U.S. President Donald Trump is widening the cracks between the United States and European NATO members with his calls for allies to help him finish the war he started with Iran. Many NATO member countries were already grappling with the future of the alliance after a key member -- the United States -- threatened to take over Greenland, an ally's...
The Conservative leader went on the most popular podcast in the United States yesterday and kept the conversation going for more than two hours and twenty minutes. And if you believe Bruce and Chantal he did very well. Will it make a difference? Also on Good Talk, the Iran war and America's allies, just where do they, including Canada, stand...
Iran’s top military spokesman has warned that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide won’t be safe for Tehran’s enemies. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi made the threat Friday as Iran continues to be hit by American and Israeli airstrikes. It was likely to renew concerns that as the war goes on, Iran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand's office is clarifying the conditions under which Canada would get involved in the American and Israeli war against Iran. The Liberals have repeatedly said they weren't consulted on the war and have no intent to join it, pushing for diplomatic off-ramps for the conflict which has spiked global fuel prices. Prime Minister Mark Carney endorsed...
The majority-women slate of candidates in the three upcoming federal byelections is an encouraging development for gender equality in politics after a troubling plateau over the past three federal elections, advocates say.
The war in Iran has wiped out positive momentum on inflation in Canada, driving up the price of gas more than 20 per cent in less than a month. Whether this is a price spike or plateau depends on the resolution of the international conflict that may have domestic ramifications for Canadian politics. New data from the non-profit Angus Reid...
The research gauged the opinions among Canada aiming to accept 380,000 new immigrants as permanent residents, and an additional 385,000 workers and students as temporary residents.
It’s not true to say that the end justifies the means. Neither is it true that it never does. The true statement is: some ends justify some means. A lot of people who ought to know better seem to have persuaded themselves that the U.S.-Israel war on Iran (in? against? with?) is a case of the end justifying the means...
Members of Parliament are allowed to switch parties, and pretending otherwise just makes you sound weak. There is a thing that happens in sports sometimes when a coach or a player, after a tough defeat, refuses to accept that they might be at fault. They blame the officials, or a busy schedule, or a brutal stretch of injuries. Or maybe...
A violent extremist attack against Canada’s Jewish community is a “realistic possibility” in the next six months, the federal Integrated Threat Assessment Centre warns in a report obtained by The Globe and Mail. ITAC, which is a specialized organization in the Canadian intelligence community, also said it is unlikely that “Iranian lethal operations” in Canada would target Jewish public officials...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is planning to amend ticket sales legislation to cap resale prices, seven years after it cancelled similar planned changes. The legislature is set to resume sitting Monday after a 14-week break and the government says it plans to table proposed changes to the Ticket Sales Act in the coming days.
Pierre Poilievre’s interview with podcast giant Joe Rogan began on-theme, with the Conservative party leader gifting the skeptical-yet-gullible interviewer with a red maple leaf emblazoned 70-pound kettlebell, and stayed in the zone for the next two-and-a-half hours. The marathon chat managed to broach policy, personality, and puffery, sometimes simultaneously. And it was, if not particularly enlightening, fairly endearing. And equally...
Let’s talk for a moment about the scale of Canada’s ambition and how it compares to the scale of what we can plausibly achieve. Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced major plans for Arctic infrastructure. Much of the $35 billion budgeted for them will be used to expand and upgrade existing military facilities; these, in theory, will increase the...
Canada is shrinking. For far back as records have been kept, and probably much farther, this country’s population grew year after year, seemingly inexorably. Until 2025. On Wednesday, Statistics Canada released figures for the fourth quarter, which estimated that Canada’s population declined by 102,436 people over the course of last year.
Manitoba has just become the first jurisdiction in Canada to introduce legislation that would make it an unfair practice for suppliers to charge higher prices based on algorithmic pricing. Bill 49 is aimed at preventing retailers from using personal data, such as purchasing history, to set higher individualized prices. Vass Bednar, managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute, which promotes...
When I was in the first grade, my hometown junior hockey team, the Granby Bisons, played the team from Trois-Rivières. After trailing Trois-Rivières for a while, Granby had finally managed to tie the game. Trois-Rivières decided to change up their goalie and put Mannon Rhéaume in net. My little, six-year-old mind was blown. A girl! Playing hockey! With boys...
