U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra told a closed-door meeting on Tuesday that Ottawa could be blamed if key races in next week’s midterm elections go against U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party. According to three sources with knowledge of the discussions, Hoekstra delivered the message at a private business lunch hosted at his official residence in Ottawa. The sources...
No exemptions for Canada despite adopting carbon pricing. Canada is facing a carbon tariff threat from the European Union within months as the economic bloc fully implements its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). According to internal documents CBC News obtained through an access to information request, Canadian iron, steel and aluminum are not exempt from the carbon tariff even with...
British Columbia’s incoming Conservative premier is already showing signs he may not follow the same policies proposed by federal Conservatives, with his lukewarm response to their proposed tanker ban reversal. On Tuesday, leader Pierre Poilivre repeatedly stood in the House of Commons to urge Mark Carney’s Liberal government to reverse the moratorium on the ships off B.C.’s north coast to...
The effort to raise $50-million in donations to renovate the prime ministerial residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa has hit $5.7-million, according to new figures released by the Rideau Hall Foundation. Although the newly released figure is only about 11 per cent of the goal, foundation president and chief executive officer Teresa Marques said she is pleased with the...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appears to have fended off a leadership challenge and is looking to smother discord within her United Conservative Party by requiring those seeking a seat on its provincial board to pledge they will respect the province’s majority vote against holding a separation referendum. In an e-mail sent to UCP members on Tuesday evening, party president Rob...
Despite, or because of, these uniquely challenging times, Carney has drawn support from left, right and centre; and polarization has eased. Our latest Spark Advocacy survey wrapped up 3992 interviews on October 21. Confidence in the Carney government remains at quite elevated levels by historical standards. With a voting intention advantage over the Conservatives of 49%-28%, the Liberals have built...
Federal politics continues to favour the Liberals, who stand at 47.3%, followed by the Conservatives at 27.8% and NDP at 12.9%. Mark Carney leads as preferred prime minister at 57.7%. On issues, Canada-U.S. relations remain the leading concern at 19.9%, down from 25.2% four weeks earlier. Jobs and the economy also declined, from 19.4% to 15.0%, with national unity rising...
David Eby, the outgoing premier of British Columbia, must regret his decision to call a snap election after being soundly defeated this past weekend by an interim party leader few people outside of his immediate family and constituents knew six weeks ago. Say “hello” to Lorne Doerkson, the leader of the B.C. Conservative Party who is now the province’s premier-designate...
As Conservative MPs gather for their weekly caucus meetings, some are attempting to read the tea leaves from last week’s Alberta referenda and British Columbia’s big Conservative win. Saturday, David Eby’s early election gamble — two years into his NDP government’s mandate — failed spectacularly. B.C. interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson won a majority after running a disciplined campaign and...
Today, I report on the wrangling over how to name the EU-Canada romance, and our energy correspondent reports on the campaign against a gas-price cap.
British Columbia's premier-designate Lorne Doerkson says he and Prime Minister Mark Carney are aligned on the need to supercharge the economy, attract investment and create good-paying jobs. Doerkson posted on social media that he had a productive conversation with the prime minister on Tuesday, just days after his B.C. Conservatives won two-thirds of the seats in the provincial election. He...
Growing up in Huntsville, Ont., I learned early that community is not an abstract concept. It has faces and names. This was not simply something I observed; it was my lived experience. Months before my 16th birthday, determined to chart a path different from the one my parents had envisioned for me, I left home. I had no plan.
If Mark Carney was anticipating a quiet, even raffiné Canada-EU Summit this week in this most European city of non-European cities in our most European country of non-European countries, he may already be disappointed. The Prime Minister, who recently accepted compliments from a reporter on his vastly improved French and credited his teacher for his fluency, may want to add...
British Columbians elected David Eby as their premier on Oct. 19, 2024. They elected New Democrat MLAs in 47 of 93 seats, giving his party a third term in government and a second consecutive majority government on that day. He was given a majority mandate to govern until 2028 if he wanted to. Speaking on election night, a freshly re-elected...
It’s time for the separatist factions to bring some intellectual honesty to their avowed separatism. There are lots of ways to do that, but the simplest and most effective way is that both parties to this never-ending debate resolve this situation one way or the other.
