It’s time for a Conservative eye exam because the Tories can’t read the room
OTTAWA—Congratulations Conservatives, you played yourselves. On May 12, Ekos Research released its latest polling results that captured political support amid the coronavirus pandemic. And boy, were they revealing. The landscape has changed dramatically over the last few months since the federal election in October, when the Liberals were handed a minority in Parliament. Now they’re […]
Boost of federal support needed for better cross-Canada internet connectivity
At the end of April, the House of Commons held its first-ever and historical virtual Parliament through the all-Member of Parliament Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic. The session used video conferencing, just like thousands of Canadians have been doing over the past few weeks to connect with family and friends, to access online education […]
Beyond COVID-19: an unchartable political course for months, maybe years
OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who came to power touting “sunny ways,” is now presiding over Canada in what can only be called the Year of Tragedy. The death of a member of the Snowbirds team engaged in a cross-country flight program to cheer up Canadians during COVID-19 is only the latest. There’s the pandemic itself, […]
Can the intelligence community save democracy?
Among the questions that loomed after September 11, 2001, was how intelligence agencies would handle the power they’d acquired through a confluence of unprecedented public license, massive funding, and new technology. As the internet fuelled a post-9/11 revolution in covert capabilities, that explosion in resources funded a multinational empire of contractors, freelancers, and off-the-books operatives. […]
Canada’s information czar says feds need to send ‘serious message’ about access innovation amid COVID-19
COVID-19 is expected to cause further delays to an already “overwhelmed” system, warns Canada’s information commissioner, while also calling for stable funding to her office, which already faces a 49 per cent increase in complaints. Outside of the pandemic, Caroline Maynard says her office has at least 5,000 outstanding complaints, from the 3,346 on file […]
The hidden crisis of COVID-19: the kids are not alright
Canada is failing its children. As a country, we have been steadily dropping in global rankings over the past decade when it comes to the well-being of our eight million children. One-third of kids in Canada do not enjoy a safe and healthy childhood. Poverty plagues far too many children; half of First Nations children […]
Time for Morneau to open the books
Canada’s government is spending money faster than ever before, as it rolls out a broad relief package designed to prop up the economy amid the COVID-19 crisis. It’s time for an update on the government’s finances. The money being spent has been borrowed, as the government was already running regular deficits before the crisis. The […]
Vancouver transit authority wants ‘several hundred million’ from feds to keep going
The CEO of Vancouver’s public transit authority is asking the federal government for a bailout of several hundred million dollars to offset losses from the COVID-19 shutdown. Kevin Desmond told The Hill Times that TransLink—which runs metro Vancouver’s public buses, trains, and commuter ferries—is on track to go into the red by roughly $500-million this […]
The two species of politics: pragmatists versus idealists
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Anyone who aspires to become a political consultant needs to learn how to deal with the two basic species which inhabit the crazy ecosystem known as politics. One of those species—I call “Advocates”—has as its main goal the promotion of ideals, values and ideologies, which they contend must never be compromised. This species, in […]
In the post-pandemic world, what comes next?
TORONTO—There are the immediate concerns about the pandemic. But as Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada argues, there are also the deeper concerns about the post-pandemic world and about what comes next. Writing a guest column in The Economist magazine recently, Carney tells us that “deeper concerns include the extent to […]
