Canada: politics

Danielle Smith’s stupid constitutional game could have a very special prize
By Max Fawcett
(National Observer) For months, Danielle Smith promised Alberta’s United Conservative Party members that she would take the fight to Ottawa with her Alberta Sovereignty Act. That fight included disregarding federal laws and refusing to adhere to court rulings that didn’t flatter Alberta’s interests, which apparently revolve entirely around vaccine mandates and pipelines. But less than 72 hours after winning the leadership of her party, she was forced to make a concession to reality. …she still plans to wage war on Ottawa, and her method of choice could end up costing Alberta the very thing it values the most: market access for its oil and gas.
If Alberta can somehow pick and choose which aspects of federal authority it wants to recognize and chooses to use the legal system to frustrate the federal government with frivolous appeals and actions, so can other provinces. … Anjali Appadurai, director of campaigns for the David Suzuki Institute’s Climate Emergency Unit, is mounting a major challenge to the presumed coronation of David Eby as the BC NDP’s next leader. If Appadurai wins and becomes the next premier of British Columbia in December, finding a way to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will almost certainly be one of her first priorities.

25 September
Let’s get ‘real’: Trudeau, Poilievre and the big debate over what matters
The first of many face-to-face exchanges offered plenty to chew on
Aaron Wherry
It’s possible to make too much out of the first face-to-face showdown between Pierre Poilievre as leader of the opposition and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But there was one sentence exchanged between the two on Thursday afternoon — one word, really — that might define this next period of Canadian politics.
“On this side of the aisle,” Trudeau said, finishing his fifth and final response to Poilievre, “we are going to stay focused on helping Canadians for real.”
It’s too soon to say whether this was a line Trudeau came up with on the spot or a message the Liberals expect to repeat ad nauseum in the months ahead. But the next three years might present one great debate about who has the “real” solutions — and to which “real” problems.
The attention heaped on Thursday’s exchange was not unwarranted. … Poilievre and Trudeau will see each other many more times and many more issues will emerge before the next election.
Cryptocurrencies and carbon taxes
Poilievre’s opening gambit was to mock the fact that Trudeau had been out of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday. Chastising the prime minister for attending the Queen’s funeral and the United Nations General Assembly might seem an odd choice — unless, as with meetings at the World Economic Forum, such trips would be banned under a Poilievre government. But it’s a sign of the level of scrutiny Poilievre intends to apply to Trudeau.
For his part, Trudeau made it through only two and a half answers before reminding the House of Commons of how the new Conservative leader pitched cryptocurrencies as a way to “opt out of inflation” — and of how much Poilievre’s listeners might have lost after the crypto market crashed this spring. You almost certainly will hear more from the Liberals about that. …
Whatever else might hamper the Liberal government’s re-election hopes, its fate might hinge on showing it has real answers to the real problems faced by Canadians and the real questions that Canadians have about the future.
And if Liberals’ actions don’t seem to be having a real impact, Trudeau shouldn’t be surprised if voters start looking elsewhere — and at very different answers.
21 September
Sorry crypto folks, Pierre Poilievre doesn’t want to be friends anymore
Ethan Lou: Politically speaking, crypto was the one mistake Poilievre made in an otherwise well-executed campaign
Pierre Poilievre doesn’t want to talk about cryptocurrency anymore.
Not since that May Conservative leadership debate, when, amid rapidly falling prices, his rivals attacked him for calling bitcoin a good investment, and poor he had little to say in defence.

17 September
How Pierre Poilievre is winning new support among young, diverse voters
Observers say Poilievre is drawing in younger voters with canny communications and a simple message
(CBC) Tina Park, a lecturer in Canadian nationalism at the University of Toronto, said Poilievre’s appeal among younger voters is driven in part by his social media and communication strategies — and by the fact that he’s a relatively young face in Canadian politics.
“If you listen to his speeches, it’s very direct, very simple and very relatable for young people who are struggling with inflation issues, who are finding themselves unable to buy a house because things are just too expensive for them,” Park said.
“Some of his messages are very extreme, to be honest, but in a way that satisfies a certain appetite among the Canadian public about a change and an alternative sort of vision that could take them forward and help them plan a new future.”

13 September
In Poilievre, Liberals face a leader who gets under his opponents’ skin
Aaron Wherry
For more than seven years, Conservatives have alternately underestimated Trudeau’s political ability and overestimated their own ability to knock him down, taking wild swings that failed to connect. It would be easy for the Liberals to fall into the same trap as they face Poilievre.
While the Liberals languished in opposition from 2006 to 2015, Poilievre was the Conservative government’s precocious agitator — needling the opposition and mocking their accusations. At the height of the battle over the Fair Elections Act in 2014, Liberal MP Wayne Easter furiously compared debating Poilievre to playing chess with a pigeon.

