A broader and more comprehensive review in which professionals from different sectors are interviewed can only do good. Will there be a financial cost? But would the cost reach as high as the financial and human toll of fighting COVID-19? Absolutely not.
The consequences of climate change remain an overarching, foundational, and existential threat—one we can’t continue to wait for a comfortable time to adequately address.
The best solution to fix party nomination election controversies is to let Elections Canada oversee the process.
It does hew a little more closely to the curious side of the spectrum that Prime Minister Mark Carney had nothing to say about the Senate until after he had secured a majority in the House of Commons following a spate a floor-crossings and byelection victories.
On June 8, Arbour will be sworn in as Canada’s 31st governor general. She will be one of the most serious and substantive governors general this country has had, which is fitting for the tougher challenges our country and our institutions are facing.
If MPs aren’t going to knuckle down and give legislation a thorough examination, then they should be asked to stand and put their name to their choice.
With serious domestic and international pressures—including the potential for two provincial referendums on separation and the impact of the conflict in the Middle East—facing this government, the need for non-partisan, fearless, and evidence-based policy advice is especially critical.
MPs have an important chance to update a consequential piece of federal legislation—an opportunity that should not be squandered for the sake of advancing party interests.
Floor-crossings are not unusual in parliamentary democracies around the world. MPs switch parties for a variety of reasons, and there is no law or ethics rule that prevents them from doing so. Let the people decide.
The prime minister’s first video report is an optimistic opening gambit, with the commitment to address what isn’t working setting itself up as the real benchmark of accountability.
Canada has called for a ‘de-escalation and a sustained ceasefire’ in Iran. Prime Minister Mark Carney says all parties should respect international laws and the rules of engagement. Although the Canadian government is in a difficult position with the upcoming review of the Canada-U.S. Mexico trade agreement and we live next door to the United States, the prime minister must be more direct in his comments about the legality of this war because it’s the right thing to do and puts Canada on the right side of history.
Canadians want leadership and decisiveness in the face of global instability, and effective opposition is crucial to ensuring that both of those things happen.
MPs spend significant time away from their families, travel between their ridings and Ottawa, and work on House committees. They should be fairly compensated for the amount of work time they put in and they should be paid a competitively. But they should also be in Ottawa more.
As the elected representatives, House MPs do their best to serve their constituents, but the sword of re-election and pleasing the majority will always hang overhead. A Senate that has the time to truly study bills and make them better is in everyone’s best interests.
What happened on March 9 at the Confederation Building is not only a good news story of how a young person’s life was saved, it also reinforces the notion that miracles do happen, that we need to look out for each other, and that lives can change in an instant.
The Carney government has made no secret of its desire to move quickly and get things done. But those things should not also be done in secret.
Annette Ryan wants the job and promises to hold the government’s feet to the fire. The House and Senate should give her the chance to do that.
Making priorities cohesive while simultaneously slicing spending should be more of a focus if the goal is to win hearts and minds beyond the current polling boon.
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.
Canada does need the NDP, and it’s time for the party to work out to how to credibly contribute in a way that resonates, and not get shunted off to the fringe while the ‘adults’ are talking.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has given Canadians hope and is a savvy leader for our times, but he should be listening to his caucus, too. The Liberals who have been speaking anonymously to The Hill Times are right: attacking a sovereign nation without authorization from the UN Security Council violates international law. His MPs would have told him that.
Prime Minister Mark Carney missed an opportunity to demonstrate that his speeches aren’t just for international audiences, but also for Canadians, in the people’s house.
Despite the differing styles of previous officers, the government should make this appointment a top priority when Parliament returns this week because, as the Organisation for the Economic Co-Operation and Development pointed out in its first-ever review of the PBO (which was conducted at Jason Jacques’ request), this office is the best in the world.
If Prime Minister Mark Carney was running behind schedule in India, he should have used the lengthy flight to his next destination to answer reporters’ questions about all of the very consequential decisions he had just made.
If past is precedent, then one only needs to look at the PM’s recent trip to China where business and ‘respecting each other’s differences’ took priority over addressing the issue of transnational repression.
