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 Tasha Kheiriddin.
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...
Wednesday night’s French-language leaders’ debate in Montreal didn’t produce any knockout punches — but if you were scoring on points, Liberal Leader Mark Carney came out on top. And he did it the old-fashioned way: by letting his opponents beat each other up. Carney’s performance was far from riveting, and he frequently fell into economist-speak, such as when he talked...
As Canadians tune in to the leaders’ debates this week — in French on Wednesday and English on Thursday — they’ll hear about affordability, tariffs, immigration and even an entire segment on climate, an issue that no longer cracks the top five. But one subject is conspicuously absent from both stages: national defence. It’s a baffling omission. While the French...
It’s been a strange Canadian election campaign, dominated by a politician who isn’t on the ballot, or even a citizen of our country: US President Donald Trump. While initially the Conservatives thought Trump’s win might help them – who would have better relations with Washington, ultra-progressive PM Justin Trudeau or Elon Musk-approved Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre? – that theory quickly...
Liberal Leader Mark Carney should feel right at home in Alberta: after all, he was raised there. But his trip there this week feels more like a political minefield than a homecoming. That’s largely due to his recent quip that while he’s happy to dispatch Ontario Premier Doug Ford to advocate for Canada in Washington, he wouldn’t send Alberta Premier...
“This is a uniquely important election … As the Prime Minister and Team Canada work to stand up to President Trump and protect our economy, I do not want there to be distractions … That’s why I’m standing aside as our 2025 candidate in our community of Markham—Unionville.”
The 45th Canadian federal election is the Liberals’ to lose. That’s not a line anyone would have written two months ago. But today, just three days into the campaign, opinion polls show the party ahead by up to seven points. All the gains the Conservatives made in the past two years have melted like the proverbial snow in springtime.
Canada’s 45th general election is upon us, and it’s shaping up to be the nastiest we have ever seen. Already, the personal attack ads are flying. The Liberals are painting Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre as a MAGA Mini-me who will sell out Canada. The Conservatives claim Liberal leader Mark Carney is a clone of PM Justin Trudeau: elitist, globalist, and...
Will ethical issues upend the Liberal election campaign? The Conservatives certainly hope so — and they’re getting a hand from an unlikely source: the Canadian media. At a news conference in London, Globe and Mail reporter Stephanie Levitz and CBC News anchor Rosemary Barton grilled Prime Minister Mark Carney on his personal finances. “For a guy who has spent most...
It’s official: Mark Carney has won the prize of prime minister. Now, he must figure out how to keep it. Carney comes to the job with a lot of pluses, chiefly his steady demeanour and economic experience, but also a pile of vulnerabilities. Already the Conservatives are gleefully exploiting them, branding him a liar, sellout, and globalist. They are saturating...
We’ve all heard it, and for a while, it was tempting to believe. No matter how nutty US President Donald Trump’s statements or actions are, there is a reason. He’s a business guy. He makes deals. He might be rude, crude, a little unhinged, but he has a plan. He’s smart. He knows what he’s doing. Just wait. You’ll see...
Welcome to the 2025 trade wars. United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs threaten to upend Canada’s economy, and those of the world at large. Millions of Canadians could lose their jobs and businesses. The hour demands leadership like never before. So what should Ottawa do, and not do? I’ve got a few ideas, but I will start with the most...
As a bilingual native Quebecer, I always dread French political debates where no one speaks the language fluently. But one must make these things tolerable, so Monday night, 8 p.m., my daughter and I settled in to play “Judge the French” at the Liberal leadership debate, which was also the only way to convince an apolitical teenager to watch. The...
Did he or didn’t he? Did former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper really offer then Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney the job of finance minister in 2012? Carney, now running for the Liberal Party leadership, made the claim twice in the past few days, in English on CBC and in French on Radio Canada in response to whether he’d...