12 September
With Poilievre’s victory, some Liberal MPs hope party will pivot to the centre
Some Liberal MPs say the party needs to refocus as it prepares to go head-to-head against a new brand of Conservatives — including being “less woke,” according to Radio-Canada.
A handful of MPs spoke to the French-language arm of CBC — most on the condition that they not be named — as the party gathers for a caucus meeting in the coastal resort town of Saint Andrews, N.B.
The meeting is meant to underline the party’s priorities ahead of the fall sitting, which will see a new face leading His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition: Pierre Poilievre.
With his firebrand style, Poilievre has promised to fire Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem, accusing him of failing to rein in inflation, railed against COVID-19 restrictions and the federal government’s vaccine mandate for travellers and public servants, and vowed to take on the elites.
With a new Conservative leader making inflation a central theme, some Liberals said they believe that economic issues, such as the cost of living and labour shortages, must be brought back to the heart of government priorities.

There’s a bargain politicians and Alberta public servants make. Danielle Smith will blow it up
Over the course of her leadership campaign, Smith has threatened to remove a host of government officials for failing to live up to her vision of Alberta’s values.
She has pledged to replace the entire board of Alberta Health Services (AHS), and fire members of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. While these officials stand outside the formal public service, Smith has also committed to hold Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw accountable for the government’s public health response to COVID-19 through a public “investigation.” This comes despite the fact that the minister of health and cabinet are decision-makers in our system, not bureaucrats like Hinshaw and those in AHS or the College.
Smith’s bargain-busting has not been confined to health officials. She has boosted a conspiracy narrative started by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe that demonizes environmental enforcement officers, alleging that the federal government is hiring “climate cops” to “trespass” on Western farmland.
Smith is not alone in her indifference toward the public service bargain. During a debate on Aug. 25, various UCP leadership contenders promised to politicize several fields normally kept at arm’s length from interference — academia, the police, the judiciary, prosecutions, pensions, tax collection, immigration, and sport.

Green MPs threatened to leave party if leadership race paused, email to party council says
Outgoing Green Party president accuses the party’s MPs of interfering with the leadership contest
(CBC) …in a wide-ranging interview with CBC on Sunday, outgoing Green Party president Lorraine Rekmans confirmed several of her councillors received an email from Morrice’s staff. Rekmans described the email as threatening.
“That’s a pretty serious threat,” Rekmans told CBC. “I really think it is a serious infraction of [party] rules.”

10-11 September
Conservative members pick MP Pierre Poilievre to be their new leader
He has promised to fire the Bank of Canada governor — a historically non-partisan position — and has accused him of failing to rein in inflation. Poilievre has railed against COVID-19 restrictions and the federal government’s vaccine mandate for travellers and public servants.He has routinely criticized the World Economic Forum and has said that, if he becomes prime minister, he would forbid his cabinet ministers from attending the annual summit in Davos. But he made no mention of it in his speech.
Pierre Poilievre chosen as new Conservative Party leader on first ballot
(CP24) Veteran Conservative Pierre Poilievre, who ran a populist campaign around the theme of “freedom” in his bid to score the top prize, won on the first ballot with 68.15 per cent of the vote.
Jean Charest placed second with 16.07 per cent of the vote, while Leslyn Lewis came in third with 9.69 per cent. Roman Baber earned a fourth place finish with 5.03 per cent of the vote. Scott Aitchison came in last place with 1.06 per cent.
The Conservatives are using a points system to count up the more than 400,000 votes that were cast before Tuesday’s ballot deadline. Candidates are assigned points based on what share of the vote they receive in each of the country’s 338 electoral ridings and whoever scores more than 50 per cent of the points wins.
Aaron Wherry: Pierre Poilievre is a 21st century populist who thinks his moment has arrived
The new Conservative leader has loudly declared his intent. Whatever happens next, it won’t happen quietly
He is a talented politician, an ideologically motivated conservative and an aggressive populist. Canada has had populists before — from William Aberhart to John Diefenbaker to Rob Ford. But Poilievre’s ascent to the leadership of the Conservative Party marks the arrival of 21st century populism in Canada — the Internet-fuelled, resentment-driven wave that already has flooded American and British politics
Charest returning to the private sector after Poilievre’s crushing victory
Charest won 48,651 votes or 11.65 per cent of the popular vote which was only marginally more than what MP Leslyn Lewis won.
Lewis, the only avowedly social conservative candidate in this race, got 46,374 votes nationwide or 11.10 per cent of the vote — just 2,277 less than Charest, who was widely seen as the only contender who could possibly stop Poilievre’s march to the top job.
The massive spread suggests the Conservative party of today is quite different from the Progressive Conservative party Charest led in the 1990s.
The 2003 merger of the PC and Canadian Alliance parties has resulted in a modern Conservative party that is decidedly right-wing.
Canada’s Conservatives put Trudeau on notice
Pierre Poilievre rode a populist wave to victory. Next up, a bare-knuckle fight with the Liberals all the way to the 2025 election — unless it comes earlier.
(Politico) At a recent Cabinet retreat, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly reinforced to ministers that he intends to fight another campaign — a rare chance to win four in a row only accomplished twice in Canadian history.
Whispers among restless Liberal staffers on Parliament Hill about succession planning have quieted. Now it’s all about knocking off a fourth-consecutive Tory leader.
But they’ll have to beat a Conservative party that is expected to unite behind the 43-year-old Poilievre, an impressive feat of reconciliation after an insult-laden contest. …most of the voters who delivered the party to Poilievre aren’t seasoned politicos. They’re disaffected Canadians united by skepticism of career politicians and the institutions that underpin their democracy.
Anaida Poilievre – Leadership Speech Sept. 10th (video)
A perhaps overlooked Conservative party asset in this regard, and also when it comes to the newcomer vote: Poilievre’s wife, Anaida. She gave a rousing and charismatic speech to introduce her husband as the party’s new leader, speaking fluently in not just French, but Spanish. Mrs. Poilievre also shored up her own populist credentials, detailing her experience as the child of Venezuelan immigrants and growing up “paycheque to paycheque.”

