Bhagwant Sandhu is a retired director general from the federal government. Between 2002-21 he held senior roles in several departments, including Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Infrastructure Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, and Public Works Canada. He has also held executive positions in the governments of Ontario and British Columbia.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is following a disciplined path to a majority, but instability abroad and slow change at home could break it.
Reversing the party’s decline won’t come from better rebranding. The new leader must reconnect with workers, confront populism, and restore political purpose.
Export diversification reduces reliance on the United States. It does not rebuild the purchasing power that makes the economy resilient.
The prime minister’s global rhetoric champions rule of law and sovereignty. But his decisions suggest those principles are flexible when politics demand.
Carney’s Defence Industrial Strategy may deliver short-term gains, but it could compromise long-term policy and economic coherence.
A responsible society doesn’t hide behind the fiction that incrementalism on guns will bend the curve of violence. Canada must move beyond symbolic gestures and confront the moral responsibility of firearms policy.
Party faithful have affirmed their loyalty to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, but not corrected the deeper dilemma: can the populist conservatism he embodies expand beyond its base?
As grocery bills soar and households struggle, Parliament’s return will reveal if politicians can produce real results—or remain trapped in procedure.
The question in foreign affairs is not if diplomatic risk exists, but how it is managed. As the government balances that reality, the Conservative response appears rooted to domestic constituencies rather than moored in a coherent vision of Canada’s place in a fragmented global economy.
Canadian politicians were quick to weigh in on an illegal U.S. military action—but whose interests are they really serving?
The party is being battered in the polls and remains, at best, a long shot to regain official party status any time soon. It needs controversy, not controlled messaging.
Mark Carney’s success will depend on his ability to navigate U.S. trade pressures along with widening political divides at home.
The Conservative leader’s antagonistic instincts may help him survive a leadership review, but they’re undermining his credibility as a national leader.
Mark Carney’s first budget displays the prime minister’s administrative instincts: control the narrative, project calm, and preserve credibility in bond markets.
The prime minister’s first budget won’t be judged by the numbers, but by whom they lift up, and whom they leave behind.
Re-engagement with India makes strategic sense. Without political accountability and institutional backbone, it risks repeating past failures.
