Minority rules: 2020’s most influential figures to watch in federal politics
Parliamentarians could be in for a lengthy minority Parliament, or not. Minority parliaments typically croak at the two-year mark, whether at the hands of a confident government angling for a majority or through confidence votes opposition parties can’t stomach. There are signs that opposition parties—the NDP has money woes, the Conservatives are barely in the […]
Fisheries, seas, and globalization: three new reads to look out for
Three new books on Canada’s struggling fishing industry, changing seas, and how globalization has left the middle class behind are set to hit the shelves. A new book by Canadian economist Jeff Rubin dives into how the middle class got “stuck with the bill” for globalization and how the populist wave of Brexit and the […]
Gov. Gen. Payette to visit Auschwitz and Israel to mark 75-years since death camp’s liberation
Governor General Julie Payette is in Israel and later this week, on Jan. 27, will travel to Poland to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. During the Second World War, from 1940 to 1945, 1.3 million prisoners were sent to Auschwitz, of whom 1.1 million were killed at the […]
Key directors hired in Labour Minister Tassi’s office
Labour Minister Filomena Tassi has made a number of key hires in her ministerial office, which, as previously reported, is being run by chief of staff Jude Welch. Miles Hopper has been named director of policy to Ms. Tassi. He was previously working with then-employment, workforce development, and labour minister Patty Hajdu as a policy […]
Kuwait ambassador brings team approach to diplomacy
Diplomacy is not so different from the calculations Kuwait’s new ambassador to Canada says she made as a squash player for her country, bringing the same “drive for achievement” to her now third head of mission posting. Strategy also comes into play on both fields of interest, noted Reem Al Khaled. “When do you place […]
‘There has never been an ethnographer-activist the likes of James Teit’
While doing research in the 1970s on ethnographic work on Indigenous singers and songs in British Columbia’s south central interior, University of Victoria history professor Wendy Wickwire made an exciting discovery: the long-forgotten historical figure James Teit, once a prolific ethnographer, anthropologist, and an Indigenous rights political activist in the early 1900s who had been […]
MacEachern to host fundraiser event for ovarian cancer research on Jan. 23 at the Métropolitain
MONDAY, JAN. 20 House Not Sitting—The House of Commons has adjourned and is scheduled to return on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. Senate Not Sitting—The Senate has adjourned and is scheduled to return on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. Canadian Art in a Global World—The Canadian Club of Ottawa hosts a panel discussion on “Canadian Art in […]
Canada-China Relations House Committee members announced, to meet to decide chair
A House committee that was formed in the first Commons vote since the federal election will meet on Jan. 20 to elect its chair. Its members were announced on Jan. 15. The special committee has six Liberals MPs and six opposition MPs to deal with Canada’s troubled relationship with China. Its government members include Liberal […]
Flanagan named one of two policy heads to Environment Minister Wilkinson
There are a number of new faces now at work in Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s office, including new director of climate, energy, and regulatory affairs Erin Flanagan. Ms. Flanagan was last posted in then-international trade minister Jim Carr’s office as director of policy. Before she joined that office in January 2019, she’d […]
‘One of the best drummers in the world’: politicos remember the life of Neil Peart
Following the death of Rush’s Neil Peart, politicos offered tributes to the iconic Canadian drummer. “We’ve lost a legend,” tweeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “But his influence and legacy will live on forever in the hearts of music lovers in Canada and around the world.” Mr. Peart died on Jan. 7 from brain cancer, which […]