The UCP leadership race has turned into a referendum on Danielle Smith’s sovereignty act
(Globe & Mail) Any belief that Jason Kenney’s departure was going to usher in a new era of cohesion among Alberta conservatives is long gone. The United Conservative Party of Alberta leadership contest to replace him has transformed into a party referendum on Danielle Smith’s sovereignty act.
Ms. Smith is the presumed front-runner and her proposed act, which she says would give the province the power to refuse to enforce federal laws it deems unconstitutional, has dominated the leadership race.
This played out in an extraordinary news conference at a downtown Calgary hotel Thursday, where four of the seven UCP leadership candidates made a joint appearance to denounce her strategy for winning the contest. They called the act damaging, risky and “a constitutional fairy tale.” They argued that it risks making people already disillusioned with political systems even angrier, as they realize the act won’t solve the problems as promised.

7 September
Andrew Coyne: The risk of political violence in Canada has never been higher
When we see the rising tide of bile online; when a substantial proportion of the public are observed to live in terror of a number of wholly invented hobgoblins; when that fear turns to rage, and rage turns to threats, we should recognize that the odds of one of these materializing as actual political violence has also increased.
…politics has never before had to deal with the radicalization engine of social media. There is a special ferocity to the current rage, an instantaneous, on-off, zero-to-60 quality, that is detached from any previous experience.
It is also wildly out of proportion to any actual grievance. This is not accidental, because those in its grip are not responding to actual events or circumstances. An angry protester in the past might be worried he would lose his job to free trade, or that governments would de-index her pension. Today’s discontents, by contrast, inhabit an alternate reality, in which Donald Trump is still president, Russia is threatened by Ukraine, vaccines and not viruses are killing thousands, and the World Economic Forum is controlling our lives – or plotting to.
More to the point, these views are being mainstreamed by populist media and political parties – indeed, by the presumptive leader of the Conservative Party. We have never before seen a leading candidate for high office in this country embrace the sorts of far-fetched conspiracy theories and paranoid fears that Pierre Poilievre has in the course of this campaign – unless you count Maxime Bernier.

4 September
Inflation, summer travel woes set to remain hot political issues this fall
The Liberals and Conservatives are headed for a showdown in Ottawa this fall over the hottest political files of the summer, with both parties making plans to prioritize issues like inflation and travel woes.
After a summer of scrutiny over chaos at airports and passport offices, as well as continued economic pressure being felt by families due to the rising cost of living and inflation, Nanos Research Founder Nik Nanos says he’s anticipating an “ugly and edgy House of Commons this fall.”
In an interview on CTV’s Question Period, Nanos said this will especially be the case if perceived Conservative leadership frontrunner Pierre Poilievre wins on Sept. 10. The House of Commons is scheduled to resume on Sept. 19.

29-30 August
Aaron Wherry: Canadian politics has a rage problem — and politicians have to be part of the solution
For anger and extremism to fail as political tools, voters also have to reject their use

RCMP investigating verbal attack on Chrystia Freeland in Alberta
The RCMP is investigating after a man verbally attacked Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland during a visit to Alberta last week in the latest of a worsening spate of abuse against women in public roles.
Growing harassment of Canadian public figures a ‘threat to democracy’: minister
In a press conference on Monday morning, federal cabinet ministers condemned the verbal attack on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland that took place in Alberta on Friday, and said the incident is the latest in a worrying trend of abuse and hatred against Canadians in public roles.
“We are seeing more and more incidents, particularly involving women, involving racialized people, involving Indigenous peoples. And I don’t think this is a coincidence,” said Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.

