Canada Strong and Free Network looks beyond federal issues as campaign forces national Tories away from conference
Federal Conservative candidates stay away, but line-up includes swathe of provincial premiers, ex-politicians, and American speakers.
Stuart Benson
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Conservatives’ tight grip on media access not living up to promise to be ‘most accessible and transparent campaign,’ say reporters
The Conservative leader took 65 questions in broadcast press conferences during the first two weeks of the campaign, compared to the 148 fielded by the Liberal leader, 163 by the Bloc leader, and 208 by the NDP leader. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s national campaign has attempted to keep a tight grip on the media’s access to its candidates—figuratively and literally—in...
Major third parties wind down ads in writ period, but organic ‘authenticity’ better than polished spots, say strategists
Political groups like Protecting Canada and Canada Proud previously spent tens of thousands of dollars on Facebook and Instagram, but have since logged off since the election campaign began.
Carney’s ‘decisive’ first week as prime minister may determine if he gets to stay post-election, say strategists
Mark Carney's first nine days as prime minister were jam-packed, but he can't keep coasting on the quick and easy decisions or cribbing from the Conservatives, says Tory pundit Andrea Sarkic.
Critics say new PM Carney ‘failed to turn the page’ with cabinet picks, but narrative link necessary, say Liberals
The new “leaner” Liberal cabinet is prioritizing continuity over change in the face of the tariff and annexation threats from United States President Donald Trump, says Liberal strategist Greg MacEachern. But Conservative pundits say the lack of new blood, and the exclusion of three provinces from around the cabinet table will make it difficult to convince voters they aren’t just...
‘If you’ve got the money, spend it’: three major parties boost digital ad buys to define Prime Minister Carney’s brand
Newly minted Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign for Liberal leadership spent just shy of $300,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads to introduce him to the party membership. Yet, while that investment is already providing dividends amongst the general public, the Conservatives and NDP have begun boosting their spending to ensure Carney is defined on their terms.
Grits’ grassroots hope Carney keeps ‘eyes and ears open’ for party renewal
Despite renewed hope among Liberal staffers and volunteers, any plans for structural party change will remain secondary priorities until after the next election, says Bluesky Strategy Group's Angelo Bakoulas.
Former central banker Carney takes Liberal leadership in landslide win on first ballot
Mark Carney dominates the results with 85.9 per cent of the vote ahead of former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland in second place with eight per cent. Rank-and-file Liberal Party members have elected Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, as their new leader. Carney, who will now succeed Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.)...
In Trump era, Grits need a bigger gambit than ‘small potato’ temporary tax cuts to woo voters, says pollster
Liberal leadership hopefuls must offer more than the “small potatoes” of temporary tax reductions when they unveil their affordability platforms, says pollster Nik Nanos. Voters are looking for truly transformational economic policies, and Canadians’ concerns are evolving beyond anxiety over groceries to the looming tariff threats from the United States, according to strategists.
NDP look to ‘meet the moment’ with Trump response, but fail to shift story from Tories: Holmstrom
NDP MP Matthew Green says a proposal to pass tariff relief through Parliament is about “meeting the moment” for Canadians under threat from the American president’s proposed tariffs, and a lack of confidence in the Liberal government’s ability to do so alone.
Reconciliation can’t become second-tier issue in Grit leadership race, says Battiste
The first Indigenous candidate for prime minister says his fellow running mates in the Liberal leadership race can’t afford to become “prisoners of the moment,” running towards the day’s most pressing concern while losing sight of his party’s long-term goals and commitment to reconciliation and fighting climate change.
Rising tithes lifts all boats? Hiked leadership entry fee, party cut will buoy Grits’ coffers: politicos
This week, the Liberals are set to have their best fundraising day of the year as leadership hopefuls submit the first instalment of the contest’s entry fee, which has more than quadrupled since the last race in 2013. Strategists say the increased entry fee will keep any frivolous “tire kickers” watching in the stands, and provide the needed boost to...
Grits’ ad-buy boost briefly overtakes Tories, but strategists say ‘spray-and-pray’ tactics will need recalibrating
The Liberal Party accelerated its digital ad buys last month, catching up and overtaking its Conservative rivals. Yet, with a vastly smaller war chest to fuel its digital messaging machine, political communications strategists say it will be difficult for the Grits to maintain their current momentum or refine their targeting beyond a nationwide “spray-and-pray” strategy.
