Columns
National Column: PM finds his voice in fight against terror
Sometimes you’ve got to be pissed off.
Justin Trudeau got there this week as his response to terrorism continues its remarkable evolution. […]
national column
Columns
National Column: Rethinking the missile defence issue
It was barely a decade ago, but much of the emotional debate on both sides of the border over Canada’s participation in a North American missile-defence program seems already forgotten.
It was an issue that pivoted on matters of Canadian sovereignty, bilateral relations and the weaponization of space, but for the prime minister of the day, Paul Martin, the decision to stay out of the American program was really about the toxicity of the U.S. president of the day, George W. Bush. […]
Columns
National Column: Day of vindication for delighted Duffy
Had he so chosen, Mike Duffy could have left his familiar courtroom perch Thursday, made a hard right and taken a step on the long road to redemption.
He could have marched down the wide expanse of Elgin St. toward the War Memorial, veered left and into the Centre Block’s east doors leading to the Senate chamber. […]
Columns
National Column: Millennials helped, and could hurt, PM
But for young millennial voters Justin Trudeau might not have won a majority victory last fall.
As an Abacus Data study confirmed this week, the younger cohort of the electorate tilted the balance in favour of the Liberals. By turning out in greater numbers and coalescing behind Trudeau, voters aged 18 to 25 almost certainly made a difference between a minority and a majority. […]
Columns
National Column: Assisted-dying bill exploited by all sides
by Tim Harper When it comes to physician-assisted dying, should the beliefs of a health-care institution trump a charter right […]
Columns
National Column: Provinces can fill Bill C-14 void
The sky won’t fall if Parliament fails to pass legislation on assisted death by the court-imposed deadline of June 6. It was always going to be no longer a criminal act after that date for a medical practitioner to help a patient who wanted to end their life. Plans for a federal law were never meant to do more than circumscribe this new reality. […]
Columns
National Column: Mulcair and the 70% solution
If New Democrats feel they wrongly moved to the centre during last year’s election campaign, they should resist a similar move to the messy middle at this weekend’s national convention.
On this, I am not talking about policy. I am talking about support for Thomas Mulcair, because numbers matter more than ever. […]
Columns
Column: NDP has a crisis at the top
As the New Democrats prepare to pronounce on Thomas Mulcair’s leadership, here is a prediction:
Regardless of how the NDP leader scores on a confidence vote Sunday, there will be little or no cause for celebration at the party’s gathering in Edmonton. […]
Columns
National Column: Ex-Harper minister first to run for Tory leadership
Former cabinet minister Kellie Leitch has become the first official candidate to replace Stephen Harper as Conservative leader, sounding the starting gun on a race that will stretch over 13 months. […]
Columns
National Column: Honest talk from an environment minister who’s feeling the heat
You can leaf through a calendar and point to a number of spots where a Liberal government seemingly on cruise control is heading for some heavy weather. […]
Columns
National Column: In tepid defence of Thomas Mulcair
If Thomas Mulcair were the leader of the Conservatives or Liberals, he would have cleaned out his office long ago.
But he leads the federal NDP. No pushing, please. We have a process. […]
Columns
National Column: Quebec federalist joins Senate
Before emerging as one of Quebec’s leading federalist voices, future senator AndrÈ Pratte twice voted yes in the space of 15 years for a Quebec outside the Canadian Federation. […]
Columns
National Column: Liberals pick up where they left off
For all the talk about a new activist federal era, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first budget largely picks up where Paul Martin left off – at least when it comes to spending priorities.
Improving the terms of the relationship between Canada and its indigenous people was front and centre on the former Liberal prime minister’s radar. At the time of its defeat in 2006, the Martin government was about to start implementing the Kelowna Accord. […]
Columns
National Column: Government betting that Canadians’ dreams include deficits
Welcome to the era of deficits and dreams.
Some of the dreams are deferred, but the deficits seem cast in stone. […]
Columns
National Column: Liberal success is rivals’ failure
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is unveiling the long-awaited first Liberal budget today to a more receptive audience than when he was elected last fall.
According to an Abacus poll published over the weekend, a majority in every province except Alberta approves of his performance to date. […]
Columns
National Column: Trump an issue for new-look Tories
Federal Conservatives have moved with astonishing speed and depth in their repudiation of the Stephen Harper years.
Some senior members of the party now talk of the need for carbon pricing. They back the Liberal inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women. They talk of a national anti-poverty strategy, speak in more centrist tones and are showing Canadians a softer, more appealing style with Rona Ambrose as interim leader. […]