27 August
The Attack on Freeland Sprouts from ‘Rage Farming’
Reached by The Tyee, the bully caught on video echoes messages fomented by right-wing politicians. Expect more threats, says an expert.
The Grande Prairie man who verbally attacked and intimidated Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday told The Tyee he is proud of his behaviour and isn’t concerned by the public condemnation of those who say he is a deluded conspiracy theorist, a bully and a coward. “Why did I do that? Because I want the rest of the country to wake up and realize that she is a traitor to the country. She is selling out the country,” Elliot McDavid said in a phone interview Saturday.
[University of Alberta political scientist Jared Wesley] told The Tyee he expects aggressive attacks on politicians to increase in Canada as right-wing politicians continue to engage in “rage farming” by advancing false and misleading conspiracy narratives. … In the interview with The Tyee, McDavid, one of the organizers of a truck convoy in Grande Prairie, ranted about the Trudeau government being part of a conspiracy involving the World Economic Forum. He also claimed the government was trying to starve the public by forcing fertilizer limitations on farmers and was killing thousands of people, including children, with vaccinations.
This latest attack on Freeland is part of ongoing verbal harassment and physical intimidation of politicians by protesters, many of whom harbour far-right anti-vaccination conspiracy theories and believe the government is taking away their freedoms.

17 August
Danielle Smith Isn’t Nuts, Says Kenney. Just Her Policies
But the lame-duck leader’s intervention isn’t likely to slow Smith’s march to the premier’s office.
Responding to reporters’ questions this week during a news conference to announce a weak vanity advertising effort to woo young professionals from Toronto and Vancouver to Alberta, Kenney excoriated Smith’s proposal as “a de facto plan for separatism.”
“This would be a disaster for Alberta,” he stated. “It would massively drive away investment, it would cause people to leave the province, businesses not to come here…”
“Instead of being able to attract people we’d start to hemorrhage people,” said the premier, who announced his plan to quit in May after receiving only 51.4-per-cent support in a leadership review vote.

6-8 August
Justin Trudeau’s reality: Much of the country dislikes him
Gary Mason
Will Justin Trudeau know when it’s time to go?
Surely, this is something occupying at least some of his energy during his much-discussed vacation to Costa Rica. Will he return reinvigorated, primed for a fall battle against the presumptive new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre? Or will he begin laying the groundwork for his departure?
My guess is … Justin will likely gird for a fight with Mr. Poilievre while trying to refurbish an agenda that has been hijacked and uprooted by a series of unfortunate events: a pandemic, inflation, war in Ukraine, and a new political adversary who is skilled in landing devastatingly effective political punches.
The Prime Minister is seen by many as a woke virtue signaller, more concerned with image than substance. … Fair or not, Mr. Trudeau is taking the blame for just about every travel woe these days: security delays and chaos at airports, days-long lineups for passports, flight cancellations. It’s all because of the federal government’s COVID-19 mandates and the ArriveCAN app, his critics protest. It’s not, of course, but the PM is wearing it anyway.
André Pratte: Trudeau’s departure could cause problems for the Liberals in Quebec
The latest numbers from the Abacus polling firm are disturbing for the Liberals. The Conservatives, who have been without a leader for months, lead the Grits by five points. Mr. Trudeau’s personal popularity is sagging; at 51 per cent negative impressions, the prime minister is in as bad a situation as during the SNC-Lavalin scandal two years ago. If such a situation persists, the pressure will be high on Mr. Trudeau to leave before he inflicts more damage to his party. …
Although a few prestigious personalities are expected to try to replace the current leader, I see no one, presently, able to excite Quebec voters in the way that Justin Trudeau did in 2015. The popular (??) Mélanie Joly and François-Philippe Champagne may very well run, but the party will likely not choose another Quebec, French-speaking leader at this time. This leaves, amongst the big names, Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney. …
What happens if Liberal support falls in Quebec? There is a strong enough conservative current in the province for the Conservatives to win a majority of seats here, which would make forming a majority government much easier. However, that depends on who the Conservatives choose as their next leader.

5 August
Who are the new Conservative Party members? The Hub Roundtable has some ideas

2 August
338Canada: Is Canada’s Conservative race a given?
Parsing the latest polling for hypotheticals and inevitabilities in the leadership contest led by Pierre Poilievre.
(Politico) Is the Conservative leadership race tightening? Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes, but it may already be too late for Jean Charest.
New data on the Conservative Party of Canada leadership contest was unveiled last week. While Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre remains the unquestioned favorite, former federal Progressive Conservative leader and Quebec Premier Charest has significantly improved his standing in recent months, both with the general electorate and among CPC supporters. …
The findings suggest the next election could result in a reduced Liberal minority, perhaps even a broken Parliament — meaning no natural coalition would appear feasible — since it would be unlikely that Liberal and NDP seats achieve the 170-threshold for a majority in the House of Commons.
However, with Charest as leader, the Conservatives would jump ahead in Atlantic Canada, significantly hurt the Liberals in Quebec and score better than Poilievre in seat-rich Ontario.
Pierre Poilievre has raised more money from more donors than all his opponents combined
Poilievre’s capacity to raise so much money in so little time should serve as a warning to the Liberals, a former Conservative strategist says

