The federal Conservatives are funnelling resources into Pierre Poilievre’s local campaign, shoring up volunteer support in the leader’s Ottawa-area riding over concerns that winning his seat is not guaranteed, the Star has learned. One Conservative source involved in Poilievre’s campaign told the Star that the leader appears to be in trouble in Carleton, the sprawling riding Poilievre has held since...
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Canada would “cease to exist” if it weren’t for the United States — comments that came just days before Canadians are set to vote in an election dominated by Trump’s comments on the country’s economy and sovereignty. Trump re-inserted himself into Canada’s election during a signing ceremony inside the oval office. saying Canada “would...
Ranbir Parmar, who hoped to represent the Tories in Calgary McKnight, has joined the Liberals after not being allowed to contest the nomination. Minesh Patel, who faced a similar experience in Calgary Skyview, is running as an Independent.
To former opposition leader Preston Manning, the solution to keeping Canada unified is simple: Replace Mark Carney’s Liberal government this election, under a different party banner. “I’m very strongly on Canadians uniting, but the question is: ‘Uniting behind whom, and for what’?” he told CTV Your Morning in an interview Wednesday. “I suggest that they need to unite between a...
Platform published Tuesday didn't include commitment made earlier in the campaign. The Conservative Party has republished the English-language version of its platform after what it says was a "publishing oversight" resulted in the omission of a previous commitment to crack down on "woke ideology" in the public service and federal funding for university research. Earlier in the campaign, the Conservatives...
Post-debate, and less than a week from election day, the Liberal Party maintains its commanding lead across Atlantic Canada.Across the region, eligible voters are clearly decided in terms of who they plan to vote for in the election. Little movement is evident post-debate and few (6%) are undecided in their voting intentions.
The CTV-Globe and Mail/Nanos nightly federal election tracking conducted by Nanos Research surveys 1,200 Canadians aged 18 years and over three days (400 interviews each day). Respondents are all randomly recruited through a dual-frame (cell- and land-line) RDD sample using live agents. Three quarters of the sample are administered the questionnaire by telephone and one quarter is administered the same...
With less than a week to go in the campaign, a new poll from Abacus Data finds the Liberals leading by 3 among those who have already voted and are committed and by 5 among those who have voted and are certain to vote. This survey was conducted entirely after the two leaders’ debates held last week and interviewed 2,00...
83% of our watchers expect a Liberal victory, compared to 86% last week. 44% expect a Liberal majority, the highest number we’ve seen to date.
Most think the debates did not affect Liberal support. A decent sized minority (44%) think Poilievre may have gained votes.
The federal Conservatives are funnelling resources into Pierre Poilievre’s local campaign, shoring up volunteer support in the leader’s Ottawa-area riding over concerns that winning his seat is not guaranteed, the Star has learned. One Conservative source involved in Poilievre’s campaign told the Star that the leader appears to be in trouble in Carleton, the sprawling riding Poilievre has held since...
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Canada would “cease to exist” if it weren’t for the United States — comments that came just days before Canadians are set to vote in an election dominated by Trump’s comments on the country’s economy and sovereignty. Trump re-inserted himself into Canada’s election during a signing ceremony inside the oval office. saying Canada “would...
Pierre Poilievre is defending the Conservative campaign platform's heavy reliance on economic growth in a period of deep uncertainty, while the NDP and Liberals spar over cost-cutting.The Conservative leader was campaigning in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, with just days to go before the federal vote on Monday and a day after he released the party's costed campaign platform.
Ranbir Parmar, who hoped to represent the Tories in Calgary McKnight, has joined the Liberals after not being allowed to contest the nomination. Minesh Patel, who faced a similar experience in Calgary Skyview, is running as an Independent.
Economists at one of Canada’s biggest lenders are raising doubts about the fiscal plans offered by the leading parties in the country’s election.
Other speakers who took the stage at the Laval rally did not go nearly as far as Joly did
When asked about the current environment - no one foresaw the Liberal turnaround. Back prior to end of the 2024, the Liberals were on the ropes. Just before Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau stepped down his party trailed the Pierre Poilievre Conservatives by 27 points in the Nanos tracking (CPC 47, LPC 20).
