Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and U.S. president-elect Joe Biden, right. The major part of the first phone call between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trudeau on Nov. 9 involved an exchange of views around how each country is fighting COVID-19, according to a senior government official. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade and Flickr
PMO’s Canada-U.S. relations team gearing up for transition to Biden administration
Brian Clow, executive director of issues management, parliamentary affairs and Canada-U.S. relations remains at the helm, and works closely with Elise Wagner, adviser for issues and Canada-U.S. relations within the PMO.
Feds’ climate bill a ‘significant achievement’—and it’s full of holes: experts
‘The biggest risk is that we’re going to backload the policies and the efforts that we’re going to need,’ says Michael Bernstein.
Trump’s unprecedented failure to concede expected to have ‘very little’ impact on Canada-U.S. relations, says Heyman
'It's clear that everybody's already tilting in toward the next president,' said Mr. Heyman, who served as the U.S. envoy to Canada from 2014 to 2017.Politics This Morning
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When it comes to dissenting female MPs and dissenting white male MPs, Trudeau’s got a double standard, says former Grit MP Caesar-Chavannes
One-term former Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes talks to The Hill Times about her life in federal politics and about her upcoming book, Can You Hear Me Now?, and she says she's not ruling out a return to the Hill. ‘Always a rolling target to bring about big change’: Fergus says he’s optimistic in feds’ anti-racism strategy progress, ‘but we’re not there yet’
But NDP MP Matthew Green says 'there just seems to be ongoing reluctance for this government to go beyond the aesthetics of big ticket announcements.' ‘Massive overhaul’ of privacy law leaves political parties off the hook
The bill leaves unanswered questions, including why the government wants consumer data, and how much businesses will be able to do with that data without consumers' permission, says John Lawford.As COVID-19 runs ‘around unchecked,’ Trudeau urges renewed adherence to public health measures
Canada could be on track to hit upwards of 60,000 new infections in December, unless individuals modify their behaviour and restrictions are tightened. Feds could receive 6 million vaccine doses by March 2021, but details around distribution in works
The possibility of Canada receiving six million vaccine doses by the end of March 2021 comes with a 'big if,' says Iain Stewart, the newly named president of the Public Health Agency of Canada.No system in place to verify if mail-in ballots counted in official tally, says Elections Canada
Elections Canada is exploring the idea of installing secure drop-off boxes for mail-in ballots.What can Canadian pollsters learn from mistakes in American presidential polling?
'The methods they are using aren't capturing a certain segment of the population,' Abacus Data's David Coletto says of U.S. pollsters.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and U.S. president-elect Joe Biden, right. The major part of the first phone call between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trudeau on Nov. 9 involved an exchange of views around how each country is fighting COVID-19, according to a senior government official. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade and Flickr
PMO’s Canada-U.S. relations team gearing up for transition to Biden administration
Brian Clow, executive director of issues management, parliamentary affairs and Canada-U.S. relations remains at the helm, and works closely with Elise Wagner, adviser for issues and Canada-U.S. relations within the PMO.
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Winter’s coming, I’m in Mexico
I've travelled south and am currently coviding in 30-degree temperatures on the sunny beaches of Mexico. To be clear, we left home two weeks before the government issued an anti-travel advisory to all seniors last week.Where are the serious leaders from Canada’s business community, the big-picture thinkers about the country’s future?
Corporate Canada has two good reasons to contribute to the country’s going-forward strategy.Advocacy groups and the challenge of COVID
Organizations that promote causes, political or otherwise, play an important role in our community. You might say, trying to make our society better is their business. 
New judicial expense disclosures strike ‘right balance,’ say legal advocates
Brock University professor Matthew Hennigar says these new disclosures help answer the question: ‘what does our justice system cost as a public good?’NDP MP Blaikie urges quick response to Elections Canada pandemic-related reform asks
Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perreault is asking for the Elections Act to be amended in three areas to help the agency better adapt the election process to ensure safety and accessibility during a pandemic. Liberal fall agenda takes shape: what’s new, and what has to go through the House
The Throne Speech included a long list of promises. Most were old, some were new. At least 20 will likely require the approval of the opposition-majority House of Commons. 
While Trump spews lies next door, countries join forces here for global media freedom
The pandemic, coupled with the rise in illiberal political movements, has made the future of free-flowing information and facts more in doubt than ever. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia sign deal to end Nagorno-Karabakh war
Why Armenia couldn’t exploit its diaspora more effectively is a mystery, but that’s the difference. The military defeat was the eventual, inevitable result of a long-running political failure.In Hong Kong, ‘one country, two systems’ unravels
Hong Kong’s relative freedom was always conditional and ultimately doomed (2047 at the latest), but this blundering collapse was premature and far from inevitable.