27 June
Andrew Coyne: Winner of one majority in five tries says Poilievre has what it takes
So Stephen Harper thinks Pierre Poilievre is the best choice to lead the federal Conservatives, on the grounds that he is the candidate most likely to win the next election.
This is big news. After all, who knows more about winning elections than Stephen Harper: the leader who took a certain Conservative victory in 2004 – the year of the sponsorship scandal – and turned it into a Liberal minority; who in 2006 turned a certain Conservative majority into a Conservative minority; who eked out another minority in 2008 against the historically inept Stéphane Dion; and who, after finally winning a potentially realigning majority in 2011 threw it away over the next four years.
At the end of which – after nearly 10 years in power – he departed with next to nothing in the way of a policy footprint: at least, of a conservative policy footprint. The Harper Conservatives jettisoned every principle that he or they had ever stood for, from democratic accountability to a strong defence to balanced budgets to free markets. And they still won but a single majority in five attempts. They sold their souls, and got nothing in return; swung for the lowest common denominator, and missed. All that remains of Mr. Harper’s legacy, the sole basis for his reputation as an unbending conservative, is his scowl: a petulant Cheshire cat
Former Conservative PM Stephen Harper endorses Pierre Poilievre for party leader
In a rare public return to party politics, Harper, who didn’t wade into the Tories’ 2017 and 2020 leadership races, released a short video on Twitter on Monday discussing his endorsement.

20 July
Charest et l’hypothèse d’une Coalition avenir Canada
Yves Boisvert
Certains parlent d’une coalition dans le style de la CAQ, qui a fait éclater le clivage libéraux-péquistes. D’autres évoquent La République en marche d’Emmanuel Macron, qui a phagocyté le centre politique en France et fait exploser les partis traditionnels.
Mais toujours est-il que dans l’entourage de Jean Charest, l’hypothèse d’une sorte de coalition de centre droit est discutée ouvertement depuis plusieurs semaines.
Tasha Kheiriddin évoquait dimanche l’hypothèse d’une coalition « conservatrice-libérale », en entrevue à Radio-Canada à l’occasion de la publication de son essai sur l’avenir du Parti conservateur du Canada (The Right Path, qui sera « Le droit chemin » en français).

28 June
The Liberals face a summer of discontent (audio)
The Liberal government faced tough questions this session on everything from accusations they pressured RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki on the Portapique investigation, to their decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in the winter, to inflation.
Today, CBC Parliamentary Bureau senior writer Aaron Wherry explains why those questions won’t just disappear over the summer, and why the Liberals are “arguably in as difficult a stage as it has maybe ever been, which is a funny thing to say for a government that’s been through some pretty major crises.”

26 June
‘I’m very worried’: Former Tory Senate leader on Poilievre, convoys and the party’s future
A former Conservative Senate leader is expressing concern about the direction Pierre Poilievre is taking the party, worrying the Tories might be reaching the point of “fracturing beyond repair.”
(Global) In an exclusive interview with The West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson, Marjory LeBreton said Conservative leadership candidates jumping on the “grievance brigade” is doing a “disservice” not only to the party but to the country.

22 June
‘You have allies’: Tory MPs welcome convoy figures warning of deep divides in Canada
Key figures of the convoy protests and related organizations were welcomed to Parliament Hill on Wednesday by a group of Conservative MPs that assured them they have ‘allies’ in Ottawa.
And while the group professed peaceful intentions for future demonstrations, they also warned they believe Canada was on a “dark path,” deeply “divided,” even showing similarities to countries about to descend into “civil war.”