Pierre Poilievre is counting on the budget balancing itself. Almost. There are some mostly vague plans for spending cuts in the Conservative election platform Mr. Poilievre released Tuesday, but it’s not enough to pay for all the party’s promises. So instead, the Conservative platform relies on the hope that their policies would cause a big economic boom, mostly in the...
Unlike previous Conservative leaders, Pierre Poilievre has yet to hold a single event in Saskatchewan, where support for his party is highest.
Less than a week to go now before Canadians have their votes counted and a new government is declared. So what should we be watching for as the leaders hit the final days of their campaigns to woo voters. Bruce Anderson and Fred DeLorey are here with their thoughts on everything from post debate analysis, to advertising, to what to...
With a federal election looming, reps from Amazon and TC Energy discuss how a new Pierre Poilievre government could slash bureaucracy ‘more quickly’ than Trump. Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been on a rampage inside the U.S. federal government, laying off hundreds of thousands of workers, dismantling programs that provide people with life-saving vaccines and sparking...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre released his Conservative Plan for Change today to lower food and housing costs, stop crime and bring home jobs to put Canada First. The choice could not be clearer – a fourth Liberal term with Mark Carney that will add even more debt than Justin Trudeau’s budget, or a new Conservative government that over the next...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced today that his new Conservative Government will build 2.3 million homes over the next five years. And unlike Mark Carney, who followed the old Trudeau playbook and just plucked a number out of thin air, Poilievre has an actual plan to get it done. Poilievre’s plan will get gatekeepers out of the way to speed...
This election comes at a time of crisis. President Trump is trying to fundamentally reshape the international trading system and, in the process, he’s rupturing the global economy. With Canada, he has been even more direct and aggressive: he is trying to break us so America can own us. Unlike the Conservatives who will slash public services, a Mark Carney...
This election comes at a time of crisis, as President Trump threatens Canadian jobs, businesses, and our way of life. In the face of these threats, Mark Carney has a plan to build a stronger economy and a Canada you can afford. In Atlantic Canada, the Confederation Bridge and ferries are critical to connecting residents and businesses. To make these...
When asked about the current environment - no one foresaw the Liberal turnaround. Back prior to end of the 2024, the Liberals were on the ropes. Just before Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau stepped down his party trailed the Pierre Poilievre Conservatives by 27 points in the Nanos tracking (CPC 47, LPC 20).
Pierre Poilievre is counting on the budget balancing itself. Almost. There are some mostly vague plans for spending cuts in the Conservative election platform Mr. Poilievre released Tuesday, but it’s not enough to pay for all the party’s promises. So instead, the Conservative platform relies on the hope that their policies would cause a big economic boom, mostly in the...
Unlike previous Conservative leaders, Pierre Poilievre has yet to hold a single event in Saskatchewan, where support for his party is highest.
Any hopes they had of profiting from the prodigal nature of the Liberal platform disappeared when they released their own costing document
Canada doesn’t have a gun-control problem. And Mark Carney should stop pretending it does. We do have a problem with gun crime, particularly in some of our larger cities. And we also have a problem with intimate-partner violence. These problems need attention and, critically, more resources. What they don’t need is more gun-control laws: everything that should be illegal already...
With only a few days left in this federal election, I’m surprised that there are still folks who are unsure of who to vote for. At this point, I don’t know if there is anything left to say. The parties and their leaders have shared what they think is the best direction for Canada. Right now, two major challenges dominate...
Jeffrey Simpson was my favourite columnist for years. The Globe and Mail premier journalist’s dominance of the op-ed page was so evident, he was every public servant’s go-to source of information. Of course, this was in the golden age of newspapers. While he was normally bang-on with his analysis of the politics of the day, he sometimes erred. And with...
For every American worker, American businesses invest $24 (U.S.) into the domestic economy. For every Canadian worker, Canadian businesses invest just $11 (U.S.) back into Canada. That gap, mentioned frequently by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, is a bright red warning light that something has gone wrong in the Canadian economy. Up until 2014, America and Canada’s per-worker investment rates were...
Open Letter: The next Canadian leader should set a powerful precedent against Russian aggression
During his campaign for the Conservative leadership in 2022, Pierre Poilievre said he would never pivot."I am who I am," he said.To a great degree, that has held true — despite periodic suggestions from the commentariat that he should change course.
