Quebec survey respondents positive, pragmatic about ties with China
As Ottawa awaits the outcome of the NAFTA negotiations and amidst deepening tensions in United States-China relations, a new survey shows that Quebecers have views of China and the prospect of deeper relations even more positive than in the rest of Canada. Conducted by Qualtrics on behalf of a research team based at the School […]
Trudeau policies well-meaning but costly to Nunavut, says Independent MP Tootoo
The Trudeau government has taken several steps to ensure an economically prosperous and sustainable Canadian Arctic into the future, including agreeing to the United States-Canada Joint Arctic Leaders’ Statement; receiving Mary Simon’s report, A New Shared Arctic Leadership Model; and putting together a new Arctic Policy Framework. But what does a sustainable and economically prosperous […]
New Senate Arctic committee to support Canada’s North
Canada needs a clear plan to develop and strengthen our Arctic. Senators are helping to provide one. Canada is one of just eight countries with Arctic territory, which is greatly increasing in strategic importance as melting sea ice opens up new commercial shipping opportunities. Despite this, Parliament has never had a committee dedicated to studying […]
Feds say they’re listening to northerners as they review food subsidies, oil and gas exploration rules, Arctic policy
Despite Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett saying more than a year ago that it was “urgent” that the federal government overhaul the Nutrition North Canada food subsidy program, the government is still looking at a final report reviewing the program and developing options to transform it. “We are currently reviewing the final […]
Infrastructure, tourism, arts key to Yukon’s success
There are many challenges for governments to provide quality of life for northern and Arctic people on par with that of southern Canada. There are great expanses of cold or frozen landscapes, there’s a small tax base to fund infrastructure, freezing and thawing permafrost that undermines buildings and highways, and a great distance from supplies and […]
Political realities will turn Notley against Trudeau
OAKVILLE, ONT.—The most improbable political alliance in Canadian history is coming to a predictably inglorious end. I’m talking, of course, about the “Entente Cordiale” that was forged between Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley and Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a once beautiful friendship that’s now unravelling before our eyes. Mind you, it’s something of a […]
Conservatives using tour to capitalize on perfect moment to introduce Scheer to Quebecers, say politicos
With one pollster predicting the Conservatives will be the only realistic alternative to the Liberals in Quebec in 2019, the party has wisely embarked on a Listening to Quebecers tour to introduce its relatively unknown leader to Quebecers, emphasize its tough stance on immigration issues, and look for platform ideas. Observers also say the party should ride the […]
Newfoundland’s Ches Crosbie, the unlikely candidate, could now be premier
OTTAWA—Canadians’ embrace of dynastic politics continues. No, this isn’t another column about Doug Ford, who comes from a well-known political family. It’s about Ches Crosbie, the new leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. Crosbie, the son of Newfoundland and Labrador political legend John Crosbie, just did something his father was never […]
Another approach to Canada’s bitumen quagmire
There will be both a significant financial and political cost no matter what decision is taken to resolve the current impasse on the Kinder Morgan pipeline project. Why not investigate an alternative? What if governments helped finance a refinery in Alberta to refine the bitumen to a state that it is less hazardous for transport? […]
After 36 years, it’s time Quebec sign the Constitution
The call from the Prime Minister’s Office in March 1982 came as things were not going well for the Liberal opposition in Newfoundland and Labrador. Premier Brian Peckford had called a snap “referendum” election for April 6, seeking to wrest management of offshore oil from Pierre Trudeau’s government in Ottawa. The caller enthusiastically told me […]
