Harper’s parting patronage clouds eastern pipeline debate
MONTREAL—In the dying days of his government, Stephen Harper went to considerable lengths to ensure that the National Energy Board panel tasked with vetting the controversial Energy East pipeline be made up of commissioners hand-picked by the Conservatives—regardless of the election outcome. In the months prior to the election call, Harper reappointed to various boards […]
Trade, jobs, economic growth, income equality: is the budget working?
OTTAWA—On Friday, Aug. 5, Statistics Canada released numbers for both jobs and international trade. Both numbers were discouraging and continued a trend of poor economic data. The top line job numbers were a loss of 31,200, but the most disturbing underlying number was that 71,400 full-time jobs were lost while the major gain came in […]
Canada’s unwritten constitutional conventions need to be written down, says GG
Gov. Gen. David Johnston says many of Canada’s unwritten constitutional conventions should be written down, giving Democracy Watch a valuable ally in its long-running campaign to force the federal government to establish written rules that restrict prime ministerial powers, ranging from calling an election to proroguing Parliament. “I think we do well by attempting to write more […]
Should the media publish photos of terrorists?
Media have one important job to do: report the news. Sometimes they also bring in people to help us understand the news and speculate on what it means. At times, outside experts contribute much-needed analysis and insight, and at others they provide little of value to the issue at hand. In reporting the news there […]
Prime minister takes in Vancouver Pride after Kelowna vacation, Jane Taber leaves the Globe for PR
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family walked in the Vancouver Pride Parade on Sunday but only after enjoying a vacation in the province’s Okanagan region. Mr. Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) and his family arrived in Kelowna on Thursday and soaked up the sun in the popular tourist spot until leaving for Vancouver on Sunday, reported […]
Get off Twitter, go and actually do something
TORONTO—Ah, the Twitter warriors. Sirius XM’s Charles Adler first drew it to my attention, on his popular satellite radio program. An octogenarian Roman Catholic priest was slaughtered by ISIS subhumans in France, his throat slit at the altar. Charles read out the Twitter response of Stéphane Dion, our minister of Foreign Affairs: “Saddened to hear of […]
Best World Press Photos of 2015 exhibit comes to Canadian War Museum
The annual World Press Photo exhibit arrived in Ottawa late last week. The contest’s winning images showcase some of the globe’s biggest stories and day-to-day realities of the past year. This year’s entries are from 5,775 photographers, 128 countries, and include 82,951 photographs. Eight categories of prizes were awarded to 41 countries. The top prize—10,000 euros […]
‘I needed a new adventure,’ Global News’ Bourbeau to leave Hill to head up Global’s newsgathering in Toronto
Jacques Bourbeau, the veteran Global News Hill bureau chief, will be heading to Toronto to become Global’s new director of newsgathering effective Aug. 1. Mr. Bourbeau, 56, said the opportunity came up and he decided to go for it after covering four prime ministers and working as bureau chief for the last 12 years in Ottawa. […]
Another attack in France as French ambassador hosts hundreds at Bastille Day party in Ottawa
As Canadians were almost ready to enjoy another summer weekend, with some perhaps approaching vacation time, we were hit last week with another reminder of how much hate and danger exists in the world. As of publication deadline, 84 people had been killed following Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France, as a man drove a truck […]
Don’t rush war on terror
OTTAWA—I have come to the conclusion that Westerners—and Western governments—are not very patient. It is not clear, as least not to me, whether this is due to our 24/7 news cycle, the constant availability of, and distraction from, social media, or the very nature of our capitalist society where results are measured quarterly and not […]