I want to begin by emphasizing that my headline is satirical. There is no particular reason to expect a second US civil war, even though this Canadian government report from Prime Minister Carney’s own department says, “U.S. ideological divisions, democratic erosion, and domestic unrest escalate, plunging the country into civil war.” The report received coverage in international media, including this...
In a leaders' debate that was supposed to be all about Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney, Jagmeet Singh ended up stealing the spotlight. While logic would have dictated that Singh set his sights on Carney and win back some of the voters who had fled to the Liberals, he instead took his biggest swipes at Pierre Poilievre — often at...
Over the years, reams of analysis have skewered the Canadian Supreme Court’s decision in R v. Bissonnette, which declared it unconstitutional to sentence offenders to consecutive periods of parole ineligibility on the grounds that it constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment.” But the decision is so myopic, so deleterious to the public’s perception of the fairness of our justice system, that...
If Mark Carney – the charming, meticulous, and sometimes prickly economist – lands the job of steering through a crisis, it wouldn't be the first time
With just days to go before election day and millions of Canadians already having voted, both the Liberal and Conservative parties have finally dropped their full platforms. And the two are as different in substance, structure and style as the two campaigns — for better and worse. Substance-wise, the Liberals offer a slew of big-ticket items: a $5 billion Trade...
In a federal election increasingly defined by U.S. President Donald Trump, the future of Canada is on the ballot. However much Canadians have respected and admired America, we have no desire to be Americans. This reawakening is driving a surge of citizen patriotism and a renewed commitment to guard our national identity — and it is presenting a political challenge...
If you’ve followed our polling during this campaign, you’ll know we’ve gone beyond the usual vote intention numbers. Yes, we track the horserace. But to really understand where this election is going—and why—we’ve asked Canadians more questions than any other pollster: about what they care about, what they fear, what they hope for, and what they believe. And what’s emerged...
Canada’s federal political party leaders took to a Montreal stage on April 16th and 17th to contrast their views, in French and English, on the core issues defining this campaign ahead of the April 28th election. Unfortunately, the exchanges between the candidates had to compete for attention with the drama surrounding the Leaders’ Debate Commission and its (mis)handling of the...
In marketing, as in politics, the “brand” is often a persona built over years, even decades.At a certain point, the persona isn’t just a strategy — it’s an operating system. The rewards are immediate and obvious when a politician is applauded for cutting down, for exposing flaws, for pointing the finger. Accusation is currency; outrage buys airtime.
Donald Trump remains a top concern of Canadians heading to the polls for the April 28 federal election, a recent survey by Nanos Research reveals. Rightly so. The U.S. president has repeatedly attacked Canada’s sovereignty, mocked our nation with “51st state” rhetoric and disrupted our economy with erratic tariffs threats. All federal political parties have proposed ways to fight these...
There has been a weightlessness to the Liberal campaign in the past two days, as if their internal polling shows the election is in the bag
Is Alberta heading for separation?Well, no. The numbers just aren’t there.
Unlike either Justin Trudeau or Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, Carney has extensive economic and business experience. Former B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell wrote an op-ed last week that was highly critical of Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Back in mid-February, more than a month before the federal election was called and just as Mark Carney was beginning to close the longstanding polling gap between Liberals and Conservatives, I filed a column on how elections are defined by two things: are context and contrast. It’s a theme worth revisiting one week from Election Day. In the case of...
Melania Trump wore an Easter outfit that may raise eyebrows. During the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Monday, the U.S. first lady appeared in a cream coat made by Montreal-based luxury outerwear brand Mackage. Although her Easter look this year was described as “muted” by Vogue, it stood out to some because she chose a Canadian...
Pierre Poilievre is defending the Conservative campaign platform's heavy reliance on economic growth in a period of deep uncertainty, while the NDP and Liberals spar over cost-cutting.The Conservative leader was campaigning in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, with just days to go before the federal vote on Monday and a day after he released the party's costed campaign platform.
Prime Minister Mark Carney will not be taking time away from the federal election campaign to attend the funeral for Pope Francis.He says Gov. Gen. Mary Simon will represent Canada alongside a senior delegation at the Vatican ceremony on Saturday.A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office says the rest of the delegation hasn't been finalized.
