Former Conservative campaign manager Fred DeLorey cautions against ‘reading anything into’ the recent departure of Poilievre’s chief of staff and communications director, beyond ‘humans who have lives and careers.’
‘It demands the action of democracy, and I think unless we address it, it will be like an itch that is not scratched,’ says Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie of Alberta’s separatism question.
Critics warn Bill C-22 risks weakening cybersecurity as telecommunications firms and other service providers could be legally obligated to store Canadian users’ metadata for up to a year. But the public safety minister says some tech firms are ‘misinterpreting’ the bill, and that ‘safeguards’ are written in.
National messaging built around B.C.’s property rights debate risks oversimplifying a complex legal reality, while a failure to communicate has ‘ceded the stage to fear and misinformation,’ say pundits.
The Liberals have adjusted the makeup of House committees to reflect their new majority, shifting to a structure of seven Liberal members, four Conservatives, and one Bloc Québécois member on Liberal-chaired committees, compared to the previous four-four-one structure.
In case you missed it, the former federal Conservative leader recently told the media that Pierre Poilievre needs to ‘moderate’ his political views. That counsel might seem totally reasonable. So why do I think it’s bad? There are many reasons.
Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall announced last July that this will be her final term as an MP. The deadline to submit nomination papers and to sign up new members eligible to vote in the nomination election is May 15.
When there’s no threat of an election on the horizon, political fundraising is tough.
In that riding, the Bloc Québécois vote increased by eight percentage points and the Liberal vote increased by 10, while the Conservative and NDP votes declined by 15 and two percentage points, respectively. Turnout was 50 per cent, unusually high for a byelection.
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon will table a motion ‘in the coming days’ to change Parliament’s standing orders and boost Liberal representation on committees by two seats.
Voters are fed up with performative politics in this moment of global and economic disruption. So, out with the Bibles-as-props, dog whistles, personal slurs and red-faced rants; in with respectful, fact-based debate, and intelligent compromise.
The Liberal government faces a tough road ahead, with plenty of potential pitfalls and tough decisions ahead. Despite how things look now, the Conservatives will likely still get their chance.
When the working response is that it’s always somebody else’s fault, it starts to come across as pathetic.
It is often easier to turf a leader than unite as a movement, fight for shared values, and work through differences behind closed doors.
Pierre Poilievre has flunked the most basic test for any leader, advancing his party’s prospects to portray it as a government-in-waiting. But it will be waiting a long time under the status quo. Admittedly, part of the reason that the CPC has set up permanent residence in the political wilderness has to do with the current prime minister.
Even though the first few days of the ads’ planned six-figure broadcast schedule fall during a ‘challenging time’ for the party, the new campaign will help keep the Conservatives ‘on the front foot’ and on message, says Harneet Singh.
Most voters cast their ballot based on their views of the party or its leader. It’s deluded for an MP to think it is the magnetism of their personality, rather than their party affiliation, that brought them to and keeps them in Ottawa.
Marilyn Gladu, the fifth opposition MP to join the Carney Liberals, has been ‘rather outspoken’ about issues that may put her at odds with Trudeau-era Liberal MPs, says former Conservative staffer Ashton Arsenault.
Conservative MP Mike Dawson is continuing his fight against accepting the annual pay raise, and says the issue will be discussed at this month’s Commons Board of Internal Economy meeting. Meanwhile, former Liberal MP Joe Jordan says competitive salaries are critical to attract top talent to Parliament.
So far, it seems the Conservatives are not exactly dismissing the polls like John Diefenbaker once did, nor are they talking about their own internal polls, but they are trying to make it clear that all the bad numbers splashing around the media aren’t causing them to panic.
As long as these Pierre Poilievre-driven dynamics remain in place, the NDP seems destined to be squeezed out in two-party Liberal-Conservative contests.
Beating Mark Carney’s Liberals is a test of endurance, not a short-term sprint, and the opposition leader’s team seems to have finally rejigged his training regime.
Attempts to contribute to Canada’s post-NAFTA rebuild are welcome, but it’ll take more than a few overseas gigs and a podcast to convince people the Conservatives have finally realized the Trudeau punching bag is gone.
Not taking Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre seriously would be a serious miscalculation, and the Liberals would do so at their own peril. The Liberals also should not get cocky.
Pollsters point to affordability challenges and the potential for rising unemployment rates as circumstances that could derail the Liberals’ popularity. ‘There are a lot of, I’ll call it, negative uncertainties out there that will start to pile up. That’s why I said it’s going to be interesting to see how patient Canadians will be with Mark Carney,’ says Nik Nanos.
