Memo from Referendlandia: Brexit needs a re-vote
As any journalist old enough to have worked during the era of rolling constitutional crises knows, referendums are Canada’s third national specialty after hockey and export-grade Ryans (see: Gosling, Reynolds). During the 15 years when the country lived through three significant referendums—the Quebec independence vote of 1980, the national vote on the Charlottetown Accord on the […]
The right-wing roots of carbon pricing
Today’s fight over carbon pricing isn’t the ideological battle of the century. That would be a historic misunderstanding of our future by politicians fighting the last war. Despite Premier Doug Ford’s fulminations, this week’s embrace of pollution pricing by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t proof of a left-wing plot to pick the pockets of Canadians. […]
Pondering Canada’s political future
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Lots of people are busily pontificating and speculating about the upcoming federal election of 2019. And that’s fine, but I’d like to try something a little more challenging; I’d like to try pontificating and speculating about the federal election beyond 2019, the one that might occur four years later in 2023. Sounds like fun, […]
Trudeau’s new carbon tax is a can’t-lose gambit
TORONTO—Justin Trudeau effectively kicked off the 2019 federal election campaign Tuesday with a you-can’t-lose carbon tax pledge to voters in Ontario. Whether the prime minister’s so-called federal government backstop plan will sufficiently reduce climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions is another question. But at least we now know how the governing Liberals hope to frame next October’s […]
Excluding Indigenous voices at Columbia River Treaty talks puts salmon restoration at risk
Salmon used to swim all the way up the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon, to the Canadian Rocky Mountains at the river’s headwaters in Canal Flats, B.C. It was an astounding journey of nearly 2,000 kilometres upstream that cut through a landscape of lush forest, dry desert, and high peaks. But […]
The next election will tell us a lot about Canada
OTTAWA—With a year to go before the next federal election, all the customary calculations indicate the Liberals appear in fairly good shape to repeat their 2015 election victory. Except the usual indicators may no longer apply. Voters are clearly in a volatile what-about-me frame of mind, driven by a desire for change and impatience with […]
Supreme Court ruling shouldn’t mean the death of Indigenous consultation
We live in an era where cultural accommodation is a cornerstone of our multicultural society. This is a necessary and natural result of multiculturalism and, in theory, is a concept that should be extended to all cultures that call Canada home. Yet, a very public struggle exists surrounding the original culture to call Canada home—that […]
Every federal party sees opportunity in Quebec government
In the wake of the election earlier this month of a Coalition Avenir Québec government, Parliament Hill insiders and Quebec watchers have been scrambling to figure out how the new dynamics will play out in next year’s federal vote. It is testimony to the uncertainty that attends the arrival of an unknown untested quantity in […]
Are provincial politicians leading the way?
OAKVILLE, ONT.—In case you haven’t noticed it, things are getting a lot wackier politically these days at the provincial level in this country. Just think about it. In usually staid old Ontario, you now have Premier Doug Ford running the show, a populist-style, iconoclastic, firebrand, who’s slashing city councils, invoking the notwithstanding clause and just […]
Canada made history last week, and it was a long time coming
OTTAWA—Canada made history last week, becoming only the second country in the world to sell legal cannabis. And judging by long lineups on the first day of sale, the decision was a long time coming. Marijuana distributers are predicting shortages for several months as product has been flying off the shelves in provinces with storefront […]
