Tassi, O’Regan exit their campaigns to tend to ill family members, Tassi’s mother dies on Oct. 12
As election day quickly approaches, two Liberal cabinet members took time off from their campaigns last week in order to spend time with family members who are sick. Seniors Minister Filomena Tassi and Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O’Regan both announced last week they will be tending to ill family members. Ms. Tassi said in a […]
Trump’s pressuring of Ukraine is foreign interference on steroids
OTTAWA—Now that we are in the midst of our federal election, Canadians are constantly reminded by our security agencies that foreign “malign actors” are hard at work interfering with our democratic process. It is repeated so often and so emphatically that it must be true. I am not sure exactly what kind of divisive issues […]
Media stories on Canadian leaders not as deeply researched as in U.S., missed Trudeau’s blackface photos story
Media critics say they don’t know why the Canadian media missed breaking the biggest story of the 2019 election campaign so far, but at least one says “absolutely there’s a question” surrounding how the yearbook photograph didn’t surface after all the years in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been a public figure. Carleton journalism […]
New Chinese envoy arrives in Ottawa
As Canada’s dispute with the Chinese government nears its 10-month mark, a new Chinese envoy has started his posting in Ottawa. Cong Peiwu officially took up his ambassadorial duties after presenting his Letter of Credence to Canada’s chief of protocol Stewart Wheeler on Sept. 23. He arrived in Ottawa on Sept. 22, according to the […]
In the name of banning ‘fake news,’ the government is infringing on free speech
OAKVILLE, ONT.—With all the furore that’s surrounding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s blackface scandal, it’d be easy to miss an important news item that came out recently. But I didn’t miss it, because this particular news item happened to touch on a subject of keen interest to me: the right to free election speech. So what […]
Liberal, Conservative campaigns ‘at war,’ Scheer ‘vigorously swinging to land a punch’ on Trudeau: pollster
The Liberal and Conservative campaign teams are “at war” trying to unsettle each other, and the possible minority Parliament that could result could be dysfunctional, carrying “significant instability,” says a high-profile pollster. “The war rooms are at war with each other,” said Nik Nanos, chief data scientist and founder of Nanos Research. “If it’s a […]
On the road again: many media organizations taking ‘flexible’ approach to party leader tour coverage
As the party leaders kicked off their national campaigns last week, The Hill Times took a look at which media organizations are joining them on their buses and planes, and what sort of planning goes into coverage of leader tours in a 40-day sprint toward election day on Oct. 21. The Globe and Mail parliamentary […]
Globe appears to be on campaign to keep SNC-Lavalin story alive
OTTAWA—The Justin Trudeau campaign plane being hit by the media bus could be a metaphor for his campaign. Or not. It depends on the success of what appears to be a campaign by The Globe and Mail to keep the SNC-Lavalin story on the front page. The first two official days of the race have been dominated […]
True, Patriot Act love was a glorious demo of what a free press could be
OTTAWA—Traditional media needs to get its act together for the upcoming election. This has never been more apparent than last week, when Canadians found themselves enamoured with Netflix’s breakout political show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, and its report on Canada, complete with an interview with the prime minister. Patriot Act is a half-hour political […]
Military was too slow to act after finding hate group recruiter in its ranks
OTTAWA—The saga of Master Cpl. Patrik Mathews continues to be a puzzler, with a plethora of unanswered questions. What we do know for sure is that Mathews joined the Canadian Army reserves eight years ago as a combat engineer. He was promoted twice to his current rank, and received training in the usual combat engineer […]
