Implementing diversity and inclusion in Parliament: A more complete picture
With the appointment of parliamentary secretaries and opposition critics, we now have a more comprehensive picture of gender and visible minority diversity in Parliament’s leadership positions. How well has the Liberal government implemented its overall diversity and inclusion commitments, and how have the other parties responded to the “because it’s 2015” challenge? Although Prime Minister […]
Five mysteries from the 2015 campaign
VANCOUVER—Now that the only poll that counts has been counted, we have a very clear idea of how voters saw the federal election of 2015. What still remains to be explained is why the parties did some of the things they did. I have been avidly reading and watching interviews, panels and analysis and there […]
Trudeau’s historic win ‘knocked out Orange Wave’
OTTAWA—The 42nd federal election will go down in the history books. For the first time in history, Canadians saw a third party in the House of Commons, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party of Canada, jump from the third to the first place in one election, grabbing 184 of the 338 seats. It’s also the first time […]
Conservative Party needs honest election post-mortem, soul searching exercise
The historic victory by the Liberals on Oct. 19 was well planned, executed and earned. For three years, the Liberal braintrust crafted, nurtured and drove a generational change message. During the election they framed this message with an ambitious policy vision: the Real Change platform. Finally, their positive ads and high-energy leader’s tour ensured that their candidates, […]
Who will Justin Trudeau name as his minister of Finance on Nov. 4?
TORONTO—Who will Justin Trudeau name as his minister of Finance on Nov. 4? This will be a critical choice because no one in the new government, besides Trudeau himself, will face a more demanding task than the next minister of Finance. He, or she, will have to credibly deliver a fiscal strategy, including a multitude […]
Justin Trudeau and the politics of consensus
Did you hear what world-renowned philosopher Charles Taylor had to say about the “New Young Leader” and “consensus politics”? “In the saga of the new leader, the battle is exclusively between the young and ‘with it’ and the old with their outworn ideas and sensibilities. But this in no way involves a critique of the […]
The three most plausible explanations for election results
TORONTO—What happened? In politics, as in life, the simplest explanation—while beguiling—is not always the best one. So, too, was the interminable Canadian general election of 2015. No single thing can account for a change this big. “Big” is the only way to describe what transpired during the nearly 80-day campaign, and its culmination on […]
Bloc, Green parties deserve official party status in House, says reader
Canadians, a mere 40 per cent of 70 per cent, who actively voted, have given another Trudeau a majority mandate and, over the next four years, he will have to deliver on his promises. Soon, Parliament will be recalled, a Cabinet formed, and the Governor General will proceed to the Senate to open what will […]
Fourteen Conservative Cabinet ministers go down in Liberal win
As the Conservatives were swept from power last week, 14 of their Cabinet ministers went down and won’t be retaking their seats in the House of Commons. Finance Minister Joe Oliver, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford and Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq are a few of the front-benchers who failed to hold […]
Politics This Morning: Voters go back to the future
It’s not quite hover boards and self-tying shoe laces, but Canadian voters have gone “back to the future,” says Ensight, a communications and government relations firm which conducted exit polls with 12 focus groups across the country following the Oct. 19 election which saw the Liberal Party win a majority government. “The results of Ensight’s […]
