The Toronto seat is expected to be vacated by Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith in coming weeks. A face familiar to many on Parliament Hill is launching a bid to return — this time, as an MP. Claire Seaborn, a Bay street lawyer and former chief of staff to Trudeau-era minister Jonathan Wilkinson, intends to seek the Liberal nomination in the...
Governments intend to convert units into affordable housing via new partnership. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is slamming a plan by the federal and B.C. governments to buy vacant condo units in the province and turn them into affordable housing — a move he describes as a "bailout" that should be immediately cancelled. "Where is your bailout?" Poilievre told reporters in...
A quarter of federal Conservative voters in Alberta want the province to leave Canada. Between Jun 7-12th Spark interviewed 777 adults across Alberta. Here’s what we found:
On the world stage, Canada's prime minister is a statesman. In Ottawa, he is a ward boss. MONTREAL, QUEBEC — Mark Carney arrived at the Liberal Party convention in April ready to play the hits that had carried him through a triumphant year in office. “Hope isn’t a plan, and nostalgia isn’t a strategy,” he said in his keynote address...
From a massive ad blitz featuring Canadian broadcast icon Peter Mansbridge to a cabinet minister calling on shipbuilders to cough up a car plant, the brief race to replace Canada's aging submarine fleet turned heads in more ways than one. The unusually short competition to build the navy's next submarine fleet seemed to focus on everything but the boats themselves...
A quarter of federal Conservative voters in Alberta want the province to leave Canada. Between Jun 7-12th Spark interviewed 777 adults across Alberta. Here’s what we found:
This latest wave of Abacus Data’s federal political tracking finds little evidence that the shifts we observed earlier this month have continued. After a survey two weeks ago showed declining optimism about the country, lower government approval, softer ratings for Prime Minister Mark Carney, and a narrowing Liberal lead, this latest wave suggests the drop we measured last wave hasn’t...
A referendum is looming in Alberta, which will reveal this fall how far the province is ready to go toward the independence option. For the rest of Canada, a big question revolves around how much are we willing to do to keep Alberta in the federation. Some new polling by Abacus Data may offer some insights into that question and...
As the Carney government wraps up the parliamentary sitting this week, political watchers may be forgiven for thinking they’ve entered a time warp. Opposition MPs — Conservatives prominently among them — stood in the House of Commons, sounding the alarm over Liberal attempts to shut down debate, halt committee studies, block witnesses and stop amendments. The government’s moves were an...
Members of Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government posted what appear to be edited photos of the crowd from Ford Fest near the main stage, where hundreds of OPSEU workers protested against the premier on Friday. On Saturday, Attorney General Doug Downey and MPP David Smith’s X accounts posted several pictures from the annual free barbecue celebrating “Ford Nation” — including...
Alberta premier says 'fun police have struck again in Calgary.' Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is firing back at online criticism over the city's recent bylaw changes that will reduce noise for weeknight concerts during the upcoming Calgary Stampede. On Saturday, Premier Danielle Smith posted on X that it "looks like the fun police have struck again in Calgary, this time...
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon’s recent acknowledgment that new legislation may be needed to accelerate approvals for major projects is an admission of long-standing failure. Canada’s regulatory system for infrastructure and resource development has become slow, uncertain, and politicized. While Ottawa now speaks of one or two year approval windows and continues expanding entities like the Major Projects Office, deeper...
The memorandum of understanding Donald Trump cobbled together with Iran’s leadership may seem far removed from Canada’s negotiations over the future of CUSMA. However, the Iran deal, hastily concluded under intense economic pressure, offers three clear lessons for Ottawa: know your leverage, understand what truly frightens Trump, and resist the urge to fold too early. On paper, Iran and Canada...
The House of Commons adjourned its spring sitting on Thursday after Liberals used their recently acquired majority to push some bills through with unanimous consent. The Pulse Panel weighs in.
Mark Carney says Donald Trump’s peace deal with Iran is a “game changer.” If that game is Risk, then the U.S. president just rolled snake eyes, announced he didn’t want to play anymore and began eating some of the plastic soldiers. I remain perplexed as to why our prime minister continues to commend a war that has always been an...
You know things are getting a bit desperate when a politician starts cutting $100 “affordability” cheques to buy back a bit of political goodwill. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s decision to pass on a slice of the province's recent gas tax windfall directly to residents smacks of a payoff, and a paltry one at that.