COVID-19 containment, economic recovery expected to drive fall lobbying
Lobbyists will also be keeping an eye on progress on the government's backlog of big-ticket legislation and regulatory reforms this session.Lobbyists eye ‘high stakes’ throne speech as opportunity for client interests in Liberal reset
‘Quality versus quantity makes the most sense’ in a constrained period with a lot of moving parts, including a new Conservative leader who should be part of an ‘everyone matters’ advocacy approach, says Jacquie LaRoque.June lobbying a success with wage subsidy extension, groups say
With 2,002 recorded communications, June saw a dip in lobbying compared to each of the four previous months of 2020, but it was busier than the last sitting month in 2019.
‘Our couch was our front line, our patience was our weapon’: German COVID ad hailing couch potatoes as heroes earns Trudeau’s nod
Plus, a new political party could be on the horizon in Ontario, thanks to efforts that are led by former Conservative leadership hopeful Jim Karahalios and his partner, Belinda.
Chinese ambassador turns down invite to appear at Canada-China Relations Committee
Plus, Trudeau champions press freedom at an international conference, and MPs congratulate Biden and Harris on their election win and call on feds to extend invitation for a parliamentary address.
Katherine Koostachin joins PMO as a senior policy adviser
Plus, Women and Gender Equality Minister Maryam Monsef is in need of a new director of policy following Yanique Williams’ recent exit.
‘Historic’ effort to run two hybrid Chambers a balancing act
'The reality is that we [had] limited capacity for the House of Commons and the support team in the Senate to go remotely with committees,' says Progressive Sen. Pierre Dalphond.MPs, Senators look to fill Centre Block’s courtyards in recent reno recommendations
The Senate has, for one, recommended a partial infill be built in Centre Block’s eastern courtyard, while the House’s working group has endorsed an expansion of the lobbies into its western courtyard.Champagne hires new comms director from environment minister’s team
Louis Hamann recently exited his role as director of communications to Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
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Access to mental health services for Armed Forces in House Defence Committee’s sights amid rising suicide numbers
In 2019, 17 regular force members and three reservists died by suicide, which was the highest number since 2014.
Mixed reviews for government’s transportation sector response, with hardest work ahead
The aviation sector is anticipating a sectoral relief package after Transport Minister Marc Garneau's Nov. 8 announcement.
The future of sustainable urban environments after COVID-19
The time to support a vision for public transportation is now.
Canada’s aviation sector needs a plan
Canada cannot expect a full economic recovery without support for the aviation sectorWe must innovate today, so that we can fly tomorrow
COVID-19 continues to have devastating impacts on the air transport sector. Early in the pandemic, approximately 80 per cent of the world’s passenger airline fleet was grounded. In a matter of months hundreds of thousand
The definitive history of Canada’s role on the United Nations Security Council
The first definitive history of Canada's time on the UN Security Council is a must read for anyone interested in Canadian foreign policy.
Harold Johnson’s book Peace and Good Order is among five shortlisted books for this year's Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. 
'I kind of just go ahead and do what I feel I should do, and get myself into situations where I’m thinking, "Oh, everybody here knows more than I do. But anyway, here goes." It served me very well,' says former Supreme Court chief justice Beverley McLachlin.
Patterns of interference, intimidation, and harassment of individual Canadians by the Chinese Communist Party ‘demand a response’ from the Canadian government, says veteran journalist Jonathan Manthorpe in his 2019 book. 
COVID-19: economic impacts and prospects
There are some potential game changers for outcomes—a vaccine; and a resurgence in international leadership and cooperation. Closer to home, we need a Canadian economic recovery plan that will boost confidence in the future with strategic and measured investments in long-term challenges and adjustment support for Canadians and businesses left behind by the coronavirus.
In what was supposed to be a period in which backbenchers and the opposition could wield more influence over the political debate, power and influence is arguably even more concentrated among a narrow cast of mostly familiar figures.
If we want to really honour Shannen Koostachin and the many children like her—we need to speak up, keep talking until government takes immediate action to end the inequality. If they don’t—vote them out because kids like Shannen are worth the money. The time for patience is over.
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Politics This Morning: Trudeau joins G20 leaders in pledge to fairly distribute COVID vaccine
Plus, seeking to address swirl of confusion around the domestic distribution of the coronavirus vaccine, health officials say they project Canada could receive six million doses by March. Details around how many each province and territory may receive still in the works.
