This just in: a carbon tax won’t kill jobs
CHELSEA, QUE.—How does the old expression go? A lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on in the morning. With social media, as we see every day, the lie travels even farther and faster. One of the most dangerous current lies—although it has been around at least a decade—involves the […]
The Justinian Empire will strike back
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Since we’re approaching the end of 2018, it seems the right time to ponder what will take place politically in 2019. Yup, that means I’m about to make a year-end prediction. Of course, predicting the future is always a risky business, since things in politics can change quickly, especially in these crazy times. But […]
Is Hillary right? Do progressives need to back away from some principles?
OTTAWA—“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,” Hillary Clinton recently said in what is perhaps the most important message to progressives by any senior progressive leader in recent times. In other words, rethink your progressive principles, or you run the risk of not only losing […]
For politicians, reverting to the default position is the easy way out
In politics, there is usually a stark, very noticeable, default position. The term “default position” refers to a belief (or lack of belief) that is preferable prior to debate or before any evidence is considered. Many people claim that some beliefs (or lack thereof) are default positions, so everyone who disagrees with those positions has the […]
Time to unclog the pipes
Getting Canadian oil to market is a burning platform for policy-makers. With various well-publicized setbacks, increased pipeline export capacity has been kiboshed or delayed. Facing constrained transport, Alberta has moved on Band-Aid measures to address the stranded supply glut and price discount. However, for the medium and long term, the federal government must get the […]
Market (in)access for Canadian oil: lessons for other resource sectors?
The government of Alberta’s decision to impose production cuts in the oilsands in an effort to buoy prices is the latest surreal twist in the saga that has become the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. Getting Canadian oil to international markets beyond the United States has proven frustratingly elusive for producers. Are there lessons to […]
First ministers’ meetings have gone from Kumbaya to Welcome to the Jungle
OTTAWA—Lightning has struck. Time is standing still. Former prime minister Stephen Harper might have been right by suggesting first ministers’ meetings (FMM) are generally a waste of time and the only benefit is for fans of theatre. Last week the current prime minister, Justin Trudeau, convened the fourth FMM of his first mandate. When he […]
Pipeline politics will keep Ottawa, Alberta divided
All is far from well between Rachel Notley’s Alberta government and Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. With the prime minister in the eye of the storm over the failure to get more oil to tidewater, no federal gesture between now and next fall’s election is likely to really lower the temperature between the two capitals. The combination—within […]
Appealing to ‘the base’ may be a recipe for electoral failure
“It’s all about the base.” That was the refrain of the Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2015, when policies were examined through the perspective of right-of-centre Conservative partisans. Whether suppressing scientists from speaking publicly, changing the rules for the long-form census, supporting the Likud government in Israel, or cutting development funds […]
Rachel Notley getting the knives out, cutting the ties that bind Alberta NDP to Trudeau Liberals
Rachel Notley went on a good old-fashioned federal government bashing tour of Ottawa and Toronto last week. The premier—a sometimes ally of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—has figured that given the state of the oil industry in Alberta coupled with a provincial election in the spring, it is time to take the gloves off. Frankly, what […]
