Liberals to meet in Kelowna to discuss fall session, plot strategy to target close ridings in B.C. for 2019 run
The 183-member Liberal caucus is meeting in Kelowna, B.C., next month to discuss priorities for the House’s fall sitting and to plot strategy to win 22 close ridings in the next election. “We’re going to talk about strategy, we’re going to talk issues, we’re going to talk policy, we’re going to talk about what’s important […]
New clerk shakes up House administration, brings ex-Senate colleague to serve as deputy
Just over a month into his new job as House of Commons clerk, Charles Robert has shaken up the chain of command in the House administration, and tapped another soon-to-be former Senate clerk to serve under him and oversee several top House officials. Mr. Robert announced the appointment of Michel Patrice, currently the Senate’s law […]
Reservoir Dogs in the White House
LONDON, U.K.—Anthony Zurcher, the BBC’s North America correspondent, nailed it in a report on July 27. “Where Abraham Lincoln had his famous ‘team of rivals’ in his administration, this is something different,” Zurcher wrote. “Trump White House seems more akin to the final scene in [Quentin Tarantino’s film] Reservoir Dogs, where everyone is yelling and […]
Electoral reform still needed
Re: “Trudeau’s 14-seat majority could ‘easily’ be reduced to minority ‘or worse’ in 2019, say opponents, but Liberals still 12 points ahead” (The Hill Times, July 24, p. 1). It’s discouraging to think that under our current system, the difference between a majority and a minority rests with a few thousand voters in a handful of […]
Tories outpace Grit fundraising, but Liberals tighten the gap
The Conservative Party outpaced the Liberals again in second-quarter donations even as Tory fundraising fell by $1.2-million, while the governing Grits tried to tighten the gap. Amid the tail end of their leadership race, the Tories raised $4,073,664 between April to June compared to $3,023,955 raised by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, who fared slightly better this […]
Meet the poker-faced top trade mind expected to lead Canada’s NAFTA negotiating team
There’s a long-standing joke among those who know Steve Verheul: you don’t want to play poker with the guy. At the table, no matter the subject, Canada’s former-CETA-now-expected-NAFTA chief negotiator doesn’t have a “tell.” “It’s the same reaction, whether it’s good, bad, or different, which makes being a negotiator against him or with him tricky,” […]
Trump’s reasons for military transgender ban are nonsense
OTTAWA—On July 26, United States President Donald Trump sent out a series of tweets to the effect that the American military would no longer “allow or accept” transgender personnel in its ranks. At the time of sending out the tweets, Trump’s White House was in the midst of the most vicious infighting since The Donald […]
Political junkies’ dictionary defines ‘sunny ways’, ‘Ford nation’, ‘gravy train,’ and more
If you’re a politico then you’ll be familiar with terms like “Trudeaumania,” “sober second thought,” or “crossing the floor.” But do you remember political terms like “fuddle duddle,” or “walk in the snow?” Don’t fret, you can find all of these terms and close to 150 others on Parli, an online dictionary of Canadian political […]
At least five ex-Tory leadership candidates still paying off campaign debt
At least five of 16 former Conservative leadership candidates still have outstanding campaign debts, two months after the contest wrapped with a dramatic victory for Andrew Scheer. Mr. Scheer (Regina-Qu’Appelle, Sask.) came away without any campaign debt, according to his former campaign manager, but his closest rivals in the contest were among those saddled with debts […]
Oil and gas development won’t be the big drivers of future Canadian prosperity
TORONTO—We can finally put an end to false hope that oil and gas development will be the big drivers of future Canadian prosperity. This means we have to rethink our future, building an economy based on new ideas and knowledge instead. The idea of Canada as an energy superpower, the cornerstone of the Harper government’s […]
