Canada will never become a U.S. state, Prime Minister Carney declared Tuesday in public and private meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House -- meetings both leaders described as productive and cordial. While most of Carney's attention remained focused on pressing Canada's case against Trump's tariffs and launching serious trade discussions between the two countries, Trump's obsession...
The Conservative caucus has chosen Andrew Scheer to lead the party in Parliament during the spring sitting. The Saskatchewan MP-elect and former party leader will assume the duties of Opposition leader in the House of Commons when the sitting begins May 26. The temporary role is needed because Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre does not have a seat in the House...
From the first handshake outside the White House, one body language expert says U.S. President Donald Trump clearly showed “a certain level of respect” for Prime Minister Mark Carney during their meeting today. “Obviously, the risk always with a handshake with Trump, is he’s going to pull you off balance. We see that happening time and time again,” Mark Bowden...
President Donald Trump welcomed Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, with a bit of menace on social media, only to then turn on the charm and hospitality once the two leaders were sitting together in the Oval Office on Tuesday. "I just want to congratulate you," Trump told Carney on his election win as they met in front of reporters...
In the week since the election, all sides in the next House seem to be finding ways to be nice to each other. What's going on and how long will it last? Bruce Anderson and Fred DeLorey give their thoughts on that, plus Mark Carney's approach with the media, and what's happening inside the Conservative Party.
A side-by-side test of two political advertisements from the main federal parties in Canada yields mixed results, a new Research Co. “Exit Poll” poll has found. The online survey of a representative national sample of English-speaking Canadians who voted in the 2025 federal election showed respondents two advertisements that were featured on broadcast television in the final days of the...
Overall consumer confidence remains in negative territory with a score below 50 on the 100 point diffusion scale in the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index. Compared to four weeks ago three of the four indicators showed an improvement with the exception of positive perceptions of the future value of real estate which continued to register a decline. -Nik Nanos, Chief...
It’s called “the weave” — Donald Trump’s rambling, random rants when he has anyone’s attention — and Prime Minister Mark Carney can now say he experienced one at the president’s right hand. For more than 30 minutes in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump was weaving all over the place, but not dodging. Yes, he wants Canada to become part...
The prime minister exited the Oval Office, and the most intense experience of his brief political career, with his dignity intact
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is urging her Ontario counterpart Doug Ford to mind his own business when it comes to talk of separating from Canada.Smith announced this week that she doesn't want Alberta to leave Canada but, if enough residents sign a petition asking for a referendum on it, she'll make sure it's put to a vote in 2026.
'You have to acknowledge that it was the generally right message... because the Liberals stole multiple elements,' said Poilievre.
In the realm of American political rituals, the Oval Office “pool spray” doesn’t quite top the list of presidential traditions that have been upended by Donald Trump — the peaceful transition of power, the inaugural address, and a glancing acquaintanceship with the US Constitution all rate higher on the litany of obliterated norms than the classic, seated, fireplace-flanking bilateral handshake...
Pierre Poilievre has retreated to a safe Alberta seat after losing his Ottawa one to the Liberals. Of course, he will win by a comfortable majority. But in the meantime he’ll have to figure out what to do about the ticking time bomb he’s been handed by the Alberta premier. The day after the election and before Conservative party leader...
What a genius move by Mark Carney to get King Charles to deliver his government’s Speech from the Throne later this month. Given all Carney’s up to in his first week after the election, arranging for Charles to preside over the re-opening of Parliament might not seem like a big deal. There is, after all, that little matter of the...
While preaching calm, Smith gives full legitimacy to a debate that could tear this province apart
The Liberals will have drop climate obsessions to stave off a referendum in 2026.
There are many reasons why Mark Carney became the prime minister of Canada — and one of the biggest is Mark Carney himself.While perhaps initially more a consequence of luck than talent, Donald Trump’s threats towards Canada changed the terms of the election.
Mark Carney is new to politics, but in a matter of months, he is learning that each fight gets tougher. He handily won the Liberal leadership in March. His election victory a week ago was tighter. This week, he’s up against Donald Trump, and the newly elected prime minister has to be aware that the stakes in this contest are...
Following Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013, many governments worldwide woke to the reality that the infrastructure fueling the rise of the digital economy also posed serious security vulnerabilities. The concentration of digital activities in a handful of American companies effectively granted the United States the power to surveil the world.
Nothing says “strong sovereign nation” like a foreign figurehead presiding over a government’s launch party.But there it is. Prime Minister Mark Carney has invited King Charles III to deliver the new Parliament’s throne speech. Apparently, the honour of the monarch’s attendance sends a message about Canadian sovereignty.
Liberals like their leaders coming out of caucus, not left field. Carney bucked that preference. He not only captured the top job, he raised the Liberals Lazarus-like from the dead. But he has made the task tougher because he has created such great expectations in Canadians. And there won’t be much time to prepare for the biggest item on his...