19 June
Aaron Wherry: The Liberals face a summer of discontent
when the House of Commons reconvenes in September, there’s a decent chance that the seat reserved for the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition will be occupied by Poilievre — an ideologue who would love nothing more than to turn the ship of state around and head in the opposite direction.
… In the space of nine days in late March, the Liberals signed a confidence-and-supply agreement with the NDP, finalized a deal with Ontario to complete plans for a national child care system and released a new plan for hitting Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions target for 2030.
A few weeks later, the Liberals tabled a new budget with an emphasis on government support for innovation and the promise of a new dental care program (the latter at the NDP’s request).
The government tabled legislation on gun control, Internet regulation and a new disability benefit and introduced amendments to the Official Languages Act. In April, the cabinet approved the Bay du Nord project in Newfoundland. In June, it granted British Columbia an exemption to decriminalize possession of small amounts of certain narcotics — a move meant to combat the opioid epidemic.
Not everyone will agree with all of those things. Some might disagree quite strongly with some of them. But these are the things the Liberals were elected to do and some of them could be described as big things.
But while the Liberals have been cruising along, the warning bells have been ringing loudly and the crosswinds have been picking up speed. Indeed, the first six months of 2022 are unlikely to be remembered for any of the things mentioned above — because in late January, a bunch of people with trucks drove into downtown Ottawa. The self-styled “freedom convoy” eventually triggered the first use of the Emergencies Act since those extraordinary powers were passed into law in 1988.
… The most important thing Trudeau did for himself this spring may have been signing that confidence-and-supply agreement with the NDP. It means (at least in theory) that the threat of an election is no longer constant. And it offers his government (again, in theory) some time to ride out the current turbulence, put an agenda in place and make the case that it’s the right agenda for the moment.

14 June
John Ibbitson: If Pierre Poilievre ignores calls to pivot toward the centre, he poses a real threat to the Liberals
Mr. Poilievre should ignore critics who maintain he must abandon his angry populist message or face defeat in the next federal election, assuming he wins the leadership. Following that advice would cost him his most important political asset: his authenticity. That same authenticity helped Doug Ford win re-election on June 2.
The Ontario Premier won with the type of pragmatic, centrist platform to which many think Mr. Poilievre should pivot. But there’s more to it than that.
Mr. Ford understands suburban working-class and lower-middle-class voters. While his progressive opponents talked about subsidies and supports, he talked about lower gas taxes, expanding both subway lines and highways, protecting gig workers and making it easier for developers to build houses people can afford.
You want to understand why the working class increasingly votes for conservative parties? That’s why.

8 June
Campbell Clark: Paths to Conservative leadership are now improbable for anyone not named Poilievre
(Globe & Mail) A big recruitment total is not a deciding factor in and of itself. The Conservative leadership race is not decided by total membership numbers, but rather by points that are allocated in each of Canada’s 338 ridings, so where you get votes can be as important as how many.
Mr. Charest’s “path to victory” has always depended on not just winning Quebec but racking up the lion’s share of the 7,800 points – about 23 per cent of the total – available in the province. That strategy appears to have been blown apart now.
A spokesperson for Mr. Charest insisted he can still win all 78 Quebec ridings. But even if he does, he will be sharing the points. The Poilievre campaign claims to have recruited 25,000 members in a province that previously had fewer than 10,000, so it should easily take a substantial chunk of the Quebec points that Mr. Charest was counting on.
The sheer number of Mr. Poilievre’s recruits means that unless they are concentrated in an unusually small number of ridings, he is within reach of winning the leadership in the first round. (Party members will mail in a preferential ballot that will allow them to rank up to five choices.)

3 June
Conservative leadership race enters new phase as membership deadline nears
Candidates have until midnight to secure party memberships for their supporters to vote in the election for the next Conservative leader, who will replace Erin O’Toole.
The deadline marks a major milestone in the campaign and the start of a new phase in the race.
The party’s leadership election organizing committee said late last month it had already broken records for how many new members candidates have drawn in ahead of the June 3 cutoff.
Once they’ve signed up all the supporters they can to the party, and those memberships have been processed and verified, the camps will turn their attention to getting out the vote and attempt to persuade their opponents’ supporters to switch allegiances – or at least put their name second on the ballot.
Because of the ranked ballot system, voters’ second choice could play a major role in determining the next leader.
Ontario Votes Roundup: Ford has a majority and the opposition is in shambles
Doug Ford strikes a magnanimous tone. The Big Blue Collar Machine. Andrea Horwath and Steven Del Duca exit stage left.
(Global) Alex Boutilier: It’s one thing to win a majority. It’s another thing to win a majority and watch your two principal rivals resign.
What struck me — and probably just because I spend way too much time thinking about the federal Conservative Party — was Ford’s victory speech. After thanking the opposition leaders by name, Ford talked about how his proudest achievement as PC party leader was expanding the party’s base, welcoming in people who hadn’t voted Tory before, and making people feel at home with the Progressive Conservatives.
Marcus Gee Doug Ford squeaked into party leadership before last Ontario election. This time, he’s earned his win
The apathy election? Ontario sees lowest voter turnout in its history, early data suggests
Early data says just 43.03% of eligible voters cast a ballot in 2022 election

