Wynne may have governed her way to victory last week
OTTAWA—Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne may have just governed her way to victory last week. With passage of a labour bill hiking the hourly minimum wage to $15, Wynne set the stage for an election showdown with the Conservatives. The Tories, who voted against the bill, are banking on the fact that business owners oppose the […]
Pitfield exits Petitpas Taylor’s office, Moussouni enters as new policy adviser
Caroline Pitfield has exited Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor’s office, where she’d been serving as director of policy since the beginning of 2016. Ms. Pitfield is listed as having officially switched to post-employment status as of Nov. 13, according to the federal conflict of interest and ethics commissioner’s online registry. She was originally hired to […]
Singh in talks with party over his salary, Caron staffs up NDP leader’s Hill office
Without a seat in the House and therefore no MP salary or access to parliamentary funds, newly-elected NDP leader Jagmeet Singh will instead be receiving a salary from the federal party. And while it’s currently not under his direct oversight, new staffers have already begun transitioning into the NDP leader’s office on the Hill. “It […]
Pot bill sponsor wants to shake up Senate schedule, but Tories push for status quo
The man who’s set to sponsor the Liberals’ priority cannabis legalization bill in the Senate wants to shake up the normal legislative process, even proposing a field trip to a pot-production facility, but opposition Senators are pouring cold water over his ideas. The Senate should tackle the bill in the same way it approached the […]
Former veteran Liberal staffer McClinchey reflects on his quarter-century on the Hill
Longtime Liberal staffer Greg McClinchey marked his exit from Parliament Hill’s hallowed halls earlier this year, after 26 years in the trenches, and says while the job remains unmatched, life as a Hill staffer, and the level of guidance on offer, has come a long way. “Life on the Hill is hard. It takes your […]
A lament for O’Leary
OTTAWA—Many of you, I am sure, have been privately lamenting over these past few months how Canada is so much lesser because Kevin O’Leary still hasn’t made it into public life. If only he had won the Conservative leadership race, was in Parliament, and helping us all sort through the tough public-policy issues of the […]
Despite ministerial parity, women still underrepresented as senior cabinet, PMO staff
Even though the Liberal cabinet was designed with gender parity in mind, women only represent 40 per cent of the senior staff supporting those ministers’ offices. Those positions—made up of chiefs of staff and their deputies, directors of policy, communications, parliamentary affairs and senior advisers—are the gateways to ministers and the people who help shape […]
Note to Zimbabwe: hold the champagne
The world reeled in wonder this week as the kleptocratic rule of Robert Mugabe came to an end in the face of Zimbabwe’s belated addition to the list of countries throughout the Middle East and parts of Africa that have adopted genuine democracy since the 2011 Arab Spring. Okay, that’s not entirely true. That lead […]
Leadership: in the eye of the beholder
In my time as a reporter, UN worker, and public servant, I have met many people in public life. The three most memorable were Peter Lougheed, Pierre Trudeau, and René Lévesque. When I arrived in Calgary in the summer of 1978, I was assigned to cover a speech by then-premier Peter Lougheed at a political […]
Liberals talk a good game, but science is still struggling
Many credit the Trudeau Liberals with ending the war on science, after years of funding cuts and muzzling by the Harper Conservatives. Nothing seemed to demonstrate this more than the fundamental science review report (chaired by former University of Toronto president David Naylor) commissioned by the Liberals and released in April, followed by the appointment […]
