Duclos’s rise to Treasury Board vice-chair shows his ‘quiet competence’: observers
Observers say that among the few changes made to cabinet committee membership last week, the prominence given to Quebec ministers is most interesting, with one former cabinet minister highlighting Families Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’s new post as vice-chair of the Treasury Board as a “significant” development. Of the seven cabinet committees, the powerful Treasury Board was one of that […]
Critics decry new minister as election ploy, say Liberals dropping ball on rural internet access
Shifting responsibility for getting better internet connectivity in rural areas to a new cabinet minister may just be a “smoke screen” for the Liberals dropping the ball on the file and other rural issues, say opposition MPs. But Liberals and stakeholders say there’s time for real progress on broadband and other rural files before the […]
New American lawmakers need ‘continual massaging’ to grasp Canada-U.S. dynamic, say MPs
With 100 new members in the Congress, MPs in a friendship group of Canadian and American legislators say work needs to be done to establish new relations with their incoming southern counterparts. The outreach effort has heightened importance as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), commonly known as the “new” North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), […]
Historica, Conservatives both come out okay in Heritage Minute dust-up
You could be forgiven if those old Heritage Minutes, seen most often on that dated medium of television, had slipped into the recesses of your mind. Not unlike the vintage National Film Board vignettes, my personal favourite being The Log Driver’s Waltz, these stories generate some warmth in a sentimental Canadian heart. Now, they are […]
PSAC threatens strike ‘practice run’ to pressure Trudeau on wage boost
The largest federal public sector union is considering holding a large demonstration to amp up the pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to give his negotiators the ability to offer a larger wage boost to 90,000 of its members. Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Chris Aylward said he’s not afraid of calling a strike, […]
Helping make House history: meet Cree translator Kevin Lewis
The first person to simultaneously translate an Indigenous language in the House of Commons has devoted almost half his life to preserving his language. Kevin Lewis helped make history last week, simultaneously translating the Cree spoken by Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette in the Chamber on Jan. 28—something the rookie Winnipeg MP had been fighting for […]
Prime ministers not up to the task of calling byelections
Re: “Byelection delay is petty, not positive, politics,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 9, p. 8). Your editorial rightly objected to the fact that a federal byelection in the British Columbia riding of Burnaby South had yet to be called (as of when it was published, Jan. 9). That riding became vacant in mid-September. There is […]
Tories need to find a better use for their Twitter fingers
Who would have thought that trying to be a viral edgelord on the internet might have a few drawbacks when you want to be taken seriously? The Conservative Party of Canada is working to position itself as the alternative to a second Justin Trudeau-led Canadian government when voters go the polls in October. Someone should […]
Director-level changes in offices of ministers Carr, Sohi, Joly
International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr has new directors of communications and policy in his ministerial office, filling two recently vacated holes in his staffing roster. Michael Jones, who until recently was an issues manager in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), has been hired as Mr. Carr’s new director of communications. His first day on […]
Fiscal con game lives on while poor suffer
OTTAWA—In the next nine months, we’ll be hearing a lot about the current federal government’s budget deficit and alleged wasteful spending. So far, the deficit issue appears to pass for most of what the Conservatives would call a campaign platform, with leader Andrew Scheer suggesting, like United States President Donald Trump, that he alone can […]