“Events, dear boy, events.” As British prime minister Harold Macmillan opined half a century ago, they are what politicians most worry about. They upend the best laid plans, as they are doing in Canada today. Over the past month, the combination of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation and U.S. President Donald Trump’s return has shifted Canadian public opinion. Nanos’ latest...
It’s over. For now. Until he decides to hit us again. After a weekend of pain, Canada has 30 days before the United States decides if we’ve been good enough, or we deserve another beating. Tariffs? Takeover? Who knows what President Donald Trump has in store for us. But one thing is clear: we can never trust him again.
On Saturday, the United States declared economic war on Canada. Starting February 4, Washington will apply 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports, apart from energy, which will be tariffed at 10%.
Who do I trust? That’s the question Liberals need to ask themselves as they prepare to choose a new leader — because it’s the question voters will be asking in the next federal election. But it’s not about trust in the macro sense: is this person honest? Will they keep their promises? Do they have the smarts and experience for...
The tariffs are coming. Not today, but perhaps on Feb. 1. That’s what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Monday, after his inaugural address.Trump’s speech made scant mention of tariffs, only that he would be establishing an “external revenue service” that would “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”
On Monday, Donald J. Trump takes office as the 47th President of the United States. His return to the White House is bad news for Canada, notably, his threat of massive tariffs that could trash our economy. We'll know on Monday exactly what he has planned, but if he goes through with 25% tariffs on all our exports, he will...
For years, it’s been assumed that the biggest threat to Canadian unity comes from the province of Quebec. It hosted a separatist terrorist movement in the 1960s and is home to the sovereigntist Parti Québécois. It held two referenda on separation, the last of which saw the country hang together by less than one per cent of the vote. Today...
It started as a joke, but it’s not funny anymore. At a rambling press conference on Tuesday, US president-elect Donald Trump made his intentions clear: he would use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state. “Canada and the United States: That would be really something,” Trump opined. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a...
At 11 a.m. ET on January 6, 2025, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally put the country out of its misery and resigned.
Happy New Year, and hope this finds you enjoying the start of 2025. Hope springs eternal as we make our New Year’s resolutions, including mine, which is to resume regular posts here. That was supposed to start Monday, not today, but alas, events, as they say, intervened. It’s Friday, January 3, my one day off this week (yes, I worked...
Chrystia Freeland has never been my favourite politician. Her positions are too left-leaning, her speaking style off-putting. Her interview with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton at the 2023 Liberal Convention was cringey in the extreme.
After cheers rang out in Damascus this weekend at the toppling of brutal Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, there came another sound: that of countries slamming the door on Syrian refugees. On Monday, 15 European nations declared that they would no longer grant them asylum. Some, like Austria, are discussing deportations; German politicians are suggesting that the country charter aircraft and...
Canada as the 51st state? Apparently, that’s what U.S. president-elect Donald Trump suggested at his impromptu dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago last Friday. When Trudeau said Canada couldn’t stomach 25 per cent tariffs, Trump mused about annexation and suggested that while prime minister is a better title, Trudeau could be governor of this 51st state. Sources told...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals may be anxious about the rise of Pierre Poilievre, but their real problem isn’t the Conservative leader. It’s Donald Trump. With the former president returning to the White House in January, Trudeau faces a rapid dismantling of his progressive agenda at the hands of Trump’s new administration. From immigration to the environment, trade to health...
U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump is not just revving his engines — he is ready to go. There have been a flurry of proclamations and appointments, including that of former ICE director Tom Homan as his “border czar.” What will Homan do in the role? At the 2024 National Conservatism Conference in Washington, he promised, “Trump comes back in January…. I...
Justin Trudeau hopes to be remembered for many things: legalizing marijuana, increasing family support payments, renegotiating NAFTA, and steering the country through the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Canadians might applaud his actions; the first two were major planks of his 2015 election platform, back in the day when voters still embraced his “sunny ways.”
