Conservative MP Tilson tells O’Leary ‘to his face’ he won’t vacate his House seat
Five-term Conservative MP David Tilson informed Conservative Party leadership front-runner Kevin O’Leary at a private meeting last week that he would not vacate his seat for him if the businessman and reality-TV star won the party’s top job next month in Toronto. In an interview with The Hill Times, Mr. Tilson (Dufferin-Caledon, Ont.)—who is supporting […]
Conservative leadership has dramatically set back party
TORONTO—Can you lose by winning? It’s not a riddle, it’s a fair question. Surveying the wreckage that now litters the Conservative landscape, it’s a timely question, too. Because, make no mistake: the Conservatives’ leadership race has dramatically set back their party, perhaps for years to come. Among other things, it has revealed the once-great Conservative […]
Conservative leadership results to indicate level of MPs’ influence in ridings, say Tory MPs
Conservative MPs who have endorsed any of the 14 leadership candidates are working aggressively to deliver their ridings to their preferred candidates in next month’s leadership vote because the riding-by-riding leadership election results will be seen as a measure of MPs’ influence in their ridings, say Conservative MPs. As well, if an MP’s chosen candidate […]
Byelections, filibusters, and other godsends in boring April
OTTAWA—Canadian politics is pretty damn boring right now. Call that an uncomfortable truth for a column writer as I sit here trying to pick a riveting subject to engage you the reader. How about something on those recent byelections? No. Can you spell lame? I always love those byelection stories and how the contests themselves […]
CPC membership debacle: Tamil Conservative Party members feel unjustly called out
Several Tamil Conservative Party members are urging the Conservative Party of Canada to continue its investigation into the disallowed memberships it discovered, and to ultimately release the names of those responsible. Roshan Nallaratnam, who ran for the Conservative Party in the 2015 federal election but lost to Liberal Bill Blair (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.), and Raj […]
‘This is balls to the wall,’ if he wins, O’Leary won’t commit to remaining Tory leader without a majority government
Polls indicate Kevin O’Leary has a good chance of becoming the next leader of the federal Conservative Party, but all bets are off on him sticking around if the party loses the next election or ends up with a minority government. “I’ve said to the caucus, I’m going to deliver a majority mandate or fire […]
Former PMO staffer Webb dies, ‘won’t forget his good nature, intellect, and hard work in PMO from 2010-15’
Shaun Webb, a former staffer in the office of prime minister Stephen Harper from 2010 to 2015, died on March 26 at the age of 34. It’s believed his death was caused by a blood clot that dislodged into his heart as a result of complications from a broken foot he suffered on a recent […]
Time for more action, less talk, on climate change
TORONTO—You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand there is something seriously wrong with the environment. At the same time, you don’t have to be a political scientist to understand that politics is the major obstacle to the solution of the problem. This is because in politics you are not judged by what […]
Five things to watch for in Tory leadership race
MONTREAL—Now that the deadline has passed for Conservative rivals to sign up new members for the May leadership vote, here are a handful of observations on the fluid state of play in the battle for Stephen Harper’s succession: 1. There are still 14 names on the Conservative ballot, but a consensus is emerging that the […]
The baneful morality of the political ‘pivot’
GATINEAU, QUE.—Our media culture is so drenched in cynicism that the most outrageous, even despicable, pronouncements—from Conservative leadership candidates, for instance—are treated as mere strategy, even tactical coups. The underlying assumption is that once someone has won the contest, he or she will “pivot” back to a more reasonable, compassionate, and thoughtful posture. No harm […]
