Liberals turn sights on social media giants in bid to boost elections bill
The Liberal government wants to push major online platforms to expand their political advertising registries north of the border, as part of a package of more than 60 changes it’s proposing to its already-sweeping elections modernization bill. When MPs return from their ridings on Oct. 15, members of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) […]
CAQ victory not an automatic win for Scheer, say strategists
Being aligned on the political spectrum might make the Coalition Avenir Québec and the federal Conservative Party natural allies, but strategists say the CAQ majority win in this month’s provincial election isn’t automatically good news for Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. The Oct. 1 election results were more about kicking out the Quebec Liberal Party, in […]
Fresh off the campaign trail in New Brunswick, Guy Gallant now comms director to heritage minister
Heritage and Multiculturalism Minister Pablo Rodriguez has named Guy Gallant as his new director of communications. Emilie Simard was previously communications director in the heritage minister’s office, but she left to do the same job for Transport Minister Marc Garneau in late August. Mr. Gallant was previously communications director to Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay. He […]
Québec Solidaire vote may be more than a sign of youthful rebellion
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—The young woman who serves me my croissants and brioches at the local bakery surprised me today when she revealed she has an accounting degree from Université de Montréal and used to work for a heavy-equipment company. When the bakery closes for the season, she will do the books for the restaurant next door. […]
Three-quarters of Centre Block-based MPs have moved out
Three-quarters of MPs have cleared out of Centre Block and into their new Hill offices in the Parliamentary Precinct in advance of the House of Commons moving into its temporary home next door this winter. Despite the daily bustle in Centre Block halls since Parliamentarians returned from their summer recess last month, fewer MPs can […]
Despite USMCA deal, the ‘sword’ of national security tariff threats still hangs over Canada’s head, say trade observers
Despite the safeguards against damaging penalties on Canada’s auto industry under the continent’s newly renamed trilateral trade agreement, the American ability to impose destructive tariffs under the guise of national security protection remains a lingering threat, according to trade experts who warn the damage may have already been done with aluminum and steel. Since May […]
Thanksgiving turkey with a side of partisan rancour?
While your uncle passed the stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner, did his defence of the Liberals’ record sound a little too similar to that of a backbench MP? He may have come to dinner armed with a list of Liberal talking points. As they’ve done in previous years, over the holiday weekend the federal Liberal Party […]
Trudeau Liberals ditch their party’s moral high ground on nuclear disarmament
There I was, at the microphone reading the official policy of the Liberal majority government of Canada on nuclear disarmament to a rather perplexed seminar audience. Why was Doug Roche, a severe critic of this policy, pronouncing it from the podium? The answer is: not one Liberal Member of Parliament would come forward to speak […]
Life as a new MP: how to create order in a chaotic office
PARLIAMENT HILL—Early on as a new Member of Parliament, you first reckon with a pervasive ambiguity of purpose and attempt to qualify your performance. As a former consultant, I defaulted to lifelong practices and sought to import the norms I had learned and internalized over decades of private sector experience to systematize my duties. In […]
Bowing to pressure, feds urge Senate to change access to information bill
After pushback from Indigenous groups and the information commissioner, the government is backing down on a number of changes proposed to the Access to Information Act, calling on Senators to make the friendly amendments during their study of the bill that critics have called “regressive.” Treasury Board President Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.) told a Senate […]
