Trudeau shuffles the deck while the nation waits for him to make up his mind
The 29th ministry since Confederation now has some new members — individuals who could one day become vital or important...
Aaron Wherry
While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Aaron Wherry.
Where does Justin Trudeau go without Chrystia Freeland?
Back in 2018 — after her star turn as the minister who took on Donald Trump — Chrystia Freeland was...
Will Parliament be a 'gong show' again in 2025?
One afternoon earlier this month, Charlie Angus stood in the House of Commons to lament. "Mr. Speaker, I always say...
Trump's tariff threat is testing both Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre
The coming of winter in Ottawa could persuade even the most patriotic Canadian to think about following the geese south...
Everyone agrees Canada should spend more on defence. How do we pay for it?
If there's one thing Canada's premiers have always agreed on, it's that the federal government needs to respect provincial jurisdiction...
Rattled by Trump's tariff threat, Canada's leaders point fingers at each other
Singh wants a 'war room,' Poilievre wants to kill the carbon tax and Trudeau wants to fight fire with facts...
Who is muzzling Conservative MPs — the Speaker or Pierre Poilievre?
The Conservative leader's office keeps a tight grip on what caucus members say and do. Who poses the greater threat...
Justin Trudeau tries to find a cure for 'inflationitis'
All around the world, persistent inflation is taking down governments. If the political and public policy challenges posed by inflation...
After a brief retreat, politicians are again clamouring for the notwithstanding clause
When a public backlash compelled Ontario Premier Doug Ford to abandon his use of the notwithstanding clause to end a...
With Trump's return, another wave of uncertainty washes over Canadian politics
For Canadians, American democracy is a spectator sport, a source of eternal concern and a measuring stick — a spectacle...
Trudeau hopes a 'silent majority' is still willing to listen
He surely would reject any such comparison but, in a recent interview, Justin Trudeau briefly sounded just a little bit...
Trudeau's Liberals are trying to save the Canadian consensus on immigration — and their legacy
Polling shows Canadians' enthusiasm for immigration may be cooling off. Reports about the death of Canada's immigration consensus have arguably...
Trudeau and the Liberals are burning time on themselves that they can't afford to waste
The PM blamed the 2011 election result on the party's inward turn — he wasn't wrong. When Justin Trudeau became...
After a week of jaw-dropping accusations, the quaint world of 2015 seems far away
Nine years ago this fall, the leaders of the three major federal parties at the time gathered on a stage...
Caught in an aggressive hunt for documents, Parliament is getting nowhere fast
Some amount of parliamentary gamesmanship is to be expected whenever and wherever MPs gather. But some days it's hard to...
For Pierre Poilievre, the conflict appears to be the point
Some amount of conflict is inherent to democracy — particularly so in a political system that prominently features His Majesty's...
The scandal that shocked Parliament in the spring is slowly fading from memory
For a few weeks in June, concerns ran high on Parliament Hill about unnamed MPs or senators possibly being compromised...
The issue isn't the carbon tax — it's climate change
When the going gets tough, political leaders sometimes feel the need to get going. And the scramble for safer ground...
The Liberals can't win a general election if they keep losing safe seats
In the summer of 1978, against his top political strategist's advice, Pierre Trudeau called a full slate of byelections to...
While voters may have tired of him, Trudeau looks forward to a 'choice' election
Standing by the docks in downtown Nanaimo, B.C., on Monday morning, Liberal MP Alexandre Mendes told Radio-Canada she came to...
Liberal MPs gather in B.C. to confront a new political landscape
In early July, as the Liberal caucus was still reeling from the party's unexpected byelection loss in Toronto-St. Paul's, Liberal...
The NDP-Liberal deal is no more — here's what could happen next
So the answer to the question of how much longer the Liberal-NDP deal would last turned out to be "not...
How much longer can the Liberal-NDP deal last?
On Thursday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made a great show — he even wrote a letter — of calling on...
Should the Senate draw a line at the notwithstanding clause?
John A. Macdonald once assured the pre-Confederation Legislative Assembly of Canada that an appointed Senate, then under consideration, would "never...
The threat of climate change demands something more than thoughts, prayers and excuses
As another Canadian summer brings another round of natural disasters — wildfires in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Newfoundland, flooding...
No matter who leads them into the next election, Liberals still need to think about governing
On Monday, Justin Trudeau was still standing. As he stood on the floor of the Goodyear factory in Napanee, Ont....
When every part of Parliament is weaponized, blow-ups are inevitable
There is cross-partisan agreement on at least one thing in Ottawa: last week's meeting of the House of Commons committee...
The opioid crisis is hard to solve. Partisan politics isn't making it easier
The epidemic of opioid addiction is a real problem. And there is a real difference of opinion between Liberals and...
Joe Biden was compelled to stand down — could Trudeau go next?
On Sunday afternoon, Justin Trudeau praised Joe Biden as an American patriot. "He's a great man," the prime minister wrote...
