NPR, Politico latest U.S. news outlets expanding northward, shaking up Canadian media environment
Politico and National Public Radio’s announcements in the last month that they’re expanding northward are just the latest in an uptick in American media outlets pouring more resources into Canada and hoping for more Canadian revenue in return. But press gallery journalists say they aren’t concerned the increasing interest in Canada will harm their jobs, […]
A government reboot is in the cards this summer
OTTAWA—Is Justin Trudeau’s government in need of a reboot? Summer speculative stories are coming fast and furious about a possible cabinet shuffle, the potential retirement of long-standing Liberal Parliamentarians, and a 2019 pre-election season, which will kick up a notch in the fall. As the introduction to the never-ending soap opera Days of Our Lives […]
Let’s take a Twitter vacation, seriously
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Desperate times, they say, call for desperate measures. So with that in mind, I’ve come up with a desperate proposal: just for the summer, let’s all of us delete the social media apps currently populating our phones and computers. What I’m saying is, let’s quit Facebook and Twitter and YouTube, cold turkey-style. Okay, I […]
How bad can it get? Look south
CHELSEA, QUE.—It is a miserable ending to a miserable political season. Spite rules the day at home, Canadian livelihoods are menaced by an intemperate megalomaniac to the south and no one seems to want to go to the famous July 4 party at the American Embassy. With a tariff war raging, no amount of bourbon […]
How the party leaders stack up, as campaign machines rev up for 2019
OTTAWA—Summer is upon us. Members of Parliament have returned to their ridings to kiss babies and shake hands wherever they can. Ottawa will feel a bit like a ghost town between now and mid-September until the elected officials return when they will begin the big push to the 2019 election. Through this session of Parliament […]
Ford Nation and the demise of the campaign playbook
OTTAWA—Last week, Scott Reid, formerly Paul Martin’s communications director and currently a political analyst and speechwriter who “was pitching in” for Kathleen Wynne’s team, wrote one of the more sobering post-mortems on the Ontario campaign. The piece, published in the Globe and Mail, posed the question as to whether campaigns even matter anymore: “In an […]
Journalist’s fake death is troubling
OTTAWA—On May 29, Ukrainian officials announced that Arkady Babchenko had been shot and killed at his apartment. A dramatic photo was released showing Babchenko’s body lying in a pool of blood. Babchenko is a Russian journalist who had been vehemently critical of the Kremlin, and of President Vladimir Putin in particular. Naturally enough, regarding his […]
Trudeau gambles his promise, his progress, our planet
CHELSEA, QUE.—What a colossal mistake Justin Trudeau has made in buying the Kinder Morgan pipeline. He not only imperils his re-election chances in 2019, he risks squandering the small, progressive steps his government has taken over the last few years: reform of the criminal justice system, the beginning of practical remedies for struggling Indigenous communities, […]
Trump has been largely successful in feeding public skepticism about the fourth estate
OTTAWA—Earlier this month, the planet commemorated World Press Freedom Day, launched by the United Nations in the last century. The recognition, proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1993, coincided with the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement by African journalists about the importance of the free press. The UN says the day is […]
Tories take top prize in parliamentary basketball tournament that raises $26,500 for kids charity
We don’t know what’s going to happen in 2019, but at least on the basketball court the Conservatives bested the Liberals. Team Tory took the trophy from the two-time champion Grits at the seventh annual Parliamentary Basketball Tournament to benefit Christie Lake Kids on Sunday. Four teams—consisting of politicians and staffers from the Liberals, Conservatives […]
