Why are we still talking about Trudeau’s Christmas vacation this close to Easter?
TORONTO—Defending the spending habits of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not the best topic for a former director of communications of Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper. But this is not about partisan politics. It is about the institution of the Prime Minister of Canada, the preferred target of opposition and media, not always justified. The […]
Budget criticized for lack of public-service investment, no Phoenix fix
“Meh,” was how one public service union leader reacted after the federal government’s budget was unveiled last week, though there were positive reviews coming from educational interest groups, mixed reaction from the health sector, and a range of other assessments from those who had some interests riding on this federal budget. Chris Aylward, national executive […]
Bains most lobbied cabinet minister since Trudeau won power in 2015, hands down
Navdeep Bains, Canada’s minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, is, hands down, the most lobbied member of the Trudeau cabinet since the government came to office in 2015. Since the Liberals took over in November 2015 until earlier this month, a total of 245 communication reports outlining contact with Mr. Bains (Mississauga-Malton, Ont.) have […]
Two budget measures can actually unite Canada
OTTAWA—Everything old is new again. Two major new investments in last week’s federal budget involve housing and training. The re-establishment of a federal role for housing makes sense and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. is the right vehicle to affirm national leadership. The same holds true for training investment. In a highly mobile world, […]
MPs are right to stand up for the House, but they shouldn’t overplay their political hands
Something happened the other day at the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. The normally buttoned-down Conservative MP Scott Reid lost his temper with the Liberal majority MPs on the committee and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals of “ramming through whatever the fuck they want.” He quickly apologized and the meeting carried on, but the outburst, which was […]
Conservative Party must be transparent about fraudulent memberships or it will ‘undercut credibility of outcome,’ says Kent
The Conservative Party has to be transparent to Canadians and to its more than 100,000 members about the process it’s undertaking to scrub fraudulent memberships from the party list or it will undermine the outcome of the leadership race, says Conservative MP Peter Kent. “That will undercut the credibility of the outcome. It is incumbent on the […]
The problem with ‘Big Tents’
OAKVILLE, ONT.—The thing that makes Canada a great country, besides its vast maple syrup reservoirs, is we Canadians enthusiastically embrace diversity and tolerance. (And if you don’t agree with me on that, it clearly means you’re a dunderhead who should be deported to Borneo!) Yet, despite the obvious wonderfulness of Canadian diversity and tolerance, I’d […]
Cudmore takes on policy director role in Defence Minister’s Sajjan’s office
National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan recently promoted a number of staff in his ministerial office, including bumping senior policy adviser James Cudmore up to the role of director of policy in his office. Mr. Cudmore, a former CBC senior parliamentary reporter who covered defence policy and foreign affairs for the broadcaster, was first hired to […]
CRA for the wealthy, and CRA for the rest of us
Yes, it’s that time of year again—tax time. Despite the fact that it happens at the same time every year, many Canadians find themselves scrambling to gather receipts and tax forms, and staying up late in an effort to file on time—because there are penalties for filing late, especially if you owe taxes. Not so, […]
Opposition parties say their ongoing filibuster a protest against Liberals’ ‘political thuggery’
PARLIAMENT HILL—Four days of filibustering the Liberals’ attempt to expedite House rule changes was a product of Conservative and New Democrat backroom collaborative efforts to present a “unified front” in the face of what the opposition called “political thuggery” from the Liberal government. In interviews with The Hill Times during and proceeding the initial four days of […]
