Are we on the cusp of a dark decade for progressives and a golden age for conservatives?
OTTAWA—This could be the beginning of the return to a dark decade for progressives across Canada. Suddenly, it looks like the conservative, and even neo-conservative and populist arguments are winning out. At the end of the 2015 federal election, prime minister Stephen Harper held two rallies with the Ford brothers in the Greater Toronto Area, […]
Time to rethink Harper’s ‘negative’ legacy?
OAKVILLE, ONT.—I don’t think former prime minister Stephen Harper is ever going to get one, but in my view many of Canada’s top pundits and journalists owe him an apology. Or at the very least, pundits and journalists in this country should acknowledge how wrong they were to constantly castigate Harper during his term in […]
Wynne’s Ford-as-Trump portrayal could backfire
OTTAWA—In politics, as in sport sometimes, a rally cry based around desperation can be a powerful motivational tool that changes a game or series. Many times we have heard an NHL hockey coach say of his players: “they have to play as if their backs are against the wall.” Then the team in question goes […]
Ford’s tight-knit Ontario election campaign team stacked with Harper-era players
Ontario’s provincial parties are in campaign-mode, and new Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford has a tight-knit team in place, stacked with experience at both the federal and provincial levels. “They’ve all spent a ton of time together in the last 10 to 15 years, so even though they were thrown together quickly out of […]
Distressing to think of Doug Ford as Ontario’s premier, says reader
Re: “The horror of free child care and other political crimes,” (The Hill Times, April 2, p. 11). The headline of Susan Riley’s article subtly emphasizes her ironic attitude toward people who consider massive social-program funding insane. Ms. Riley makes her point of view clear in asking: “Where will Kathleen Wynne’s manic spending leave the […]
The horror of free child care and other political crimes
CHELSEA, QUE.—She’s done it again. Free child care for pre-schoolers in Ontario! This cynical ploy follows a series of recent outrages: free drugs for seniors, a staged increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour, expanded mental-health services, the largest increase in hospital spending in a decade, $300-million more for special needs education. Where […]
Ford could be next Ontario premier, he just has to keep his mouth closed for three months
OTTAWA—Doug Ford could well be the next premier of Ontario. He just has to keep his mouth shut for three months in order to pave the way for a victory in June. That could be more difficult than it appears. Just last week, Ford predicted he would win the biggest majority in the history of […]
Ford campaign team has ties to Bernier, Leitch, went all in on digital ads
New Ontario PC leader Doug Ford upended the party establishment through a campaign run by a small group with ties to the Ford family, as well as several high-profile federal Conservatives. The members of Mr. Ford’s PC leadership race team are still working with Mr. Ford, said Kory Teneycke, who led digital marketing for the […]
Ford threatens federal plans
The prospect that Doug Ford could be in charge of Canada’s largest province by July 1 is bad news for the three main federal leaders. For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, it could mean the window of opportunity to execute some of his government’s signature policy missions is inexorably closing. Without a high degree of provincial […]
Why Kathleen Wynne is likely to lose Ontario’s provincial election
TORONTO—There are all kinds of clichés about how and why governments lose. That they defeat themselves. That they die by degrees. That they become the very thing they had once pledged to always oppose. Mostly, though, governments forget the plot. All of governing—all of the politics—is telling a story, every single day. Some folks call […]
