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National Column: Playing politics with Quebec’s future

Among Canada’s larger provinces, none is greying faster than Quebec. For the first time in its modern history, the province is struggling with labour shortages. To varying degrees all its regions including Montreal are affected. […]

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National Column: Immigration issue is a dangerous game

The refugee issue has long simmered beneath the surface of Canadian politics. It was there when former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government passed the infamous Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, a thinly-disguised attack on Muslims.
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National Column: Premiers at election crossroads

It is always risky to judge a gift by its wrapper.

For very different reasons, the pre-election dynamics shifted in Ontario and Quebec this week, possibly in a way favourable to the ruling Liberals in either province.
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National Column: Not even sunglasses are spared in Quebec bill

Somewhere in the Quebec government’s legal department, a team of lawyers is bracing to argue in court in what may be the not-too-distant future that the wearing of dark sunglasses puts the safety of the province’s public transit system at risk. Ditto presumably in the case of local libraries and city parks. […]

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National Column: Energy East demise changes political landscape

In light of the contrary feelings the demise of the Energy East pipeline inspired in Calgary and Montreal, this week it is easy to forget that the project was born under a relatively auspicious star alignment in Quebec. Or that political resistance to pipeline developments is hardly exclusive to that province. […]

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National Column: Quebec reaction to Netflix deal: Non!

If Netflix’s offerings reflected the vitality of Canada’s film and television industries, one might understand why Justin Trudeau’s government would give the American conglomerate preferential tax-free treatment in recognition of its vital role in putting the country on the streaming map. […]

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National Column: Harper’s hands-off approach to Quebec

Did Stephen Harper’s approach to Quebec accelerate the decline of the sovereignty movement, or was the former prime minister just the accidental beneficiary of a collective desire on the part of Quebecers to move on from the deadlock over the province’s political future?
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National Column: PM’s words unlikely to stem border flow

“You will not be at an advantage if you choose to enter Canada irregularly. You must follow the rules and there are many.” – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled on Wednesday to Montreal – ground zero of the intense media coverage of the asylum-seeking issue – to try to unknit some of his own knitting. […]