28 May
A disappointing election in Ontario
Marcus Gee
Though anything can happen on election night, opinion polls suggest that the Progressive Conservatives will coast to re-election and Doug Ford will serve a second term as premier.
There are those who will say: It could have been worse. Mr. Ford has become a more moderate, mainstream figure than he was during the wild old days at Toronto City Hall. Ontario has managed to avoid veering into the sort of ugly populism that has upended politics in so many democratic countries. At least we still have some stability in our political life. Three big parties: left, centre-left and centre-right. Three well-seasoned leaders to head them. …
All three leaders have been kicking around politics for years. Andrea Horwath of the NDP is taking her party into an election for the fourth time. It should tell her something that she keeps getting asked whether she is finally going to call it quits after this one. Steven Del Duca is a lifelong Liberal who served in the cabinet of Premier Kathleen Wynne. Mr. Ford comes from a leading political family. His father was a Conservative member of the provincial legislature. His brother Rob, you may have heard, was mayor of Toronto. Doug was his right-hand man.
If any of them has a truly original word to say, they haven’t uttered it during this dispiriting election campaign. Instead of speaking frankly to voters, they have contented themselves to park behind their lecterns and deliver the usual talking points, sound bites and barbs.

25 May
Conservative leadership candidates spar over trucker convoy, bitcoin in fiery French debate
(CBC) The two-hour debate featured pointed, personal exchanges throughout as Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, the leading right-wing candidate in this race, traded jabs with his more centrist opponents, Brampton, Ont. Mayor Patrick Brown and former Quebec premier Jean Charest.
With the Conservatives running neck-and-neck with the governing Liberals in opinion polls, the front-running leadership contenders signalled they’re willing to say just about anything about each other to land a job that could get them one step closer to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Poilievre accused Brown and Charest of being corrupt while the two returned the favour, branding Poilievre an extremist who has welcomed racists into his movement.
On the hunt for francophone support in a province that helped decide the last two Conservative leadership races, the three leading candidates also argued over what to do about Quebec legislation that some say has curbed minority rights. [Pierre Poilievre only Conservative leadership candidate to stay mum on Bill 96]

20 May
Paul Wells: Rachel Notley, still standing
Alberta’s first NDP premier surveys the Kenney-less landscape
The wave of anger that toppled Kenney is a danger to all conservatives
Melanie Paradis, veteran conservative campaigner and an executive ghostwriter.
(Globe & Mail) The Conservative leadership contest currently underway has spent more time focusing on who has, and hasn’t, boarded a plane to Davos than it has on how Canada will deal with a looming geopolitical confrontation with China, or how to build supply chain resilience as the continent grapples with a startling baby formula shortage. We are indulging the dangerous fantasies of people lost in their Facebook feeds instead of acting the way serious people who want to govern a G7 country should act.
Jason Kenney is latest conservative leader to be pushed out for not being ‘extreme enough,’ federal tourism minister Randy Boissonnault says
As conservatives across Canada reacted to the fall of Jason Kenney, a defining voice in their political movement, a Liberal from the Tory heartland offered an outsider’s diagnosis into the state of conservatism in the country.

17 May
Poilievre personally holds investment in Bitcoin as he promotes crypto to Canadians
Poilievre has proposed barring the Bank of Canada from developing its own digital currency and said Canadians should be free to use alternative currencies for payments.

14 May
From Poilievre’s banking pledges to absent climate talk, former PM Campbell questions direction of Conservative Party
(CTV) The former leader also weighed in on Pierre Poilievre’s attacks on the Bank of Canada, and specifically comments that Governor Tiff Macklem should be fired for failing to manage soaring inflation. … And on the independence of the Canada’s central bank, she said “when people are appointed to hold independent positions you need to suck it up and respect that unless there is clear evidence that what they are doing is either incompetent or done in bad faith or dangerous.”

11 April
Liberals plan national policy convention for May of next year
Liberals plan to gather for a national convention in Ottawa in the spring of next year.
The Liberal Party of Canada says the convention, to take place in the national capital May 4-6, 2023, will also include some virtual participation.
The meeting will feature policy discussions, keynote speakers, training and the election of the party’s next national board of directors.

10 April
Did Jean Charest see this threat coming to his Conservative leadership bid? (paywall)
Jean Charest’s caucus supporters argue that a Pierre Poilievre victory would lead to electoral disaster in Quebec in the next federal election. Maybe not, Chantal Hébert writes.
Pierre Poilievre’s support of trucker convoy ‘disqualifies’ him from political leadership, Jean Charest says
(Globe & Mail) “Everyone knows that Pierre Poilievre supported the blockade. … Well, I’m sorry, if you want to be a leader of a party, if you want to sit in the House of Commons and make laws, you have to obey them,” he said. “That’s not just a failure in leadership. It disqualifies you, as far as I’m concerned, as being someone who thinks, or aspires to be, a leader of a party.”
The level of open hostility between the main candidates is unusually high for a leadership race of a major national party, which usually feature minor policy disagreements and avoid personal attacks.

