Trudeau must choose between Keystone XL and Canada’s climate commitments
TORONTO—You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. That’s the stark reality Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has to face on Keystone XL. Last week, the federal government emphatically welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s revival of TransCanada’s Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline, while backtracking on Trudeau’s comments about the need to phase out the tar sands. […]
Opioid bill, CETA, budget at top of House agenda as MPs return
The ongoing opioid crisis in Canada and job losses have put two bills—Bill C-37, to address safe injection sites and Bill C-30 implementing CETA—as well as the upcoming budget as top priorities when the House returns Monday after a six-week break from Ottawa. “Lots of people wonder if Parliament cares,” NDP House leader Murray Rankin (Victoria, B.C.) told […]
Remember that old maxim politicos, silence in the face of injustice is complicity
ABOARD WESTJET 2766—Dear Justin, Tom and a Conservative player to be named later: Up here in the clouds above Canuckistan and Trumpland, jetting South, we cannot help but think of you. This past weekend, you see, my wife Lisa and daughter Emma travelled to Washington, D.C. with several hundred other Canadian women to protest the […]
Lots of challenges and opportunities for political players this year
OTTAWA—Having avoided the standard year-end retrospective, primarily because I was late to the keyboard and all the good “sunny days” and “honeymoon” analogies were already taken, I have decided to cast my mind forward and look at what I would like to see the coming year hold and some of the challenges and opportunities for […]
Politicians guiding journalism? No, thanks
Here’s what happened to newspapers. In the early 1990s, I worked at the Gazette in Montreal. In those days, on a Saturday you’d pick up your Gazette, shake five sections of classified advertising and home and car ads onto the floor, and go straight to the City pages, which featured a loving summary of local […]
Why we flew to Washington, D.C. to take part in the Women’s March
TORONTO—At the Women’s March on Washington, D.C., we met three women from Alaska, Maryland and Massachusetts, respectively. The American women were intrigued upon learning we were Canadian and asked about “JT,” as he’s commonly referred to down there. They told us we were lucky to have a feminist prime minister and wondered if perhaps Canada […]
Fourth agricultural revolution can be a Canadian strength
TORONTO—U.S. President Donald Trump’s demagogic America First crusade makes the Trudeau government’s promised innovation strategy all the more important. Canada will need to develop new and more competitive products and services to meet diversified markets around the world. To deliver results, the promised innovation strategy should build on where we have demonstrated strengths and significant […]
‘Hyperabundant moose,’ other intruders imperilling national parks as feds review
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is leading a review of Canada’s national park system, as it struggles under pressure from invasive species and unchecked deer and moose populations. Opposition MPs are calling on the government to set aside extra money for Parks Canada in the upcoming federal budget, to make up for steep cuts made under […]
House Affairs Committee still working through election report as House business resumes
After weeks of in-camera discussions last fall, the Procedure and House Affairs Committee is still only about a third of the way through reviewing Canada’s chief electoral officer’s report on the 2015 election, with members “nowhere near consensus” on some of the 132 recommendations made, says Liberal MP Larry Bagnell, who chairs the committee “It takes a […]
‘Risky’ coffee shop tour brings Trudeau back on brand: strategists
Forget the headlines; the prime minister’s tour of coffee shops and community centres this month has been a winning political tactic, say pollsters and political strategists. Justin Trudeau’s (Papineau, Que.) campaign-style tour across the eastern part of the country before his cabinet retreat in Calgary this week may be unprecedented in recent times. A handful of political […]