It may be the most Canadian ad of the U.S. midterms and it’s for a Republican. A man settles in at a neighbourhood bar with a Labatt Blue and the Red Wings game and tells us it doesn’t get any more Michigan than that. Then comes a line you wouldn’t expect: “Canada is not our enemy. We need to end...
British Columbians took a huge political gamble this weekend, handing power to someone they barely know who leads a party that looked like it was imploding only a few weeks ago. But such was the level of anger and disgust over NDP Leader David Eby’s move to call a snap election – amid provincewide municipal elections no less, and with...
Monday, a trial begins in Vancouver whose outcome could significantly alter climate change policies across the country. A group of youth are taking the federal government to court for failing to adequately address climate change, arguing that their Section 7 Charter rights — to life, liberty and security of the person — have been breached.
Jerry Andres watched the results roll in Monday night from his usual perch — at his computer, in his living room in Eckville, Alta., windows open to podcasters livestreaming on YouTube and Rumble. Anders, a retired oilfield worker, wasn’t surprised by the outcome, but he was disappointed. “To be honest with you, I’m more anti-Carney and the Liberals than I...
Are Canada and Europe really “besties”? That is certainly the message that Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Union President Ursula von der Leyen hope to convey when they meet for their much-anticipated Canada-EU Summit in Montreal this Thursday and Friday. But whether this budding romance between Canada and Europe becomes a serious relationship will depend on a host of...
Partisanship may have finally peaked. It’s about time. It can be hard to hear anything over U.S. President Donald Trump’s bluster. But look closer. A fascinating trend is emerging ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, with wider implications. A handful of candidates are galvanizing voters by ditching their party’s jersey altogether.
Mark Carney’s government was perhaps an hour old when he first laid out an intimate shared narrative of Canada and Europe that he has returned to and refined, again and again. “The ceremony we just witnessed reflects the wonder of a country built on the bedrock of three peoples: Indigenous, French and British,” he said as he began his first...
Referendums tend to raise as many questions as they answer. And so it may be for the 10-part questionnaire that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith put to her province — although with a series of no's Albertans have seemingly foreclosed on a number of possibilities. "I am well aware that not every grievance Alberta has with Ottawa has been resolved," Smith...
Danielle Smith wanted to walk into the coming first ministers meeting armed with the tools to start prying open this country’s lock on the Constitution. Alberta voters didn’t give her those tools. With almost all the votes counted, the referendum results show that all of Smith’s proposed constitutional reforms have been rejected. On Senate abolition and on giving the province...
It wasn’t all bad for Danielle Smith Monday night. True, Albertans voted massively to “remain” a province of Canada, thus depriving her of the bad cop for whatever good-cop, bad-cop routine she might have hoped to play with the rest of the country. And yes, Albertans voted to reject all four of the constitutional proposals the Premier had also put...
Pete Hoekstra, U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Canada, is apparently ticked off that no one took his warning about alleged Canadian meddling in the U.S. midterm elections seriously. So he had his embassy issue a profoundly unserious “fact sheet” this week backing up his claim. It’s tempting to brush off the document — a list of nine “FACTS” in...
If Canadians focused solely on recent commentary from union leaders and their lawyers, they’d be forgiven for thinking the current Liberal government has been engaged in a long battle against workers’ rights, culminating in a final charge against the right to strike.
The decisive, pro-remain result of 75% in the Alberta referendum has prompted two questions, one in that province and the other in Ottawa. The Alberta question is whether Premier Danielle Smith can remain in office after telling separatist members of her United Conservative Party (UCP) to “join a different party” if they can’t accept the referendum results. “The United Conservative...
Using her toughest words yet, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith decreed to United Conservative Party members Wednesday: get on the federalist train or get off the platform. No candidate, provincial board or constituency association board member would be permitted to publicly argue for anything other than a stronger Alberta within a united Canada, she said. But a parsing of Smith’s words...
Amid all the attention paid to her mildly salacious revelations about Justin Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland has been saying stuff that’s much more relevant to our current moment. At every tour stop to promote her new book “Unreliable Boyfriend: An Insider’s View of Dealing with a Chaotic Superpower, Plutocrats, and Other Complicated People,” the former federal cabinet titan has been going...
A spectre is haunting the United States — the spectre of Canada. At least, that’s according to the American embassy in Ottawa. In a new memo published Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. has directly accused Canada of meddling in their domestic affairs.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is like the arsonist who tries to play the hero because they helped put out the flames of a fire that they started. Don’t be fooled, she’s anything but a hero. She set things in motion towards the potential breakup of Canada, then fought against her own referendum question. She doesn’t deserve any credit. That goes...