Two recent tweets by Donald Trump on Truth Social reflect a dangerous unravelling of his Middle East war strategy, to the extent that there was one. The first is about the refusal of many countries to send military personnel or equipment as part of operation “Epic Fury”: “The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that...
In a competition for the prize of most wonderful irony ever, there is a strong candidate. How about the turn of events that has seen the most lethal, destructive force mankind ever created, nuclear weapons, becoming the greatest preserver of peace? Prior to 1945, major wars between great powers occurred about every 20 or 30 years. This era ended when...
A Liberal majority looks all but inevitable. Three Conservative MPs and one New Democrat having crossed the floor, the Liberals now have 170 seats out of 343 in the House. A probable sweep of the three by-elections scheduled for April 13 would leave them with 173, enough to outvote the combined opposition even without the help of the Speaker. That’s...
The Conservatives knew what they were doing – well, sort of – when they announced a petition to nominate former hockey commentator Don Cherry to the Order of Canada. It’s a great cultural wedge issue: one that pits the millions of Canadians with fond memories of Coach’s Corner against the ostensibly smaller cohort of Canadians who still begrudge Mr. Cherry...
If you’re a political nerd like me (and if you’re reading this, you clearly are), you enjoy a good by-election night. They’re a fun little pitstop between general elections - a chance to get a sense of where the parties actually stand. Sometimes they tell you a lot, sometimes they tell you nothing at all, but they tell you SOMETHING...
It may have taken him more than a year, but Pierre Poilievre has finally come up with an answer to US President Donald Trump. In his ongoing attempt to pivot away from the pompous petulance that had defined his brand of politics, the Conservative leader tried something other than attacking the government. Instead, he proposed a solution to the trade...
A significant corner was turned this week when many nations, including Canada, said no to Donald Trump. It’s a word that hasn’t been said often enough as this president runs his second term, defying all challengers and asserting that he wins all battles he wages.
President Donald Trump’s late-night musing about Venezuela potentially becoming the 51st state was likely well received in the Prime Minister’s Office. It suggests that Mark Carney’s speech in Davos — widely viewed as standing up to the bully president — has persuaded Trump to move on and find an easier target than Canada or Greenland. That may be temporary, of...
WEEKS AFTER IT was delivered, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos speech is still generating ripples—quoted in think tanks, parsed in Ottawa, and invoked as shorthand for a world tilting away from frictionless globalization.
Channeling his inner DJ Khaled, Prime Minister Mark Carney has gotten “another one.” A floor-crosser, that is. Lori Idlout is the latest MP to cross over to the government benches, this time from the NDP, making her the fourth floor-crosser and edging the Liberals ever closer to that coveted 172 seat majority. The Liberals now have 170 seats in the...
Trouble from the progressive wing of the Liberal party as dozens of Liberal MPs have just broken with the government over arms sales
There is a nostalgic, almost wistful thread that runs through Pierre Poilievre’s approach to trade with the United States, as if he still can’t believe the happy days of the past are gone and therefore thinks it’s easy to put forward a simple idea that will bring them back. On Sunday, when the Conservative Leader presented his plan to save...
Whatever you may think about Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s chances of becoming prime minister—the proverbial snowball in hell comes to mind—he keeps trying to find a way to stay in the game against Mark Carney. It is no easy task. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s lead over Poilievre in the polls keeps growing, recently hitting 13 points. If that spread were...
Donald Trump famously said “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s like incredible.” All the evidence so far has suggested that he was right. But few things shift the winds of US politics like wars.
There are political miscalculations, and then there are gifts to your opponents so perfectly timed they seem almost deliberate. Pierre Poilievre’s campaign to nominate Don Cherry for the Order of Canada belongs firmly in the second category. The Conservative leader declared last week that Cherry “embodies what it means to be a proud Canadian,” throwing his personal support behind a...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks out on this day. Article content But the premier is not on about budgets or pipelines or the place of Alberta in Canada. Smith is talking about Don Cherry, the man also known by his nickname, Grapes. For years, for far too many years, Don Cherry has been snubbed by the establishment types in this...
