Is Trudeau about to make Peterson’s mistake?
It’s the right time to call an early election, despite the fact that the government is barely three years into its mandate, said the pundits and some, though not all, Liberal insiders. The trade arrangements with the United States were worrisome and there were plenty of signs that some kind of recession was in the […]
Conservatives’ spat a gift for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals
Andrew Scheer is clearly facing a challenge to his leadership. So far, his response reminds us the Conservative Party leader made a fine Speaker of the House of Commons. The problem for Scheer is that a Speaker could take his time and make a sage ruling based on arcane rules and precedent, but a leader […]
How to build trust in government? Better spending management
Trust in government has been a longstanding discussion topic, and mismanagement of the public purse is the number one contributor to negative perceptions. Government organizations are accountable to the public and have a responsibility to spend wisely. In today’s growing climate of mistrust, these organizations cannot fly under the radar. They need to be proactive […]
When you write a minister, a machine shouldn’t reply
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—In old Geneva, there is a lovely restaurant serving traditional Swiss meals, with an ambience that lends itself to fondue and raclette: wooden chairs, plaster walls and beamed ceilings. Outside, in a pride of place by the door is a letter, bronzed for perpetuity, from former United States president Bill Clinton, thanking the proprietors […]
Cancel Saudi arms deal now, don’t wait for the other shoe to drop
There was a very disturbing news story last week about a Saudi Arabian airstrike in Yemen that killed 50 civilians and injured a further 77. What was particularly upsetting about this incident was that the main thing hit had been a school bus and the majority of the victims were young children. The graphic photographs […]
Poverty, homelessness, inequality: a few causes that might outweigh cheaper beer
OTTAWA—Populism scrambles a lot of markers, so maybe nobody cares that Ontario Premier Doug Ford is making a big deal, using government promotional incentives no less, to prioritize in the early days of his administration a possible slight decrease in what Ontarians pay for beer. It’s an amateur move, to be sure, and would seem […]
Expect more deputy minister retirements as the pre-2019 transition machine rumbles to life, say insiders
With a little more than a year until the next election, civil service insiders say there will likely be an increase in deputy minister retirements in the coming months before the bureaucracy starts its process of preparing for a potential change in government in 2019. No one wanted to guess who was leaving or how […]
New operations director joins Fisheries Minister Wilkinson’s team
New Fisheries and Oceans Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has hired Laura Mitchell to serve as his new director of operations. Ms. Mitchell joins the new minister’s team straight from Environment Minister Catherine McKenna’s office, where she was since September 2017 a parliamentary affairs adviser and assistant to the minister’s parliamentary secretary, a role Mr. Wilkinson filled […]
Defunct industry group too heavy on advocacy, light on regulation: pollsters
Although a complete lack of oversight could pose problems for the polling industry, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) served more to defend the industry to the public than it did to uphold its own standards, suggest some pollsters and a report by a panel commissioned to study polling failures during last year’s municipal […]
Singh risked irrelevancy staying out of B.C. race, say strategists, now ‘failure is not an option’
With two NDP-held ridings headed for byelections, it would have been a greater risk not to parachute Ontario-based New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh into the Burnaby South, B.C., seat, NDP strategists say of what will be a must-win contest for the rookie leader. While the party had long played coy with his options, Mr. Singh’s […]