One of the striking things about the Alberta referendum campaign was the media frenzy it triggered: wall-to-wall coverage, over-the-top headlines that declared Confederation was at stake. The outcome was never in doubt. As every poll testified, the result would be a rout. The hard-right separatists had about as much chance of victory as Eddie the Eagle winning the ski jump...
Canadians need to resist the temptation to weaponize concerns about foreign interference and online bot activity to delegitimize their real-life political opponents, says digital misinformation researcher Aengus Bridgman after claims Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres led to an alleged drop in right-wing activity online earlier this month. “Sometimes these moments can actually be very helpful because they can give...
At least 18 carriers are asking the federal government to extend their pilots' maximum flight duty period by an hour a day, saying the current rules prevent them from managing the frequent delays that disrupt air travel in the North. Their request faces staunch opposition from the country's main pilot union, which says it could lead to further exemptions and...
With two-thirds of the seats in the next legislature, the B.C. Conservatives may have a resounding mandate to follow through on their election promises to cut taxes, reduce the deficit and grow the economy at 3.2 per cent -- but some economists say the challenge will be doing it all at once. Cutting tax and simultaneously fixing the budget "are...
Despite, or because of, these uniquely challenging times, Carney has drawn support from left, right and centre; and polarization has eased. Our latest Spark Advocacy survey wrapped up 3992 interviews on October 21. Confidence in the Carney government remains at quite elevated levels by historical standards. With a voting intention advantage over the Conservatives of 49%-28%, the Liberals have built...
Alberta is looking to end public sector hiring practices aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion. A government bill tabled Tuesday, if passed, would prohibit a number of public bodies from using DEI policies to make hiring decisions. Premier Danielle Smith said hiring needs to be based on merit and qualifications so that everyone has a fair chance at getting jobs...
A Canadian official says there has been "limited progress" made in recent trade talks with the United States. Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday acknowledged talks had intensified slightly in recent days and President Donald Trump and his officials have suggested a deal could be possible before next week midterm elections in the United States. But a Canadian government official...
New Alberta legislation seeks to stop the provincial government and other public entities from considering diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring decisions. Justice Minister Mickey Amery tabled legislation Tuesday that would prevent the provincial public service, provincial Crown corporations, publicly funded post-secondary institutions, schools board and municipalities from hiring employees based on “personal characteristics,” according to a government news release.
Comments come as Trump administration accuses Canada of U.S. election interference. While he's fully engaged in a tight midterm election battle in his own country, U.S. President Donald Trump is still finding time to step into politics north of the border by congratulating the newly elected premiers of Quebec and British Columbia. Praise for the sovereignist premier of Quebec, Paul...
Associate membership expected to be main topic at summit this week in Montreal. European Union officials say the details and exact title of Canada's possible associate EU membership are still being internally debated — but the 27 countries are united in wanting the "closest possible association" with Canada. Canada will host the EU at a summit in Montreal this week...
Ahead of the upcoming Canada-EU Summit in Montreal, European officials say the exact details of an agreement will not be finalized this week, but that they’re hoping to hammer out those details of Canada’s “associate membership” in the 27-member bloc to make an official announcement next year. The officials made the comments in a background briefing to reporters ahead of...
Canada and the United Arab Emirates signed a free trade deal on Tuesday they say was reached in a "record" time of 47 days, and have also agreed to start talks on an extradition treaty. The trade deal was one of a handful of trade and infrastructure agreements signed during the crown prince of Abu Dhabi's visit to Ottawa on...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is facing another call for a leadership review from one of her United Conservative Party constituency boards. Scott Cyr, a backbencher in Smith's caucus, says the board of his constituency association northeast of Edmonton passed the motion Monday. It's a vote Cyr says he does not agree with, and he says it's time to rally behind...
The European Union is working more closely with Canada on creating, stockpiling and researching vaccines as the United States pulls back, says a senior official from Brussels. "Our production, research and development capabilities, and how we communicate about our existing (vaccine) stock, are extremely sensitive matters," European Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said in a French-language interview Monday in Ottawa...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says a process to review the Indian Act won't necessarily lead to the controversial legislation's termination. The Indian Act gives Ottawa sweeping powers over First Nations communities and people, including the authority to determine who qualifies for recognition and what reserves can and can't do. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called for the repeal of the Indian...