It’s always weird to be reminded that the world as it is – to borrow a phrase, if I may – was a very different place not so long ago, and that what now seems constant and obvious was once strange or unknown. The phone you unthinkingly grab from your pocket to do, well, everything, used to be a crazy...
As tighter immigration policies bring population growth to a halt, more than half of Canadians say the country should allow even fewer new immigrants and temporary residents in 2027 compared to this year.
Ontario will not have a policy in place to publicly fund all medically necessary services from nurse practitioners by April 1, as ordered by the federal government, leaving some patients paying out of pocket for primary care. Health Minister Sylvia Jones pushed the federal government years ago to close what she called a loophole in the Canada Health Act that...
Pierre Poilievre and Joe Rogan spent more than two hours talking about mixed martial arts, exercise, COVID-19 restrictions and nutrition — and a little bit of politics. Poilievre sat down for an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast amid a mini U.S. tour of Michigan, Texas and New York — his second international trip as leader of the opposition...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sat down for a more than two-hour-long interview on The Joe Rogan Experience this week. Rogan's show ranks near or at the top of podcast charts on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts — with over 20 million subscribers on YouTube alone. The episode was posted online on Thursday after the interview was recorded Wednesday.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office says she's not been contacted by the RCMP as Mounties execute search warrants in a probe into allegations of misconduct in multimillion-dollar government health contracts.
Pierre Poilievre says he’s never spoken to President Donald Trump about the Canada-U.S. trading relationship, but revealed he’s been texting Prime Minister Mark Carney during the Conservative leader’s current cross-border tour to support the Liberal government’s negotiations. Poilievre pulled back the curtain on his relationship with Carney in an interview with Joe Rogan when the podcasting giant asked the Conservative...
Poilievre didn’t directly blame Trump for helping the Liberals with his comments but said he wished the president would “knock that shit off so that we can get back to talking about the things that we can do as two separate countries… that are actually friends.”
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme says based on the information before him, there are no longer clandestine activities or transnational repression taking place in Canada that is linked to the government of India. “In the files that we have that involve transnational repression, we’re not seeing any connection right now with any foreign entity, based on the criminal information, the investigations...
Defence Minister David McGuinty has walked back his remarks about when and how he learned about an Iranian airstrike that may have hit Canadian assets in Kuwait earlier this month. In prepared remarks Thursday -- which he described as a "clarifying statement" -- McGuinty said he first learned about the airstrike in a briefing with government officials, not by reading...
Canada is ready to “contribute to appropriate efforts” to resume safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a significant artery in international shipping undergoing a “de facto closure” amid the war in Iran. That’s according to a joint statement released Thursday, co-signed by Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan. The countries demanded that Iran halt its...
The federal government has tabled details of how it plans to cut billions of dollars from programs that support science, tourism, harbour improvements, journalism, foreign aid, and even the development of a Canadian-made lunar rover module. The cuts are detailed in hundreds of pages of departmental plans tabled in the House of Commons last Friday as MPs were preparing to...
The Honourable Pierre Poilievre is a Canadian politician serving as the leader of the Conservative Party and leader of the Official Opposition. He has been the Member of Parliament for Battle River—Crowfoot since August 2025.
Defence Minister David McGuinty said he did not learn about a report of potential damage to Canadian assets from an Iranian airstrike on an airbase in Kuwait until a Quebec newspaper reported on it. The minister still refuses to confirm if the attack struck or damaged any Canadian assets at the base. "I didn't know about it until La Presse...
The federal government is buying 30,000 made-in-Canada assault rifles for the Canadian Army from Colt Canada in a $307 million procurement deal. That sum covers just the first three years of the contract, after which the federal government has the option of acquiring another 35,000 rifles. Stephen Fuhr, secretary of state for defence procurement, said the order for the new...
OTTAWA -- Gov. Gen. Mary Simon will honour a former Supreme Court justice, a medical pioneer, a broadcaster and a champion for sex trade workers during a ceremony at Rideau Hall today.
