The Atlantic bubble needs to burst
OTTAWA—This year has been brutal for so many people and we still have nearly 4 months to go before 2021 is upon us. While I have never been a big fan of wishing time away, I am close to adopting it as a short-term strategy. Atlantic Canada has had a particularly brutal year. At the […]
Pandering to Quebec is unseemly, and it rarely works
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—This week’s word is “pander,” defined as “to please other people by doing or saying what you think they want you to do or say.” Canadian politicians have a rich history of pandering, notably in Quebec. In the summer of 1967 then-Conservative leader Robert Stanfield embraced an idea from his Quebec lieutenant, Marcel […]
Why the government of Canada will not appoint a temporary minister of education
Adhering to the dictum “never let a good crisis go to waste,” Irvin Studin has proposed in The Globe and Mail that Canada needs a temporary minister of education to address what he calls “Canada’s post quarantine education crisis.” I do not dispute that COVID-19 has produced an unprecedented crisis in education. In fact, I recently published a […]
‘Basic human rights’ at stake in Nunavut housing crisis, says NDP MP Qaqqaq
NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq spent her summer touring communities across Nunavut to highlight the dire housing conditions her constituents face, another chapter in what she describes as a seemingly endless fight to push the federal government to guarantee basic human rights for the people of Nunavut. Now, with Parliament soon to return for a new session, […]
‘Diplomat’ Deltell’s promotion could lead to closer co-operation in Parliament as new Tory House team spotlights Quebec, party unity, say insiders
With new Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole having assembled his House leadership team and front bench, a former Conservative House leader says Gérard Deltell’s talents are finally being fully utilized as the new one, as the new team seeks to unite the party and look towards making gains in Quebec. A former House leader for the […]
Legendary Hill scribe Richard Gwyn dies at 86
For years, Richard Gwyn was regarded as one of the best political journalists in Canada. He died last week from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 86. Mr. Gwyn made a name for himself as a national affairs columnist at The Toronto Star, where he covered the governments of Pierre Trudeau, Joe Clark, John Turner, […]
Intergovernmental relations and the pandemic
The moment Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to the airwaves and announced the lockdown on March 13, 2020, it was clear that responding to the COVID-19 pandemic would require unprecedented intergovernmental activity. Since then, first ministers’ meetings have been held weekly, via conference calls, which is a remarkable feat in a federation where such meetings […]
Would-be Conservative leaders wooing Quebec dairy farmers, but organizers say they won’t decide the race this time
The three leading candidates in the Conservative leadership race have all reached out to Quebec’s dairy farmers with promises to protect the supply management system, in a bid to win support from a group that may have swung the last contest in favour of now outgoing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. However, the organizer of a […]
Newfoundland and Labrador’s new premier is one to watch
OTTAWA—Newfoundland and Labrador has a new premier. This past weekend the governing Liberal Party elected Dr. Andrew Furey as its leader. In the next number of days, he will be sworn as the province’s 14th premier. The Furey name will be familiar to many in Ottawa, as his father is Senator George Furey, the Speaker of […]
Christopher Evelyn takes over as chief of staff to Women and Gender Equality Minister Monsef
Women and Gender Equality Minister Maryam Monsef has a new chief of staff leading her office with the recent promotion of Christopher Evelyn to the top job. Mr. Evelyn has been working for Ms. Monsef since late 2015, and has slowly been working his way up the proverbial Hill ladder since. He started out as […]
