Deep freeze sets in Quebec’s sovereignty issue
There was time not so long ago when the very notion of a federal government funding some June 24 festivities in Quebec would have raised eyebrows on both sides of the federalist-sovereigntist divide. Ottawa has long contributed to the financing of St-Jean-Baptiste celebrations in the rest of Canada, but it had abstained from associating itself […]
Christy Clark could make history (again) with a B.C. election win
If Christy Clark wins the British Columbia election on May 9, she will be the first woman premier to win two general provincial elections. Even though Canada has had several female premiers, and one female prime minister, none have been elected twice. The first woman to become premier was Rita Johnston, who won the leadership […]
Wynne’s housing plan a potpourri of politics
TORONTO—Ontario’s new Fair Housing Plan is a potpourri of politics with a few good ideas mixed in. If Toronto and surrounding areas are indeed caught up in an irrational real estate bubble, the measures announced Thursday may well burst it. As the Dutch discovered during the tulip craze of the 17th century, bubbles based on […]
We need to talk about Kevin
GATINEAU, QUE.—Imagine, for a moment, prime minister Kevin O’Leary presenting his first Speech From the Throne, amid the smouldering ruins of politics as we know it. He’s not going to like it. First, the timing will be all wrong: mid-afternoon ratings suck. Second, the venue—the Senate Chamber—is too cramped, the decor too Victorian. There is […]
The good and bad of family dynasties in politics
OTTAWA—While elements of the American and British electorate seem repulsed by elites in politics and empowered by their rejection the Canadian environment is still different. If anything, political dynasties remain very much alive in Canada. A second Trudeau is our prime minister and another man named LeBlanc is a senior minister in his government. We […]
Trudeau needs Tory voice for climate action
MONTREAL—Consider this: The first federal-led attempt to put in place a pan-Canadian climate framework got off the ground a bit more than 12 months ago, almost two decades after Jean Chrétien agreed to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. To put that in perspective, it took Pierre Trudeau more than a decade to secure enough provincial […]
Climate plans in focus as Ottawa gears up for December first ministers’ meeting
Federal government officials and staff have been busy discussing climate action plans with provincial and territorial counterparts ahead of a first ministers’ meeting scheduled for Ottawa in December. The hope is to finalize a pan-Canada climate plan, but “additional pieces” could be announced even before then. “There will essentially be, perhaps, some additional pieces that may come even before the […]
No more treading water
Patrick Brown has heard it all before. Assertions that the Ontario Progressive Conservative leader’s most defined personality trait is that he’s not Kathleen Wynne; that he’s flip-flopped on policies as starkly as Donald Trump has on immigration; and even that he’s a dead-eyed, brainwashed robot that runs on talking points uploaded to his hard drive […]
‘Sunny ways’ will not necessarily equal easy negotiations at Council of the Federation talks
Later this week, Canada’s Premiers will gather in Whitehorse for the summer meeting of the Council of the Federation (CoF). While the agenda for this latest meeting will include discussions on day-to-day matters that provinces and territories face unilaterally, a renewed wave of federalism being led by Ottawa provides the ideal opportunity to address larger, […]
Want to defeat Donald Trump, North America?
PUNTA NIZUC, MEXICO—A wall. Donald Trump, the bilious billionaire who is edging ever closer to the Oval Office, wants to build a great big wall between this country and the United States. He says he is going to get Mexicans to pay for it. The reason? Mexicans are “rapists,” he says. “Murderers,” too. Now, like everyone […]
