If, as the Liberals say, Pierre Poilivere is a terrible leader and the Conservatives are bankrupt of ideas, why does Prime Minister Mark Carney keep stealing them?
The latest example of Carney’s political plagiarism is his support for a new pipeline to deliver bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to tidewater in B.C. and from there to Asian markets by ocean-going tankers.
History of a sort was made in Calgary today — and not the kind anyone saw coming. Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney stood side by side and signed a memorandum of understanding that tears up the federal clean-electricity regulations for Alberta, kills the oil-and-gas emissions cap once and for all, and commits both governments to a new west-coast export corridor, co-owned with indigenous partners, dedicated to shipping what used to be called “ethical oil.”
Or, as Mr. Carney now calls it — “decarbonized oil.”
(Incognito)
OTTAWA–The drama of a budget vote had every political animal in the country on the edge of their seat.
And in the end, it was a cliffhanger. But in reality, the outcome should not have been a surprise to anyone.
Having just come off an election this past spring, there was zero appetite to go back to the polls for most political parties.
The only leader who could have benefited from an election is Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. A ‘no’ vote would have meant that his mandated January 2026 party review would be cancelled.
The president of the Coastal First Nations in British Columbia said Wednesday an oil pipeline to the province’s north coast “will never happen” and slammed Ottawa for negotiating with Alberta on a possible pipeline deal without involving First Nations.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to unveil details of a memorandum of understanding with the Alberta government on a pipeline project while in Calgary on Thursday.
Carney is counting on this.
Many Canadian conservatives speak of Edmund Burke as they would their first love. Their tributes are fond and wistful.
From Reagan-esque paeans to talk of common sense and gradual change, our intellectual and political right still speaks like it lives in a cohesive, recognizable country that treasures inherited norms and trusted institutions.
Won’t happen under the Liberals, Carney’s cut talk has been scaled back.
Our civil service at all levels of government are a reliable liberal-left vote bloc.
Alberta and Ottawa have signed a sweeping new energy accord that Premier Danielle Smith says marks a “new starting point for nation building,” including a pledge from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to shelve its oil and gas emissions cap, suspend clean power rules, and back a major indigenous-owned pipeline to get oil to Asian markets.
The agreement, signed Wednesday, clears the way for a privately financed, indigenous co-owned bitumen pipeline capable of moving more than one million barrels per day to a deep-water port on the Pacific coast.
(Incognito)
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is pretty sure that backbench Liberal MPs from British Columbia are really worried.
Why? “They’ll lose their seats,” she told reporters. “And they like their seats.”
The Ottawa-Alberta memorandum of understanding that has not yet been released − to be signed Thursday by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith − is that bad for the political fortunes of Liberal MPs, Ms. May said on her way into the House of Commons on Tuesday.
At a steakhouse on Avenue Road in Toronto earlier this month, a number of conservatives turned up for a Liberal MP’s fundraiser. One was John Tory, the former Toronto mayor and onetime leader of Ontario Progressive Conservatives.
It was perhaps not surprising that Mr. Tory was at this fundraiser, given that the Liberal MP in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding, Vince Gasparro, was his deputy chief of staff at City Hall. In fact, Mr. Tory was the marquee special guest.
OH NO! JOHN TORY MAY DEFECT TO THE LIBERALS!
When Canadians hire someone to represent them in Ottawa, they shouldn’t be stuck with them for four years, even if they do a terrible job.
If you hired an employee who lied on their résumé, broke company rules or stopped showing up for work, you’d fire them.
But when a politician does the same thing, voters are forced to sit on their hands until the next election.
Minutes before time ran out on Monday’s budget vote, two senior Conservatives swooped into the chamber claiming their electronic voting app wasn’t working and declared they wanted to vote against Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget.
MPs Andrew Scheer and Scott Reid, the party’s House leader and caucus chair respectively, could have voted “nay” in the chamber just moments before. But they didn’t cast their votes until all of their colleagues had finished.
From 2018 until early 2025, the federal government under Justin Trudeau and the Ontario government under Doug Ford dominated Canadian public policy. Despite different rhetoric, both increased spending and taxes, ran persistent deficits and made little progress on debt, revealing surprising similarities in their fiscal approaches.
Ottawa’s bureaucracy has ballooned in both size and cost over the past decade, with newly released Public Accounts showing taxpayers shelled out $71.4 billion for the federal workforce in 2024-25 — a $6-billion jump from the previous year alone.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says the numbers prove the system is out of control and is urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to slash the size of the federal administration.
(Incognito)
Politics over principle is hardly a new story in Ottawa, but Tuesday’s budget vote provided a master class. For weeks the Conservatives huffed and puffed and threatened to blow the Liberals’ house down over their big spending ways. Conversely, the Bloc opposed the budget over its lack of spending on seniors. Green Leader Elizabeth May couldn’t support the budget’s boost for fossil fuels, while the NDP grumbled about cuts to the public service. To add to the intrigue, Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont bolted across the aisle and joined the government, while fellow Tory Matt Jeneroux announced he was resigning his seat … in the spring. The government then survived two confidence votes on opposition motions, thanks to abstentions, and everyone went home for a week-long break prior to the big vote on Monday.
Well, that’s settled. Mark Carney’s first budget has passed, the Liberal government lives to fight another day and everyone can feel relief that Canada isn’t getting a Christmas election.
But is that relief earned, or justified?
The way in which this budget just barely made it highlights a House of Commons with some unity issues among all the federal parties — except the Greens, who only have one MP.
There are perspectives from which a snap federal election call might make sense. There are far more perspectives from which it looks like a fever dream trapped in a bubble. Many of them have to do with the New Democrats, who aren’t even an official party in the House of Commons.