In his first post-election news conference, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he’s in politics “to do big things, not to be something.” He also stated that, “Now is the time for ambition, to be bold, to meet this crisis with the overwhelming, positive force of a united Canada.” Based on some of the pledges he mentioned in his speech...
There’s a term that policy types throw around when they’re talking about defence spending: “dual-use infrastructure.” The idea is that you want to build something to defend your country, but at the same time you’re building something civilians can use as well, like roads or ports. After the most polarized election vote in nearly a century in terms of party...
This is a request to pause to consider a priority that escaped discussion during the campaign—reconciliation and the wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples of this country. Congratulations to Prime Minister Mark Carney on your unique entry into politics and successful campaign. The lack of drama and empty slogans was refreshing and calming. The strength shown to take control of the Liberal...
A near-death experience often leaves survivors permanently changed. They emerge more grateful, more focused, and, crucially, more humble. The brush with mortality strips away illusions of control. Survivors stop taking life for granted. They shift their priorities. They understand that survival is not a reward. It’s a reprieve. Politics isn’t so different. Just a few months ago, the Liberal Party...
Mark Carney’s Liberal government may have won the 2025 election, but the road ahead will be anything but smooth. In fact, it might be among the most complex governing challenges any federal government has faced in a generation. Carney didn’t ride a wave of optimism or party enthusiasm into office. He won because he aligned—almost perfectly—with the emotional mood of...
U.S. President Donald Trump has denigrated our sovereignty and threatened our livelihoods through a pernicious and unjustifiable trade war. Against this backdrop, we need to push back and build up the Canadian economy by urgently tackling our weak productivity and excessive reliance on the U.S. market.
During CNN’s Canadian election-day coverage, a brief interview at a polling station in Ottawa got a disproportionate amount of attention on social media. It was a streeter with an elderly woman, who seemed to be from central casting. Neatly coiffed grey hair and large elegant sunglasses, she told the U.S. network: “I think who I voted for would be the...
“The past is a nice place to visit. You just wouldn’t want to live there.”In the wake of a gruelling campaign, the problem is, too many political parties unpack their bags and take up residence.
Election results show Canadians want them working together for the common good rather than constantly warring with each other. Minority governments are the new norm in Canadian politics and it’s time the two major political parties in Canada started acting like it.
Being left for dead is a bit of a hobby for the federal NDP. In the 1993 election, the party was crushed by the rising Liberals. It was left with 9 seats and 6.88 per cent of the vote. It was their worst showing since 1958, when the precursor to the party, the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation won a mere 9....
It turns out those nice Canadians are harder than most imagined, but now the campaign is over, how does Carney – a brilliant economic mind – negotiate from here? We all knew Donald Trump can win elections, we just didn’t know he’d be winning them outside the USA. Last Monday, Trump won the Canadian election for Mark Carney. There is...
Do the federal Conservatives have a problem with women? All signs point to yes — but not in the way many progressive voters think. It’s not that they’re afraid of strong women. Rather, it’s that they can’t seem to figure out how to talk to female voters. Throughout the recent election campaign, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives had perilously low support from...
Would all those who think the new minority Parliament is going to be a beacon of collegiality and co-operation please give their head a shake. I get the argument. The Liberals are only a few seats shy of a majority. The opposition is in disarray and has no interest in triggering an election. These are also serious times and parties...
Why does Canada exist? That was the unanswered question in the background of the election campaign, placed there by Donald Trump’s insistence that Canada really ought to be an American state. Answering it is urgent for Prime Minister Mark Carney, the election winner. If commissioned to do an economic feasibility study of Canada, a consultant might well end up agreeing...
There was Jagmeet Singh up on the screen, being his affable, if highly practised, self at a virtual meeting with us here on the editorial board of the Star. As he made his case to a roomful of seasoned journalists, a tiny, rebellious corner of my brain urged me to do something ridiculous: ask him a question in Punjabi. I...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s bid to regain a seat in Parliament through a byelection could cost taxpayers more than $1 million, according to data from recent races. When Poilievre led the Conservatives to defeat in the April 28 federal election, he also lost his Ottawa-area riding by more than 4,500 votes. Long considered a Conservative stronghold, the Carleton seat was...
U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney faced off in the Oval Office on Tuesday and showed no signs of retreating from their gaping differences in an ongoing trade war that has shattered decades of trust between the two countries. The two kept it civil, but as for Trump's calls to make Canada the 51st state, Carney...
Prime Minister Mark Carney told U.S. President Donald Trump that Canada is “never for sale” after the president once again mused about the U.S. taking over Canada during a high-stakes White House meeting on the future of the Canada-U.S. relationship. Carney travelled to Washington on Monday, his first foreign trip since winning a minority Liberal government in last week’s federal...