Federal programs aimed at addressing climate change are facing significant cuts as the government shifts to artificial intelligence (AI) and slashes thousands of jobs, according to recently released departmental plans. In its latest budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government said it would partly rely on AI to eliminate 40,000 public service jobs, bringing the federal workforce's growth in line with...
While Canada's economy is far more reliant on exports to the U.S. than vice versa, Canadian negotiators have crucial ammunition in their efforts to land a trade deal that reduces or eliminates tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Before Trump launched his tariff war, roughly 76 per cent of Canada's exported goods went to the U.S., while just 1...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is set to appear on The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world's most popular podcasts. Poilievre revealed in a social media post on Wednesday that he had recently sat down with host Joe Rogan. "Fought for Canadian workers and Canadian interests on the world’s biggest podcast. Thank you [Rogan] for an amazing conversation. Let’s get...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government took steps Wednesday to drastically restrict who's eligible for medical assistance in dying. Smith's United Conservative Party government introduced a bill that, if passed, would limit medical assistance in dying, better known as MAID, to those likely to die of natural causes within a year. Those under 18 would still be prohibited regardless of condition...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition accusations of entitlement for using a private jet courtesy of the Saudi government last fall. Smith and members of her United Conservative Party government staff travelled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for meetings about potential collaborations on issues, including energy development and artificial intelligence. Smith says she's very transparent about...
At the end of 2024, the Liberals trailed the Conservatives by a massive and seemingly insurmountable 25 points. Today, that deficit has flipped to a 20-point Liberal lead. That is not a normal swing. It may be the most dramatic one-year reversal in modern Canadian political history.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is congratulating a Vaughan resident who shot an intruder, saying he should have fired more shots at him. “As for the person that was defending his family, he was a legal gun owner, stored properly — congratulations. Yeah, I’m glad you shot the guy. Teach the rest of these robbers,” Ford said at an unrelated news...
Carney government could choose fate of official residence within months, source says. Rideau Cottage, the historic red-brick house where Canadian prime ministers have been living for more than a decade, is inadequate and comes with security risks, according to a government memorandum prepared last summer.
Nunavut MP reimbursed House of Commons, says purchases made in error Nunavut MP Lori Idlout says she has reimbursed the House of Commons for items bought from her own shop "in error." Idlout is the sole proprietor of the gallery Carvings Nunavut, which sells Inuit-made carvings and artwork. Publicly available expenditure reports show that on four occasions in 2025, Idlout...
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says talks with Canada ahead of the mandatory review of the continental trade pact are lagging behind those with Mexico. Speaking on Fox Business today, Greer says talks are moving ahead with his Mexican counterparts as the Trump administration negotiates changes to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA.
Ontario’s Doug Ford drops back close to record low, with just 31 per cent approving of him. As B.C. abandons the biannual tradition of changing clocks, Premier David Eby is falling back as some others spring ahead. New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds Eby’s approval rating has declined 16-points year-over-year. In March 2025, when most premiers enjoyed...
Janice Charette likes to hear from others before she makes an important judgment call, inviting the views of colleagues as though seated around a family dinner table. But these days, fewer and fewer decisions can wait. Shortly before retiring as Canada’s top bureaucrat in June 2023, Charette described the current era of political and economic upheaval as one of permanent...
Two Canadian cargo ships are stuck in the Persian Gulf and unable to pass through the blocked Strait of Hormuz as the war in Iran continues. The two ships, owned by Quebec-based Desgagnes, were hauling general cargo to ports in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Nunatsiaq News was the first to report on the ships being stuck...
The Bank of Canada held its principal interest rate at 2.25 per cent Wednesday, but warned rising oil and natural prices caused by the war in Iran will push up inflation in the short term. In its latest monetary policy decision, Canada’s top bankers painted a picture of a weaker-than-expected economy that is facing new levels of uncertainty because of...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Since becoming defense secretary, Pete Hegseth has found no shortage of ways to bring his strand of conservative evangelicalism into the Pentagon.