They were the kind of words a parent might say to convince a child scrunching his nose at his birthday present that it’s really what he wanted: “I thought you’d actually like that.” In this case, the Prime Minister of Canada was speaking to the President of the United States. Mark Carney was trying to convince Donald Trump that a...
Prime Minister Mark Carney apparently has a patience problem. According to the Toronto Star’s Althia Raj, sources within the party complain that he raises his voice (or he yells, depending on the receiver) and openly shows his displeasure when caucus discussions veer into what he considers political navel-gazing. To career politicians accustomed to consensus-building, this behaviour feels abrasive. It is...
Well, we now know how many Dani Dollars Albertans are getting. Albertans 18 and older who've filed their taxes and have a household income of $225,000 a year or less will score a tax-free $100. Just so you know, the Alberta government considers a household to be a single person or two people who are married or in a common-law...
US President Donald Trump may have finally found a way out of the war he started with Iran. No, it doesn’t come close to regime change, which was one of the Trump administration’s initial justifications for the war. There isn’t even a return of political prisoners, constraints on the country’s proxy forces in the Middle East or an end to...
The anti-Trump view of world affairs, dictated this week by the Iranian mullahs, will hold that U.S. President Donald Trump has surrendered. It is worth remembering that when Hamas invaded Israel and massacred 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 others on Oct. 7, 2023, Iran was well on its way toward developing nuclear weapons, hoped that the Hamas invasion of...
One of the downsides of being prime minister is that the job doesn’t come with much vacation. Mark Carney will likely be relieved to see the House of Commons adjourn for the summer in the coming days, but he will be heading into vacation season with several storm clouds on the horizon.
The reviews have not been kind. “A disaster.” A “catastrophe.” The “worst strategic blunder the U.S. has made post-World War II.” Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion and trenchant geopolitical observer, perhaps said it best: “Trump said he demanded unconditional surrender, we just didn’t know he meant America’s.” What they are describing, of course, is the Trump-Iran “deal,” or...
There are many things the Carney government needs to achieve its economic ambitions: global allies, foreign direct investment, intergovernmental collaboration and a skilled labour force.
Step right up. Read all about it. Here it comes. Dani Dollars. Yes, Dani Dollars will be rolled out Wednesday by Premier Danielle Smith and her UCP government. Of course, Dani Dollars isn't the official name of Smith's doling out the dough, just like Ralphbucks wasn't the official name when money was headed your way back in the day.
In the inevitable hot-mic moment at this week’s G7 in Evian, France, Prime Minister Mark Carney summarized for President Donald Trump Canada’s new electric vehicle arrangement with China. Carney is overheard reassuring Trump that there’s a cap of 49,000 Chinese EVs imported under the deal. But the real story of how China’s global auto-industry ambitions are playing out in Canada...
Mark Carney made the mistake of hiding behind Doug Ford, during the push for an expansion to Billy Bishop airport. And as a result, the prospect of jets and millions more passengers flying onto and off the Toronto Islands every year — which the prime minister seemed initially to want — is looking more unlikely by the day.
Is there hope for the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)? For over a year, Canada-U.S. trade talks have been testy at best, in a deep freeze at worst. U.S. President Donald Trump mocked us as the “51st state,” put tariffs our steel, aluminum and autos, and claimed that America doesn’t need anything we’re selling. Prime Minister Mark Carney declared that Canada...
Mark Carney says there’s “no big drama” in the fact that the Trump administration has taken a $6.4-billion bridge hostage as part of its campaign to have its way with Canada. In this, at least, the prime minister is wrong. The troubled saga of the Gordie Howe International Bridge is a real-life drama. The question is: what type?
For a guy who spent much of his career talking and writing about climate policy, Mark Carney has been conspicuously quiet on the subject ever since becoming prime minister. Part of that, I’m sure, is a desire to avoid the mistakes made by the last guy who had his job. And part of it is an understandable need to prioritize...
In less than two weeks Alberta is expected to deliver to the federal government a solid proposal for a pipeline to the northwest coast of B.C. But so far there is no private sector partner willing to come forward to pay for it. This is definitely a fly in the ointment of a proposal that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has...
The Carney government shut down a committee study Monday on a financial bill that includes sweeping changes to Canada’s pesticides law by allowing cabinet to overrule any pesticide ban the health minister imposes for being too toxic to the environment. The Liberals blame the Conservatives for filibustering the committee — which they have. But the Grits are impatient, want to...
