenier — CBC — Saskatchewan has a new political dynasty after Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party secured its fourth consecutive majority mandate in Monday’s election, the first party to manage that in the province since the CCF under Tommy Douglas over 60 years ago. Though thousands of mail ballots have yet to be counted, the votes that have been tallied […]

Oct 27 2020 — Susan Delacourt — Toronto Star — This COVID pandemic has been rewarding governments in power by giving them more power — a trend that will be put to its biggest-yet test next week in the United States. Justin Trudeau must be feeling decidedly ambivalent about the whole phenomenon. If it holds in Canada, it would be good for Trudeau’s Liberal government. […]

Oct 26 2020 — Glen Pearson — National Newswatch — One week today could see the smugfest of all smugfests.  If the polls are correct, America could be on the verge of a Democratic landslide.  Whatever Donald Trump has going in his favour, his bombast, and above all his lack of attention to a Covid-19 pandemic that continues to ascend ever higher at the worst […]

Oct 26 2020 — Chris Selley — Postmedia — At time of writing, it seems historians may have to live without a definitive answer to the question that gripped Canada’s political obsessives on Sunday evening: Was federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu sufficiently engaged in eating or drinking to justify not wearing a mask at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, where a spy photographed her barefaced and […]

Oct 26 2020 — Diane Francis — Financial Post — In 1986, a lavish cocktail party in Calgary rolled out a red carpet to welcome Hong Kong’s most successful entrepreneur, Li Ka Shing, after he took control of Alberta oil giant Husky Energy. In an interview I did with him at the time, he praised Canada and said both his sons would become Canadian citizens. […]

Oct 26 2020 — Zach Paikin — Global Brief — Last week, 21CQ and GB held a two-day conference to probe the state and future of Canada after the pandemic. Along with UBC’s Michael Byers, Université Laval’s Anessa Kimball, former senior advisor to Canada’s minister of foreign affairs Jocelyn Coulon, and the Munk School’s Anvesh Jain, I was one of the participants featured on the […]