Political staffers, like Gerry Butts, have one job and one job only: to protect and promote their boss. Everything else is secondary.

The Jody Wilson-Raybould/SNC Lavalin/PMO controversy provides an example as to how a political strategist can attack an opponent over an issue where innocence or guilt isn’t so clear cut.

I think the best course to follow is for the Ministry of Democratic Institutions to actually have confidence in democratic institutions. It should trust the citizenry to discern truth without the help of government.

I suppose there will always be governments seeking to impose new ways to restrict free political expression and there will always be people willing to resist.

All too often the prime minister has found himself reacting to a series of dramatic events outside of his control. And it’s Trudeau’s reaction to these events that have helped to define his prime ministerial brand.

Whereas war is about using force to impose your will on others, politics is about using the gentle art of persuasion to peacefully convince.

What the NDP really requires is a strategist with the cunning of Sun Tzu, the aggressiveness of Julius Caesar, and the tactical prowess of Napoleon.

I’m relatively certain that in 2019 we’ll see a strategically-planned contraction of the Liberal Party’s 'Justinian Empire.'

Politics is essentially a business where you need to persuade people quickly. So forget about any idea that’s too complicated or too nuanced or that’s in anyway counter-intuitive.

Basically the party has to raise a lot of money and it has to do it fast. And that’s certainly doable, but only if the NDP can successfully convey a sense of seriousness to its donor base.

And why Justin Trudeau would rather focus less on economic issues and more on issues that he thinks work better for him politically, i.e., gender equality and fighting climate change.

So perhaps Maxime Bernier can use his position as leader of the People’s Party to inspire Canadians or to popularize his libertarian philosophy. And that’s nothing to be sneezed at.

If things are different for viceregals, you better believe they’re also different for everybody else who holds public office.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be adopting the UN approach and saying things like, 'To ensure future generations escape from the horrors of climate change, we must all make tough and painful sacrifices for the greater good.'

So yeah, 2023 looks a lot more interesting than 2019.

It’s possible the popular forces generating all that excitement in the provinces will eventually pierce the Ottawa bubble, forcing federal politicians to adapt. If that happens, then wacky politics could become the norm.

As I watched my wife’s life slowly fade away, it seemed so odd to me the way people were working themselves up into an emotional frenzy over things that more than likely wouldn’t impact their personal lives.

Stephen Harper always seemed to be ahead of the curve. That’s why I can say with absolute certainty that Right Here, Right Now will be jam-packed with insightful, well-thought out, rational analysis.

In a sense, Maxime Bernier’s sacrificing purity for the sake of votes. Can it work? Yes, so long as he doesn’t end up muddling his message.

If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau goes around calling Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, 'a Harper clone,' he might unwittingly be giving the Conservative leader a boost.

The NDP seems to be taking a huge risk by asking its members how they think NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is doing.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, all need to inject at least a little bit of phoniness into their respective public personas.

Federal-provincial conflicts and intra-party squabbles are just a part of the backdrop to the bigger dramas dominating Canadian politics right now, such as the NAFTA negotiations.

Social media squabbles make it seems as though Canadians are at each other's throats, when most people are focused on summer holidays.