Some dismissed it as the “erectile dysfunction” ad. Others laughed it off as a desperate Hail Mary to salvage a faltering campaign in Southern Ontario—specifically in the all-important 905 region.Well, they can stop laughing.Call it the blue belt now. The Conservatives not only held their ground in the 905—they flipped several Liberal ridings.
The world is chaotic. Sovereignty, diplomacy, trade, free speech, science are all under assault. Daily life seems suddenly dangerous. Even the weather report is scary. “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” as William Butler Yeats put it in The Second Coming (1919). We’ve entered an era of might makes right. Familiar rules are changing. Among the changes is the...
This will be a very short post on the access-to-information election promises of the five main political parties. That’s because there’s nothing to write about.With the release of the last platform today (Conservative), no party is committing to reforming the dysfunctional Access to Information Act, other than reciting cheap bromides. Some aren’t even offering bromides.
Is it time I admit defeat, pull up my tent and go home? For 30 years I have advocated for reductions to Canada’s military spending, and it keeps rising and rising. Now it’s reached the point where Canada is the 6th highest in actual dollars within NATO (after USA, Germany, UK, France, Poland). Responding to expensive plans to increase military...
Last fall, before the Trump shitstorm, advisers to the prime minister saw the black clouds gathering to the south. The new president had not yet been sworn into office, but it was clear Canada was in the crosshairs.
The 10 men who have governed the Bank of Canada since its inception in 1934 have been taciturn types, studiously avoiding the mud-holes of public controversy. Central banks trade in trust, and must project immutability and stability.That’s why it was so unusual in 2012 to hear Mark Carney, then governor of the Bank, apologize to Canadians for screwing up.
Peter Larkin launched King’s fund with $25,000 of his own cash, deposited Sept. 22, 1925 at the Old Colony Trust Co.’s main branch in Boston, the same firm used by Salada Tea for its U.S. operations. Likely he reasoned that a foreign account would reduce the risk of discovery.
Now that the election is called, time to riff from that part of my bio that says “campaign manager” and offer up regular assessments and analysis on what I think is going on. Check this space regularly for my campaign updates. You can judge my content for its value and biases on its own. But for the record, let me...
Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin and Donald Trump’s White House have shown how political leaders who bond with billionaires can be toxic to the public good. Canada so far has avoided devolving into a plutocracy, but some of our past leaders have nevertheless been compromised by powerful men bearing suitcases stuffed with money. Several prime ministers have accepted generous handouts from business...
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...
Canada Proud, the right-wing provocateurs and third-party advertising group closely aligned with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, are not exactly renowned for their subtlety. Their social media ads frequently veer into crass territory, yet clearly resonate—evidenced by their hefty investments in Meta's Facebook and their savvy optimization of messaging and targeting.
A recent analysis highlighted in La Presse reveals a startling aspect of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's oratory style. When assessed through a linguistic lens, Trudeau's vocabulary richness—or lack thereof—stands out, particularly when his word variety is measured against the total number of words he has spoken. This metric, known as a lexical richness index, positions Trudeau's vocabulary as one of...
If that's the overarching theme of the campaign, 'Canada Strong' could be a slogan-sized blind spot for the Liberal campaign.
Media stories about a royal medal have been popping up on news and social-media platforms in Canada lately. Expect more before the end of this month.March 31 is the deadline for presentation ceremonies for the King Charles III Coronation Medal. Some 30,000 have been minted, destined for the chests of Canadians who have made a significant contribution to the country.
It’s called an election campaign for a reason. Even though its purpose is to secure votes, instead of purchases, it is, in many ways, akin to marketing campaigns selling beer or detergent. Most of all, it starts with clearly stated quantitative objectives. Usually, it is to contribute to an increased market share. As such, Doug Ford’s campaign to secure a...
The number of women candidates running to become Members of Parliament has increased substantially over the last five elections. But are they attracting as much money for their campaigns as their male counterparts?A new study by Elections Canada says not only have women candidates closed a money gap, they’ve overtaken their male counterparts in cash raised.
The former Public Safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, gave RCMP the green light to start selling some of its used vehicles, partially ending a 2021 moratorium that left Mountie car lots jammed with decommissioned cars. LeBlanc’s approval was issued Dec. 9, almost four years after sales were suspended in the aftermath of the Nova Scotia mass murders, in which a gunman...
If “Fresh. Familiar.” are the words describing its brand identity, the party might want to make sure they don’t sideline the familiar part next time they decide to wrap themselves in red.
In the words of Mike + the Mechanics from The Living Years, "Every generation blames the one before and all of their frustrations come beating on your door." This line perfectly captures how Canadian youth have inherited the unmet promises of the past, and, like many before him, Justin Trudeau paid the price of that truism—bearing the weight of collective...
The Liberal government has launched a project to reduce the overwhelming number of older, English-speaking men who receive Order of Canada medals, Canada’s highest civilian honour.
Wracked by energy, food and medicine shortages, the Cuban government is asking Ottawa for a break on its multimillion-dollar Canadian loan to help the country weather the economic crisis, says a newly released document.
Members of a journalism panel who decide which Canadian newsrooms have the government’s seal of approval have billed taxpayers at least $243,000 for their work. Internal records from the Canada Revenue Agency, obtained through the Access to Information Act, show the part-time members have together drawn an average of $47,000 annually in pay for the last five years, plus $8,00...
