Journalists: dig into PM’s substance, go easy on the style
The Trudeaus are celebrities; that doesn’t always make them newsworthy. The explosion of online publishing, opinion-centred media, and political tribalism has provided plenty of fuel for those wishing to dismiss or deride journalists. In Canada, that derision often includes accusations that members of the press are left-leaning loyalists to Justin Trudeau and the governing Liberals. […]
Easy to poke holes in Trump’s Afghanistan plan
OTTAWA—On Aug. 21, when United States President Donald Trump made his long-anticipated announcement about the war in Afghanistan, even he had to admit that he has his doubts about his chosen path. “My original instinct was to pull out,” said Trump, “and, historically, I like following my instincts.” Senior Pentagon and national security advisers have […]
O’Regan’s humility will get him far in Ottawa
OTTAWA—Justin Trudeau changed up parts of his cabinet this week, in response to Judy Foote’s departure and an apparent dissatisfaction with the state of the Indigenous Affairs Department. Having worked in that department in a previous life, it comes as no surprise that yet another prime minister finds the place backwards. However, one of the […]
Trudeau’s mid-term cabinet shuffle a recognition of the realities of governing
OTTAWA—Nearing the mid-point in the Liberal mandate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet Aug. 28 in recognition that the realities of government are a far cry from wishful campaign musings. Prompted by the resignation of former minister Judy Foote, Trudeau staged a big cabinet re-arrangement, primarily taking aim at intractable Aboriginal affairs issues. After the Conservatives’ […]
Inside the Washington inside Ottawa
John Stewart spent 20 years as an economist and manager with the United States Embassy in Ottawa. This is the first of two excerpts from his book Strangers with Memories: The United States and Canada from Free Trade to Baghdad, now available from the fall catalogue of McGill-Queen’s University Press. Diplomatic mission requires self-starting individual to […]
Smearing the messenger: Trump’s tactical war on journalism
In the early 1970s, before the Parti Québécois won its first election in 1976, René Lévesque made an appearance at the National Press Club in Ottawa. In the middle of Lévesque’s disquisition on the necessity of Quebec separation, my father stood up and said, “That’s bullshit,” and walked out. Tom Van Dusen had grown up in Gracefield, Que., […]
A true national capital should be bilingual
OTTAWA—A few months ago I appeared in front of the planning committee of Ottawa city council, and pointed out that a development on Main Street had not offered services or signs in English and French. This was happening in a neighbourhood where the mother tongue of a significant number of families is French, where there […]
Now not time to divert resources to guard against alt-right terrorism
OTTAWA—A lot of people are worried about the rise of the far right these days in light of what happened in Charlottesville, Va., recently. At least that seems to be the case, based on the number of articles and op-ed pieces that I have come across in my news scanning, as well as the number […]
What’s NAFTA worth to Canada?
TORONTO—The biggest unknowns in the NAFTA negotiations now underway are the minimum package that U.S. President Donald Trump feels he must have to overhaul what he has called “perhaps the worst trade deal ever negotiated” and whether Canada and Mexico could ever agree to the changes he’s seeking to satisfy his core supporters and win […]
Mulroney was compromiser like Clinton, Trump is buffoon like Berlusconi
Re: “Was Mulroney Trump before there was Trump?” (The Hill Times, Aug. 14, p. 10). Susan Riley might have missed the real picture when she compares former prime minister Brian Mulroney with U.S. President Donald Trump in their antagonism to the press. She quotes Peter Newman, writer of The Secret Mulroney Tapes, saying: “The defining […]