We’re getting a lot of finger-waving, personal responsibility crap, which has always been a strawman argument to ignore the systemic and systematic failures in response to a global pandemic.
'We are seeing the inevitable conversation about crucial policy decisions on resources come to the fore with [where] inevitably you'll see differences,' says former Liberal strategist John Delacourt.
Canada has an opportunity with the credit crisis to go farther by finally implementing a comprehensive set of measures to protect Canadian consumers.
To ensure the pandemic doesn’t leave today’s youth behind, governments, employers, and post-secondary institutions need to find innovative ways to create smooth transitions to an otherwise bumpy labour market.The Hot Room Podcast
Liberal climate change target bill needs "more accountability" in the next 10 years to help fight climate change
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Politics This Morning
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As things stand in Canada, the opposition has more, not less control. It can choose when to call the government’s bluff and defeat the government on an issue that is important enough to trigger an election.
If we play our cards right, Canada can create good jobs, clean growth, and prosperity for Canadians in the low-carbon society of the future.
Now is not the time for scoring political points over jurisdiction. COVID-19 brought tragic consequences to the lack of federal standards. We have a chance to right that wrong.
There is no Canadian-content production crisis at the moment, but Steven Guilbeault’s new bill may well create one.
The Biden presidency is an opportunity for Canada and the world to step back from the brink and break free from that implied and sadly predictable global death wish.
The Canadian public needs to actually see the politicians struggling with these issues. One forum would be an open televised a federal-provincial conference. The prime minister should immediately call one.In new book, Roche offers recovery for a wounded world in the new Biden era
The Biden presidency is an opportunity for Canada and the world to step back from the brink and break free from that implied and sadly predictable global death wish.The definitive history of Canada’s role on the United Nations Security Council
The first definitive history of Canada's time on the UN Security Council is a must read for anyone interested in Canadian foreign policy. A closer look at Erin O’Toole’s 78-member OLO team
John Nieuwenhuis has joined the OLO, as has Dan Robertson, who's been recruited to serve as a senior adviser to the leader on communications.Justice Minister Lametti’s director of criminal law leaves post to return to Legal Aid Commission in Yellowknife
Plus, Tania Amghar is back in Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan’s office, among other recent additions to the minister’s team.‘This is a national crisis, not a series of provincial pandemics,’ says columnist Gilmore, urging PM to take ‘national response’
Plus, two former Hill staffers are hired by two separate public relations and affairs firms, and a former NDP MP returns to her mayoral post in La Loche, Sask.The Hill to honour Remembrance Day in minimalist ceremony with vintage flyover
Plus, Yasmin Ratansi resigns from the Liberal caucus and Hillites commemorate the life of Alex Trebek.As union members face COVID-19 pandemic ‘head on,’ PSAC calls for feds to return to bargaining table
Treasury Board spokesperson Martin Potvin says the government's goal is to take 'constructive steps to keep meeting and to prepare for negotiations when they resume.'‘Critical situation’ in prisons as health-care workers threaten to walk over lack of protective equipment
'The Correctional Service of Canada continues to take a number of preventative measures to restrict the spread of COVID-19 in federal institutions,' according to the office of Public Safety Minister Bill Blair. No more Hill parties, after coronavirus pandemic forces Parliament Hill to shut down
'Politics and the Pen is probably the exact opposite of social distancing. We cram so many people into the ballroom that you can barely keep one to two inches away,' says Jim Armour. Sorbara makes ’em howl at the Métropolitain
Pat Sorbara's new book, Let 'em Howl, offers lessons learned over a more than four-decade career in federal and provincial politics as a high-ranking Liberal backroomer. Mexico calls on Canada to maintain new measures protecting migrant workers
Inspections, national housing standards, and continuing a binational contact group are among key commitments Mexico would like from Canada, says its consular head in Ottawa.
Hungarian envoy sees a ‘new momentum’ for bilateral relationship
Mária Éva Vass-Salazar says her priorities in Ottawa include tightening political connections, trade, innovation, and co-operation through NATO.
Canada’s Ambassador to U.S. Hillman to discuss Canada-U.S. relations Nov. 24 with La Presse correspondent
Canada's Ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman, pictured, will discuss 'Canada-U.S. Relations: COVID-19, Trade, Border, and Beyond' with Richard Hétu, correspondent for La Presse in New York, in a bilingual webinar hosted by the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, Nov. 24. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured Nov. 20, 2020, was back at Rideau Cottage, a familiar backdrop for Canadians who tuned for his press briefings during the first wave of the pandemic. Trudeau pleaded with the public to limit social contacts and to take it upon themselves to help flatten while the country is in the grip of a second wave that could be grimmer than the first.