Pierre Poilievre faces a litmus test over cabinet secrecy this year, should he become prime minister of Canada, as polls since 2022 have consistently suggested.In the Conservative opposition, Poilievre has clashed with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the withholding of cabinet documents from Parliament for its probes of foreign interference, the WE charity controversy, and the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Freedom-of-information (FOI) regimes across Canada withered in 2024, as courts and governments tightened the noose around openness and transparency.Here are five key moments in a generally dismal year for FOI. Four of these developments made the filing of requests for government information feel more like a fool’s errand. One of them offered hope
Treasury Board of Canada released fresh government-wide statistics last week about citizens’ use of the federal Access to Information Act in 2023-24.
Canadians watched in horror as Elon Musk bought influence in the United States, thanks in large part to the country’s billionaire-friendly political financing rules.Turns out we should be watching our own backyard, too.Because, while currying favour with politicians can be more complicated here in Canada, it looks like Musk’s Canadian counterparts are getting creative.
The RCMP’s geriatric airplanes and helicopters are long past their replacement dates, with almost half of the 30-aircraft fleet deemed in “poor or failed condition,” says an internal report.The Mounties operate the aircraft only on daytime business hours, Monday to Friday, despite a round-the-clock demand for emergencies.
A lawyer for Sandy Hook families is dragging Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce giant.That’s because Shopify is powering Alex Jones' newest store -- and despite my previous reporting, won't even acknowledge or explain this decision.It’s “bad enough that Shopify would partner with a man who continues to spread
Some alarming news has come to light this week in the Russia-Ukraine war that has far-reaching implications – potentially leading to the use of nuclear weapons.
Treasury Board of Canada, a central agency of the federal government, is Ottawa’s cheerleader for access to information.The institution gathers statistics, sets policy, organizes training, produces manuals, offers guidance, oversees programming, all to support more than 260 other departments in carrying out their legal requirements under the Access to Information Act.
Israel’s far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a secret plan for Gaza as his defence forces continue to bomb, displace and now starve its more than 2 million inhabitants. Haaretz journalist Noa Landau says that despite never admitting it, Netanyahu has a “day after” scheme for Gaza that looks remarkably like the way the United States devastated Iraq following the...
If you or someone you know has been active in the pro-Palestinian movement, you may have noticed this trend.There is a growing frustration among those trying to stop the terrible violence and bloodshed in Gaza from Israel’s wonton bombings, launched in response to the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas fighters on Israeli civilians and soldiers.
The pro-active publication of internal documents by governments has long been touted as a cure-all for a dysfunctional access–to-information regime. After all, if citizens are requesting the same stuff again and again, why not just release the documents pro-actively without making people jump through the hoops of a formal access-to-information request? Pro-active publication promotes transparency, and reduces the workload of...
In public affairs journalism, all information has a best-before date.Citizens want to know what their governments are up to – right now, not months, years or decades after the fact.
The prospect for peace in the Middle East is farther away than ever, with both Palestinians and Israelis convinced their attacks on the other are justified by past grievances. As the first anniversary of the surprise attack by Hamas on civilians and troops inside Israel on October 7 nears, which prompted massive attacks by Israel killing tens of thousands, a...
What does the now-defunct Liberal-NDP cooperation agreement teach us about politics? Can politicians rise above partisanship for the common good?I’ve witnessed toxic “hyper-partisan” politics firsthand during my years in Ottawa. It can get pretty ugly. The Conservatives once shut down my presentation to the all-party National Defence Committee practically mid-sentence!
An internal memo for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledges that poverty is on the rise for many Canadians after years of progress, leaving vulnerable families struggling to put food on the table. “Poverty rates are increasing again, mostly among non-elderly single individuals,” says a June 3 memo and deck presentation entitled The Financial Situation of Households: An update on strengths...
The federal government in 2004 created a kind of disaster bunker, where dozens of specialists huddle to co-ordinate an emergency response whenever a major crisis disrupts the country. The secretive facility, given the milquetoast name ‘Government Operations Centre,’ was born out of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that reset Canada’s security posture in so many ways. Since then, however, terrorism has...
It’s counter-intuitive, but Ukraine’s surprising incursion into Russia this month may mean that Ukraine is seeking a way to end the war, not expand it. As PeaceQuest readers will know, the conflict war between Ukraine and Russia has become what is known as “a war of attrition,” where each side is unable to make significant territorial games and both resort...
A potential regional war looming, over two hundred citizens taken hostage and 1200 killed during a preventable massacre, and international condemnation over potential war crimes, yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political support has increased recently, according to a new public opinion poll.
The RCMP has lost one of its handguns - the second time the elusive weapon has disappeared.
Party leaders’ summer tours are like a Rorschach test. Look hard enough and you can see a cunning strategy behind every visit.In reality, though, some visits have less import than others.Take, for example, the recent visits of Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh to Prince Edward Island.
RCMP in Nova Scotia ordered a mass incineration of discarded Mountie clothing and kit in the province after a murderer disguised as an RCMP officer gunned down 22 people over a weekend. The force’s “H” division burned some 7,000 pounds of used shirts, trousers, jackets, boots and body armour in an effort to keep uniforms and other gear out of...