We had good reasons to worry about our political culture even before the Trump shooting
The attempted assassination of Donald Trump has led, inevitably and justifiably, to calls for reflection on the state of Canada's...
Former Trudeau minister Catherine McKenna says Liberals need a new leader
McKenna is the first person who served in Trudeau's cabinet to call on him to quit. Catherine McKenna, who served...
After St. Paul's, is there anything Trudeau can say or do to save his leadership?
At some point before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet decided to finally abandon his promise of electoral reform...
The capital gains debate has turned dramatic and mysterious
Announcing the Liberal government's proposed changes to capital gains taxes last week, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland repeated a thought experiment...
A few thoughts on political journalism
In January 2023, as part of a larger editorial and corporate exercise, the BBC released an independent “thematic review” of...
A 'cloud of suspicion' hangs over Parliament — and no one knows what to do about it
There is a "cloud of suspicion" hanging over the House of Commons, Conservative MP Gerard Deltell said on Monday. On...
A foreign interference report lobbed bombshells at Parliament. Now what?
If nothing else, this week's report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians offers an firm response to...
The carbon pricing debate is somehow getting worse
The parliamentary budget officer's analysis of federal carbon pricing is reportedly the subject of a "fight" with the Liberal government...
After attacking the Speaker, would Poilievre consider parliamentary reform?
While his party has made a cause célèbre out of its battle with the Speaker, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has...
A new report on poverty challenges both Liberals and Conservatives
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre understandably seized on a new report card released last week by Food Banks Canada that highlighted...
The Speaker is under attack again — maybe it's time for a more independent approach
The Conservative Party sent a note to supporters on Tuesday afternoon with the subject line, "Help fire the Speaker." "Greg...
Plastic pollution is the new front in the culture war
Last week, Lianne Rood decided to take a stand. Appearing in a video recorded outside a Tim Horton's restaurant in...
Just how far is Pierre Poilievre willing to take the notwithstanding clause?
In January, the Federal Court found that the Trudeau government's use of the Emergencies Act to respond to the protests...
In videos and podcasts, Poilievre and Trudeau are eager to explain themselves — at length
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, the Liberal MP who made a name for himself as a backbencher with his own voice, posted a...
With capital gains change, the Liberals grasp the tax reform nettle again
In the fall of 2021, the editors of the Canadian Tax Journal devoted several dozen pages to the "hotly debated"...
The Trans Mountain saga is nearing its end — the larger debate will go on
In November 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went to Calgary to speak to the chamber of commerce. A crowd gathered...
With its eighth budget, the Liberal government tries to re-win the fairness fight
The Trudeau government's eighth budget is aimed explicitly at the fact that, for many Canadians, life does not seem very...
The federal government under Trudeau is bigger — but not as big as it used to be
Earlier this year, the Public Service Commission of Canada reported that the size of the federal public service had reached...
It's a shame we didn't have Trudeau's testimony on foreign interference earlier. Much earlier
A half-hour into his appearance before the public inquiry into foreign interference, Justin Trudeau arrived at a dramatic moment, from...
In the middle of a housing crisis, no one worries about constitutional niceties
Last summer — around the same time public support for the governing Liberals began seriously to erode — Prime Minister...
The current carbon tax debate is important — it's just not serious
Thirty-five summers ago, the late Brian Mulroney opened the world conference on a changing atmosphere in Toronto. Its participants gathered...
Brian Mulroney's long bet on history paid off
In an age of hot takes and 30-second scandals, we remember a prime minister who got 'the big things right.'...
The carbon tax has its critics — do any of them have better ideas?
What would Canada be doing to reduce its carbon emissions if Pierre Poilievre and the premiers had their way? The...
Is the carbon tax suffering from a failure to communicate?
Attacks on the carbon tax are both easy and counterintuitive. The federal price on carbon, implemented in 2019, is still...
What happens when a provincial government defies a federal law? We're about to find out
When Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault suggested it was "immoral" for the government of Saskatchewan to deliberately defy the federal carbon...
What, if anything, should voters make of Pierre Poilievre's attitude toward journalists?
What should voters make of Pierre Poilievre's criticism of journalists? All politicians disagree from time to time with the way...
After Mulroney, being a 'green' PM got a lot tougher
When Brian Mulroney was given the title of Canada's "greenest prime minister" in 2006 — awarded by an expert panel...
The big problem with the Winnipeg lab affair was obvious from the start: too much secrecy
The release of 623 pages of documents on the firing of two scientists from the National Microbiology Lab in 201...
Online harms debate pits real threats against elaborate fears
Announcing the government's new online harms legislation on Monday, Justice Minister Arif Virani led with the realities the bill is...
Liberals and New Democrats reach a deal on pharmacare
The federal Liberal government and the NDP have come to an agreement on pharmacare, clearing the way for the two...
The Liberals and NDP still have reasons to work together — are they good enough?
If the 44th Parliament can hold it together until April 28, it will become the longest-lasting minority Parliament in modern...