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 Raisa Patel.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre does not expect his MPs to confront him with demands to step down at Wednesday’s caucus meeting, or any formal move to invoke caucus powers to trigger a secret ballot vote that could end his leadership, the Star has learned. A senior Conservative strategist and party insider, granted anonymity to speak freely, said last week’s surprise...
Dissatisfaction and worries about their future under Poilievre’s leadership has many questioning whether or not a bolder move to spark change is required. Up to 40 Conservative MPs are worried that they could lose their seats if Pierre Poilievre leads the party into the next election against Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney, said two federal Conservative sources after the party...
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has been unable to participate in decisions related to the federal government’s proposed high-speed rail line after setting up an ethics screen last year due to his partner’s ties to the Crown corporation behind the project. The screen means the finance minister has had to recuse himself from all discussions related to the Alto proposal for...
Pierre Poilievre says he’s never spoken to President Donald Trump about the Canada-U.S. trading relationship, but revealed he’s been texting Prime Minister Mark Carney during the Conservative leader’s current cross-border tour to support the Liberal government’s negotiations. Poilievre pulled back the curtain on his relationship with Carney in an interview with Joe Rogan when the podcasting giant asked the Conservative...
But new details on the backroom machinations behind that move reveal contradictions in what has been publicly revealed so far. On Wednesday, Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux became the third Conservative to join the ranks of Mark Carney’s Liberals, ending speculation over whether the longtime MP would leave politics altogether or cross the floor to the government benches. But new details...
Conservative MP Jamil Jivani has returned from Washington criticizing Canada’s tariff deal with China and questioning why Ottawa is lagging Mexico in trade talks, following a mission to the United States that both he and the Liberals are keeping under wraps. In an op-ed published in the National Post on Sunday, Jivani wrote that he met last week with U.S...
Fresh off a decisive leadership victory, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives are seeking to present themselves as doers — not obstructors. “It’s with hope and humility that I accept the endorsement of grassroots Conservatives at our party convention,” Poilievre said in a social media video Monday.
You don’t need to look much further than Pierre Poilievre’s social media to see the sort of dilemma the Conservative leader is facing. Earlier this month, he praised U.S. President Donald Trump for his extraordinary capture of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. Two weeks later, he condemned the same president’s threats to acquire sovereign Greenland and backed Canada’s obligations as...
Another federal election so soon? Most Canadians are not opposed to the idea, new research shows, but only if an early election was triggered to secure the stability and functioning of the country’s Parliament.
Frustrated grassroots Conservatives are mounting efforts to wrest control of candidate nominations away from senior party officials, as members prepare for a national convention where Pierre Poilievre is set to face a critical test of his leadership. The Conservative party’s national convention will be held at the end of January in Calgary, near the rural riding where Poilievre clinched his...
On a Tuesday night, on the eighth floor of a building bordering Ottawa’s Parliamentary Precinct, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani stood before a small crowd to denounce “Liberal racism” — a form of “discrimination” he believes is eroding meritocracy, eradicating diversity of thought and tearing Canadians apart. About 50 people filled the nondescript room, where bottles of Bud Light — a...
Conservative MPs facing questions about party loyalty are enduring unfair “harassment” fuelled by rumours and Liberal attempts to earn a majority in the House of Commons through convincing opposition members to defect to the government, a senior Tory claims. In an interview with the Star, Conservative whip Chris Warkentin bemoaned how MPs in his caucus are being repeatedly asked whether...
Mark Carney’s minority Liberals survived a second budget-related confidence vote on Friday, the day after easily defeating an earlier Conservative attempt to reject the budget as the Pierre Poilievre-led party grappled with another looming caucus departure from their ranks. The House of Commons voted 307 to 30 to defeat a Bloc Québécois motion that called on MPs to reject a...
