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...
Stuart Benson
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 Stuart Benson.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
‘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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
‘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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
‘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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
‘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...
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...
‘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...