Every time Ford busts out the bazooka to get his way, he’s playing with fire
OTTAWA—Premier Doug Ford’s new Ontario government sure knows how to pick a fight. Question is: does it always have to be a racket? Hours after an Ontario court overturned the Ford government’s legislation to shrink the size of Toronto city council, the premier hauled out the bazooka—announcing he would invoke the notwithstanding clause to reset […]
It’s not the economy, stupid: Quebec’s counterintuitive election
The Saint-Tite Western Festival is to the Calgary Stampede what Atlantic City is to Vegas: smaller in scale, shorter on high rollers, and a little rougher around the edges. But like its western counterpart, Quebec’s eastern rodeo is a required stop on the province’s summer political calendar, especially during election years. Which is why incumbent premier Philippe […]
Can small-town Canada survive?
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—One small challenge of summer life in small towns is finding a trusted person to do skilled work one cannot do. I can sand, paint, cut the grass, and do some small DIY projects. But for the complex carpentry, electrical, or plumbing projects, I rely on people with real skills. This year, my relatives […]
Trans Mountain court decision a ‘political no-win’ that could hurt Liberals in Quebec, B.C., Alberta, says pollster
The Liberals stand to take a hit on multiple political fronts from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision to but the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on ice, and the governing Grits have now alienated “basically everyone” with an opinion on the pipeline, says pollster Nik Nanos. “It’s a political no-win,” said Mr. Nanos, chairperson at […]
Pipeline politics won’t help Scheer in Quebec
OTTAWA—It is not a Maxime Bernier-led breakaway party that stands to most damage Conservative prospects in Quebec in next year’s federal election, but rather some of leader Andrew Scheer’s own promises. In a keynote speech to his party’s national convention on Friday, Scheer laid out part of his 2019 battle plan. As expected, it borrows heavily […]
Convention supply-management tumult ‘opened the floodgates’ for Bernier supporters, says organizer
A Conservative Party member and proponent of ending Canada’s supply management system said he’s received plenty of interest from current and former MPs and businesspeople in support of maverick MP Maxime Bernier’s future party. This follows a tense scene at the party convention that saw a policy resolution on phasing out the system dropped before reaching a vote. […]
Hope isn’t yet lost for the Quebec Liberals
If the Quebec election were held tomorrow, François Legault would become the first leader since René Lévesque to bring a new party to power in the province. For more than four decades since its initial 1976 victory, the Parti Québécois has been the main alternative to the Liberals. A Coalition Avenir Québec win could consign […]
Public Services to pitch next step for Phoenix pay fix in September
The office responsible for fixing the troubled Phoenix pay system is taking another step forward, hoping to cut the time it will take to get thousands of public servants paid properly. Problems with Phoenix have left public servants with too little or too much pay for almost two and a half years. Les Linklater, the associate […]
400 per day? Advocate questions reliability of summer border-crossing predictions after figures fall short
Recent figures on monthly border crossings show that a prediction made by the Quebec government on flows of people coming into Canada this summer—and one frequently cited by the media and federal Conservatives—has so far fallen flat, raising questions about how border-crossing predictions are handled, says one advocate. In April, the Quebec government told the […]
‘Just as they’re struggling to rebuild, they’re hit again,’ MP says, as constituents brace for devastating wildfire season
British Columbia is in a state of emergency for the second straight year as it grapples with controlling the wildfires that have blanketed vast pockets of the province, and one MP in the area says that while the fires aren’t as huge as last year’s, this season is breaking new records. “The smoke is literally […]