China's ambassador says Beijing is offering to form a partnership with Canada to push back against American "bullying," suggesting the two countries could rally other nations to stop Washington from undermining global rules. "We want to avoid the situation where humanity is brought back to a world of the law of the jungle again," Chinese Ambassador Wang Di told The...
Economists at one of Canada’s biggest lenders are raising doubts about the fiscal plans offered by the leading parties in the country’s election.
Other speakers who took the stage at the Laval rally did not go nearly as far as Joly did
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to clean up Canada's streets and parks by giving police the power to dismantle encampments and arrest their occupants for setting up tents and shelters to live in. "Public spaces must be safe for everyone. We will take back our streets and restore order in our communities," Poilievre said during a campaign stop in...
The Liberals have a five-point advantage over the Conservatives on Day 32 of the 36-day federal election campaign.A three-day rolling sample by Nanos Research conducted on April 20-22 has the Liberals at 44 per cent over the Conservatives, who are up a few points at 39 per cent nationally.
Tucked away amid a host pledges in the Conservative platform is a promise to axe one of Parliament’s primary purposes.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced Tuesday that under his government a referendum, not politicians, would decide if Canada needed to raise taxes. Poilievre would “ban” any new taxes or tax increases unless the Canadian public votes for them.
There is an "anything you can do, I can do better" vibe to the defence policies of both the Liberals and the Conservatives, but a trio of national security and military experts say each of the parties are missing — or avoiding — the fundamental national security issue at stake in this election. They say voters are likely asking themselves...
The Agenda with Steve Paikin is coming to an end after 19 seasons. TVO says this season of its flagship current affairs program will be the last as the veteran host enters a new phase of his career with the public broadcaster. Paikin will stay with TVO as co-host of the weekly political podcast #onpoli, and he will continue to...
Swap out the maple leaves for stars and stripes, and the Conservative rally in Canada’s automotive capital had all the hallmarks of Donald Trump’s signature events. A massive crowd packed an unfinished warehouse in Windsor, Ont., down the street from the Stellantis assembly plant where workers had been idled by the U.S. president’s trade war. Some supporters arrived with flags...
Less than a week to go now before Canadians have their votes counted and a new government is declared. So what should we be watching for as the leaders hit the final days of their campaigns to woo voters. Bruce Anderson and Fred DeLorey are here with their thoughts on everything from post debate analysis, to advertising, to what to...
A new poll suggests more than half of Conservative voters don't trust what they see or hear about federal party leaders in the media during the current election campaign.Fifty-six per cent of people who identified as Conservatives in the Leger poll said they had little trust — or none at all — in media reports about party leaders.
With a federal election looming, reps from Amazon and TC Energy discuss how a new Pierre Poilievre government could slash bureaucracy ‘more quickly’ than Trump. Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been on a rampage inside the U.S. federal government, laying off hundreds of thousands of workers, dismantling programs that provide people with life-saving vaccines and sparking...
Poll finds most Canadians see Carney as a change from former prime minister. During the English leadership debate, some of the most compelling exchanges included Mark Carney fending off accusations from Pierre Poilievre that the Liberal leader was just another version of former prime minister Justin Trudeau. "You spent years running against Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax," Carney said...
With less than one week until the federal election, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney have embarked on their final, all-out stretch of the campaign. While domestic voter turnout is expected to be high, Canadians abroad may also help to shape the outcome by casting ballots in record-breaking numbers. According to Elections Canada, more than 89,00...
If the not-for-profit group you run spends money to sway the election towards your favourite candidate, does that — and should that — constitute a reportable election expense? On Monday, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) held a 90-minute event with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. The presentation was decried by a handful of attendees, who believed they were coming...
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says Jagmeet Singh cannot continue leading the party if the NDP loses official status in Parliament, as some polling suggests could happen. When asked directly by CTV Power Play host Vassy Kapelos on Tuesday if Singh can remain at the helm in that scenario, Mulcair simply said, “No.” “Mr. Singh knows what the results are...
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday there have been "successes" at the Canada-U.S. border -- but offered no new hints about what might convince U.S. President Donald Trump to drop his tariffs on Canada. "Thanks to President Trump, operational control of the border is becoming a reality and the administration's historic measures are yielding huge results," Leavitt told...
Liberal Leader Mark Carney says there is a realistic chance his economic plan could eliminate the federal budget deficit within five years, but that he refrained from putting the claim on paper because it is irresponsible to make assumptions about growth during U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade crisis.