The Conservative party wants you to picture lineups around the block for Canada’s overwhelmed food banks. To help, they’ve used AI to generate a false scene. Rather than appreciate the helpful visuals, we should make clear: This sucks.
As the October Alberta referendum looms closer, politicians representing the province are discovering the joys of needle threading. The most vivid example was Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s June 8th Calgary speech, in which the Alberta born-and-raised, more recently Alberta-elected MP, presented an argument to the province’s separatists for remaining in Canada. “The answer therefore for Albertans is not to pull...
The lesson is the welfare-vs-warfare debate is an irrelevancy and western societies need to be more resilient in an age of rising threats
A record-setting number of Canadian executives are in Tokyo this week to participate in what has become the largest Team Canada trade mission in the Indo-Pacific region. Nearly 300 people representing 175 Canadian companies will gather at the Sheraton Miyako hotel in downtown Tokyo to network with Japanese executives. The Canadians have one goal in mind: to forge partnerships in...
Former Alberta premier and early ‘remain’ supporter Jason Kenney is a “powerful” voice in his ability to reach conservatives on the topic of Alberta separation, say party strategists, while the effectiveness of Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, another prominent anti-secession voice, is drawing mixed reactions. “I think there’s a lot of nuance in both Jason Kenney and Wab Kinew, and the...
Ten years ago this week, the United Kingdom voted to quit the European Union, setting off years of political turmoil and economic pain that persist to this day. Richard Barfield was working at consulting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers around the time of the Brexit referendum, advising financial services clients on risk and regulatory matters. He considered himself "reasonably well-informed," but even he...
On tariff impact, political response and more, Alberta became an outlier. Several factors have triggered concern in some corners of the country about the role the United States may play in Alberta’s upcoming referendum on separation. They range from a Trump cabinet secretary’s remarks, to administration meetings with separatists, to the spectre of U.S.-based foreign influence campaigns. But what if...
Experts say Canadians should expect more generative AI in political advertising. The Conservative Party of Canada released a political ad on June 5 that featured AI-generated footage, an advertising tactic experts expect to see more of as political campaigns around the world embrace the technology. The video depicts people lining up at food banks, losing their jobs and having their...
Rideau Hall changed guidelines to say what can and cannot be expensed. Rideau Hall changed its clothing guidelines during Governor General Louise Arbour's transition to office to explicitly state that the King's representative to Canada cannot bill taxpayers for casual outfits or business attire. The guidelines now say governors general can only be reimbursed for "distinct wardrobe requirements" needed to...
Premier Danielle Smith says natural gas will be key to Alberta’s ambitions of becoming Canada’s artificial intelligence hub, but experts and residents say the strategy raises questions about emissions, electricity demand and how large-scale developments could affect communities. At the New North America Summit this week, Smith said natural gas will be critical to powering the enormous electricity needs of...
Government House leader Steven MacKinnon is defending the prime minister’s commitment to parliamentary procedure, as Conservatives highlight Mark Carney’s lack of attendance during question period in the House of Commons this year. On Tuesday, Conservative MPs held a press conference on Parliament Hill to present a cake marking Carney’s 100 missed question periods. According to the Conservatives, of the 10...
Hobbled by more than just low oil prices, Alberta's NDP finance minister limped into the legislature in a cast to deliver a devastating budget. It was 2017, and Joe Ceci had injured his leg competing for face time with a busy premier on an early morning jog. He was Rachel Notley's right hand man in cabinet, and the only New...
A Muslim group and Culture Minister Marc Miller are decrying an alleged attack on an imam of a mosque in Victoria. Miller says in a tweet that the reported assault is "appalling and vile" and that such violence and Islamophobia have no place in Canada. The National Council of Canadian Muslims says in a statement that the imam was parked...
A survey of spending over the last fiscal year by Alberta's provincial politicians indicates taxpayers are footing the bill on everything from bison steak dinners to a pack of gum. And a can of pop. The expenses, posted online on the legislative assembly website, show the purchases kept within the rules set for the job, which includes meeting constituents and...
U.S. and Iranian negotiators headed to a Swiss venue Saturday for talks on adding key details to their interim agreement to halt the war, hours after Tehran said it closed the Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and warned that little might be achieved if the fighting doesn’t stop. U.S. President Donald Trump, in response, threatened to...
