Director-level changes in intergovernmental affairs minister’s office
The intergovernmental and northern affairs and internal trade minister’s office—currently being overseen by Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett—has seen some recent changes, including Guillaume Julien’s exit as director of policy. Mr. Julien marked his last day in the office the week before last; he first joined the team under Dominic […]
Trudeau’s energizing negativity
OAKVILLE, ONT.—The very minute Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer edged past Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the polls it made him a marked man. From that point on, the Liberals, along with their non-political allies, have thrown everything they’ve got at Scheer but the kitchen sink. One day, he’s attacked as a racist-tolerating bigot; the […]
Senate amendments, ‘toothless’ regulations undercut Bill C-69
This June marks the 120th anniversary of Treaty 8, which, according to our tradition, is solemnized by the Creator to bind both parties in a promise between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians that is supposed to last “as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the river flows.” However, the latest legislative brinksmanship unfolding […]
Bill C-48: a defining moment for the Senate
Since the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications recommendation not to proceed with Bill C-48, numerous political commentators have weighed in on whether the Senate should accept this recommendation and defeat the bill. The debate culminated in Liberal MP Sean Fraser, parliamentary secretary to the environment minister and MP for Central Nova, N.S., reminding Senators […]
Dangers ahead for Trudeau, if not all his fault
CHELSEA, QUE.—Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has been delivering careful, moderate-sounding policy speeches for the last couple of weeks—in the latest, he tried to defuse charges that he leads a party of racists and xenophobes—and it must be making the Liberal war room nervous. If Scheer doesn’t act the part they have assigned him in their […]
Lessons from SNC-Lavalin: prosecute business executives, not companies
Corruption allegations against two of Canada’s largest companies, SNC–Lavalin and now Bombardier, have important implications for the prosecution of corporate crime. We should put more emphasis on prosecuting business executives rather than whole companies and make the attorney general an independent office, separate from the minister of justice. In pushing former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould […]
Elizabeth May gets her moment
TORONTO—Elizabeth May’s Green Party has mo. Big mo. Says everybody. I recently met May for the first time. She was friendly, genuine, and smart. She was what she has been working so hard to be: a national leader. A legitimate political choice. A voice worth listening to. Her party didn’t win the P.E.I. provincial election, […]
The Joe Clark I know: 48 years of the ‘outrageous fortune’ of politics
EDMONTON—When I received an invitation to attend, on June 4, an “Evening to Celebrate the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark” my mind instantly went back to 1971 when I met a gangly, earnest young man working for the Progressive Conservative leader, Robert Stanfield. I had been invited to have lunch with Stanfield in his suite at […]
How often have Trump, Trudeau been in contact?
Trump and Trudeau Talks Infogram
On Brexit, U.K. now headed for the worst of all possible outcomes
OTTAWA—For months in Europe, the question everyone asked about British Prime Minister Theresa May was: why does she cling to power in the face of repeated national rejection, public humiliation and back-stabbing within her own Conservative Party? The tenacious Tory leader finally threw in her cards last week, with her Brexit deal with the European […]