An estimated 7.3 million Canadians — a record — took advantage of advance polls and cast their ballots over the long weekend, according to Elections Canada.The non-partisan agency said based on its preliminary figures, that marks a 25 per cent increase from the 5.8 million electors who voted in advance during the 2021 federal election.
Mothers of Canadian children stranded while attempting to flee the harrowing Sudanese Civil War say Ottawa isn’t moving to help clear the roadblocks that would provide them with a pathway to enter the country.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been campaigning in British Columbia – the province home to half of the party’s seats – since Friday. Asked repeatedly over the long weekend about spending some of the final days of the 2025 federal election in potentially at-risk ridings the party currently holds, Singh responded by stating who wouldn’t want to be enjoying the...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has released his party’s costed platform, which Poilievre says includes an estimated $75 billion in tax cuts and $35 billion in new programs over the next four years. Poilievre claims that the Conservative platform will also save Canadians more than $56 billion between 2025-2029. Putting in place their programs will also require the Conservative government to...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill Wednesday creating an office inspired by the Department of Government Efficiency and aimed at reducing state regulations, joining other Republican governors who have pledged their own versions of billionaire Elon Musk's cost-cutting group.
NORTHWOOD, Iowa (AP) -- Iowans attending a forum Wednesday hosted by Sen. Chuck Grassley started to turn on each other as the lawmaker faced heated questions about President Donald Trump 's first months in office.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Wednesday that he will not seek reelection in 2026, ending his more than four-decade career representing Illinois and piling more pressure on the party as it already faced a difficult path to reclaiming a majority in the Senate.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The U.S. Army has suspended a Wisconsin training base's first female commander after discovering portraits of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been flipped around to face a wall.
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.
Pope Francis, whose nearly 12-year papacy ushered in a more open, welcoming Catholic Church that prioritized empathy for the poor and disenfranchised — including Indigenous victims of Canada's church-run residential schools — has died at 88, the Vatican said in a video statement Monday. "Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our...
Meta Platforms Inc. faces a historic antitrust trial beginning Monday that could force the tech giant to break off Instagram and WhatsApp, startups it bought more than a decade ago that have since grown into social media powerhouses.
China announced Friday that it will raise tariffs on U.S. goods from 84 per cent to 125 per cent -- the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has rattled markets and raised fears of a global slowdown. While U.S. President Donald Trump paused import taxes this week for other countries, he raised...
A helicopter broke apart in midair Thursday and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront, killing a family of Spanish tourists, including three children in the latest high-profile aviation disaster in the U.S., officials said. Mayor Eric Adams said the flight began at a downtown heliport around 3 p.m. and that the dead had...
On March 11, China concluded its annual 'Two Sessions' — a pair of legislative and advisory meetings focused on Beijing's economic priorities for the year ahead. The slew of macroeconomic measures announced at those meetings are now taking on heightened significance amid the escalating U.S.–China trade war.
The reciprocal tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 2 – what he referred to as “Liberation Day” – hit Southeast Asian economies particularly hard. While they and others received a brief respite in the form of a 90-day pause, with a universal lowered reciprocal tariff of 10 per cent, tariffs on goods from China spiked to 14...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
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.
Is it time I admit defeat, pull up my tent and go home? For 30 years I have advocated for reductions to Canada’s military spending, and it keeps rising and rising. Now it’s reached the point where Canada is the 6th highest in actual dollars within NATO (after USA, Germany, UK, France, Poland). Responding to expensive plans to increase military...
The final days of a campaign can be hectic. The Conservatives had to pull together a couple of advertisements on short notice. Every party is sending their leader on a cross-country tour and volunteers on the ground are pulling out all the stops to ID their supporters in order to get them out to the polls on election day.
The Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP have released their platforms. What exactly are they promising to do on issues like housing, climate change, crime and justice and the cost of living?
David Herle, Scott Reid, Jordan Leichnitz, and Kory Teneycke provide insights on the latest in Canadian politics.
I called up some friends to talk about how a country makes its choices. Almost done. Since I launched this newsletter I’ve actually never been as single-topic as I have during this federal election campaign: Five weeks of writing, video and podcasts. I plan to diversify my subject offering pretty quickly once the returns are over, although frankly next week’s...
