What Scheer can learn from the Tory team’s rise from Reform to the Harper government
ST. JOHN’S, N.L.—The public conversation about Canadian politics has changed a lot since the Trudeau Liberals replaced the Harper Conservatives. Reasons extend beyond the realities of a new government and the fresh faces who have an ambitious centre-left agenda. Social media continues to turn traditional politics upside down. There is an unsettling fascination with the […]
Reforming Canada’s political institutions complicated by distortions, misunderstandings and interrelationships
ST. JOHN’S, N.L.—Books about Canadian political life tend to be about whatever is trending. Constitutional schisms and protecting our culture against Americanization used to be topical. So did federalism and Quebec’s place in Canada. Elections always command an excess of attention. So too do the accomplishments and failures of party leaders, particularly prime ministers. Throughout […]
Book offers closer look at Canada’s ‘rare example’ of successful federation
OTTAWA—I am not a Father of Confederation, but I am a son of Confederation. I was an interested observer, albeit young, when Newfoundland was roiled politically with the renewal of its historical debate of whether or not it would become Canada’s 10th province. Post-war Britain under the newly elected Attlee Labour government faced the Herculean task […]
Yep, everything still revolves around the prime minister and the PMO
ST. JOHN’S, NFLD.—Quick: does the Office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have too much power? How you answer might have a lot to do with your impressions of him and the Liberal government’s policies. It is a question with no definitive answer. The media and critics aren’t complaining nearly the way that they did with […]
What’s in a name? A look at cabinet changes since Confederation
It’s a Shakespearean question oft-mulled throughout the ages, and when it comes to the various stylings of the Canadian cabinet, behind the many ministerial monikers and match-ups are insights into the history and growth of our country. “The story here is it’s an evolution of a country and the growth of the welfare state,” says […]
Marland dissects modern political message control and comes up with a winner
Back on May 23, 2016, Alex Marland told The Hill Times he was cautiously optimistic about his book, Brand Command: Canadian Politics and Democracy in the Age of Message Control, which he described as “a twist” on Donald Savoie’s Governing from the Centre, along with “a dash” of Tom Flanagan’s book Harper’s Team and Susan Delacourt’s Shopping for […]
What it’s really like ‘down inside’ Canada’s prisons
In 1980, Robert Clark started working as a student volunteer in the gym at Kingston’s maximum-security Millhaven Institution, the most dangerous prison in Canada at the time. He was going to Queen’s University and needed his volunteer hours to become a high school gym teacher. But once he was “down inside” with the prisoners, he was hooked. […]
Time to fix Canada’s copyright mistake
Some weeks ago, scholars at Concordia University in Montreal were caught infringing copyright in what appeared to be acts of wholesale book piracy. This turned into public embarrassment for the university when Kate Taylor at The Globe and Mail published details of the infringements. Working with the Writers Union of Canada and various concerned publishers and […]
Parsing a brand-centric approach to power
We lack a focused study of how political communications work in Ottawa. We need a theory for why they create a contagion of pulling everything toward “the centre”—a term with so many different and sinister connotations that in this book it refers to a transcendental concept, usually encapsulating the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Privy […]
If it ain’t broke, Smith offers a clear-eyed look at how Canada’s electoral system really works
OTTAWA—Dale Smith is a bit of parliamentary political nerd. He’s the only journalist on the Hill who goes to Question Period every, single day and he’s that rare media bird who understands the finer details of the parliamentary system, Canada’s electoral system, and how political parties work. The 38-year-old Alberta native, who has been on the Hill since 2008 […]
