More than half of Liberal MPs nominated for 2019; Wayne Easter unsure he’ll run
More than 100 Liberal MPs have been nominated for the 2019 election after meeting thresholds the party set for incumbents to go forward uncontested, edging the party closer to the Conservative lead for official candidates. Of the 182 Grit MPs, “well over a hundred” have received a letter from the party confirming their nomination, said […]
Why the Conservatives are whining about the media
OTTAWA—It is that time in the pre-election season when the framing for the next vote kicks into high gear. None of it is original but that doesn’t matter because, like the first snowfall, it seems to be all new, as if it never happened before. For a couple of weeks now, both the prime minister […]
Ministers Duclos, Joly hire; McKenna loses senior aide
Families, Children, and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos recently scooped up Jessica Eritou to fill the role of information manager and special assistant to the minister’s chief of staff, Olivier Duchesneau. Ms. Eritou arrives straight from Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan’s office where she’s spent the past year as executive assistant to the minister. Before […]
Trudeau plays waiting game with Singh
By sitting on a byelection call for the B.C. riding of Burnaby South, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is deliberately stalling NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s bid to enter the House of Commons. In so doing, the prime minister is merely using his prerogative to wait up to six months after a vacancy occurs to set a […]
Wilson-Raybould has a new policy adviser; Champagne hires a new adviser; Kavanagh bittersweet about leaving Hill after winning Ottawa city council seat
Federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould recently welcomed a new policy adviser to her office. Benjamin Prud’homme started on the job on Oct. 22. Before then, Mr. Prud’homme was practising family, constitutional, and private international law as an associate with Robinson Sheppard Shapiro in Montreal. At the same time, he was a volunteer lawyer with the […]
Comms director change-up for Science and Sport Minister Duncan
Science and Sport Minister Kirsty Duncan has a new director of communications in her office, after Michael Bhardwaj made his exit from the minister’s team. Mr. Bhardwaj had been communications director to Ms. Duncan since February 2016, starting out when the minister was solely responsible for science. Before then, he’d been a media relations specialist […]
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 […]
Ministerial offices saw 15 per cent spike in spending in 2017-18
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains’ office spent the most out of 33 cabinet offices in 2017-18, while the Prime Minister’s Office spent 10 per cent more compared to the previous fiscal year, according to newly released public accounts figures. In total, ministerial offices spent $56,880,614 in the 2017-18 fiscal year, which stretched from April 1, 2017 […]
Norman affair looks a lot like Duffy trial, and that’s bad for Trudeau
OTTAWA—The lead-in and trial of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, accused of leaking cabinet secrets related to a major naval procurement, could be the 2019 version of the Duffy trial. Political twists can be cruel. The Duffy trial enlivened Liberal souls. The Norman court case may suck those same souls away. You’ll remember much of the period […]
Liberal officials threaten to dismiss Brome-Missisquoi riding association execs if they don’t stop demanding Paradis run in open nomination
Three federal Quebec Liberals officials are threatening to dismiss the Liberal riding association’s executive in Brome-Missisquoi, Que., if they don’t stop demanding that incumbent Liberal MP Denis Paradis, who’s already been nominated, face an open nomination contest for the 2019 election, say the riding association’s current and former presidents. “It is somewhat troubling to be […]
