The Conservative Party – particularly current front-runner to lead the party Pierre Poilievre – is certainly counting on it. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld    Let’s talk about the deficit. Everyone’s favorite topic in Canadian politics, I know.  Just a few weeks into the 2021 federal election, a poll conducted by Ipsos found that […]

From online censorship, to expansion of assisted suicide, to the prolonged abandonment of our Afghan allies, the Trudeau Liberals – in partnership with the NDP – appear content to roll-out and maintain bad policy after bad policy, hoping no one will notice. Photo credit: Shutterstock/Art Babych   An increasing number of op-eds being written conclude […]

The current parliamentary session could end as early as this week. But before breaking for BBQ season, the governing Liberals are hoping to tie up some loose ends and rush through at least one key piece of legislation. Pictured: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises virtually during Question Period in the House of Commons, June 14, […]

Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland. Photo credit: Bloomberg/David Kawai   Yesterday, in a prime-time speech that felt more like a State of the Union address, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland ditched the glitz and glamour of the downtown lunch circuit to speak directly to Canadians. In her opening lines, she acknowledged that the government has made […]

An organization named the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) recently released an open letter calling on the federal government to implement a “tobacco-style ban” on fossil fuel advertising in Canada. Erroneous comparisons aside, the group of doctors completely failed to acknowledge all of the good things produced by fossil fuels, including (ironically) […]

U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau during the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, June 8, 2022. Photo credit: AP/Evan Vucci   It’s been a busy week on the foreign affairs scene, and one that feels oddly reminiscent of the pre-COVID […]

Recent weeks have seen a number of developments on the criminal justice front, none of which should encourage Canadians who value fair and equitable treatment under the law and decent consideration of victims’ rights. Pictured is the Supreme Court of Canada. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons   One development on the criminal justice front that has […]

The relationship between Premier Doug Ford (left) and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (right) has always been a bit of a sticky one, but the pandemic brought the provincial and federal leaders together to a certain extent. With a new majority mandate in hand for Ford and an aging Trudeau government, it is hard to gauge, […]

Photo credit: Pexels/Curtis Adams   Staff in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office met with a group that received funding to produce a report recommending a home equity tax, according to new documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.   “During the election, Trudeau told voters he wasn’t going to impose a home equity tax, so why are his […]

 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on route to a press conference in Ottawa, June 8, 2021. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick    June is often dubbed ‘silly season’ in Ottawa. As the tulips surrounding Parliament wither in the early summer sun, federal politicians are akin to school children waiting for the last bell to ring […]

When it feels like every Canadian premier has at least acknowledged the problem, why is Justin Trudeau avoiding all talk of soaring gas prices? The answer is simple. To lend credence to the problem would mean having to admit that there is a solution. Photo credit: CBC/Ben Nelms   There’s a saying as old as […]

Since 2015, 24 Sussex Drive (pictured) has been effectively abandoned, needing some $36 million in renovations to make the property livable. It’s high time for Canada to either invest in the official residence or start the bulldozer and build a new one. Photo credit: National Capital Commission   With the Canadian house marking seeming to […]

As it stands, there is no room for forgiveness in the Conservative movement, just ask former CPC leader Erin O’Toole (pictured) or Jason Kenney. The precedent has been set that it is easier to turf a leader than it is to come together as a movement, fight for the things we have in common, and […]

Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Chad Hipolito   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is eyeing a wealth tax to pay for his government’s spending spree. Heavily redacted documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show Trudeau asked for analysis of a $60-billion wealth tax. With indefinite deficits looming, it must be tempting to grab that cash. But a wealth […]

From left to right: Leslyn Lewis, Roman Baber, Jean Charest, Scott Aitchison, Patrick Brown, and Pierre Poilievre at the Conservative Party leadership debate in Edmonton, May 11, 2022. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh   To sum up the first official Conservative leadership debate in Edmonton on May 11, I will borrow a quote from […]

