Capturing what makes PMs tick
The job of being prime minister, Jean Chrétien once observed, is “never easy.” Some frustrations include the need to “hurt the feelings of a lot of people on a regular basis” and to “operate in the public eye with MPs who fret and bureaucrats who gossip and colleagues who disagree.” Not to mention, of course, […]
CAQ’s immigration plan a caution to Scheer
Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives may want to push pause on plans to make immigration a signature federal campaign theme next fall long enough to take stock of the turn in the Quebec election conversation. Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault thought he was reaching for a low-hanging fruit when he embraced the issue. With less than […]
Free advice to Liberals: forget about Harper
OAKVILLE, ONT.—I have a confession to make; sometimes, when doing “punditry,” I feel a little bit uncomfortable when I openly criticize political party strategists. Why? Well, even though my criticisms might be based on a reasonable analysis, the fact remains I’m still on the outside looking in, meaning party strategists possess important stuff I lack, […]
“The House is back for the last fall sitting before the October 2019 election. What will be your party’s No. 1 focus this fall?”
Cameron Ahmad Liberal strategist “Members of the Liberal caucus held their annual summer retreat just a few weeks ago in Saskatoon. Their discussions focused squarely on how this government will continue finding solutions to real problems, and make life better for all Canadians. “That is exactly what we will do over the next few months, […]
Power to the people: Maxime Bernier turns to social networks to boost base
Since announcing his exit from the Conservative Party in dramatic fashion last month, Quebec MP Maxime Bernier says he hasn’t had any contact with his former caucus colleagues, and is instead focusing on attempting to play spoiler in 2019 by using social media to drum up a new, engaged grassroots base. On Sept. 14, Mr. […]
Lessons from the notwithstanding clause debate
When I was an assistant to the opposition leader in Newfoundland and Labrador in the early 1980s, I would often get into lengthy discussions with my friend and co-worker, the late David Kennedy, who was a poet, journalist, and political animal. One day we were discussing poetry and I asked if he knew the work […]
Labour Minister Hajdu’s chief of staff now senior adviser to Defence Minister Sajjan
Employment, Workforce Development, and Labour Minister Patty Hajdu is starting the fall sitting in need of a new chief of staff. Her former one, Matthew Mitschke, is now a senior adviser to National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. Mr. Mitschke had been chief of staff to the employment minister since December 2015, starting under then-minister MaryAnn […]
All aboard the omnibus: new Political Party to raise funds for journalism interns
A leading pollster and a Canadian journalism icon are hosting a party to raise money for paid journalism internships. Bruce Anderson, the chair of Abacus Data, his wife Nancy Jamieson, and former anchor of CBC’s The National, Peter Mansbridge, will host The Political Party at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Que., on Sept. 21. Money […]
With Liberal Leona Alleslev crossing the floor, Scheer’s smile just got a bit brighter
OTTAWA—When you are the leader of the official opposition in the era of Justin Trudeau, you take political wins and shots of momentum wherever you can get them. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer got some this week when the once-Liberal Member of Parliament for Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill, Ont., Leona Alleslev, crossed the floor and joined the […]
NAFTA players top Canada’s 40 most-influential foreign-policy minds
When it comes to who is influencing Canadian foreign policy, there’s the people working on files related to the United States, and then there’s everyone else. The constant focus of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with an adversarial United States President Donald Trump has necessarily sucked resources and […]