The sharks are circling the tank. Yesterday, former BC Premier Christy Clark made headlines for eyeing the Liberal leadership, when it eventually opens up. Clark is taking French lessons, and according to sources who spoke to the National Post, several Chrétien and Martin-era Liberal organizers are supporting her potential candidacy. Clark tempered the speculation on X, writing that “The Prime...
Love him or hate him, you’ve got to give Justin Trudeau credit. He is the political equivalent of a cockroach. You can spray him with invective, stomp on him with slogans, drown him in bad polls, and still he scuttles along, fighting to survive. And not only survive, but attack, accusing his opponents of the greatest sin in politics: being...
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/tasha-kheiriddin-liberals-play-diaspora-politics-to-hide-their-failure-to-address-foreign-interference#:~:text=On%20Monday%2C%20Canada,packing%20in%20return.
“Antisemitic mobs take to the street shouting, ‘From Palestine to Lebanon, Israel will soon be gone.’ … Will the government clearly and unequivocally condemn these genocidal chants from hateful mobs on our streets?” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked this question of Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly in the House of Commons on Oct. 7, the first anniversary of the most...
As Parliamentarians spar over a DOA non-confidence motion and the prime minister chats with late-night host Stephen Colbert, the drama Canadians should really be watching is Season Two of the Hogue Commission on foreign interference. From a clueless Liberal party apparatchik to the Speaker’s refusal to prioritize issues of national security, it is the best spy show going — if...
It’s not me, it’s you! If you’re wondering why the Liberals lost this week’s byelection in the supposedly safe seat of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, just ask Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: “We need people to be more engaged. We need people to understand what’s at stake in this upcoming election. Obviously, it would have been nicer to win and hold Verdun, but there’s...
As if former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney’s resume wasn’t long enough, he has added a new title: Special Advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On Monday, Trudeau appointed him as Chair of a Leader’s Task Force on Economic Growth, to “develop new ideas for the next phase of Canada’s strategy for near-and longer-term economic growth and productivity.” Carney...
As the federal Liberal caucus retreats to Nanaimo to grapple with its miserable poll numbers, the Conservatives and NDP battle it out for the votes of “common sense Canadians.” They’re the non-ideological, lower-middle-class and working-class people who feel the current government has given them a raw deal. Inflation is up, unemployment is up, crime is up, housing is unaffordable, and...
Everyone agrees that Canada faces a housing shortage. But it’s not a shortage of homes: it’s a shortage of homes people can afford. In Toronto, for example, there is currently a glut of condos on the market. Prices have fallen as investors offload properties: high interest rates mean their mortgage payments exceed the rents they can get. Homes have become...
Watching this week’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention, three things stood out. The first was the endless loop of Beyonce’s song Freedom (and no, despite the hype, Queen Bey did not make an appearance). The second was Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz declaring that the government should “mind (its) own damn business” on things like reproductive rights. The third...
Who knew Canadians cared so much about the Senate? Congratulate an old friend on his appointment to the Upper House, as I did to veteran broadcaster and newly named Senator Charles Adler, and you unleash a volley of cheers — and a torrent of vitriol. The most recurrent slurs were “Liberal” and “hypocrite,” referencing Adler’s trenchant criticism of the Conservatives...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on a tear. This week he trotted out the b-word — “baloney” — to describe Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s call for tariffs on cheap Chinese-made EVs threatening to flood the Canadian market and demolish domestic manufacturing. In May, the U.S. hiked its tariffs to 100 per cent from 25 per cent, while the EU has...
The federal Liberal government has a lot of policy failures to answer for: a sluggish economy, ballooning debt and numerous foreign policy fiascoes. But its biggest failure is on the most crucial of files: immigration. Immigration is crucial because Canada depends on newcomers to fuel both population and economic growth: with a fertility rate of 1.33 children per woman, we...
What’s in a byelection? These days, a lot. The Liberals’ loss in the supposedly safe seat of Toronto—St. Paul’s in June sent shock waves through the party. The riding had been Liberal red for decades, most recently under cabinet minister Carolyn Bennett who held it for 27 years with an average margin of 30 per cent. This time, Conservative candidate...