If you ask Georgia cattle farmer Scott Craig about who has been impacted by the trade war and what costs have gone up, he’ll tell you just about everyone and everything, especially in agriculture. “I classify [it] as our three F’s. The fuel, the feed and the fertilizer.” Craig has been a cattle farmer in McDonough, Ga., about an hour...
Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is accusing Ottawa of muzzling him at the upcoming Canada-European Union summit in Montreal. The federal government has assured the premier that he is invited to dinner with EU representatives, but the premier will not speak at the summit taking place Thursday and Friday. "He was invited to the dinner and he refused," Prime Minister...
American President Donald Trump congratulated Quebec's new premier, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, on social media on Tuesday morning. The post comes 22 days after the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois won enough seats in the Oct. 5 provincial election to form a minority government. Trump attached a news article by the Irish Times, titled Separatists win Quebec provincial election in blow to Mark...
The RCMP is investigating fraud, breach of trust and money laundering in connection with Alberta’s health care procurement controversy, according to a letter filed in court that reveals for the first time the potential criminal activity police are examining. The Mounties confirmed in early 2025 that they launched an investigation into the province’s health care purchasing practices, and earlier this...
is likely to hike interest rates for the first time in more than three years as policymakers grow increasingly concerned about the inflation risk posed by the cost of energy.
Industry Minister Melanie Joly is calling on the U.S.-based owner of Stelco Inc. to provide a concrete plan and timeline to restore jobs at its Canadian steel mills before she will agree to meet with CEO Lourenco Goncalves. Cleveland-Cliffs says it's in full compliance with the promises it made as part of an Investment Canada Act review that allowed its...
Negotiations toward a new transatlantic pact between Canada and the European Union don't include discussions for a full-scale free labour movement, but something more focused, Canada's EU ambassador said ahead of the Canada-EU summit later this week in Montreal. Canada and the EU are expected to use the summit to announce a new agreement that could touch on a number...
Election night in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) delivered some upsets, with several incumbent mayors losing their bids for re-election. Former Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, who became Hamilton’s mayor in 2022 after her party’s provincial defeat, was in a distant third place at 14 per cent with 177 of 207 polls reporting as of 11:24 p.m. Horwath...
Justice Minister Sean Fraser on Tuesday introduced a bill to amend Canada's medical assistance in dying law to allow people to make advance requests and bar access for those suffering solely from a mental illness. Bill C-41 would amend the Criminal Code to allow people to make advance requests to access MAID, though it would be up to provinces to...
Alberta's legislature is set to reconvene today -- just over a week after the province voted overwhelmingly to stay in Canada. Premier Danielle Smith has said she considers the separatism debate settled, after it riled the province all summer. She has said she expects separatist leaders in her United Conservative Party to accept the results and turn the page. Yesterday...
Saskatchewan's government is set to outline its legislative agenda today in its throne speech. Premier Scott Moe says the province plans to prioritize investments in health care, education, community safety and affordability. He says the throne speech will also promote the province as steady during a time of uncertainty.
Abu Dhabi's crown prince is in Ottawa for meetings today as Canada and the United Arab Emirates work to cement their trade ties. Prime Minister Mark Carney will greet and participate in a welcome ceremony for Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Parliament Hill, before the pair take part in a signing ceremony. Canada and the UAE...
Olivia Chow won a decisive re-election victory in Toronto's mayoral race Monday, fending off a challenge from councillor Brad Bradford and convincing voters to stay the course on her progressive agenda highlighted by expanded renter protections and transit affordability. Chow held a double-digit lead over councillor Brad Bradford with most polls reporting Monday night. Her campaign watch party, held at...
A plainspoken, two-term Alberta United Conservative backbencher who courted controversy is quitting the job effective immediately. Shane Getson says he is leaving due to personal and family reasons but does not elaborate. "I can no longer give the time and attention that I have over the last seven years," Getson said Monday in a statement written for local newspapers and...
Amid reporting by CTV News that trade talks between Canada and the U.S. are gaining momentum, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the Trump administration is “coming closer to our position.” Carney made the comments during a question-and-answer period with reporters after a meeting between First Nation leaders and First Ministers in Ottawa on Monday. Carney also said, however, he can’t...