Canadian officials will meet their Mexican and American counterparts on July 1 for the first tri-lateral meeting to review the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) agreement, a spokesperson for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic Leblanc confirmed. In a statement to CTV News, the spokesperson said Leblanc is looking forward to meeting with his U.S. and Mexican counterparts on July 1, “as prescribed in the...
Sometimes sport can be such a nice distraction. Like last night. Canada's first-ever win in World Cup Soccer. And what a win, 6-0 in front of a home crowd in Vancouver. Nice distraction for the PM, who was in attendance, after what some felt was a bended-knee performance for Donald Trump at the G7 in France. He wasn't alone. What...
Remarks by Premier Doug Ford at his annual summer bash, Ford Fest, were drowned out Friday evening by an eruption of booing, blowing whistles and chanting from protesters making plain their grievances over a host of issues. People dressed in purple OPSEU shirts, bearing the slogan “Worth Fighting For” which was also their chant, were peppered among a sea of...
A new book examining far-right extremism in Canada argues the movement has evolved dramatically in the past decade, shifting from small, organized groups to a broader network fuelled by social media, conspiracy theories and political grievances. In For Blood and Soil: Far-Right Extremism in Canada, researchers Stephanie Carvin and Amarnath Amarasingam trace the movement’s development through some of the country’s...
With less than two weeks to go until the formal review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, one thing has become clear: There will be no 16-year extension of the trade treaty on July 1. Mexico and the U.S. have already scheduled a third round of negotiations for late July, three weeks after the review date. Canada and the U.S. have...
Activists want a new climate plan from the federal government. Speaking at Trinity College in Ireland last weekend, Mark Carney recalled that Edmund Burke, the influential 18th-century politician and philosopher (and an alumnus of Trinity), had once described society as a partnership between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are yet to be born.
U.S. border officials seized 0.45 kg of fentanyl at Canada border last month. s the U.S. claims its crackdown on drug trafficking at the border with Mexico is triggering more criminal activity from Canada, fentanyl czar Kevin Brosseau is pushing back — saying the numbers "really haven't borne that out." In an interview with CBC's The House, Brosseau pointed to...
For border businesses and truckers, nothing has been more eagerly anticipated than the opening of the new bridge linking Windsor and Detroit. Yet last Friday, they saw their long-awaited hopes dashed again following an earlier delay last fall. The gleaming Gordie Howe International Bridge — built and paid for by Canada to speed the flow of trade between the two...
K'omoks chief says criticism is 'based on claims that simply aren't true.' Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced Friday that he and other Conservative party MPs will oppose the ratification of the K'omoks First Nation's treaty. Speaking in West Vancouver, Poilievre called for the treaty, drafted between the K'omoks First Nation, the province and Canada, to be put on hold...
OTTAWA -- Canada's national Inuit organization is calling on the federal government to be better partners, saying Canada must respect Inuit rights to governance and self-determination.
About 35 people rallied today at a Calgary hotel ballroom to formally launch a campaign to convince Albertans in an upcoming referendum that its time to quit Canada. The campaign is called "Let Alberta Decide." Organizers promise it will be serious, fact-based initiative to persuade people that Alberta has the workforce, the financial wherewithal, and the energy and agriculture resources...
Billionaire businessman Frank Stronach, who was accused of sexually assaulting several women decades ago, has been found guilty of sexual assault and indecent assault. Stronach, who is 93, pleaded not guilty to 12 charges stemming from alleged incidents involving seven complainants. The trial started in February, and by the time arguments wrapped up in April, prosecutors had withdrawn one charge...
Talks between the U.S. and Iran were called off Friday after intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, officials said, raising questions about an initial agreement to end the war in Iran.
Newly uncovered videos and images show Canadian-made sniper rifles in the hands of Sudanese paramilitary fighters and a Libyan militia, as well as openly advertised online by Yemeni arms dealers, according to a CBC News visual investigation.
WINNIPEG -- The Canadian Museum for Human Rights says an exhibit about displaced Palestinians is to go ahead as planned, despite criticism that it's a potentially one-sided story.
The stakes have been raised ahead of Alberta’s scheduled referendum, as the ballot will now include a question on the province’s relationship with Canada and future in Confederation. In this interview with Rob Breakenridge, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith defends her decision to put this question on the ballot as well as her efforts to make the case for Canada and...
