Columns
National Column: Public’s goodwill already traded away
A reader wrote after my last column on the Belgians and the Canada-EU trade deal. “Hi Paul: Just a note to express disappointment.” […]
paul wells
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: Chasing trillions to build billions in infrastructure
Justin Trudeau had been prime minister for barely two months when he made his first visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, a gaudy alpine day camp for zillionaires and Hollywood’s we-have-all-the-answers set. The skepticism that attended the young prime minister’s late nights with Bono and Kevin Spacey was healthy and natural.
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Columns
National Column: The bluster on health-care funding
“Your French is getting better,” a reporter told Jane Philpott on Wednesday as the federal health minister wrapped up a chat with some members of the press gallery before the weekly Liberal caucus meeting. […]
Columns
National Column: Why I quit Twitter
It’s a strange feeling walking away from something that has taken up a substantial fraction of your waking life for seven years. On Monday, I deactivated my Twitter account. […]
Columns
National Columns: We are sorry
Two of Trudeau’s top aides expensed $207,000 for moving from Toronto to Ottawa. Now, after two days on the defensive, Katie Telford and Gerald Butts say they’ll pay some of it back. […]
Columns
National Column: General cautious about progress against Daesh
An optimist would say Canada’s battle against Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Iraq is going well. Lt.-Gen. Stephen Bowes is careful not to say that. […]
Columns
National Column: Electoral reform talks are in full swing, sort of
Now we’re cooking with grease. After a lazy summer during which Canadians could not be made to care about anything in particular in any great number, there will soon be an electoral-reform town hall at a location near you. […]
Columns
National Column: Quiet departure in keeping with Harper’s character
by Paul Wells From his years as PM to his low-key resignation video, he remained intensely private to the end […]
Columns
National Column: Cabinet retreat is a chance to learn
Summer ends for the Liberals this weekend. On Sunday and Monday, the cabinet meets in Sudbury for a two-day retreat. Thursday and Friday the full Liberal caucus will be in Saguenay, north of Quebec City, for two days of meetings to prepare for the autumn sitting of Parliament. Four days after that, Justin Trudeau leaves for eight days in China, a trip his office views as a high priority. […]
Columns
National Column: The political cost of minister’s limo bill
As he announced he would reimburse all the money he charged Jane Philpott for limo service around Toronto, Reza Shirani of Executive Sedan Livery Service Inc. had a stern warning to newspaper columnists and other bottom-feeders. […]
Columns
National Column: Cabinet hell-bent on your input
Canada must be a nation of innovators. “684 ideas for #CdnInnovation,” Navdeep Bains, the federal minister for innovation, science and economic development, wrote on Twitter on Monday. “Have you submitted yours yet?” […]
Columns
National Column: Canada’s return to NATO’s front line has air of familiarity to it
And so Canadian soldiers are heading back to Europe.
Times change and the world, despite a steady drumbeat of appalling headlines, is safer for us than for our parents. So the deployment of 450 Canadian Forces troops to Latvia won’t be nearly as formidable as the deployment to West Germany – often more than 10 times larger – that was Canada’s defining military commitment for 42 years through the Cold War. […]
Columns
National Column: Coffee, tea or electoral reform?
“Congratulations! You have decided to host a dialogue on Canadian federal electoral reform,” I read in the federal government’s new handbook, Your Guide to Hosting a Successful Dialogue on Canadian Federal Electoral Reform, as I walked up Parliament Hill on Thursday. […]
Columns
National Column: ‘Leave’ campaign’s wish list is lying in tatters
A paradox.
No important British or European personality has said publicly that the U.K. shouldn’t leave the European Union in the wake of the Brexit referendum two weeks ago. They’re unanimous that Leave means Leave. This includes every candidate to replace David Cameron as British Tory leader, poor Jeremy Corbyn across the Commons aisle, […]
Columns
National Column: Effort matters more than pep talks
I like a good speech, too, just like you. Even when it doesn’t always line up precisely with the facts.
Canada’s Parliament has seen many distinguished visitors, but those who were there will be talking about Barack Obama’s speech for years to come. In the perilous hour, with Britain apparently pulling out of the European Union and Donald Trump the likely Republican nominee for president, Obama made a detailed and compelling case for a more generous path. […]