OPINION
Trudeau’s problem is he can’t cut a deal
OTTAWA—Right now, Justin Trudeau has a deal problem. Specifically, the prime minister hasn’t really closed a significant major trade or pipeline project of his making thus far in his mandate. Even his climate change plan…
In 1984, when the movie Revenge of the Nerds hit theatres, the concept of a nerd uprising was entirely aspirational and constrained to a single fictional college campus. Back then, nerddom was defined by a propensity for…
Fatima Abba Bukar is nine months pregnant. It is her first pregnancy since she miscarried while fleeing Boko Haram late one night more than a year ago in northern Nigeria. She’s safe now and recently…
Canada is the world's second-biggest consumer of pharmaceutical opioids—second only to the United States. To put that in perspective, retail pharmacies across Canada dispensed 19 million prescriptions for opioids in 2016, up slightly from 18.9…
TORONTO—It’s the biggest political scandal in the world. And it involves a bunch of Canadians. For quite some time now, it’s been known that Vladimir Putin’s Russia—and assorted other outlaw states, like North Korea—have been…
OTTAWA—Is it just me or is it strange that an independent, secular democracy cannot make simple decisions on who it wants to allow to stay in the country? We are speaking here of immigrants, of…
OTTAWA—Euroskeptics are worried that British Prime Minister Theresa May will allow her country’s historic Brexit endeavour to degrade into nothing more than Brino. An acronym for “Brexit in name only,” Brino is a term used…
Amid the considerable coverage churn of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the resulting widespread neurosis over what people have told shadowy Facebook quizzers about their pizza preferences and incriminating spirit animals, it’s worth noting that…Hill Times Columnists
TORONTO—Like climate change, the future of jobs is one of those looming issues that cannot be avoided. Technology is on the march and has its own seemingly unstoppable momentum, dividing us because it delivers both…
OTTAWA—On Saturday, April 7, I awoke to catch a breaking story on CTV’s news channel. It was being reported that a chemical weapons attack had been perpetrated in a rebel-held town in Syria. A veteran…
OTTAWA—Thousands of Liberals from across the country will descend on Halifax this weekend to plan their path to a potential electoral victory. It will be the final national meeting in advance of the next election…
CHELSEA, QUE.—She’s done it again. Free child care for pre-schoolers in Ontario! This cynical ploy follows a series of recent outrages: free drugs for seniors, a staged increase in the minimum wage to $15 an…
OTTAWA—We get a peek at what security intelligence services do all too rarely in this country. In contrast, the recent leaking of an FBI memo on the investigation into possible Russian meddling in the 2016…
Opinion
Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to the minister of democratic institutions, rose in the House of Commons earlier this month to announce that the Trudeau government will not support proposed legislation that would strictly limit donations…
There are always some casualties when a new form of transportation comes along. In 1830, at the official opening of the world’s first railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, a well-known British politician, William Huskisson,…
There has been more attention lately on how to deal with abandoned vessels in Canada. Recent legislation introduced by the federal government is a step in the right direction. The solution to clean up these…Re: “Canada should denounce those who glorify Latvia’s Nazi past,” (The Hill Times, March 14, p. 10). Once again, Scott Taylor’s article appears to be a defence of Russia’s most common contemporary narratives. Coincidence? Latvians…
Canada and 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region signed the historic Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on March 8 in Chile. Taiwan welcomes this development, and is making every effort…
OTTAWA—I remember quite clearly one fall morning several years before I retired from Global Affairs Canada when I joined other staff at a roundtable coffee-and-muffins breakfast with the deputy minister responsible for international development. I…
The government is soon to release a new food policy for Canada. With six departments actively engaged, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the helm, the national food policy has occasioned an ambitious and often…More than two years into its mandate, and after much consultation, the Liberal government announced this week it would send 250 military personnel and helicopters to Mali as part of an ongoing United Nations mission…
Editorial
Progressive trade agenda cuts both ways
The Liberals have hung their trade hat on the idea that they will only sign deals that are “progressive.” Aside from the traditional tariff-easing measures of run-of-the-mill trade deals, the Liberals have tried to carve…
Prime Minister Trudeau’s decision to interrupt his foreign trip to help resolve Trans Mountain pipeline expansion issue a step in the right direction
In the midst of his 10-day international travel, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to return to Canada, on Sunday, to meet with B.C. Premier John Hrogan and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley to discuss ways to…