The First Nations Leadership Council says British Columbia is at a crossroads with the incoming Conservative government that could result in either a "battleground" or reconciliation. Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson has said he will repeal DRIPA, or the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, because the legislation has failed but he promised to work with First Nations in the...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump will be joined by one of his potential successors on Tuesday as he tries to keep Texas, which hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office in 32 years, in the Republican column in next week's midterm elections.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Democrats and outside watchdogs are planning a massive presence at the polls on Election Day driven by concerns that President Donald Trump will further leverage the vast resources of the federal government to interfere with a midterm that could hobble his final two years in office.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump would prefer that voters not worry about inflation. But it's hard for them to ignore.
Since launching the war with Iran nearly eight months ago, U.S. President Donald Trump has struggled to quell soaring energy costs, undermining Republicans' attempt to keep control of Congress in the midterm elections next week.
Today, I report on the wrangling over how to name the EU-Canada romance, and our energy correspondent reports on the campaign against a gas-price cap.
Associate membership expected to be main topic at summit this week in Montreal. European Union officials say the details and exact title of Canada's possible associate EU membership are still being internally debated — but the 27 countries are united in wanting the "closest possible association" with Canada. Canada will host the EU at a summit in Montreal this week...
Ahead of the upcoming Canada-EU Summit in Montreal, European officials say the exact details of an agreement will not be finalized this week, but that they’re hoping to hammer out those details of Canada’s “associate membership” in the 27-member bloc to make an official announcement next year. The officials made the comments in a background briefing to reporters ahead of...
The European Union is working more closely with Canada on creating, stockpiling and researching vaccines as the United States pulls back, says a senior official from Brussels. "Our production, research and development capabilities, and how we communicate about our existing (vaccine) stock, are extremely sensitive matters," European Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said in a French-language interview Monday in Ottawa...
Negotiations toward a new transatlantic pact between Canada and the European Union don't include discussions for a full-scale free labour movement, but something more focused, Canada's EU ambassador said ahead of the Canada-EU summit later this week in Montreal. Canada and the EU are expected to use the summit to announce a new agreement that could touch on a number...
Canada likes to imagine itself as a compassionate society that protects its youngest citizens, but the daily realities facing children and youth at risk belie the rhetoric. The child welfare system is broken (Trocmé et al. 2019) and many of its failings were documented in the December 2025 Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights report, Nothing to Celebrate (Senate of...
In a previous commentary, I suggested that the Bank of Canada replace its near-term inflation targeting framework (maintaining two per cent inflation over a horizon of approximately two years) with a macrofinancial stability framework. This new regime would focus on ensuring price stability over a longer-term horizon, allowing policy interest rates to “lean” against financial booms and busts. In this...
Canada cannot afford to treat citizenship as paperwork to process rather than a covenant worth keeping.
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Six years ago, a Burlington-made camera turned up on Turkish drones in the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ottawa shut off arms exports to Turkey.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ad-lib brought down the house at Thursday night’s Forever Canadian rally in Calgary. “They’re a little touchy down there at the moment,” he added, to roars from a crowd of about 5,000.
RCMP officers who responded to the April 2020 mass murders in Nova Scotia will receive bravery medals from Governor General Louise Arbour. An announcement is expected “imminently,” says an Arbour spokesperson. The medals follow 23 awards for excellence quietly distributed last year by RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme to RCMP members and employees who managed the grisly incident, in which 2...
Americans will vote for members of the U.S. Congress in the midterm elections on Nov. 3. But in a number of states, this year’s election will have a major factor: Canada. A combination of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on a range of industries, to threats of annexation and a loss of revenue from tourism – has made Canada and its...
How will the future of Canada be affected by voters from the two westernmost provinces last week? The BC vote threw out the NDP and elected Conservatives. The Alberta vote showed major support for Canada on the separation question. Former Harper cabinet minister James Moore and senior liberal strategist Gerald Butts with another of their conversations.
David Herle, Scott Reid, Jordan Leichnitz, and Kory Teneycke provide insights on the latest in Canadian politics.
On Tuesday, Americans will go to the polls in a midterm vote that stands to challenge the Republican hold on both chambers of congress. For the first time in decades, a state like Texas may flip from Republican to Democrat. The implications would be vast for a Trump administration that has benefited from Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
