The House is home for so many in Ottawa
OTTAWA—The first time I went to Parliament Hill, I got lost. It was September 1972, and I had just arrived from Montreal to study at the University of Ottawa. I was so mesmerized by the Peace Tower that I just followed my nose through the streets until I got there. When I did, I realized […]
U.S. Republicans follow the leader, trampling on democratic principles
OTTAWA—Of all the distressing and worrisome incidents that have arisen in the United States in the last few years, few are more alarming than the secretive, middle-of-the-night moves by Republicans in Wisconsin to deprive newly elected incoming Democrats of existing government power. Depending on the outcome of resulting lawsuits, Republican state lawmakers appear to have […]
It’s ‘forever redefining itself’: Centre Block closes to mark new era, House curator looks after 6,000 heritage assets
House of Commons curator Johanna Mizgala is in what she’s calling an “anticipatory grieving phase.” In a few weeks’ time, Centre Block will cease to be the hive of federal legislative activity that it’s been for the past 150 years to make way for the decade-long renovation. The Parliament Building was destroyed by fire in […]
Feds’ justice reforms, poverty-reduction bill priorities for House in coming months: Chagger
With only a few days left before MPs and Senators break for the holidays, the government could see two more of its bills passed during what Government House Leader Bardish Chagger has called a “productive” fall sitting. In recent a phone interview with The Hill Times, Ms. Chagger (Waterloo, Ont.) identified a few key pieces […]
Climate fears are real so the filthy oilsands must close
TORONTO—In Poland, Canada and close to 200 other nations are making a last-ditch effort to save the world from devastating climate change. At home, the Canadian and Albertan governments are trying to salvage an industry that is one of this country’s largest emitters of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. If this sounds […]
Sometimes, byelections do matter a lot
TORONTO—The morning after the byelection in Leeds-Grenville, Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, Ont., I know what Gordie and I would have been doing. We would have been going through the numbers. “Look at that NDP result, he might have said. Three per cent! They only got three per cent! Same as the Green Party! Over […]
PCs’ vague climate plan might just be ‘for the people’
TORONTO—Doug Ford’s climate change plan is sorely lacking. It is not entirely a bust. As York University environmentalist Mark Winfield writes, the Ontario premier’s blueprint for dealing with global warming contains some “surprisingly progressive” elements—including a commitment to take climate change into account in government decision-making. But overall, the plan released on Nov. 29 is […]
‘Alberta is angry,’ says political strategist who predicts big trouble there for Trudeau’s Liberals in 2019
The federal government needs to put in place a strategy to help retrain workers in the fossil-fuel industry to transition to the green-energy sector, says an Alberta NDP MP. But unless construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline starts now and with Albertans “super angry,” the Liberals should forget about winning any seat in the province […]
Stop the song-shaming of Baby, it’s Cold Outside
OTTAWA—Stop the song-shaming of Baby, It’s Cold Outside. The song is not about date rape. It is about so-called slut shaming. By pushing a timeless favourite off the Christmas playlists, those who deem the lyrics improper are applying their own narrow, sexist lens, the same lens that used to characterize society’s negative view of sexually […]
Shattering political idealism
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Every once in a while I’m asked to lecture university or college students interested in perhaps pursuing a career in politics or, more specifically, pursuing a career in political communications. And every time I deliver such a lecture, I feel a slight twinge of guilt. It’s not that I say anything wrong to these […]