A Canadian polling firm has sent Premier Doug Ford a legal letter demanding he corrects the record after Ford claimed the organization published a “fake” public opinion survey showing the premier’s personal approval rating at a record low level.
MONTREAL -- A luxury tax on cars, planes and boats yielded more than $900 million before it was scaled back amid concerns about the negative effect on manufacturers.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The relationship between President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans neared a breaking point this week as he upended their efforts to speedily confirm one of his own nominees and said he would not sign the renewal of a key surveillance law unless they agree to new terms.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve kept its key rate unchanged Wednesday yet almost half the central bank's policymakers said they could support a rate hike later this year, an unexpectedly aggressive outcome that would disappoint President Trump and suggests heightened concerns about persistent inflation.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Republican lawmakers in Georgia said Wednesday that they won't redraw congressional and state legislative districts for the 2028 elections during a special session called by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Donald Trump last year that he was the "greatest friend Israel ever had in the White House."
U.S. and Iranian negotiators headed to a Swiss venue Saturday for talks on adding key details to their interim agreement to halt the war, hours after Tehran said it closed the Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and warned that little might be achieved if the fighting doesn’t stop. U.S. President Donald Trump, in response, threatened to...
Talks between the U.S. and Iran were called off Friday after intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, officials said, raising questions about an initial agreement to end the war in Iran.
Keeping a nuclear weapon out of Iran's hands is 'why this all started,' says Carney. Prime Minister Mark Carney is again praising the new U.S.-Iran peace deal after calling the war "worth it" — if it ensures Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Carney said keeping a nuclear weapon out of Iran's hands was...
Canada can 'deliver significant additional capacity,' G7 leaders say. Canada is poised to become a key and reliable supplier of energy to the G7 after leaders meeting in France embraced this country's potential to deliver "significant additional capacity" to global markets to reduce dependence on oil and gas coming through the Strait of Hormuz. "We commit to accelerate the diversification...
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the "fracturing" relationship between Canada and the United States needs to be restored to ensure security in both countries. Mullin made the comments during a fireside chat with Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree in Washington today. Mullin, who was confirmed to his position in March, says arguments between the two countries only expose...
Canada’s impact assessment process is structurally fragmented. A new AI-enabled Sovereign Impact Assessment Agent (SIAA) would speed up assessments and save money by using the federal government’s extensive but fragmented troves of data on Canadian land, water, wildlife and atmosphere to pre-populate assessment applications, identify information gaps and help inform regulators’ final decisions.
On June 12th, the American artificial intelligence company Anthropic —maker of the Claude AI assistant— issued an extraordinary statement, whose opening paragraph reads as follows: “The US government, citing national security authorities, has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own department, the Privy Council Office (PCO), has become the bad boy of freedom of information in Canada.
Secrecy surrounding cabinet documents is so absolute in Canada that critics look to theology and astrophysics for metaphors to describe it. Federal cabinet records in Canada are treated as “sacred artefacts to be shrouded in mystery for decades, hidden in a black hole beyond the contemplation of judges, commissioners, or citizens.”
In 2007, Roger Martin, then dean of the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, wrote a book called The Opposable Mind. It argued that the most successful leaders tend to be “integrative thinkers,” by which he meant they tackled problems holistically rather than breaking them down into component parts. Instead of seeking trade-offs, they are at ease with...
Sometimes sport can be such a nice distraction. Like last night. Canada's first-ever win in World Cup Soccer. And what a win, 6-0 in front of a home crowd in Vancouver. Nice distraction for the PM, who was in attendance, after what some felt was a bended-knee performance for Donald Trump at the G7 in France. He wasn't alone. What...
Opioid overdose deaths are dropping in Canada, but there is still a long way to go. Canada’s Fentanyl Czar Kevin Brosseau is fresh back from meeting officials in Washington, he tells The House what worries him most about this public health crisis and why the increasingly small quantity of opioids crossing the border is still an irritant for the Americans...
Host Peter Mazereeuw walks you through the flurry of legal changes passed by Parliament in June and the political maneuvering that made it happen in this six-minute mini-pod.
Mark Carney's mixed-bag G7 trip wins big interest in Canadian oil, and another snub from Donald Trump. Analyzing the big challenges facing the Liberals in the fall. And the Conservatives call out Carney for skipping Question Period.Rosemary Barton hosts Chantal Hébert, Andrew Coyne and Althia Raj.