Canada’s chaotic minority Parliament is at a critical juncture as Mark Carney’s Liberals scramble to lure more Opposition floor-crossers to secure support for the budget’s passage, and the Conservatives, reeling at Tuesday’s loss of an MP, struggle to frame themselves as the government-in-waiting. Political tribalism and parliamentary shenanigans were on display all day, starting first thing Wednesday morning when a...
New research suggests that a minority of Canadians now consider the United States to be the country’s friend, except for Conservative party supporters, more than half of whom still view the U.S. as Canada’s friend. Data from the Environics Institute shared exclusively with the Star shows that 36 per cent of Canadians currently view the United States as a friend...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre denied Wednesday that he recently suggested former prime minister Justin Trudeau should be jailed, but defended his claim that leadership of Canada’s national police force is “despicable” for allegedly covering up for the Liberal government. His comments come as signs of discontent inside the party emerged in the fallout of those claims, even as several Conservative...
The Opposition leader’s office instructed Conservative MPs on Monday to reinforce a more positive message about the nation’s police force. Under fire over Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s criticism of the RCMP senior leadership as “despicable,” the Opposition leader’s office instructed Conservative MPs on Monday to reinforce a more positive message about the nation’s police force. Talking points sent to Conservative...
Advocates and community groups are raising fears that federal funding for gender equality is on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s chopping block, with signs of approaching “austerity” and a shift in priorities from the Justin Trudeau era, when outspoken feminism was a core part of the government’s image.
Pierre Poilievre is ready to double down on domestic issues as he returns to the House of Commons. Mark Carney is not Justin Trudeau. He’s also not Pierre Poilievre.
Negotiations with the White House to secure a reprieve for key sectors hammered by strategic tariffs are not at an impasse, says Prime Minister Mark Carney’s point-person on Canada-U.S. trade. “The conversations have been focused on trying to get relief for those Canadian sectors that are the most integrated of other trading partners,” said Dominic LeBlanc, Carney’s cabinet lead on...
Canada’s biggest shield against U.S. tariffs is still intact after Donald Trump’s latest trade deadline, but that could change by next year, experts warn, as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares for a new round of talks with the mercurial American president. While Trump raised the tariff on Canadian goods to 35 per cent in an executive order Thursday night, an...
Ahead of a meeting between the prime minister and premiers this week, a survey has found “significant improvements” in the way Canadians feel about how well Ottawa and the provinces work together. According to a report on the state of Canada’s federation from the Environics Institute and five other organizations, 52 per cent of Canadians feel like their governments work...
There’s a new coalition in town. If the last Parliament was dominated by the Conservatives’ insistence that the Liberal-NDP alliance had spun the country into an irreversible state of disarray, the opening weeks of the latest session has put a new pact on the map.
With U.S President Donald Trump making economic and expansionist threats against his northern neighbours, a new survey suggests that pride in being Canadian has increased among supporters of all federal parties – except Conservatives.
Prime Minister Mark Carney believes artificial intelligence is key to unlocking Canada’s economic potential. He carved out a specific ministry for the file, installing former broadcaster Evan Solomon as the country’s first-ever minister of AI.
Nearly two weeks after a bitter election defeat, the Conservative party has turned its sights to its next chapter: rolling out tone shifts, a renewed media strategy, and the reintroduction of its leader to start courting voters who turned elsewhere at the ballot box. Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives — for supporters have, at least publicly, united around him — are keen...
There are plenty of questions the party will need to address including how he can lead the party from outside Parliament. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is not the prime minister. As of Tuesday morning, he was not even an MP. At the nexus of those two outcomes, which just months ago would have been nearly unthinkable, is a maelstrom of...
A Pierre Poilievre-led government would maintain all existing government agreements for the auto sector, the Conservative leader said Thursday. “We will honour all agreements for the auto sector that the government has made, but we will not force Canadians to pay a $20,000 tax on automobiles,” Poilievre said at a news conference in Halifax, referencing the Trudeau government’s target that...
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...