There will be just one Election Day for this fall's midterm elections -- Nov. 3. But voters in 14 states who cast their votes by mail will be given a grace period ranging from a day later to several weeks in which their ballots can be received and counted.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the escalating war in Iran, the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs would ordinarily be at the center of the geopolitical fray.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump has for months wanted to remove Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. But instead, an investigation by one of his own officials could end up extending Powell's time at the top of the central bank even after his term formally ends May 15.
Iran’s top military spokesman has warned that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide won’t be safe for Tehran’s enemies. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi made the threat Friday as Iran continues to be hit by American and Israeli airstrikes. It was likely to renew concerns that as the war goes on, Iran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle...
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is openly mulling the idea of Canada seeking membership in the European Union. Speaking at the Europe 2026 conference in Berlin today, Barrot said the European Union is attracting more candidate countries, such as Iceland, and suggested "maybe Canada at some point" will sign up.
A senior US intelligence official appointed by President Donald Trump abruptly announced he is stepping down from his post on Tuesday, citing misgivings about the administration’s war with Iran. “After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today,” Joe Kent wrote in a post on X.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand spoke out against the “weaponization” of the Strait of Hormuz in the face of an ongoing blockade but offered no specifics on what kind of support Canada is prepared to offer. “There should be no weaponization of international shipping lanes and prevention from countries around the world having the resources that they need,” Anand told...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says she agrees with Prime Minister Mark Carney that the U.S. attack on Iran violates international law -- and so does Iran's blockade of the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping route. Anand says Canada is looking at how it can support Gulf countries being attacked by Iran as Tehran pushes back on the war launched...
Economic immigrants selected through the two-step process — first as temporary foreign workers before being permanent residents — generally earn more than those selected directly from abroad. But outcomes vary widely: two-step immigrants with high pre-admission Canadian earnings enjoy substantial and persistent earnings advantages, while those with lower pre-admission earnings often fare worse than one-step immigrants. The findings suggest that...
A one-time northern Ontario fur-trading post, Sault Ste. Marie’s fortunes changed when U.S. industrialist Francis Clergue built a hydroelectric power plant on the banks of the St. Mary’s River more than 100 years ago. The dam brought cheap power to the area and turned it into an industrial hub. Clergue also opened a steel mill, a pulp and paper mill...
Canada is confronting a rapidly expanding illicit nicotine market that has evolved well beyond traditional contraband tobacco. Criminal networks that once focused on cigarettes now traffic in high-nicotine disposable vapes, unauthorized nicotine pouches, and a sprawling ecosystem of online black market platforms. Fragmented regulation, uneven enforcement, and the rise of e-commerce have created structural vulnerabilities that illicit actors are exploiting...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Canadians who have neglected to pay their taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have been coming forward in droves to take advantage of new amnesty rules.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s spurious excuses for gutting the province’s freedom-of-information (FOI) law are exactly why we need transparency legislation in the first place: governments are habitual liars. Last week, the Ford government said it plans to weaken its sunshine law by erecting brick walls around every minister’s office, including the premier’s. Freedom-of-information requests will no longer be accepted. The...
For a moment there, it looked like Mark Carney would be the torchbearer for countries opposed to Trump’s big power politics. Now, not so much. In fact, it seems Prime Minister Carney is ready to embrace the “end of the international rules-based order” rather than oppose it – thanks to the confusing and contradictory statements by the Canadian government following...
At Issue this week: Will Pierre Poilievre’s Joe Rogan’s podcast appearance help him politically, and what will it do for Canada? How Mark Carney has reshaped the Liberals, one year into his leadership. And Avi Lewis emerges as the NDP frontrunner.
With some polls suggesting the Liberals are nearing 50% support while the Conservatives are slipping toward 30%, one has to wonder: has Mark Carney hit his ceiling and has Pierre Poilievre hit his floor?
Since the U.S. and Israel started a war with Iran, the price of oil has spiked. That’s largely because oil tankers are no longer travelling through the Strait of Hormuz, meaning roughly one fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply remains stranded in the Gulf region. This is having an effect in Canada, even though Canada is the world’s...
A recent investigation exposed several members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) had accounts on a whites-only dating site that worked to promote white supremacy ideology. It comes almost a year after the RCMP arrested four men, including CAF members for plotting to forcibly take over land in Quebec using military weapons.
