U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be laying the groundwork to blame Canada in case his party loses in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
As the inward heat on Premier Danielle Smith cranks up, the reciprocal hurt will be felt by the province’s immigrant community. The feds shouldn’t continue to give the Alberta government the political balm to soothe this particular burn.
Parliamentary work is a public service and MPs are elected to do important work for the well-being of Canadians. MPs should take their jobs seriously and remember that by taking second paid jobs, they could end up damaging their parliamentary careers.
There’s no sense in going fast if the feds are simply setting themselves up for legal roadblocks a few kilometres down the road.
As NDP MP Heather McPherson noted, Albertans are set to vote on the separation referendum on Oct. 19, and it’s Parliament’s job to ask the tough questions now, not after the ballots are counted. This was also critical for the integrity of the referendum voting process.
How much can be learned through the new public service misconduct and wrongdoing disclosure reports depends on who’s reporting.
Quebecers are going to the polls on Oct. 5 and Albertans will be voting in the separation referendum on Oct. 19. This month is shaping up to be a particularly consequential one for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, and he should be talking more to Canadians.
Ensuring that workers are properly supported to do their jobs free of discriminatory barriers and strengthening the system for today’s gig-work environment should be as much of a priority as expanding the country’s export customers.
The federal government maintains the bill will not erode environmental protections or Indigenous rights. Prime Minister Carney clearly wants to build major national projects quickly, but the environmental assessments for these national projects will need to be tightened up under Bill C-39 before it’s passed into law. MPs and Senators need to address these serious issue in this omnibus legislation.
Perhaps this just the inherent tension between what is ostensibly an employer and organized labour playing out, but fomenting mistrust at this juncture seems like the Liberals setting themselves up for an own goal.
Political gamesmanship carries risks for all sides when Canadians are looking for parties to work cooperatively and produce results. All political parties should aim to make this fall’s sitting of Parliament as productive as possible.
Although allies abroad are receptive to closer ties to this country, including announcing plans to open a European Parliament office in Ottawa, they’ve traditionally been fairly shy about saying or doing anything that might anger the American bear.
As Prime Minister Mark Carney and this country face these challenges with the United States, he should also be talking more to Canadians and to Parliament. It would go long way to better engaging with Canadians and empowering federal lawmakers. Carney needs Parliament, too.
A Conservative proposal to have floor-crossing MPs pay up speaks to a level of frustration within the grassroots who ultimately have little say in what happens at the caucus level between elections.
Trading insults may generate headlines, but it does little to resolve a trade dispute that has serious consequences on the lives of millions of people.
If the Conservatives are going to compete in places where the entire region isn’t Tory blue, and if the Carney Liberals want to maintain their lead, both will have to offer more because Donald Trump and his outsized influence on American politics won’t go away any time soon.
More transparency is needed following public statements from U.S. government officials about their perspective as to why the talks fell apart.
The Trump team is trying to flood the zone with misinformation about the Canada-U.S. trade relationship. Canada shouldn’t disadvantage itself in the ongoing negotiations, but extra clarity will always be welcome.
The federal opposition leaders should be briefed by Prime Minister Mark Carney now that the trade talks have been suspended. But they should not be briefed while any future negotiations are ongoing. The stakes are too high.
Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner Anton Boegman says more transparency is a good thing—and that’s not something at which journalists typically turn up their noses. But logging already transparent activities seems like a waste of resources, and of the registry itself.
The byelections in 13 ridings are expected to cost around $26-million, according to an Elections Canada estimate.
One has to question how a mixture of shifting the military’s priorities and budget cuts that affect Canada’s diplomatic presence as well as its international aid allocation will improve the turbulent geopolitical situation.
Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon recently said the proposed $90-billion Alto high-speed rail will ‘redefine travel among and in between’ Canada’s largest cities, but the feds need to be more transparent about the plan.
Unless there’s a steady hand on the scalpel excising federal bureaucrats, there could be unintended consequences.
The Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, and NDP MPs are right to push for more clarity on the agreement between Canada and the United States on the $6.4-billion Gordie Howe Bridge. But stick to the facts, and leave the politics behind.