An internal Conservative party strategy document viewed by the Star shows how the party uses parliamentary committee meetings to maximize social media exposure and advance its political narratives. A “torture chamber” for the government. “Social media content generators.”
On Sunday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre unveiled a bold plan: he wanted to save 50,000 lives that could be lost to Canada’s toxic drug and overdose crisis, and he was ready to explain how. He chose that number because it was close to 50,928 — the number of people who have died in Canada between 2016 and 2024 due to opioid abuse.
Canadians will decide their next government, Carney said at a Friday news conference, adding any trade talks will only come after the U.S. president shows respect for Canada’s sovereignty.
The grand chief of a group of northern Ontario First Nations is blasting Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre over his promise to fast-track approvals and pump money into the Ring of Fire mineral region. Poilievre made the pre-campaign pledge Wednesday in Sudbury, promising to green light all federal assessments for the area within six months if his Conservatives form the next...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called for the federal government to send Canadian soldiers to bolster the Canada-U.S. border, hours after Mexico staved off U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff plans Monday by agreeing to deploy thousands of troops to its own shared border. Poilievre first issued the demand on social media, posting on X that to “take back control of the...
The high-stakes race for the job of Liberal leader and prime minister has prompted a deluge of misinformation online about the contest’s two front-runners. A new report illustrating that finding comes as the race to crown Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s successor now has a pared-back field of five candidates, many of whom spent the past week unveiling their campaigns in...
Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney is viewed more favourably than fellow front-runner Chrystia Freeland, new polling data shows, while the party itself appears to be reaping some benefits from its race to replace outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. New numbers from Abacus Data show that 33 per cent of respondents view the former Bank of Canada governor positively, compared to...
New polling shows that Justin Trudeau’s impending resignation has done little to immediately reverse the Liberals’ sliding electoral fortunes, as the Conservatives enjoy one of their most sizable leads despite the exit of their chief political target. The latest numbers from Abacus Data shared with the Star come from a survey conducted between the evening of Jan. 6 — the...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is fighting once again for his political life, behind closed doors. At an emergency meeting Monday evening — called after Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s now former top deputy and one-time “minister of everything” quit as finance minister — the prime minister came face to face with Freeland along with an angry and bewildered caucus before he planned...
A Liberal MP said he was threatened with unspecified “consequences” if he votes against the government’s proposed $250 cheques, an affordability measure that continues to face an uncertain path through the House of Commons. Hamilton MP Chad Collins said earlier this week that he would vote against the government’s cash rebates because they leave out seniors and people with disabilities...
A New Democrat MP was warned Monday that her decision to don a watermelon pin — a symbol of the Palestinian cause — could be construed as a political “prop” that has no place in the House of Commons. During question period, Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson took to the floor of the lower chamber to castigate Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday vowed to blacklist all journalists belonging to one of the country’s largest news networks after an incident in which his remarks were manipulated. The editing of the CTV news broadcast item created the erroneous impression that Poilievre wanted to introduce a motion declaring lost confidence in Justin Trudeau’s minority government because the Opposition leader...
Inside the world of Jagmeet Singh, things are looking pretty swell. The NDP leader prematurely withdrew from his increasingly perilous alliance with Justin Trudeau’s minority Liberals — after extracting almost everything he wanted from him.
A pair of byelections on Monday are poised to serve as a referendum on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — and his chief opposition leaders. One will see the Liberals fighting to spare a Montreal fortress from the fate that befell Toronto—St. Paul’s: a surprise byelection loss in a longtime stronghold.
An incumbent facing tough questions. A governing partner who exited an alliance with him. And everyone’s firebrand rival. The stakes are getting higher for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre at the start of this fall’s parliamentary session, as an election campaign could now be triggered any time under a minority Liberal government...
The front window of the NDP’s campaign office in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun features a small selection of flags. Some represent countries, like Ukraine and Sudan, that are currently mired in conflict. Others represent Indigenous rights and LGBTQ2+ causes.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is refusing to say whether he will trigger the downfall of Justin Trudeau’s minority government at his first opportunity, despite delivering a searing assessment of a Liberal leader he says is too “weak,” “selfish” and beholden to corporate interests to serve Canadians.