The first of three Conservative Party leadership debates took place last week and, as anticipated, it was something of a raucous affair. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld    Last Thursday, Conservative leadership hopefuls took to the stage for the first time to debate one another. Taking centre stage on day one of the Canada […]

Without skipping a beat, Prime Minister Trudeau jumped at the opportunity to capitalize on a convenient controversy from across the border. Photo credit: Reuters/Chris Wattie   Nearly eight years ago, the leader of the third party in the House of Commons proclaimed that any candidate who wanted to run on his team would be expected […]

 The latest national poll numbers from Nanos Research had the Conservative Party at 35.6 per cent ballot support, with the Liberal Party down to 30 per cent even. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld   The weeks following the release of the federal budget are typically reserved for a blitz of media availabilities, quick hits […]

This Friday marks the deadline for candidates to submit their final paperwork and entry fee. For all those still in the race come the weekend, the contest’s inaugural debate takes place less than a week later. A total of three debates will be held in May and could help shape or solidify the trajectory of […]

 The once in a generation crisis serves as both an opportunity and a reminder for politicians about what is at stake here. The challenges facing Canadians are immediate, and action in this moment matters. Photo credit: Pexels/Mikhail Nilov    Anyone who has spent enough time in Ottawa knows that at its very core, politics is […]

The tax bill would range from $1,000 for light duty pickups to $4,000 for the super duty trucks that tow horse trailers and construction equipment.    The Trudeau government is planning to hit Canadians with a big new tax on their trucks and sport utility vehicles. The proposed tax would cost an extra $1,000 on a Ford […]

Love him or hate, one thing is for sure: Pierre Poilievre can draw a crowd. Several thousand spectators packed the Spruce Meadows sports facility in Calgary on Tuesday, April 12 to watch the leadership hopeful speak. Photo credit: Twitter/Pierre Poilievre   It was the summer of 2015 and the election had just been called. As […]

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland presents the 2022 budget in the House of Commons Thursday, April 7. Photo credit: Reuters    Budget Day is like Christmas Day with a divorced family. The government is eager to shower the kids, in this case, voters, with lavish gifts and little regard for how […]

 It’s increasingly clear that the Trudeau government believes the economic path forward isn’t through innovation, job creation and an investment climate that leads to stable long-term growth, but through higher taxes. Photo credit: PMO   Yesterday’s budget marked the sixth installment of Justin Trudeau’s economic roadmap for Canada, but unlike in years past, the Liberal […]

Targets go too far, too fast. Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault (pictured) recently announced a plan that would require the oil and gas industry to reduce emissions by 42 per cent compared to 2019 levels by 2030. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld   The federal government’s plan to require a […]

While the Liberals have failed to deliver a net neutral ‘price on pollution’, let alone actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Conservatives have failed to convince the public that a carbon tax is bad policy. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (pictured) announces the federal carbon tax at Humber College in Toronto on Oct. 23, 2018. Photo […]

And it could get derailed as quickly and easily as it came together. Photo credit: PMO/Adam Scotti   The NHL trade deadline came and went last week with some notable moves, but Justin Trudeau ended up making the biggest deal of the day. The Liberals were able to sign the NDP to a three-year deal […]

Former Conservative leaders Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole both warned of an impending alliance during their tenure at the top. Photo credit: PMO/Adam Scotti   “The coalition you can’t afford.” “There aren’t five choices for Canadians – there are two. Canada’s Conservatives on one side and the Liberal-NDP-Green-Bloc coalition on the other.” It might surprise […]

Runaway inflation, helped along in part by reckless and/or absent government policy, is making an increasing number of Canadians worry about how they’ll put food on the table or gas in the tank.    It will come as no surprise to most Canadians that a recent poll by Ipsos Reid showed that fully 60 per […]

What was important six months ago has been overwhelmed by international events. Photo credit: Global News   Canadians like to believe they are doing the right thing. Since the 2015 election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government on an aggressive climate change platform, no democratic country with such massive undeveloped oil and gas resources […]

