Mulcair was never someone who could win
Showing the pride and impenetrably thick hide of the best political performers, NDP leader Tom Mulcair ignored his own deep wounds to savage the Liberal government in the Commons this week. He was fresh from crippling betrayal by his party at a weekend convention in Edmonton. Yet Mulcair was still at his finest going after…
Mulcair may rise from the ashes once the consequences of the NDP's radical shift to the fringes become apparent
Last week’s NDP convention in Edmonton had all the makings of a typical political event. Instead, it turned out to be one of the biggest political bombshells in Canadian history. Early on, there were few indications that anything unusual was about to happen. Various discussions about policy ideas and political goals went smoothly. Partisan speeches…
Whatever the outcome of the vote in Edmonton, he will lose. And the New Democrat mutineers will lose, too
Spare a thought, this morning, for Tom Mulcair. Later today, the NDP faithful decide his fate at their weekend gathering in Edmonton. Whatever the outcome, this much is beyond dispute: the NDP face a choice that is the worst of both possibilities. If the assembled Dippers summarily dismiss Mulcair, they collectively face the prospect of a leadership…
NDP prepares to jettison its founding vision and sacrifice Alberta workers on the altar of extreme environmentalism
History has caught up with the federal New Democratic Party. The third party emerged in the 1960s, at a time when there seemed to be little difference between the Liberals and then-Progressive Conservatives. The democratic socialist alternative stood for everything the two establishment parties did not: the little guy, organized labour, the environment, gender equality…
Deficit spending by the Trudeau government will simply slow our recovery and handicap future generations
The federal government’s planned $30-billion budget deficit, to be followed by three more deficits totalling $113 billion, brings to mind former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s observation that “It’s not often that nations learn from the past, even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.” The budget deficit is triple the “modest”…
The Trudeau government’s repeated rhetoric about building a prosperous economic future on infrastructure is bogus
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute A major theme in the lead-up to the recent federal budget was a commitment to increased infrastructure spending. The Liberals gave the impression that infrastructure would be a key driver of their deficit spending and that such spending would help drive long-term economic growth. Yet it…
Borrowing money to fund today’s entitlement programs just kicks the can of repayment down the line
Canada’s national debt today is $619-billion. That means each one of us owes $17,100 to Ottawa’s creditors. This amount is in addition to provincial government debt, municipal debt, and in the case of many people, substantial private debt. Over the next four years, the Canadian government is going to spend a lot more money, so…
Trudeau’s proposal for Canadians to join the Liberal Party for free is of more benefit to the other political parties than his own
Hey, folks! Have I got a deal for you. Want to join one of Canada’s oldest political parties . . . for free? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced at a national board meeting in Halifax recently his intentions to modify the Liberal Party constitution. If it’s passed during the national convention in May, you’ll be…
Liberal spending increases, not a weak economy, driving big deficits
By Charles Lammam and Ben Eisen The Fraser Institute In advance of tabling their first budget, the Liberals conveyed a message that deteriorating government finances were the result of a weak economy. The reality of the budget is quite different from the rhetoric; the source of the large and sustained deficits is a marked increase…
Despite the Trudeau government’s denials, a state of war does exist between Canada and ISIL
The first casualty of war isn’t truth. It turns out it’s meaning. Ipso facto, is “Canada” in a state of “war” with “the Islamic State?” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion emphatically state that we are not. Said the Prime Minister on CBC radio: “A war is something that can be…