Liberals take civics-in-action approach with youth councils
Nearly 90 per cent of Liberal MPs have established youth councils in their ridings. They say they’re a way to get young people involved the political decision-making process, though critics say they’re just talk-shops that won’t amount to much. But the Liberals aren’t the only ones trying to bolster their connections with Canadian youth. At […]
Liberals can bet opposition will target them on electoral reform
Re: “Trudeau’s 14-seat majority could ‘easily’ be reduced to minority ‘or worse’ in 2019, say opponents, but Liberals still 12 points ahead,” (The Hill Times, July 24, p. 1). As your front-page story details, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is far from guaranteed electoral success. Opposition parties will be heavily targeting the 14 Liberal ridings where […]
Brad Wall and the beginning of the next chapter of conservative politics
OTTAWA—As Brad Wall steps away from politics, an era of conservative leaders is now retired and the door is open for new champions to emerge. Since Stephen Harper hung up his skates, Brad Wall was the most powerful and dominant conservative politician in Canada. He was the dean of the provincial premiers, and the one […]
Setting aside differences, Liberals and Tories strategized to pass dementia bill
Conservative MP Rob Nicholson set aside political differences and crossed the floor to gain support for his private member’s bill to create a national dementia strategy. Mr. Nicholson (Niagara Falls, Ont.) knew how important a framework for dementia was; his father suffered from the disease. “It was inexplicable, he had always had a very healthy […]
Kim Jong-Trump, or how people can talk themselves into launching a ‘pre-emptive’ or ‘preventive’ nuclear attack
LONDON, U.K.—“I’m not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed, Mr. President, but I do say not more than 10 or 20 million dead, depending on the breaks.” So said General ‘Buck’ Turgidson, urging the U.S. president to carry out a nuclear first strike, in Stanley Kubrick’s 1963 film Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned […]
IMF warns Canada to rebalance, diversify economy
TORONTO—While the International Monetary Fund forecasts that Canada will have the fastest-growing economy in the G-7 this year, it would be a big mistake to become complacent. We face a challenging future. Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s budgets, and indeed the overall messaging from the Trudeau government, are all about strengthening the middle class, the big […]
NDP MPs headed to Steel Town to attend caucus, get groove back, take in a Ti-Cats game
NDP MPs are gathering in Hamilton next month for their annual summer caucus retreat to plan their fall strategy and to raise the party’s profile in Steel Town, the working-class city where it lost some ground in the last federal election. “We have some representation already [in Hamilton], and there’s good NDP support, and my […]
Trump is right, he doesn’t always get a square deal
TORONTO—Donald Trump likes to portray himself as the victim. The purveyors of “fake news,” he says, undermine him because they cannot accept that he won the U.S. presidency. His paranoia isn’t entirely misplaced. Trump doesn’t always get a square deal. Actions that would be little-noticed in other presidents can be blown out of proportion if […]
Trump won’t squander political capital fighting with Canada over NAFTA
TORONTO—For Canadians, the most revealing exchange in the recently leaked transcript of Donald Trump’s conversation with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto was Trump’s response to the Mexican’s proposal to have the three NAFTA partners work jointly to modernize the treaty: “Well, Canada is no problem—do not worry about Canada, do not even think about them,” […]
This just in: staff changes in the Liberal Research Bureau, Prime Minister’s Office as House prepares to resume sitting next month
There are some staffing changes happening in the Liberal Research Bureau in Ottawa. Nadia Khaiati, who had joined the LRB in April, recently returned to work in the appointments unit of the Prime Minister’s Office. Overseen by director Hilary Leftick, the PMO’s appointments unit also includes Natacha Engel, deputy director of appointments and people; special assistant Juniors […]
