Trimble’s ‘Ms. Prime Minister’ digs deep into media bias towards female PMs

There are many reasons why people enter, delay or avoid political life. Conservatives Rona Ambrose and Laureen Harper recently talked about the creation of the She Leads Foundation, a mentoring organization that strives to get more conservative women involved in politics. What they had to say is relevant to everyone who cares about a healthy, […]
Tory delegates vote against anti-abortion resolution, endorse limiting citizenship, as policy convention wraps

HALIFAX—Conservative Party delegates railed against being known as “Liberal lite” Saturday, voting to pass a series of policy resolutions aimed at shoring up their base while trying to dodge some social pitfalls that would make it easier for opponents to place targets on their backs in 2019. Delegates attending the party’s national convention in Halifax […]
Supply management proposal gets the short shrift as Tories prepare policy package

Conservative Party members wrestled Friday with how they’ll be perceived by the general voting public in 2019 as they began the process of whittling down a swath of policy resolutions that will help inform the party’s next election platform. When delegates reconvene on Saturday afternoon to talk policy, they’ll be staring down a list of […]
Public service hiring stats useful to show imbalances
Re: “#DMsSoWhite: so few visible-minority senior public servants, feds won’t release stats,” (The Hill Times, Aug. 15, p. 1). Perhaps the focus on the lack of visible minorities in the senior management of the federal public service is unfortunately balanced in the lower ranks. Then-Treasury Board president Lucienne Robillard said in 2002 that “recruitment practices are based on the fundamental values […]
Bernier’s diversity rant adds to Scheer’s headaches

OTTAWA—One week before the first Conservative national convention on Andrew Scheer’s leadership watch—and the last such gathering before the next federal election—one would not normally expect Conservative MPs to be debating each other on social media about whether to draw a line on Canada’s diversity. Against the backdrop of a simmering trade war with the […]
#DMsSoWhite: so few visible-minority senior public servants, feds won’t release stats

Fewer than 10 of 84 top-level public servants identify as visible minorities: so few that the federal government won’t pinpoint exactly how many there are. That means fewer than 12 per cent of top federal managers say they are people of colour. By comparison, that’s less than the 14.5 per cent of bureaucrats as a whole who […]
Maxime Bernier’s Twitter tirade a gift to Justin Trudeau

OTTAWA—Professional tip to all Members of Parliament, but particularly the Conservative ones, if you want to have a discussion about Canadian identity: Twitter isn’t the the best vehicle for you. That should seem self-evident but apparently that is not the case. Now if you want to wreak havoc, piss people off, and throw verbal hand […]
From tiny agency of six to department-in-the-making: elevating the Status of Women

Despite the Trudeau government’s efforts to brand itself as feminist and to transform Status of Women Canada from an agency to a full department, critics say it’s an open question whether Ottawa has elevated the portfolio of the Status of Women to a place where it has a similar level of prestige to other files. […]
The more the merrier, says Equal Voice head, as party-specific programs sprout to boost women in politics

Party-specific initiatives to draw women into politics are necessary and welcome, especially by members of the Conservative Party, which has fallen behind other major parties when it comes to putting women on the ballot, says the head of a national organization aimed at promoting women’s involvement in politics. In the 2015 federal election, the Conservatives […]
Mr. Prime Minister, meet George Costanza

TORONTO—That loud beep, beep, beep you’ve been hearing is the sound of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backing up and rolling over the #MeToo gains of the past several months—his own contributions included. Victims of sexual misconduct have especially heard the crashing of the progress that had finally given them the courage to raise their voices […]