Photo credit: Bloomberg/David Kawai    There is a growing number of experts and financial analysts who are summarizing that the Trudeau government’s green agenda is costing Canadians dearly. Their conclusions paint a dire economic picture for Canadians.  PM Justin Trudeau’s “bold” international climate change commitments to achieve a “net-zero emissions economy” by 2050 will come […]

While the field continues to fill out, it seems the 2022 Conservative leadership contest will be primarily fought between Pierre Poilievre (pictured) and Jean Charest. Both have wildly different visions of what the Conservative Party is and can be. Photo credit: IMDB   Ali vs. Frazier, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao and Poilievre vs. Charest. One of […]

The truckers’ protests – and all the lies that were and continue to be told about it – spotlighted the growing chasm between the so-called elites in government, academia and the professions whose lives are comfortable and secure, and the lower- and middle-class working Canadians who are being buffeted by inflation, housing unaffordability, high taxes […]

The two appear to be in lockstep, and it’s no wonder. According to the World Economic Forum’s founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab (pictured), “more than half” of Trudeau’s cabinet ministers were indoctrinated in the organization’s Young Global Leaders program. Photo credit: EPA/Salvatore Di Nolfi   MP Colin Carrie rose in the House of Commons […]

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland. Freeland will release the Liberals’ 2022 budget sometime next month. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick   As winter chugs along, more and more politicians are coming out of their winter hibernation to be seen in public again. Last week, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney left what […]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and key cabinet members invoke the Emergencies Act, Feb. 14, 2022. The unprecedented move allowed the government to freeze Canadians’ bank accounts, amongst other things, if suspected of having supported the Freedom Convoy. Photo credit: Reuters/Blair Gable    The most troubling aspect of the Trudeau government’s unprecedented action to invoke the […]

While many small business owners and employees in the private sector have suffered reduction of hours, job loss, and closure over the last two years, MPs have provided themselves healthy pay raises throughout the pandemic. A recent Leger poll commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation indicates a vast majority of the population is, unsurprisingly, not […]

 Hardly bringing the trucker protest to a swift and peaceful conclusion, Trudeau’s recent invocation of the Emergencies Act has only created more cause for concern. Photo credit: Patrick Doyle/Reuters   A week ago, Canadian career diplomat and former Ambassador to the U.S. Derek Burney stated, “The political paralysis in Ottawa is mind-boggling. Protesting truckers deserve […]

Interim leader Candice Bergen during Question Period, Feb. 7, 2022. Bergen took over earlier this month when Erin O’Toole was removed as party leader by Conservative caucus members. Many took issue with O’Toole’s attempt to bring the party to the centre. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Justin Tang   In a rarity of events, Canada saw […]

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers the federal budget as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks it over in the House of Commons, Apr. 19, 2021. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick   It has become all too commonplace in Ottawa for governing politicians and federal bureaucrats to purposefully obfuscate and prolong public disclosure of government expenditures […]

Set featured image Recently ousted leader of the Conservative Party of Canada Erin O’Toole (left) and heir-apparent Pierre Poilievre (right). Photo credit: Reuters/Blair Gable and The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld   Readers who turned on the TV or opened Twitter last week would be convinced that the Conservative Party is in a sorry state of shambles. […]

O’Toole is gone, Trudeau divides, and the truckers are here to stay. Photo credit:  The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld    It was a fast and furious week in our nation’s capital. With Parliament Hill besieged by the Freedom Convoy protest, the actions of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Official Opposition in the past […]

Just as the trucker convoy made its way into the nation’s capital last Thursday, former Conservative MP James Cummings released his report reviewing the 2021 election performance of Conservative leader Erin O’Toole (pictured, right). Photo credit: Twitter/Erin O’Toole   The Leader of the Official Opposition is one of the worst jobs in the world and […]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in responding to this outpouring of support for the truckers, was quick to dismiss the truckers and their supporters as “small fringe minority” holding “unacceptable views” that do not represent the “views of Canadians.” Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Justin Tang   “A propogandist’s purpose is to make one set of people […]

