No prime minister in Canadian history has used identity politics more than Justin Trudeau
In a famous 60 Minutes interview in 2012, Mike Wallace asked actor Morgan Freeman how to get rid of racism. Freeman instantly responds by saying it’s easy: stop referring to him as a Black man and he will stop referring to Wallace as a white man. Freeman says only by removing racist labels will we…
There’s no historical precedent for removing a governor general and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s hands are tied
In the midst of the WE Charity scandal, the news cycle is now dealing with what I like to call the “ME Charity case.” This refers to the growing controversy surrounding Julie Payette, the 29th governor general of Canada since Confederation. I, and a few other columnists and political commentators, thought she was a questionable…
The WE mess shows sunny ways have been replaced with dark days of the same old cronyism in the halls of power
Just when you think our prime minister may actually be growing into his job, he does something so ill-considered, so tone-deaf and so contrary to generally accepted political convention that all the confidence he has earned in the past few weeks evaporates in a flash. Such was Justin Trudeau’s foolish and inexplicable attachment to the…
Unfortunately, the list of ethical failures by the current Liberal government is very long
Canada recently failed in a bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. It’s something neither Stephen Harper’s nor Justin Trudeau’s government has been able to achieve. The last time Canada was on the Security Council was when Jean Chretien was prime minister in 2000. Before that, it was during the…
The federal government has tried to extort political gain from Alberta in exchange for approval of projects, while pushing job-killing policies
Albertans didn’t need to hold their breath for Ottawa’s approval of the Frontier oil sands mine. Reports of massive opposition within the Liberal Party caucus and rumours of an appeasing economic aid package for the province were strong indicators that the federal cabinet had no intention of approving the Frontier mine in northern Alberta. In…
More progressive nonsense from the Liberals and another poor Conservative campaign could open the door for populists like the People’s Party
The failure of the People’s Party of Canada to win a single seat was, to me, the most surprising revelation of the Oct. 21 federal election. The writing appeared to be on the wall for Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Conservatives seem poised to be squeezed by the insurgent populists. For the People’s…
A coalition partner could have been exactly what the prime minister needed to show Canadians that he needs a majority to do his job properly
After the Oct. 21 federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he would continue his progressive agenda despite his Liberals losing 20 seats and falling 13 seats short of a majority in Parliament. A coalition government was widely expected, with the NDP opening the door to talks. However, a strong left-wing, progressive presence in…
Fittingly, it fell to one of Canada’s finest expatriate essayists to succinctly describe with characteristic understatement the 2019 federal election. “There is no place in a democracy for gangster government,” Adam Gopnik wrote in The New Yorker the morning after Canadians went to the polls. “That reminder made Monday night a truly worthwhile Canadian initiative.”…
The diversity and complexity of Canadian federal politics echoes through the 2019 general election results
So I voted Liberal. What did that accomplish? The 33.1 per cent of the 66 per cent of Canadian voters who managed to vote in the 2019 federal election gave the Liberals 157 seats, or 46.4 per cent of the 338 seats in the House of Commons. Clearly first past-the-post system has its advantages. The…
The government has an impressive team, a strong record of legislation and has raised our international standing
Aided by corrosive social media, omnipresent angry groups and the need for climate tempering, the countdown to the federal election has been divisive and grouchy. While many viewed at least one of the leadership debates, I sense Canadians understand that there’s much more at stake than individual party leader street credentials in this election. Some…