Columns

National Column: At least Donald Trump frightened political elites

Donald Trump’s real accomplishment is this: He has terrified the establishment.

And maybe that’s a good thing.

Even before the votes in the U.S. presidential race were counted Tuesday night, the effects of Trump’s insurgent candidacy roiled the world. […]

Columns

National Column: Trials and tribulations of negotiating CETA

Politics is often a mix of emotion and calculation. It’s impossible to eliminate either impulse. Perhaps it’s unwise to try. Take the moment when Chrystia Freeland walked out of talks on Canada-European Union trade in Brussels on Oct. 21.
[…]

Columns

National Column: Spying exposes weak-kneed judges

Connect the dots between Quebec’s police corps and the half-dozen or more investigative journalists who were put under surveillance over the past decade and you will find a gaggle of judges potentially derelict in their gatekeeping duties.
[…]

Columns

National Column: Amid economic gloom, a bet on infrastructure

That sea of troubles, it just keeps rising. The floodwaters of uncertainty turned the English Channel into a gulf between Britain and Europe. They may yet sink Hillary Clinton. The $6 billion a year that Bill Morneau set aside for – wait for it – a rainy day have already vanished beneath the waves. […]

Columns

National Column: What if MPs want a free voice, like Senators?

Justin Trudeau named nine new senators on Thursday. It’s said he’ll name 12 more within days. Live in Ontario or Quebec? Check the mail. You may already be a winner!

This is especially likely if you’re one of 2,700 people who applied for a seat in Parliament’s plush red upper chamber. […]

Columns

National Column: Top court appointee raises bilingual bar

As Justice Malcolm Rowe – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first appointee to the Supreme Court – fielded a barrage of questions from MPs and senators on Tuesday, there was nothing to suggest he was not a flesh-and-blood person. […]

Editorial & Opinion

National Column: Charleroi’s misery explains CETA impasse

Justin Trudeau’s impromptu humility tour continues. In Hamilton the other day, he visited the mayor and a bystander threw pumpkin seeds at him. In Medicine Hat, he visited byelection voters and they threw a Conservative at him. In Ottawa, he spoke to young members of the Canadian Labour Congress and dozens turned their backs. […]

Columns

National Column: Alberta byelection focused on energy

In past Parliaments, the choice of a new MP for the Alberta riding of Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner on Monday would have been a bit of a non-event.

The seat is a Conservative stronghold. MP Jim Hillyer, who died suddenly earlier this year, won with 69 per cent of the vote in last year’s election. […]

Columns

National Column: Liberals are taking a gamble by reversing election promises

What’s a government to do when promises start to unravel? We’re about to find out.

The Trudeau Liberals’ 2015 platform took quite a knocking this month. Electoral reform? Not if Canadians don’t want it, says Justin Trudeau, while continuing to resist the obvious mechanism – a referendum – for finding out whether they do. More generosity on health care? […]

Columns

National Column: One year on: Promises, what promises?

Much celebration – for the most part justified – is attending the first anniversary of Justin Trudeau’s election victory. Twelve months later, polls elicit no buyer’s remorse. Many voters who did not support Trudeau last year are on balance happy he won. […]