Liberals’ new tone on immigration proves ‘Bloc was right,’ says critic, as NDP calls it a ‘flimsy attempt to cover their political behinds’
The federal government’s recognition that it should have acted to “turn off the taps faster” to slow the growth of temporary immigration to Canada is better late than never, says Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe. Yet, a new report by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship says that as the Liberals move to reduce the number of immigrants arriving in Canada...
NDP won’t be ‘baited’ as Tories attack Singh amid Liberal labour moves, says MP Green
With work stoppages in two parts of the country and in the House of Commons, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Pascal Chan believes binding arbitration may have been the Liberal government’s only safe port in a perfect storm of labour disruptions costing the Canadian economy over $1-billion every day. But sending the issue to binding arbitration is taking the “weasel...
Liberal strategists say Trump’s victory will cement Trudeau’s decision to stay
Vice-President Kamala Harris’ loss in the Nov. 5 American presidential election has thrown cold water on those who had hoped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would follow President Joe Biden’s example and step aside to give the Liberals a better chance in this country’s next election.
Grits’ new campaign director has the resumé and respect needed to right sinking Liberal ship, say former staffers
Replacing Jeremy Broadhurst with Andrew Bevan swaps 'one extremely seasoned, experienced, and competent political operator with another,' says former ministerial staffer Olivier Cullen. Charting the Liberal Party’s course in the next election will require a “seasoned, experienced, and competent” political navigator willing to go down with the ship, former Liberal staffers and insiders told The Hill Times. But with the...
NDP and Bloc need to overcome ‘fear’ of Conservatives to break Commons paralysis, says Liberal House Leader Gould
Government House Leader Karina Gould says the Bloc Québécois and NDP are “scared of the Conservatives” due to their refusal to help bring an end to the privilege debate that has paralyzed the House of Commons for the past 10 sitting days.
No confidence, but no rush: Conservatives keep mum on platform amid bid for snap election
As they put forward back-to-back non-confidence votes, the Conservatives continue to keep their policy plans under wraps, and maintain a wait-and-see posture on what will become of big-ticket programs like dental care, pharmacare, or the National School Food Program if they form government. But with the NDP and Bloc Québécois indicating they won’t necessarily move to bring down the government...
Federal Liberals face ‘wipeout’ in B.C. blue wave, say pollsters
The federal Liberals are hunkering down in Nanaimo, but the party faces a near-total “wipeout” in British Columbia as the rising Conservative tide threatens to breach even the Liberals’ Vancouver bulwark, say pollsters. The Sept. 9-11 caucus retreat aimed to hash out the Liberals’ strategy ahead of Parliament’s return on Sept. 16, and the two byelections in Quebec and Manitoba...
‘Structural solutions not inflammatory conclusions’ required to fix foreign worker program: Senator Omidvar
Despite “inflammatory” language in a new United Nations report accusing Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program of being a breeding ground for modern forms of slavery, a recent Senate report made similar findings, accusing the program of failing both workers, and the employers and industries that depend on them.
Tory fundraising on track to smash 2023 record as Liberal donations, ad spending tick up ‘slowly but surely’: politicos
The Conservative Party raised more than $20.5-million in the first half of 2024, outpacing the governing Liberals’ fundraising by more than $13.6-million so far this year, and its own total by this point last year—a record-smashing four quarters for the official opposition—by more than $4-million. Yet, with nearly $7-million in fundraising this year, and nearly $3-million more in the bank...
Feds miss self-imposed deadline for salmon farm transition plan, look like they’re ‘making it up as they go along,’ say industry stakeholders
The federal government has missed its own July 31 deadline to provide a draft transition plan to British Columbia’s salmon farmers, after it announced last month that those farms would be required to move to entirely land-based operations in the next five years.
Harsher bail reforms an expensive ‘fool’s game’ that neglects evidence-based solutions, say criminologists
As calls mount for ever-stricter bail reforms from the premiers and federal Conservatives, University of Ottawa criminology professor Justin Piché says critics “got what they paid for” by funnelling millions of dollars into policing while neglecting the courts and community support programs. And with another high-profile killing turning up the heat on the feds to take action, a former police...
Face supplant: minister recognition neither ‘net positive nor negative’ for Liberal election, leadership hopes, say politicos
The departure of Seamus O’Regan from the Liberals’ front bench will only further erode party unity and efforts to quell dissent and dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, say politicos. But whether or not there is a major shakeup in cabinet or even if Trudeau were to leave his post, recent polling by Abacus Data suggests that most Canadians...
