O’Toole flies into the Danger Zone
Erin O’Toole has got a Top Gun type of thing happening lately with his social media campaign to become Conservative leader. On April 28, he posted a picture on both his Twitter and Facebook feeds of his head on a body of someone wearing air-force gear, standing in front of a fighter jet, with a […]
Parsing a brand-centric approach to power
We lack a focused study of how political communications work in Ottawa. We need a theory for why they create a contagion of pulling everything toward “the centre”—a term with so many different and sinister connotations that in this book it refers to a transcendental concept, usually encapsulating the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Privy […]
Sajjan doesn’t need to be fired—the hit to his reputation is enough
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan shouldn’t have inflated his military record. He’s feeling the heat now for wrongly saying he was an “architect” of the Operation Medusa campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2006—as he should. Mr. Sajjan, a former lieutenant colonel, said during a visit to India last month that he was an “architect” […]
Spicer obliterating unwritten rules of press chief protocol
Of all the inexplicable phenomena associated with the presidency of Donald Trump, the most outrageous in terms of shocks to the political culture is the screwball performance of White House press secretary and Melissa McCarthy-immortalizer Sean Spicer. Spicer’s operatic behavioural departures from all historical precedent related to previous White House press secretaries have been well-documented […]
United Airlines, an excuse that doesn’t fly
TORONTO—The video of the United Airlines passenger violently evicted from a plane has brought to our attention a couple of things: the power of modern technology and the problem of overbooking. There is nothing new about either, just like high speeds and the possibility of a car accident. But when reality hits you with a […]
Pakistani icon for female education to address House this week
Malala Yousafzai, who captured the world’s respect by fighting for the rights of girls to be educated, getting shot, and then continuing the fight, will address a joint session of Parliament in the House of Commons on Wednesday, April 12. At 19, she will become the youngest person ever to address Canadian Parliament. Ms. Yousafzai […]
The future of polling lies in social media
Social media isn’t just a broadcast technology, it’s also a polling technology; one that is far superior to any other on the planet today, including the telephone. So why does the Canadian government continue to use telephone polling to find out what the citizenry is thinking? Why haven’t public servants progressed to new tools for polling, […]
Jumping the gun on terrorism, again
OTTAWA—I know that in a world of 24/7 news and intense competition to be first with a breaking story that time is of the essence. Individuals and news outlets feel that they do not have the luxury to wait to publish, for fear that another individual or outlet will scoop them. In their haste, there is seldom […]
After brief sojourn at the Star, Paul Wells prepares to return to Maclean’s
Veteran political columnist Paul Wells is heading back to Maclean’s. Mr. Wells announced Friday on Twitter that he would return to the magazine as a senior writer after less than a year with the Toronto Star. He said he’ll be based in Ottawa and start next week. “This amounts to a personal decision about where […]
Summa’s Lanthier moving over to CN Rail
Summa Strategies senior adviser Louis-Alexandre Lanthier is taking his game over to Canadian National Railway as of next month as senior manager of government affairs. Mr. Lanthier had been at Summa for the last three years, and before that was a staffer to Justin Trudeau before he became prime minister. Mr. Lanthier, in his lobbying […]
