Canadian people’s Senate: a work in progress
OMPAH, ONT.—How things change in four years! Back in the spring of 2014, news and commentary about Parliament’s Upper House was gleefully focused on all the negatives—the expenses scandals, the accusations of uselessness, and the calls for abolition. In contrast, today’s Senate stories generally cover such unsensational topics as the range of backgrounds of new […]
Fighting for carbon price, burying pipeline headlines key for Trudeau nabbing green voters in 2019, says pollster
Battling an anti-carbon tax premier in Ontario or Alberta could shore up the Trudeau Liberals’ reputation as an environmental champion, says pollster Greg Lyle, after a series of blows to the Grits’ green credentials in recent weeks. Ontario PC leader Doug Ford and Alberta United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney each have strong support in […]
Talaga win caps off lively Politics & the Pen gala
More than 500 Hillites attended Politics & the Pen, or what some like to call Ottawa’s “nerd prom,” where The Toronto Star reporter Tanya Talaga won the coveted Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Her book Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City, published by House of Anansi, was praised as a groundbreaking book on Indigenous youth. Ms. Talaga […]
What Trudeau’s India trip taught the Conservatives
OAKVILLE, ONT.—When recent polls indicated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had bounced back from his recent dip in popularity, it was easy to conclude the Conservative Party, which in some surveys had actually surpassed the Liberals, had somehow lost its momentum. But that would be a wrong conclusion, not because the Conservatives still have any momentum, […]
Former prime minister Harper shouldn’t meddle in Canada-U.S. relations
Former prime minister Stephen Harper and former foreign affairs minister John Baird co-signed a full-page advertisement, along with several former international leaders and diplomats, in last Wednesday’s issue of The New York Times supporting U.S. President Donald Trump’s leadership on Iran. Last week, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told CTV’s Power Play that Mr. Harper was out […]
Trump has been largely successful in feeding public skepticism about the fourth estate
OTTAWA—Earlier this month, the planet commemorated World Press Freedom Day, launched by the United Nations in the last century. The recognition, proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1993, coincided with the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement by African journalists about the importance of the free press. The UN says the day is […]
Health minister hires new communications director, Mathieu Filion, from Duclos’ team
Health Minister Ginette Petitpas-Taylor recently scooped up a new director of communications straight out of Families, Children, and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’ office. Mathieu Filion took over as communications director to Ms. Petitpas-Taylor on April 30, and is now working closely with the minister’s press secretary, Thierry Bélair. Before then, he’d been doing the […]
It’s ‘time to think again’ about idea Canada’s PM as a dictator, says Ian Brodie in At the Centre of Government
Parliament is alive and well, argues Ian Brodie, former chief of staff to Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, in his new book, At the Centre of Government: The Prime Minister and the Limits of Political Power. “After 20 years of ‘the prime minister’s a dictator’ motif, it’s really time to think again about that, and […]
Do campaigns matter anymore? Sort of
TORONTO—Now that Ontario’s election is underway—and Quebec’s and New Brunswick’s are in the offing—you’re going to hear this tired, old chestnut a lot: “campaigns matter.” Do they? Well, sure, sort of. But certainly not as much as the cliché suggests that do. Not anymore. Case Study One: Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. My wife Lisa […]
Solving Phoenix could take up to nine years, NDP MP estimates, but minister disagrees
The government isn’t saying when the Phoenix pay system will be running smoothly with no backlog, but NDP MP Randall Garrison says at the rate it’s moving, it could take up to nine years. Mr. Garrison (Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke, B.C.) made the comments during Thursday’s House Government Operations Committee meeting, which saw Public Services and Procurement Minister […]