30 March
Canada’s bombshell political deal is impossible to predict – but we’ll give you a shot at figuring it out
How will the next three years in Canadian politics play out? You decide.
(Politico) A newly announced alliance between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and Canada’s New Democrats has upended the political landscape. Everyone has a theory about what happens next, including how the arrangement will influence a Conservative leadership race filled to the brim with its own drama

Jean Charest’s Tory leadership campaign calls fake donation pledges ‘obvious attempt to create chaos’
(Toronto Star) Prior to Charest becoming a registered candidate and being able to accept donations, his campaign website had provided an option for people to “pledge a donation.”
Once he was actually able to accept donations, his campaign then began automatically contacting people who had pledged money to encourage them to actually donate, a process that began in recent days.
Coates Mather said after receiving the complaints, the campaign investigated and determined numerous pledge forms were found that were all linked to an IP address originating in Ukraine.

28 March
In a pitch to cryptocurrency investors, Poilievre says he wants Canada to be ‘blockchain capital of the world’
Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre said Monday a government led by him would do more to normalize cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum in Canada to “decentralize” the economy and reduce the influence of central bankers.
Since bitcoin’s advent in 2009, a number of right-leaning and libertarian-minded investors have championed cryptocurrency — a financial instrument that is largely unregulated in the Western world — as a way to reduce government control over money because the supply of cryptocurrency tokens is not set by an authority like the Bank of Canada or the U.S. Federal Reserve.

22 March

Delivering for Canadians Now

Today, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, announced an agreement reached by the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party in Parliament, Delivering for Canadians Now, A Supply and Confidence Agreement.
Liberals agree to launch dental care program in exchange for NDP support
The confidence-and-supply agreement was presented to NDP MPs for a vote late Monday night. Under such arrangements, an opposition party agrees to support the government on specific measures under specific conditions, and to not vote to defeat the government for a period of time.
This is not a coalition deal — no NDP MPs will sit at the cabinet table.
This deal comes into effect Tuesday and would last until when Parliament rises in 2025, allowing for four budgets and staving off an election.

Trudeau’s Ottawa
We’ve plotted out the 32 parliamentarians and players who’ll hold sway in 2022 as the prime minister works to define his legacy.
By Andy Blatchford, Zi-Ann Lum, Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Beatrice Jin
(Politico) Count on many unknowns to overshadow typical minority government drama in Canada’s 44th Parliament. After a national election in September, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals still require the support of at least one of the three main opposition parties to pass legislation and to keep the government afloat. The good news for Trudeau is that after elections in 2019 and 2021, his rivals are unlikely to trigger another vote anytime soon.

The future of the Liberal Party—without Justin Trudeau
Paul Wells: The biggest question in Canadian politics in 2022 is whether Trudeau will still be PM when the year is done. The Grits may be forced to consider life after him—and what they even stand for without him.
Anyone purporting to know Trudeau’s mind on these questions is guessing. He’ll let us know. Either post-election will drift into pre-election and it will be clear that Justin Trudeau is bidding to enter a pantheon so far occupied only by Laurier and Macdonald; or on some random morning he’ll invite Liberals to try their luck without him. All that’s changed now is that the various considerations behind such a decision are now being discussed, just a little more openly, by the people who’ll live with its consequences.

10 March
Jean Charest formally launches Conservative Party leadership bid from Calgary
The returning politician spoke to the crowded room about a range of issues, including the importance of unity, representing Canadians equally, natural resources and respecting provincial jurisdiction.
Charest, 63, was the head of the now-defunct Progressive Conservative Party from 1993 to 1998 and was a federal cabinet minister prior to that. He was premier of Quebec from 2003 until 2012, elected under the province’s Liberal party.

8 March
Brown, Lewis, Charest to announce Conservative leadership runs this week
The Conservatives will choose their new leader on Sept. 10
Charest is the heavyweight in the bunch, with more than three decades of political experience both provincially and federally. He’ll run on the slogan “Built to Win” and formally launch his campaign on Thursday evening at a brewery in Calgary. The Alberta launch is meant to deflect claims that, as a former Quebec premier, Charest won’t play well in the West.
On Monday night, Charest received an endorsement from one would-be competitor. National Post columnist Tasha Kheiriddin had been considering a run; she told CBC’s Power & Politics that she would be throwing her support behind Charest instead.

2-6 February
Pierre Poilievre announces bid for Conservative Party leadership
Candice Bergen sweeps away Erin O’Toole’s parliamentary leadership team
Conservative MPs were informed Friday of the major shakeup, which follows their decision to force O’Toole from the job by a vote of 73 to 45
Why Erin O’Toole is no longer Conservative leader (YouTube)
The At Issue panel breaks down Erin O’Toole’s leadership of the Conservative Party in the last 18 months and what led to him losing the job
Where the Conservative Party of Canada goes from here
Conservatives face daunting task: finding a unifier to lead a deeply divided party to victory in a deeply divided country
O’Toole resigns as Conservative leader, will stay on as MP