Despite divorce talk, New Democrat brand, history still hold value for Alberta’s Naheed Nenshi, say politicos
Naheed Nenshi’s landslide victory in the Alberta NDP leadership election came with a promise to pursue divorce proceedings with its federal counterpart, but political observers and former staffers say there is still more to gain under a unified banner toward the shared goal of defeating Conservatives. On June 22, the former mayor of Calgary claimed victory as the new leader...
‘Political class needs to wake the hell up, and stop treating India with kid gloves,’ say Sikh advocates seeking answers on foreign interference
Sikh community advocates say they feel “validated and vindicated” by a recent national security and intelligence report looking into foreign interference activities since 2018, which found that second only to China, India—not Russia—is one of the most significant foreign interference threats facing not only the Sikh community, but also the halls of Parliament.
Prison-reform advocate calls on feds to permanently kill the Joyceville slaughterhouse
More than a year and a half after the Joyceville Institution abattoir in Kingston, Ont., closed down, Ontario beef farmers are ramping up the pressure on the federal government to give the 60-plus-year-old slaughterhouse a new lease on life. However, prison-farm-reform advocate Calvin Neufeld says he wants the government to finally “let it die” after spending hundreds of thousands of...
Foreign influence registry ‘more than a positive step forward,’ but not far enough, say diaspora groups
Diaspora groups say the government’s proposed foreign influence registry is a long-overdue step in the right direction to finally address their communities’ concerns and keep them safe. But national security expert Dan Stanton says the government’s “country-agnostic approach,” and unfairly high expectations from the public have the potential to create a “bureaucratic monster.”
House of Commons chaos a symptom of a past-expiry Parliament, not just Speaker’s judgment, say politicos
The Speaker of the House of Commons is once again facing calls to resign from two parties in the Chamber following a raucous Question Period last week that saw two Conservatives—including the leader of the official opposition—ejected. But political observers say that addressing the real issue at the heart of the increasing erosion of decorum may not require a new...
Foreign interference a ‘stain’ on Canada’s electoral processes, but did not undermine 2019, 2021 elections, says Hogue
Preliminary findings from the federal Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference has found that acts of foreign interference did occur in the previous two federal elections, but did not affect who formed government and that Canada’s electoral process remains “robust,” however, it has affected Canadians’ confidence in the electoral process and foreign interference is a real phenomenon and Canada “must reckon...
‘Overtaxed and overburdened’: cannabis industry suffocating under regulatory regime as feds take puff past excise relief in budget
With thousands of job losses since marijuana’s legalization in 2018, cannabis companies large and small closing their doors due to an increasingly burdensome tax regime, and growing levels of unpaid federal debt, cannabis stakeholders say without urgent action, there may soon no longer be an industry to tax. Leading up to the tabling of the 2024 federal budget on April...
The Canadian Conservative movement is tired of apologizing for their ideas
Bolstered by the Conservative Party’s record leads in the polls against the governing Liberals, attendees at the Canada Strong and Free conference last week say they’ve experienced confidence and energy unseen since the 2010s, which has given the movement a certainty in their values to unapologetically “say what they mean” and reject the “centrist orthodoxy” demanding moderation to win an...
Liberals’ pre-budget ‘full-court press’ to win back younger voters a stress test for caucus election readiness, say politicos
As the Liberals’ pre-budget charm offensive enters its third week, the new strategy to build momentum ahead of the April 16 budget has become an unintended “dress rehearsal” for caucus election readiness. But with billions of dollars in announcements already on the books aimed at winning back gen-Z and millennial voters, the louder the Liberals trumpet the good news for...
School food advocates celebrate as Liberals serve up long-awaited $1B for national program
The Liberals have announced they will be dishing out the first portion of the long-awaited funding for a national school food program in their latest pre-budget appetizer, which they say could provide up to 400,000 more students with healthy school meals as early as this fall.
Hill staffers look back on the COVID-19 pandemic from their front-row seats to history
On March 20, 2020, one week after both Chambers of Parliament adjourned, the COVID-19 pandemic had grown nearly tenfold to more than 1,000 reported cases. And as the Canada-United States border officially closed to non-essential travel, parliamentary staffers of all stripes were coming to grips with the fact it could be much longer than two weeks before they returned to the Hill.
