It all started about fifty years ago, in the backyard of my parents’ house in La Tuque, a small town roughly 130 kilometres north of Shawinigan. Our home sat on the edge of town, and just behind it was a gorgeous forest — my playground, my refuge, my world. Then one day, a work crew arrived and began cutting it...
We lead two countries that do not have the luxury of relying on old orders of geography. Finland shares a border with a Russia that is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine and actively interfering in other societies instead of reforming its own. Canada shares the world’s longest land border with a United States that is reassessing its priorities...
“Rather than sitting here and arguing with each other, we’re actually going to get out there and talk to the people!” That’s how Premier Doug Ford defined the Legislature of Ontario. It was his defence for the unprecedented five-month break and the lowest number of days “The Ledge” will sit in decades.
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon’s recent acknowledgment that new legislation may be needed to accelerate approvals for major projects is an admission of long-standing failure. Canada’s regulatory system for infrastructure and resource development has become slow, uncertain, and politicized. While Ottawa now speaks of one or two year approval windows and continues expanding entities like the Major Projects Office, deeper...
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran-U.S. conflict has delivered the largest oil supply disruption in history, removing roughly 20% of global supply and sending prices surging. This crisis underscores a painful truth for Canada: we have squandered a golden opportunity to act as a reliable energy supplier to the world. Canada sits in an enviable geo-strategic...
Canada’s selection as home to the new Defence, Security and Resilience Bank affirms our country’s credibility with its allies and its leadership at a time when defence, security and economic resilience is critical. Nova Scotia was one of the first to raise our hand in support of Canada’s bid.
Is Canada on track to meet its climate goals? The honest answer is “no,” and the really honest answer is that Canada’s climate goals will never be reached. They are folly and were designed by climate idealogues who had no concept of consequence, economic reality, or un...
Canada is at a crossroads. In the coming days and weeks, the federal government will decide whether the country compromises its climate commitments or embraces a more sustainable path towards a greener future.
Its natural gas reserves have the potential to enrich its people and power the world. Let’s get some shovels in the ground
Conservatives believe Canada is a country ready to build again. For too long, especially in our largest cities, young Canadians have watched governments make big announcements while the cost of living rises, opportunities narrow and major projects stall. After more than a decade of Liberal promises, overspending and delays, Canadians deserve a new approach that delivers real results people can...
Prime Minister Mark Carney in March put the North at the centre of Canada’s economic and security agenda when he announced more than $40 billion of investments in defence, economic corridors and electrification in our Northern and Arctic region. Article content For the Northwest Territories, that commitment has begun to take shape with the referral of three nation-building projects to...
There has been a lot of debate in recent weeks about the province’s decision to take over the City of Toronto’s role in the agreement governing Billy Bishop Airport and to acquire the city-owned lands at the airport. Some have asked why the province would take such a step. The answer is that Billy Bishop is a critical piece of...
I have an urgent request for Prime Minister Mark Carney: please come to Vaughan, Ont., to meet with our Jewish community. As Vaughan’s mayor, I want you to know that Jews here feel angry, scared, defiant, tired, shocked and beleaguered. Who can blame them? I’ve lived my entire life in this country, but I have never before witnessed the shocking...
Monday is the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Smith is probably the best-known and least-read economist, which explains why he is so often misunderstood. For example, if you google “Father of Capitalism,” Smith’s name pops up, but neither his Wealth of Nations nor The Theory of Moral Sentiments uses the word “capitalism.” He did not preach the...
This week, the world will converge in Toronto for the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, the largest mining conference in the world. At a moment defined by geopolitical instability, fractured supply chains, and surging demand for critical minerals, Ontario is emerging as the world’s reliable partner.
While the terrible tragedy at Tumbler Ridge prevented Prime Minister Mark Carney from attending this year’s Munich Security Conference, echoes of his recent Davos speech could be heard throughout the meeting halls, hallways, and bars of the Bayerischer Hof Hotel. I was there again this year as a Canadian parliamentarian and Senate committee chair, so some of those conversations were...
The GM plant in Oshawa often feels like a mythical place. Long-time residents in the region tell stories of a time when it was a hub of prosperity for tens of thousands of families. They say, when shifts would end, there were so many GM employees that some roads would become one-way streets so workers could drive home in an...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s well-crafted and eloquently delivered speech at Davos has been widely noted, and I want to start by offering some praise of my own. The Prime Minister is right to restate what many have said for years: Canada must become more self-reliant, less dependent and work with like-minded countries to advance our interests. Conservatives are, as always...
Today Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum which rightly named the hard realities of a fractured geopolitical system, and the urgent need for middle powers like Canada to step up with resolve and realism.
A question I keep hearing from folks across Canada is pretty simple: “What the heck is going on in Alberta?” It’s a fair question. The Alberta government, whether through incompetence or malice, is dismantling public services, trampling on human rights, and threatening the very future of the country. Two factors in particular -- the rise of Alberta separatism and the...
Every mayor in Canada learns this lesson quickly: the problems that land on your desk are rarely abstract. They arrive as phone calls from small business owners or families whose sense of safety has been shaken. In Peel Region, extortion has become one of those problems. It’s no longer isolated or sporadic. And it’s no longer something municipalities can solve...
A major geopolitical fault line shifted Saturday morning, as the United States arrested Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro after a quarter century of socialist tyranny. This is a good thing. Canada did not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, and with him out of the way, we hope that Venezuelans will finally be able to enjoy freedom and democracy...
An important underlying purpose of the Combatting Hate Act is protecting communities of faith. Nobody should be intimidated or obstructed when they want to go pray. The act gives police clear tools to intervene when intimidation or obstruction of a community space occurs. It is an important signal that Parliament expects police and prosecutors to act to protect communities of...
Across Ontario, too many people are making impossible medical choices. Ontarians are splitting pills, skipping doses, or going without heat or food to afford life-saving medication. It is a quiet crisis that exposes a glaring gap in our universal health care system: prescription drugs are still not universally covered. Convened by Canadian Doctors for Medicare, we’ve joined a multi-party group...
It’s a grand bargain that feels like a fire sale. That at least is how some have characterized the Memorandum of Understanding on energy that was signed late last month by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
If we don't build bridges to get demoralized young men involved in the democratic process, extremists may capitalize on their frustration
Let’s face it, with 343 MPs in this Parliament and one Green Party seat, I had not imagined that any vote might be so tight that my single “yay” or “nay” could hold sway. Then, based on a combination of minority math and political machination, the knife-edge vote on Mark Carney’s first budget on November 17th came along and the...
