Trans Mountain expansion approval already a big political mess
The Big Lebowski, one of the funniest movies ever made, begins with two hired goons threatening and demanding money from “the Dude,” Jeffrey Lebowski. When the goons realize they have the wrong Jeffrey Lebowski, they leave, but not before one of them urinates on the Dude’s rug. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Natural Resources Minister […]
Electoral reform will not happen in this Parliament
OTTAWA—I took the MyDemocracy.ca voting test and discovered what I already knew. According to the online government survey, managed by Vox Pop, I am a pragmatist. The pragmatist in me says electoral reform is dead. Its public interment by the minister responsible for democratic reform was not a pretty sight. Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef […]
Quebec, Ontario crucial to Conservative leadership race
Conservative leadership candidates are setting their sights on battleground provinces of Ontario and Quebec as the race heats up. Leadership candidates from Quebec could have an edge in what is a very crowded contest so far. Conservative MPs Steven Blaney (Bellechasse-Les Etchemins-Lévis, Que.) and Maxime Bernier (Beauce, Que.) are the only two current Parliamentarians from Quebec […]
Canada Infrastructure Bank: theft by deception
Both the Liberal government and its Advisory Council on Economic Growth are head over heels for the Canada Infrastructure Bank, announcing with fresh-faced enthusiasm that it will be an innovative route for augmenting infrastructure finance, a flywheel of institutional capital participation, and an economic stimulus boon for the middle class. Beyond the euphoria is deception; […]
Trudeau undoes own timid steps to sustainability, betrays promise to world
GATINEAU, QUE.—There is no doubt that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval of the twinning of the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline last week increases the danger of a devastating spill in the waters around Vancouver and beyond, despite the new $1.5-billion federal ocean protection plan. No spill response unit, “world class” or otherwise, can be confidently […]
NDP MP Linda Duncan blasts government over tanker threat to endangered West Coast orcas
Linda Duncan, the lone New Democrat MP elected in Alberta, is bucking NDP Premier Rachel Notley’s support for the federal cabinet’s approval of a new Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain oil pipeline to the B.C. coast. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna approved the expansion project, which a report from the […]
Jansen’s experience of harassment is unfortunately not unique
OTTAWA—This past week, Sandra Jansen stood in the Alberta legislature and recounted some of the awful and misogynistic commentary being thrust her way in recent weeks. As is well known by now, Jansen courageously called out some members of her own party, among others, for their sexist bullying and harassment as she prepared for a […]
Political leadership needed to preserve precious prairie grasslands
Temperate grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems in Canada and globally. For 80 years, the federal Community Pasture Program successfully restored and managed more than 800,000 hectares of native grasslands in Saskatchewan. These community pastures include some of the most significant remaining tracts of native grassland in Canada with high concentrations of species at […]
Newfoundland’s premier ‘optimistic’ about compensation negotiations for CETA
Newfoundland premier Dwight Ball was in town last week to remember the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who died in the 100-year-old battle of Beaumont-Hamel. The official anniversary of the battle passed on July 1, but Mr. Ball laid down a wreath at the National War Memorial to honour those from his province who lost their lives. […]
Revisiting Keystone, not NAFTA, should be Trudeau’s focus
The Liberal government’s immediate offer last week to renegotiate NAFTA with United States president-elect Donald Trump was perplexing. Given our country’s reliance on the North American market for trade and the fact that more than $2-billion in goods and services a day crossed the 49th parallel in 2015, NAFTA is not something that Canada should […]