WASHINGTON -- In their first face-to-face meeting today, Prime Minister Mark Carney told U.S. President Donald Trump that Canada will "never" be for sale. When reporters questioned Trump in the Oval Office on his past comments about making Canada a U.S. state, Trump -- taking a tone very different from the one he's used in past months -- downplayed the...
As Prime Minister Mark Carney prepared to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, Premier Doug Ford took a thinly veiled shot at his Alberta counterpart over her threat of a referendum on separation. “This is a time to unite the country, not people saying, ‘oh, I’m leaving the country,’” Ford said Tuesday morning in a speech to a group promoting...
Conservatives will spend the summer "listening carefully to people" after yet another election loss, leader Pierre Poilievre said on Tuesday as he headed into the party's first caucus meeting since Canadians went to the polls last week. Poilievre said there is a lot for the Tories to be proud of in the election results, but pointed to the two-party race...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says what he’s learned from the 2025 federal election is that “the map has changed dramatically” and the party needs to plot out a path to pick up enough additional votes to get them across the finish line next time. “If you told me … that we would get 41 per cent of the vote a...
Some U.S. companies selling Chinese goods have been diverting their wares to Canadian warehouses, hoping to wait out the sky-high tariffs from President Donald Trump.Jesse Mitchell, director of business development at Strader-Ferris International, a cross-border customs brokerage, shipping and logistics company based in Prescott, Ont., is trying to convince them to stay.
'If we had won, everything would have been forgotten,' one MP told National Post. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is expected to hear on Tuesday from caucus members’ discontent over mistakes made over the course of the campaign, with fingers pointing to campaign manager Jenni Byrne.
As Mark Carney arrives at the West Wing, his assertion that Canada’s old relationship with the U.S. is “over” echoes behind him. Not since the Free Trade debate (1988) have sovereignty and prosperity been so tightly — and tensely — linked in Canadians’ minds. But this time, the question isn’t whether to pull them apart. It’s whether we can put...
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday that he is skeptical of cutting a trade deal with the Canadian government, calling it a “socialist regime.”“Can we make a deal with Canada?” Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow asked on his show “Kudlow.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will visit US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday in what could be one of the most contentious meetings between the neighboring countries’ leaders in years. Canada is America’s second-biggest trading partner and one of its closest allies on many fronts, from national security to commerce. But Trump’s aggressive tariff blitz in...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney must make sure not to get “bullied” in his first meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Ford made the comments at an unrelated event on Monday, where he said he was confident in the prime minister ahead of his first trip to meet face-to-face...
Jamil Jivani, one of several prominent, outspoken next-generation Conservative MPs, gave an exclusive interview to The Hub ahead of today’s Conservative caucus meeting, from his office on Parliament Hill. The newly re-elected 37-year-old lawyer, author, former radio host, and former president of the Canada Strong and Free Network, who was first elected to Parliament in a 2024 by-election, was just...
Canada's new PM meeting face-to-face with a hostile American president. Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet his U.S. counterpart Tuesday for a high-stakes White House meeting — a face-to-face that comes as bilateral relations are at their lowest point in decades and with a trade war raging. Carney triumphed in last week's election in part because of his promise to...
B.C. MP Don Davies will be the interim leader for the New Democratic Party of Canada, chosen by the party's national council Monday evening.Former leader Jagmeet Singh announced his resignation after he lost his own Burnaby Central seat in the April 28 election.
If MARK CARNEY wants to downplay his first visit to the White House, he has plenty of people around DONALD TRUMP willing to ratchet down what it means to the president.“Just another world leader coming to visit. One of many,” one White House official told our Washington colleagues. “No bells and whistles for the new guy,” said another.
Newly elected Conservatives and returning MPs are set to meet in Ottawa this morning as the party charts its path forward after last week's election loss to the Liberals. Leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost his bid to continue representing the riding of Carleton after 20 years as the area's MP, will not be in the House of Commons when it...
MPs can't resign their seat until 30 days after election result is officially published. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has already taken a trip out to the Alberta riding he hopes to represent, after losing the Ottawa-area seat he held for more than two decades in last week's general election. On Friday, Battle River-Crowfoot MP Damien Kurek announced he'll step aside...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she would hold a referendum on provincial separation next year if citizens gather the required signatures on a petition.
MONTREAL — There has never been a more opportune time to build a pipeline through Quebec. The province, long the place where pipeline projects have gone to die, has had a whiplash-like attitude adjustment. In February, Quebec Premier François Legault indicated he would likely greenlight the very natural gas project he scuppered in 2021. That same month, a poll indicated...
