That other election to watch: Newfoundland and Labrador
OTTAWA—This week the time has come for me to write on something other than the SNC-Lavalin Liberal mess. I just can’t muster the energy to swim any longer in that turd soup. So what is the best thing to do when you are feeling worn down by federal politics? Look east. Canada’s Far East: Newfoundland […]
SNC-Lavalin affair ripe for opposition to capitalize on, say politicos, but Scheer, Singh poll numbers still flat
The SNC-Lavalin affair has hurt Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval numbers, but political commentators say it remains to be seen whether Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh can use the controversy to bump past the Liberal leader in the polls ahead of October’s election. Recent polling shows that Mr. Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) […]
Trudeau has no one to blame, but himself
OTTAWA—This was the worst week of Justin Trudeau’s short prime ministership, and he has no one to blame but himself. Not that there haven’t been other bumps along the road. People laughed at ‘Justin Does New Delhi,’ cringed at his luxury holiday on the Aga Khan’s island, and shook their heads over unique coinages like […]
Thanks to the internet, immunization is now controversial
OTTAWA—One of the benefits of social media is being able to maintain contact with old friends from around the world. As graduates of a high school in Montreal half a century ago, many of my former classmates followed the exodus out of Quebec in the 1970s and 1980s and now live in Toronto, Vancouver, and […]
Jagmeet Singh’s naivety, lack of political acumen surprising, says Calgary reader
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is currently running in the upcoming Burnaby South, B.C., byelection spoke with the CBC’s Rosemary Barton on The National recently where he again doubled down on his commitment to abandon the Trans Mountain pipeline if consultations fail to satisfy all Indigenous stakeholders. Mr. Singh’s intransigence on this issue points to […]
Bernier says he ‘won’t spend a cent’ on internal People’s Party polling
The People’s Party of Canada has less than two per cent support, nationally, according to the latest polls, but leader Maxime Bernier says polling isn’t something that’s part of his new party’s process. Where other parties conduct internal polling to help gauge their next move or base support, Mr. Bernier (Beauce, Que.) almost visibly recoils […]
Level of confidence Canadians have in economic circumstances will be critical
TORONTO—Just the other day, Finance Minister Bill Morneau was in Toronto’s 905 region to make sure, as we head into this year’s federal election, that local business leaders were aware of the success of the Trudeau government’s economic policies. “With its focus on creating good, well-paying jobs for the middle class and delivering long-term, economic […]
Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party is an inconvenient truth
OTTAWA—By writing this very column I am playing into his hands. Whose hands, you ask? Those of Maxime Bernier, once a Conservative Party leadership candidate of some renown, now leader of the People’s Party of Canada. You see, Bernier is still finding a way to generate attention, be part of the political conversation, and appear […]
Trudeau’s no longer Mr. Cool on the world stage
TORONTO—Foreign policy does not seem destined to be a major issue in this year’s federal election. Canadians will likely be more concerned with the state of the economy, carbon taxes, climate change, and pipelines. But it will still be there. How Canada—and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—are seen by the rest of the world, and whether […]
Liberal promises on Indigenous relationship ring hollow to activists, experts as protests continue
Protest actions, like the ones that spread across the country and internationally in support of the Unist’ot’en camp in northern British Columbia this month, may not sway the hearts and minds of the general electorate about the government’s record on Indigenous issues come election day, says a pollster. But according to experts and First Nations […]