Palestinian Canadians losing hope, taking drastic measures as Gaza visa program fails to bring loved ones to safety
Palestinian Canadians with family trapped in Gaza say they are running out of hope after six weeks of waiting to hear if their applications for the special visa program to bring them to safety have begun processing. And as Israel threatens to launch a military operation into the border city where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge from...
Exclusion of Black anti-racism activists from Supreme Court meeting ‘very concerning,’ says former GG, as Black caucus co-chair wary of ‘scary’ creep against progress
On the same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau extended Canada’s recognition of the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent, a delegation of Black anti-racism advocates levelled accusations of anti-Black racism against the country’s highest court, and called into question the federal government’s capacity to meet the decade’s promise.
Massive Tory fundraising affords ‘nimbleness’ and more ‘boots on the ground’ in swing ridings, says Powers
After doubling its fundraising totals in 2023 and double-digit polling leads, the Conservative Party can afford to keep its foot on the gas to keep its base revved up, redouble volunteer recruitment, and blanket the airwaves with riding-specific attack ads, say politicos. And as the governing Liberals continue to slip further behind, dismal polling and uncertainty over the future with...
New rule: incumbent Tory MPs whose ridings changed 25 per cent or more will have to go through nomination contests
Incumbent Conservative MPs whose ridings have changed in population by 25 per cent or more will have to go through open nomination contests, according to new rules approved by the Conservative Party’s powerful national council. “The party is opening up nominations [in ridings] that have changed 25 per cent or more,” said one Conservative source who spoke to The Hill...
Despite Emergencies Act ‘vindication,’ Conservatives shouldn’t deviate from message discipline, say politicos
Despite the Liberals’ vow to appeal last week’s Federal Court ruling rejecting the government’s defence of its invocation of the Emergencies Act nearly two years ago, Conservative strategists say the opposition should keep their eye on the future and the issues that are bringing them success in the present, rather than relitigating the past.
Tactical neutrality may avoid inflaming Liberal caucus divisions, but Canada can’t escape ICJ ruling consequences with silence: international law experts
Amidst South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in its war against Hamas, the Liberal government may be trying to strike a tone of tactical neutrality to manage both a divided public and caucus. But international justice experts say silence won’t allow Canada to escape the consequences of the court’s ruling...
Palestinian Canadians race against time and each other as Gazan visa cap threatens hopes of family reunification
As the special extended family program for people in Gaza opened for applications this week, Palestinian Canadians hoping to get their loved ones to safety say they feel forced into competition against each other in order to secure one of the scarce temporary resident visas before the program’s 1,000-person quota is met.
Tory polling sign of political landscape’s ‘shifting sands’ and volatility from undecided voters, says pollster Shachi Kurl
The Conservatives still have a double-digit lead across every recent poll, but analysis by the Angus Reid Institute show that with potentially a year or more before the next election, half of the electorate are still open to changing their minds before casting their ballots.
Liberal and NDP strategists say flexibility on pharmacare timelines, dissent a sign of pact’s longevity, not limitations
As New Democrats excitedly unwrapped the latest expansion to the national dental program earlier this week, the Liberals are running out of time to make good on their promise to deliver the most important items on the NDP’s end-of-year supply-and-confidence agreement wish list and bring the promised pharmacare legislation home for the holidays.
‘Illusion’ of Speaker’s impartiality difficult to maintain in Parliament of party loyalists, says Westminster expert Lagassé
As MPs continue to weigh whether House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus’ tribute to the Ontario Liberal Party’s outgoing interim leader constitutes a breach of the non-partisan role, an expert on the Westminster system says the image of the Speaker as above party politics is an “illusion” that functioned better when politicians saw themselves as Members of Parliament first, and...
Protesters vow continued ‘civil disobedience’ until feds issue call for permanent Israel-Hamas ceasefire
Amid a temporary pause in hostilities in Israel’s war on Hamas and the agreed-upon release of hostages, organizers behind a protest that disrupted a big-ticket Liberal Party fundraiser last week are vowing to keep up the pressure around the country until they hear “an unequivocal call for an immediate ceasefire” from the federal government.
‘Not a problem of communications, but operations’: Liberals showing signs of a government on ‘autopilot,’ say politicos
With the first weeks of the fall sitting now in the rearview mirror, former senior civil servant David Zussman says the lack of refreshed cabinet instructions is simply the latest example of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s increasing failure to fully utilize his cabinet ministers and a long-in-the-tooth government running on “autopilot” until the next election.