The group that added dozens of candidates to the ballot in Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's riding in the recent federal election is planning to do the same in the upcoming byelection. Poilievre is expected to seek a seat in the House of Commons for the Alberta riding of Battle River--Crowfoot, after losing his long-held seat of Carleton to the Liberals...
WASHINGTON -- Prime Minister Mark Carney is flying to Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s “not sure” what Prime Minister Mark Carney “wants to see me about” ahead of tomorrow’s meeting. Trump and Carney are scheduled to speak at the White House on Tuesday. It will be their first in-person meeting since Canada’s election. “I guess he wants to make a deal. Everybody does,” said the U.S. president...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is seeking Prime Minister Mark Carney's support for his idea to build a tunnel under Highway 401. Ford sent the prime minister a letter today setting out a series of Ontario priorities that he hopes Carney will address, including accessing critical minerals, building an electric-vehicle supply chain and enacting bail reforms. Ford says in his letter...
Two separate federal judges 2,000 miles apart ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump improperly used an 18th century wartime law to try to speed the deportations of people his administration labels members of a Venezuelan gang, adding to mounting judicial skepticism over the president's attempt to avoid deportation hearings by invoking a measure last used in World War II.
The U.S. Justice Department is doubling down on its attempt to break up Google by asking it to give up the underlying technology powering the company's digital ad network. The proposed remedy joins a separate federal effort to separate the Chrome browser from its dominant search engine.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was pardoned by Donald Trump for his conviction related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, said he met with the president over the weekend in Florida.
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S.
The Indian armed forces launched “Operation Sindoor,” hitting nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian government said in a statement.No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted in the action that happened early Wednesday local time, the statement added.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The Trump administration says the sweeping tariffs it unveiled April 2, then postponed for 90 days, have a simple goal: Force other countries to drop their trade barriers to U.S. goods.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Consumers can expect higher prices and delivery delays when the Trump administration ends a duty-free exemption on low-value imports from China Friday.
Royalty, presidents, prime ministers and a legion of faithful are paying their last respects to Pope Francis at a funeral mass in St. Peter's Square in Rome to honour his sometimes turbulent papacy. Applause rang out as the pontiff's simple wooden coffin, inlaid with a large cross, was brought out of St. Peter's Basilica and into the sun-filled square by...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Elon Musk has been called a Moonshot Master, the Edison of Our Age and the Architect of the Future, but he's got a big problem at his car company and it's not clear he can fix it: damage to its brand.
Despite knowing very little about him, Canadians chose Mark Carney as their new prime minister. Fearful of the bellicose threats coming from the United States about Canada becoming the 51st state, voters turned to the former central banker as a steady hand to deal with President Donald Trump. With no previous political experience to point to, much was made during...
In an era when AI will enhance everything from crop yields to cancer detection, the central priority should be to accelerate AI adoption to boost Canada's economic prosperity and quality of life for its citizens, not impose roadblocks to innovation with overly precautionary regulation.
The global economy is facing major instability, especially due to the Trump administration’s trade policies, which have permanently disrupted free trade with the U.S. and the global trading system. Canada must act quickly with bold policy changes to stay competitive and find new export markets.
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Some dismissed it as the “erectile dysfunction” ad. Others laughed it off as a desperate Hail Mary to salvage a faltering campaign in Southern Ontario—specifically in the all-important 905 region.Well, they can stop laughing.Call it the blue belt now. The Conservatives not only held their ground in the 905—they flipped several Liberal ridings.
The world is chaotic. Sovereignty, diplomacy, trade, free speech, science are all under assault. Daily life seems suddenly dangerous. Even the weather report is scary. “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” as William Butler Yeats put it in The Second Coming (1919). We’ve entered an era of might makes right. Familiar rules are changing. Among the changes is the...
This will be a very short post on the access-to-information election promises of the five main political parties. That’s because there’s nothing to write about.With the release of the last platform today (Conservative), no party is committing to reforming the dysfunctional Access to Information Act, other than reciting cheap bromides. Some aren’t even offering bromides.
Pierre Poilievre is packing his bags to rural Alberta, after losing his seat to Bruce Fanjoy. How the hell did Fanjoy do it? We asked him.
The U.S. government is ramping up its efforts to deport immigrants. On Monday, the Trump administration announced a new policy offering anyone illegally in the U.S. $1,000 and a flight to leave the country. And on Sunday, President Donald Trump didn’t commit to upholding the right to due process for citizens and non-citizens alike. Sara Mojtehedzadeh is an investigative reporter...
Today, Prime Minister Mark Carney will make his first trip to the White House to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. Tariffs, the economy, and military defense will be the key focus for Carney as he looks to set Canada on a path to negotiations to end the trade war between our countries. This first face to face meeting between...
David Herle, Scott Reid, Jordan Leichnitz, and Kory Teneycke provide insights on the latest in Canadian politics.