Whenever a Canadian politician travels abroad, it’s always useful to see how the foreign press reports on their trip. It helps one gain insight into how the host country really sees Canada, and whether we are accomplishing anything, or just shooting ourselves in the foot. Case in point: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ill-fated jaunt to India in 2018, which was...
He cuts cuts a generational figure similar to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre
Saturday’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump has provoked a gamut of reactions. Shock, horror, and grief for the victims top the list. Trump was wounded and missed death by a split second; had he not turned his head, the bullet would have pierced his skull, not his ear. Corey Comperatore, former fire chief of Buffalo Township, was shot and killed...
Canada is a cheapskate. We’re that friend who always “forgets” their wallet when they join you for dinner, who never splits the bill evenly because they “only had an appetizer,” who never treats their pals to a round but always drinks when someone else buys. Most us have had friends like this, and after a while, you stop inviting them...
If you want a preview of the next election campaign, just watch the Canada Day messages from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. They were a study in contrast in style, tone, content and vision. They also illustrate why the Conservatives are 20 points ahead of the Liberals in the polls, and likely to remain so.
On Monday, voters participating in the Toronto—St Paul’s byelection delivered a clear message to the incumbent Liberal government: it’s time for change. They also unambiguously told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that it’s time to pack it in.
If times are good, immigration does not drive politics. If times are bad, immigrants fast become a lightening rod — and a political football. This predictable pattern played out in recent European Parliament elections, where the economy, migration and war were the top issues. Nationalist right-wing parties promising to crack down on immigration, including that of Marine Le Pen in...
Watch closely. That’s what Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland wants Canadians to do, as parties vote this week on the government’s proposal to increase the capital gains inclusion rate in the House of Commons. The proposal will hike the inclusion rate from 50 per cent to 67 per cent for individuals earning over $250,000 in capital gains in a given tax...
To name or not to name? That’s the question hanging over Ottawa like a bad smell, ever since the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) report revealed that a slew of MPs and Senators have been “wittingly assisting” foreign governments. This assistance includes:
What would a second Donald Trump presidency mean for Canada? There has been much speculation, ranging from ripping up the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement, to abandoning our country to the whims of Vladimir Putin unless we spend two per cent of our GDP on defence. But beyond these hyperboles, there are three very real dangers posed by the election of...
Call it smart, call it a stunt, it’s what everyone in Britain is talking about — and what we should be talking about in Canada. If Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party wins his national election on July 4, all 18-year-olds in the U.K, will be required to complete a year of national service, either military or civilian. Thirty thousand teens would...
Four people killed, including a baby and his grandparents. A horrific head-on collision on Canada’s busiest highway that could have been even more deadly, according to eyewitnesses. All caused by a driver fleeing police after allegedly holding up a liquor store. The driver, international student Gagandeep Singh of Milton, Ont., was out on bail for multiple charges of theft and...
The most one can say about the Liberals’ foreign interference legislation is “better late than never.” Bill C-70, An Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference, was put on the order paper mere hours after the filing of Justice Hogue’s report on Friday, and introduced in the House of Commons on Monday. The bill would amend the CSIS Act, the Security of...
Workers of the world, unite! This is your moment. Across the globe, parties are courting the labour vote, as life gets more unaffordable, technology takes over more jobs and everything seems more uncertain. Traditionally enamoured with the left, unionized workers are turning to the right as progressive parties dive down policy rabbit holes that have little to do with improving...
Canada used to be a nation of peace, order, and good government. Not anymore. You’d be hard pressed to find any of the three on the streets of Ottawa last weekend, at a Palestinian protest which glorified Hamas and its violent assault on Oct. 7.
Remember the Shopaholic book series of the early 2000’s? Author Sophie Kinsella made bank on the overspending adventures of her plucky heroine, financial journalist Becky Bloomwood, over the course of nine novels and a movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic (ironically released in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis). Spending made Becky feel good and forget all her problems...