The NDP’s remarkable Singh question
OAKVILLE, ONT.—The New Democratic Party of Canada recently sent out a survey to its support base that included a remarkable question regarding its leader. That question was this: “Jagmeet Singh will have been the leader of our party for one year on Oct. 1. How do you think he’s doing?” Now, what makes that particular […]
New communications director among recent hires by Innovation Minister Bains
Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains hired a few new ministerial staffers recently, including Jean-Luc Ferland as his new director of communications. Mr. Ferland was previously a senior communications adviser and policy adviser to Treasury Board President Scott Brison on the Hill, effectively serving as the minister’s press secretary. He’d been a staffer to […]
PMO stalwarts Butts, Telford claim top spots in The Hill Times’ 17th annual Terrific 25 Staffers Survey
PARLIAMENT HILL—The man behind the prime minister, principal secretary Gerald Butts, was named the top staffer in The Hill Times‘ 17th annual Terrific 25 Staffers Survey. Mr. Butts is joined by his counterpart in the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s office (PMO), chief of staff Katie Telford, who took the No. 2 spot this year after topping last […]
Trudeau was right to reject austerity policies of Harper government
TORONTO—The headline news on unemployment in Canada these days is largely positive, despite the recent upward blip in the unemployment rate to 6.0 per cent. Full-time employment is up by 326,000, part-time employment down by 154,000 over the past year and wages are starting to grow as the impact of higher minimum wages and tightening […]
Shine your dancin’ shoes: here’s your guide to the fall’s hottest shindigs
“I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties, there isn’t any privacy,” said outspoken Jordan Baker in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and whether or not you prefer your parties crowded or intimate, filled with food or with a rockin’ dance floor, Hillites can agree all around that there are plenty in Ottawa […]
Conservatives, NDP dealing with internal feuds, upbeat Trudeau Liberals ‘excited’ for fall sitting
While the Conservatives and the NDP deal with internal unity issues, the federal Liberals say they’re “excited” to start the fall sitting and are ready to face the electorate in October 2019 or even earlier, despite major policy issues and challenges, including signing a new NAFTA deal and building the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. “We’re […]
Ford rouses the Canadian constitutional beast, and that’s not good
TORONTO—Show of hands: how many of you expected the Ontario government to lose the constitutional challenge of its Bill 5, which aimed to reduce the size of Toronto’s City Council? No one? Exactly. No one—no one who has been paying attention, at least—expected Doug Ford’s government to lose. Municipalities are creatures of provincial legislatures, as […]
Tip for politicians looking for love and respect: leave politics
CHELSEA, QUE.—It is striking how many former political villains have recently been recast as wise, likeable, senior statesmen. (They all tend to be men.) Have they mellowed with age, have the political goalposts moved radically in the last couple of decades, or are we just more forgiving of public figures as they fade into history? […]
Jagmeet Singh digs himself a deep hole
TORONTO—New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh has opened a new can of worms. His decision to bar sitting MP Erin Weir from contesting the NDP nomination in his own riding has sparked an open revolt in the Saskatchewan wing of the party. “There’s a lot of outrage,” former Saskatchewan NDP MP Lorne Nystrom, a 32-year […]
The Ontario campaign that went from time for a change to throw the bums out
Any party seeking re-election after 15 years in office will face challenges, but it’s not impossible in Canadian politics. Provincial party dynasties with successive leaders are rare, but they do exist: the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, 1943-85, and the PCs in Alberta from 1971-2015. In each of those cases, the party shuffled out the old leaders […]