Liberals should have been more forthright about Russian expulsions
News about the real reason behind the Liberal government’s expulsion of four Russian diplomats on March 26 has come out in dribs and drabs, and that’s disappointing. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland initially announced in a…
Letters to the editor
Strengthen gun-control bill so that my son didn’t die in vain
I sincerely believed, following my Nov. 28 meeting with Ralph Goodale, that the public safety minister would have at least recognized the devastating human cost of certain flaws in current gun-control laws and that, in…
It’s time world leaders ease threat of nuclear war
Re: “American troops in Syria have no legal authority to be there,” (The Hill Times, April 11, p. 9). Another factual article. Columnist Scott Taylor ends up by pointing out the consequences of the conflict…
Budget does nothing to stop special treatment for Netflix, says Quebec MP Pauzé
Apparently the Minister of Canadian Heritage is being more forceful in her dealings with web giants. I am certainly glad to hear that. She said they will have to comply with our cultural policies and…
Hill Times Columnists
OAKVILLE, ONT.—If nothing else, the current pipeline dispute pitting British Columbia against Alberta has exposed the basic weakness of “Trudeauology." In case you’re wondering, “Trudeauology” is my name for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unique brand…
LONDON, ENGLAND—Presidents and prime ministers who start wars still don’t go to jail, but in democratic countries it is getting common to see presidents facing jail for corruption. In fact, we have had three since…
TORONTO—July 2017: the Assembly of First Nations has gathered for its 38th general assembly in downtown Regina. Thousands of Indigenous people from across Canada are in attendance. Along with speeches, seminars and cultural events, there…
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III. Bob Woodward New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. The water-cooler take on Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein has long been that Woodward was the plodding, anal one…
What a year it has been for women in politics in Canada. The developments have been dramatic in some cases, lacklustre or downright disturbing in others. While generally there’s been progress, the devil is in the details.…
Opinion
In June 2016, the Senate of Canada released a report entitled “Tear Down These Walls: Dismantling Canada’s Internal Trade Barriers,” which called upon federal and provincial/territorial governments to take priority action on removing internal barriers…
My recent visit to Ottawa resulted in the strengthening of cooperation efforts to benefit vulnerable areas in the Americas. The agency I lead, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), together with several prestigious…
OTTAWA—"Why are we still fighting certain veterans groups in court? Because they're asking for more than we are able to give right now." And with that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau betrayed a key election promise…Cape Breton Island was annexed in 1820 without the consent of its governor or consent of the island residents. Annexation was in response to the Crown losing a tax case 1816-1820 to two CBI mine…
TORONTO—The 2015 federal election campaign was, in fiscal terms, about hope versus austerity—what was more important, to spend more to foster growth and jobs, even if it meant running deficits, or balancing the budget as…
OTTAWA—Doug Ford could well be the next premier of Ontario. He just has to keep his mouth shut for three months in order to pave the way for a victory in June. That could be…
The prospect that Doug Ford could be in charge of Canada’s largest province by July 1 is bad news for the three main federal leaders. For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, it could mean the window…
Recent furor over whether American tariffs on steel and aluminum imports would apply to Canadian products illustrated perfectly the vulnerability of some segments of the economy to wild fluctuations in international trade. But as steel…
Hill Times Columnists
Notwithstanding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to double down on the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, the plan faces the same hurdles today as it did before he hauled the feuding premiers of Alberta…
POWERS: I hope enough Quebecers tell Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marios to kiss Prince Harry’s recently displayed arse on Sept. 4 and that Jean Charest is returned to power. Any leader like Marois who wants…
OTTAWA—On the evening of July 25, 2010, an oil pipeline owned by Enbridge Inc. ruptured near Marshall, Mich. During the 17 hours it took for the company to turn off the flow, more than three…
TORONTO—As we know, life goes on no matter what. Now that Jack Layton is resting in peace, the race to replace him is on, both as leader and MP for the Toronto Danforth riding. There…
POWELL RIVER, B.C.—Justin Trudeau has proven to be much more bold in his first couple of weeks than almost anyone imagined. And unlike Jean Chrétien and his 1993 election Red Book, Trudeau actually seems to…