OTTAWA — Irwin Cotler, the former Liberal cabinet minister and former MP for Mount Royal, says he recommended his successor Anthony Housefather resign from his party’s caucus and sit as an Independent this spring as he prepares to face a “formidable” Conservative opponent next election.
Two Liberals playing both sides.
It can’t be a great summer to be a Liberal, if MPs back in their ridings are hearing the same kind of thing that Liberals were getting at the doorsteps in the St. Paul’s byelection in June.
It is, however, a pretty good summer for one type of Liberal, much in demand — the anonymous Liberal, willing to share their discontent over everything from Justin Trudeau to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to the current makeup of cabinet.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan lobbied in April for the Canadian Armed Forces to send about 100 soldiers to act as backdrops at a Vancouver concert by Punjabi pop star Diljit Dosanjh, one of India’s most popular singers and actors.
Mr. Sajjan’s office confirmed that he received a request on April 15 from the singer’s manager, Sonali Singh, for Canadian soldiers to participate in his April 27 sold-out performance at BC Place. The following day, Mr. Sajjan sent a letter, dated April 16, from the manager, “along with his endorsement,” to Defence Minister Bill Blair, Mr. Sajjan’s press secretary Joanna Kanga said.
What an asshole.
What’s in a byelection? These days, a lot. The Liberals’ loss in the supposedly safe seat of Toronto—St. Paul’s in June sent shock waves through the party. The riding had been Liberal red for decades, most recently under cabinet minister Carolyn Bennett who held it for 27 years with an average margin of 30 per cent. This time, Conservative candidate Don Stewart eked out a win by 633 votes, or 1.71 per cent, prompting intense speculation on the future of Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and some of his key players, including Deputy leader Chrystia Freeland.
Canada is the most permissive country in the world regarding legal and medical gender transition processes for minors, a new report has found.
Canadian policies tend to be less strict than those in Northern and Western European countries, according to the findings of a landmark study series from the Calgary-based Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy and Do No Harm, a group of health-care professionals and policymakers who advocate for keeping identity politics “out of medical education, research, and clinical practice.”
Here’s a pop quiz for the aspiring foreign service officers out there.
If a rocket fired by a major transnational terrorist organization slams into a soccer field in a Druze settlement in northern Israel, killing a dozen children and teens, does the tragedy warrant condemning the group that launched the attack by name?
I’m not sure if many Canadians paid attention to U.S. Senator J. D. Vance’s speech to the Republican convention in Milwaukee recently. Even those who stayed up for the late-hour speech might dismiss it as another populist rant from a “hillbilly.” They’d be mistaken, because it carries big lessons for Canada.
I’m most interested in this section of his speech: “Now, it is part of that tradition, of course, that we welcome newcomers. But when we allow newcomers into our American family, we allow them on our terms. That’s the way we preserve the continuity of this project from 250 years past to hopefully 250 years in the future.”
Venezuela’s election “result” made it a black Sunday for democracy around the world.
The opposition parties claimed they won the vote in every single state of the country, but President Nicolás Maduro said he won the count , 51 per cent versus 44 per cent for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez.
Exit polls conducted by U.S. firm Edison Research suggested Gonzalez won 64 per cent to Maduro’s 31 per cent . But the electoral council, led by Maduro acolyte Elvis Amoroso, awarded the election to the president, without publishing detailed results.
Actions speak louder than words. That’s especially true when those words come from a politician with a track record of breaking promises and hiking taxes.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he won’t send the taxman after Canadians’ homes. But if Trudeau wants Canadians to believe he won’t impose a home equity tax, there’s one thing he must do: end the CRA’s home reporting requirement.
As the colossal fear-mongering operation that has accompanied the obsessive preoccupation with climate change is abandoned by former adherents—an operation that strains credulity with the uneventful passage of time—Canada’s commitment to electric vehicles appears more and more absurd. But we seem at least to have spared ourselves the billions committed in the United States to set up new charging stations for road vehicles, which has so far resulted in only a handful being opened.
The average Canadian family last year spent more of its income on all forms of taxation (43%) than on basic necessities, such as food, shelter and clothing combined (35.6%), according to a new report by the Fraser Institute.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland played down speculation her job may be at risk, saying she and other cabinet ministers as well as Liberal MPs are spending the summer listening to Canadians.
Ms. Freeland told reporters Monday at an event in Toronto that she doesn’t spend time worrying about whether she will be shuffled out of the finance portfolio because, “for me, my focus is on working hard to deliver for Canadians every single day.”
Toast.
GTA food bank gets $2M from U.S.-based church
More Torontonians than ever are relying on food banks — and charitable groups outside the country are taking notice.
This week, the U.S.-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon church with 17 million members worldwide, donated $2 million to Daily Bread Food Bank. It’s the religious group’s largest donation yet in Canada, according to a Daily Bread news release.
About one in 10 people in Toronto now rely on a food bank, according to Daily Bread.
DB says 1 in 10 Torontonians use a foodbank but I wonder how many of those are Justin’s foreign students.
A job well done.
That’s how Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is describing Parks Canada’s efforts at forest management in the years leading up to last week’s fire that destroyed a third of the Jasper townsite.
Canadians do not see a “clear path forward” on climate programs, question the point of federal regulations and are wary of the cost, new research by the Natural Resources Department said.
There was “too much money spent too soon and too many risks taken,” according to the report.
