The Buzz Nov 22nd 2025: What does leadership change mean for…

The Buzz Nov 22nd 2025: What does leadership change mean for elections?

Welcome to the weekend and welcome to The Buzz.

Another week with a lot of interesting articles that caught my eye. Like this one.

First, some background. In recent political history, you can go back to the late sixties when Lester Pearson stepped down and Pierre Trudeau took over. Then, in the eighties, Brian Mulroney replaced Joe Clark. In the nineties, Jean Chretien became the Liberal leader after John Turner moved on. The list kept going until the most recent leadership swap earlier this year, when Mark Carney took over the Liberal party from Justin Trudeau.

Look at that list, and what’s the common denominator? All the new leaders won the next election. So, does that suggest that changing leaders is the magic solution to winning?

That was the challenge for Laura B. Stephenson, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, when she wrote this for Policy Options:

Can swapping leaders really change election outcomes?

So, any lessons in that for Pierre Poilievre and the members of his party?

Mark McQueen knows politics, knows Ottawa, and knows business. He wrote this opinion piece for the Toronto Star:

🔒 Opinion | Say he’s ‘in trouble’ till you’re blue in the face, but Poilievre is staying put as leader

In the post-budget world, we can look back at the vote in the House of Commons, the one the Carney crowd squeaked through with a win, and wonder “what really happened there?”.

Let’s give columnist Tasha Kheiriddin the chance to answer that one:

Tasha Kheiriddin: Poilievre lets Carney's irresponsible budget slide through

If you’re like me, you have been trying to understand all the sudden pipeline talk between Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, and the prime minister.

Depending on who you listen to, they’re close to some kind of deal. Or are they?

I always like reading Max Fawcett in the National Observer when it comes to topics like this, and again this week, he doesn’t disappoint:

Alberta’s pipeline math still doesn’t add up

Here’s another take on the pipeline issue.

It comes from Marco Vigliotti, the Editor in Chief of iPolitics:

🔒 Liberal MPs cast doubt on plan for new West Coast pipeline but concerns raised about impact on B.C. seats

I was having lunch the other day with someone I trust for their observations about current events.

As often happens these days, the conversation eventually came to Donald Trump. But not the Trump-Epstein stuff, no, instead it was the Trump-Canada stuff. Specifically, Trump’s not-so-veiled desire to “own” us. Quite frankly, I don’t know why so many of us are hesitant to deal with this. He wants us, and the question is, how far would he go to get us?

Steve Staples is a public policy analyst, and last month, he wrote a piece I should have run at the time. But it’s never too late for a good thing, so here goes:

Trump's warships in Canada's Arctic, next?

Another week, two more solid political podcasts on The Bridge. If you missed them, here’s how you catch up:

Good Talk with Chantal Hebert and Bruce Anderson is available in its YouTube version right here.

And the audio version of Reporter’s Notebook with Althia Raj and Rob Russo can be found right here.

Donald Trump is apparently, or so he claims, preparing his five billion dollar lawsuit against the BBC.

Seriously? What are the chances of that? Not much says The Telegraph:

🔒 Trump ‘more likely to win lottery’ than BBC lawsuit

You’ve probably read lately that things are falling apart for the coalition that Trump has put together in the last decade, which has put him into power twice in the last three US elections.

Is it in jeopardy? Check out Andrew Sullivan’s Substack:

Are The Wheels Finally Falling Off MAGA?

Are you ready for a nice story about the royals?

After so much depressing stuff about them for the past few years, here’s one you can smile through, maybe even feel good about. It comes from NBC News:

Princess Kate's comeback boosts royals rattled by Andrew scandal

This next story is so 2025.

Parents are so worried about how their kids use tech that they’re hiring screen time coaches to help. The story is in the Washington Post and was written by Heather Kelly:

Frazzled parents turn to screen-time coaches, $8,000 detox camps to rein in kids’ tech

Screen time coaches. What could possibly be next?

That’s it for this week… The Buzz will be back in seven days.

The Buzz is a weekly publication from National Newswatch that shares insights and commentary on the week’s developments in politics, news and current affairs.