On the face of it, Ahnaf Zahin and Taylor Stuart don’t have much in common. Zahin, who arrived in Canada from Bangladesh when he was a child, just turned 20 and is about to start his third year as a neuroscience and physiology major at the University of Toronto. Stuart is 37, grew up in Kamloops, B.C., and is an...
Meta launched its Canadian news ban one year ago today — and a new report offers a bleak picture of its impact on the country’s journalism sector. A grim report has found that news organizations in Canada have lost nearly half of their online engagement in the year since Meta launched its news ban for Canadian users of Facebook and...
Last week’s tiny cabinet change did nothing to appease those in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s caucus who think a broader shuffle of key government ministers would help save the Liberal party from electoral defeat. Several MPs who spoke to the Star in recent days said they still want to see a cabinet shuffle before Parliament returns for the fall session...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he is concerned about threats against his family and at one point sought increased security which they received, but rejected any notion Monday that politicians should tone down criticism of their rivals. Poilievre was among Canadian leaders who condemned political violence in the wake of the weekend shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania...
When it comes to housing, finding it — and affording it — is one of the most pressing issues facing Canadians today. That’s probably why the subject has become the focus of much political mudslinging in the House of Commons, with party leaders each trying to stake their claim as the person best suited to tackle the crisis.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been working the phones to tamp down any caucus discontent, as his team convened a call Tuesday with national caucus representatives, following a week of pressure on him to relinquish the Liberal leadership. Senior government officials expressed optimism that, after a long weekend in which Trudeau told the CBC is he “committed” to his job...
In some ways, the relationship between the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh and newly elected Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is starting to feel a little one-sided. Nenshi, the former Calgary mayor who on Saturday succeeded Rachel Notley to take the party’s helm, ran his campaign, in part, on his desire to divorce his party from its federal roots.
The heads of several dental groups are rejecting a Liberal minister’s framing that the federal Conservatives are to blame for oral health providers’ opposition to aspects of Ottawa’s dental care plan. The dismissal of Health Minister Mark Holland’s comments, which were made earlier this week, are the latest source of friction between Canada’s dental associations and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s...
It’s an inevitability that is perhaps even more certain than the Edmonton Oilers’ fate against the Florida Panthers: when it comes to Canada’s public broadcaster, the Liberals and Conservatives will always be at odds. So when the Oilers emerged as the sole Canadian team left standing in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs — and then clinched their place in the...
It’s possible that the clearest path to identifying the unknown MPs a recent report alleges covertly worked with foreign governments could begin with the leaders of the Green Party and the NDP. The New Democrats’ Jagmeet Singh told reporters Monday that once he receives a briefing that could reveal those names, he would immediately eject any member of his caucus...
The Liberal government is set to announce two new pathways that would give caregivers from abroad permanent residence upon arriving in Canada, a step intended to update and replace existing pilot programs that will wind down later this month. Immigration Minister Marc Miller will announce two new pilot programs on Monday afternoon as part of the federal government’s efforts to...
You’ve probably heard him say it: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre claims Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government “legalized hard drugs” in British Columbia, a move he believes will unleash “chaos and carnage” across Canada. He’s referring to B.C.’s three-year pilot program, which attempts to tackle the province’s drug toxicity crisis by decriminalizing the use of small amounts of certain illegal drugs to...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of impeding progress toward a two-state solution between Israel and a Palestinian state, saying Canada “fundamentally” disagrees with his government’s position on achieving peace.
The Liberals and New Democrats are slamming the federal Conservatives for failing to show up for most of a cross-country study of Canada’s toxic drug crisis, an issue leader Pierre Poilievre has heavily politicized in recent weeks. MPs from all major political parties embarked on a weeklong, three-province, multi-city tour last week as part of the House of Commons health...