Aug 16 2018 — John Brennan — NY Times — That’s why the president revoked my security clearance: to try to silence anyone who would dare challenge him. When Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s internal security service, told me during an early August 2016 phone call that Russia wasn’t interfering in our presidential election, I knew he was lying. Over the previous several years […]

Aug 15 2018 — Chantal Hébert — Toronto Star — One week before the first Conservative national convention on Andrew Scheer’s leadership watch — and the last such gathering before the next federal election — one would not normally expect Conservative MPs to be debating each other on social media about whether to draw a line on Canada’s diversity.

Aug 15 2018 — Toula Drimonis — National Observer — After watching a video of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau giving a speech in which he reiterated one of his favourite statements about “diversity being what makes Canada strong,” Conservative MP Maxime Bernier lost his marbles and went on a Trump-like Twitter rant about diversity and the dangers of promoting it too much.

Aug 15 2018 — Neil Macdonald — CBC — Here’s a proposed Canadian reply to the escalating Saudi temper tantrum. Call in the kingdom’s ambassador and tell him: Sorry, Mr. Ambassador, but Canadian universities will never again accept Saudi medical residents. The government could explain that cancelling orders for relatively piddling amounts of wheat and maple syrup is the kingdom’s perfect right, subject of […]

Aug 15 2018 — John Milloy — Policy Options — Is the West falling apart? Although news of the West’s demise may be premature, the increasingly erratic policies of US President Donald Trump are placing enormous pressure on the military and nonmilitary ties that bind us. And it’s not just the United States. Britain’s exit from the European Union, no matter how amicable the eventual […]

Aug 15 2018 — Emma Teitel — Toronto Star — In the world according to Conservative MP Maxime Bernier, there’s nothing wrong with diversity. There is something wrong, however, with “ever more diversity.” Confused? Me too, but I’ll try to break it down for you. Bernier made a series of ill-advised tweets around 8:30 on Sunday night. When many Canadians were presumably relaxing and spending […]

Aug 15 2018 — Donald Barry — National Newswatch — Is Canada a national security threat to the United States?  President Donald Trump’s administration says it is.  In June, it invoked a seldom used national security provision in the 1962 Trade Expansion Act to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imported from Canada, contending that rising imports could endanger […]

Aug 14 2018 — L. Ian MacDonald — iPolitics — The Trudeau Liberals are reportedly giving serious thought to a speech from the throne to launch a new session of Parliament in the fall. That is a discussion for next Tuesday’s summer meeting of the Liberal caucus in British Columbia, after which a decision will be made. Whether they choose to prorogue or move ahead […]

Aug 14 2018 — Susan Delacourt — iPolitics — Maxime Bernier probably wasn’t trying to make life easier for Justin Trudeau when he put his fellow Conservatives on the hot seat by speaking out against the prime minister’s alleged “radical multiculturalism.” And NDP leader Jagmeet Singh likely wasn’t thinking too much about boosting Liberal fortunes when he decided to shoot back at some insults […]

Aug 14 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — A member of the news media was assaulted by a protester in Toronto this past weekend. The altercation happened on camera, in front of police, with dozens of people standing by. The incident in which a journalist was struck by an activist — ironically, at an anti-hate rally — seemed entirely unprovoked: a pathetic attack […]

Aug 14 2018 — Jen Gerson — Maclean's — Brian Pallister figures it must have taken his father, a lifelong farmer and a man of few words, more than a week sitting on his tractor to formulate a response to his son’s first political win. It is 1992 and Pallister the younger has been elected to the provincial legislature. “He says, ‘Congratulations, boy. If […]

Aug 14 2018 — Scott Gilmore — Maclean's — Conservative provocateur Maxime Bernier lit up the lines today after he decried our “cult of multiculturalism.” He tweeted about his opposition to “Trudeau’s extreme multiculturalism and cult of diversity” which he fears will “divide us into little tribes.” As a Canadian columnist, this is the part where I take sides and either double-down by arguing […]

Aug 14 2018 — Vaughn Palmer — Vancouver Sun — Long before Quebec produced a political party bent on separatism, British Columbia entertained serious thoughts of quitting Canada. The drive culminated in a resolution passed by the legislature 140 years ago this month under the leadership of then Premier George Walkem, elected on a promise to “fight Canada.” Framed as a direct plea to Queen […]

Aug 14 2018 — Paula Simons — Edmonton Journal — What was Shannon Stubbs thinking? The Conservative MP for Lakeland — a riding just north and east of Edmonton — isn’t stupid. Far from it. If anything, she has a reputation for being bright, capable, and a smart political operator, a former staffer to both Preston Manning and Deborah Grey. She’s made her bones as […]

Aug 13 2018 — Christie Blatchford — National Post — Mercifully, it is not every government that deploys its paid political staffers as clapping, barking seals. This appears to be a genuine first for new Ontario Conservative Premier Doug Ford, and he’s been rightly mocked for using said clappers to cut short press conferences and reporters’ questions by applauding and cheering his every pearl of […]