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 […]
No time like present for Canadian agriculture
There is an old saying, “There is no time like the present.” Agriculture lives that out on a daily basis. These are interesting times for Canadian agriculture. The sheer diversity of agriculture in this country is astounding. As the House of Commons Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee holds hearings on the developing Agricultural Policy Framework (APF), […]
Spying on Quebec journalists exposes weak-kneed judges
MONTREAL—Connect the dots between Quebec’s police corps and the half-dozen or more investigative journalists who were put under surveillance over the past decade and you will find a gaggle of judges potentially derelict in their gatekeeping duties. In each of the spying episodes that have come to light over the past week, the police had […]
I admit it, Mulroney was right on many issues
OTTAWA—Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was always well-loved in Quebec. Across the rest of the country, not so much. But the launch of the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., should go a long way to changing that. Time is a former politician’s best friend. In the heat of […]
MPs in rural, remote ridings do put themselves at greater risks
When former Alberta premier Jim Prentice was killed in a small-plane crash shortly after takeoff from the Kelowna airport on Oct. 13, some MPs back in Ottawa could particularly relate. There is a handful of MPs who not only fly the big airlines every week, but then have to get on small single or dual-engine planes to […]
MP Jenny Kwan ate nothing but two oranges and noodles every day last week
NDP MPs Jenny Kwan and Ruth Ellen Brosseau both spent last week eating on an $18 budget; no more, and no less. The pair took part in British Columbia’s annual Welfare Food Challenge, which gets participants to try and fill their tummies for a mere $18. That’s the amount of money Raise the Rates, a […]
Aerospace industry paying price of Liberal inaction
The first anniversary of Justin Trudeau’s government leaves us with few reasons to celebrate. When it comes to aviation, as with many other industries, there is a huge gap between what was promised and what was actually delivered. The aerospace industry and its workers are paying the price of Liberal inaction on many issues facing […]
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 […]
