More than wishful thinking needed for this Parliament to accomplish anything
OTTAWA—There’s been a lot of talk since the election about how voters sent federal parties a message that they need to be more co-operative and work together for the benefit of the country after a year of nasty political rancour. That’s as a good a takeaway as any from an election that reduced Prime Minister […]
Post-election, Conservatives need to let the truth be spoken, and heard
OTTAWA—A lot has been made of the fact that former cabinet minister and Conservative heavy weight Peter MacKay has offered his opinion publicly on what happened to the Conservative Party during the recent election, and on the way forward. It is unfairly assumed, and simple de facto Canadian political logic, that whatever MacKay says must […]
The rime of Andrew Scheer
I learned about the propensity of Canadian Conservatives to devour their leaders the way children absorb the alphabet, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or what snow is—in a way so foundational that I cannot recall how old I was when I knew that Dalton Camp was a name not to be mentioned in the presence of my […]
What’s the future for Canadian international development policy?
While not a headline grabber during this election campaign, current Canadian international development policy and its future direction are critically to the future well-being of this country. International development is clearly linked to how we see our role in uplifting and supporting less developed nations and those emerging from war and conflict. While a dollar […]
The Conservative dilemma
OTTAWA—When a party loses an election it had expected to win, those agitating for a change in leadership are sure to find a receptive audience, not only in the party but also in the country at large. However, the current rumblings about dumping Andrew Scheer as leader mask a deeper and more painful choice for […]
Scheer has time on his side, a short time
OTTAWA—Andrew Scheer has time on his side. Short time that is. The Conservative Party is scheduled to review his leadership in less than six months. When Joe Clark was under attack for his leadership, he personally set the bar very high. The youngest prime minister ever elected promised to step down if at least two-thirds […]
Trudeau should give more profile to ministers, empower backbenchers in new minority government, say MPs and pollsters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to be seen as the leader of a strong cabinet, empower his caucus, provide more latitude to backbench MPs, and mirror some of the lessons learned from his father’s 1972 election result to lead a strong minority government after a humbling election night on Oct. 21, say Liberal MPs, pollsters, […]
Knives out to dump Conservative leader, but Scheer’s team should reach out to supporters urgently to survive April leadership review, say Conservatives
With the knives out for Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer for failing to win the federal election, it’s unclear whether he will survive another election amid the onslaught of calls last week for his resignation. To head off a potential ouster, some say Mr. Scheer needs to urgently reach out to his supporters to ensure they […]
Trudeau has many options to include Alberta and Saskatchewan in his government
OTTAWA—There are just so many options for the Trudeau government to reach out and involve the citizens of Alberta and Saskatchewan, but there is no single silver bullet. The conundrum is this: on the one hand, the two provinces just declined to elect a single Liberal MP from either province, in part, because they felt […]
The problem with Scheer’s passive conservatism
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Ever since he came up short in the 2019 federal election, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer has been taking an awful lot of heat, which is too bad because, after all, he’s really such a nice guy. But then again, it’s his amiability which likely cost the Conservatives a victory. Indeed, I’d argue his […]
