Ford’s Toronto city council shakeup is a vote-winner, at least for now
OTTAWA—Ontario Premier Doug Ford has given new meaning to starting with a bang. Out of nowhere, except perhaps the deep recesses of his mind, he announced last week that he was cutting the size of Toronto’s city council from 44 members (which was to become 47, after a planned expansion this fall) to 25. Anyone […]
Canada should not stray from climate commitments in face of criticism
Things look bleak these days for the Trudeau government’s Pan-Canadian Framework on climate change (PCF). The framework represents Canada’s primary compliance path with the Paris Climate Accord, requiring provinces to establish a price on carbon or have one imposed by Ottawa. Opposition Conservatives have railed against the plan in the House of Commons. Newly-elected Ontario […]
Ford has proven that the populist formula shouldn’t be underestimated
OTTAWA—When it appeared that Doug Ford was on his way to landing the job of Ontario premier, a lot of people tried to reassure themselves that the Progressive Conservative leader, while a coarse, macho populist, was no Donald Trump. But the Ford government has immediately shown its willingness to follow the demagogic, disruptive politics of […]
Bill Blair is a solid cabinet choice
OTTAWA—Apparently serving as Toronto’s chief of police is a good training ground for federal politics and ultimately the federal cabinet. In last 10 years, two former chiefs have gone from locking up the bad guys to making the laws that mete out the punishment. First it was Julian Fantino who served in Stephen Harper’s Conservative […]
Blair’s focus will be guns, drugs, organized crime, more than migration, suggests Parl. Sec. Vaughan
Though his new cabinet post gives him responsibility for irregular migration, the job of newly appointed cabinet minister Bill Blair will be about so much more, including “guns, drugs, and organized crime,” says Adam Vaughan, the parliamentary secretary for housing and urban affairs. “Where I see this [post] going is not around border security vis-a-vis […]
Time is right for an intergovernmental affairs minister
In a cabinet shuffle centred largely around good politics, the appointment of Dominic LeBlanc as the government’s new intergovernmental affairs minister was a clear nod to good governance. Mr. LeBlanc, the former Fisheries minister, is the Trudeau government’s first full-time intergovernmental affairs minister. His title includes northern affairs and internal trade, both of which […]
There is a simple solution: carbon fee and dividend, says reader
Doug Ford, Scott Moe, Jason Kenney, and Andrew Scheer are right—a carbon tax is not the way to seriously cut emissions. Why? It’s politically and economically untenable for a carbon tax to go as high as it needs to go. How high does it need to go? The international Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (yes, Ontario […]
There’s no one-size-fits-all sex-ed policy
OTTAWA—Ontario’s hot, steamy summer just got warmer, as Ontario Premier Doug Ford fulfilled his campaign promise to cancel the sex-education curriculum that was introduced in 2015 and to revert to a dated, 20-year-old version. That reversal lasted one entire weekend because as of Monday the Ford government had flipped to a 2014 plan. The Ford […]
Ford’s sex-ed policy reverses progress
The federal government has made great strides in advancing gender-equality principles in Parliament and policy, particularly through Canada’s international assistance policy. We require our international work to be gender-focused and we require international health projects to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls. Yet, here in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford […]
Donald Trump won, he beat us all
TORONTO—When we have all been reduced once again to ashes—when the issue of The Hill Times you now clutch in your hands is but dust—thinkers will think, as thinkers do: how did Donald Trump win? Because, you know, he did. Donald Trump won. He beat us all. He has dominated the politics of this era like […]