Pandemic subsidies have cost Ottawa more than half a trillion dollars to date. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick   When governments subsidize something, you can expect more of it. With the federal government covering the cost of keeping workers and businesses afloat during provincial lockdowns, it’s no surprise that provincial politicians are biased toward […]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault at COP26 in Glasgow, Nov. 2, 2021. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick    The federal government has Canada (a.k.a. the Great White North) in fervid pursuit to meet international climate change commitments and to achieve a “net-zero emissions economy” by […]

Premier of Quebec Francois Legault recently announced that the province would tax residents who choose to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes   The pandemic is now entering its twenty-third month with no finish line in sight. As a new highly contagious variant of COVID-19 is running rampant across Canada, Quebec […]

Canada’s prime minister answers questions about Quebec’s Bill 21 at a press conference in Ottawa, Dec. 13, 2021. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Justin Tang   In a Hill Times front page story this week EKOS Research pollster Frank Graves mused that Canadians’ view of their prospects entering a new year was “unsurprisingly quite dark.” He […]

Photo credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images   It’s been three years since Chinese technology giant Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was detained by Canadian authorities at Vancouver International Airport. A political lifetime has passed since then: two federal elections, four different foreign affairs ministers, and a global pandemic have all taken place. Still, Canada is […]

Overwhelmed and underfunded, one might say that the system itself is on life-support. Photo credit: HealthCareCAN   The COVID pandemic has exposed a growing crisis in Canada’s public health care system. Although the delivery of health services is a provincial responsibility, the country’s public health model was designed to be jointly funded by federal and […]

 In the coming months, Canada will have to make some tough decisions regarding cooperation with the CCP and its auxiliary actors, including implementation of Huawei’s 5G network and the country’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Photo credit: Getty Images/Lintao Zhang   With the new year upon us, a challenge the federal government is thinking about this week and […]

Michael Kovrig embraces his wife Vina Nadjibulla after arriving at Pearson International Airport in September. The release of Kovrig and Michael Spavor following 1,000 days of imprisonment in China was easily one of the most consequential federal news stories of 2021. Photo credit: Cpl. Justin Dreimanis/DND-MDN Canada   With the country’s mounting health and economic […]

Summa Strategies’ vice chair assesses the year that was for Canada’s three major federal party leaders. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/CBC   2021 was not the year of sunshine and rainbows many banked on after a doom-and-gloom filled 2020. COVID-19 still loomed large over the year, dominating Canadians’ lives and political decisions and discourse throughout […]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Chris Young   We all know the holiday classic “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”. The conniving malcontent creature muses in the opening scene: “I must stop Christmas from coming… but how? I mean – in what way?” Then the Grinch devises a dastardly plan and heads out […]

Perhaps it’s the Christmas spirit, but as of late Canada’s federal politicians appear to be getting along to get things done. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld   Politics is a blood sport often left to gladiators to compete in, or so that’s what some think.  The reality is politics is just people and their […]

The Trudeau government’s lack of fiscal discipline, spurred on in no small part by Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland (pictured), contributed to the OECD’s recent projection that Canada will be the worst performing economy of its 38 members through the next three decades. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Justin Tang   This week, Canadians got a […]

Citizens need not apply. How a sanctioned Chinese telecom giant came to collect from Canadian taxpayers. Photo credit: Bloomberg News/Qilai Shen   Time was of the essence, they said. The Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program, a pandemic support originally estimated to cost $48 billion, is arguably one of the largest corporate government support programs […]

Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland during question period in the House of Commons, Nov. 30, 2021. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick   Recently released data informs Canadians that “Justinflation” is here for a while – and a new report this week reveals just how much more financial pain will be […]