OTTAWA – Tensions flared on the prickly issue of the carbon tax as the House returned from its break Monday, with Conservatives accusing the Liberals of being “pathologically obsessed” with the tax, while Liberals said the Tories wanted to take rebate cheques out of the hands of Canadians.
An investigation of ArriveCan spending has found outsourcing companies repeatedly won contracts by listing subcontractors who ultimately did no work, one of many findings that led the federal procurement ombudsman to conclude contracting rules were not followed.
The report specifically singles out contract work by two-person IT staffing company GCStrategies, saying the company frequently failed to prove that its proposed team of subcontractors had the résumés and work experience required.
With polls suggesting the Liberal Party’s support is still in freefall, some of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top ministers were asked Monday whether they’re angling to replace him as Liberal leader.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Treasury Board President Anita Anand, Housing Minister Sean Fraser and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne were all asked if they’re considering leadership bids.
Freeland, who has been floated as a possible successor for years, said Trudeau has her “full support.”
A pattern has emerged in Liberal immigration policy over the past year: Ignore mounting evidence of trouble, dismiss rumbles of criticism and, finally, take the smallest possible action to avert an all-out calamity.
There was abundant evidence for months that the pace of new arrivals, particularly temporary migrants, was putting unacceptable strain on housing in big cities and other social infrastructure. But it was not until November that the Trudeau government took the tentative step of tamping down the growth in permanent immigration – misleadingly referred to as “stabilizing” by the government. Even with the change, permanent immigration targets will rise this year and next, with an extra 55,000 people admitted over that two-year span.
On Jan. 8, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland evaded a question about why Canada hasn’t designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) as a terrorist organization. The question was being asked on the fourth anniversary of the IRGC’s murder of 55 Canadians aboard Flight PS752, and in the middle of a war the IRGC is facilitating across the Middle East. Before the journalist could ask again, he was arrested, which was caught on film and quickly became an international incident with millions of views.
OTTAWA—The federal government is considering a rebrand of the rebate program for its carbon pricing system in an attempt to tackle what it calls confusion and misconceptions about the scheme, the Star has learned.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have admitted they are losing the communications battle over carbon pricing in the face of a campaign from Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives to undermine the government’s flagship climate policy.
The allegations kept mounting in Canada: Election-meddling by China, an Indian-backed assassination on home soil, and a campaign to harass Iranian dissidents. Is Canada especially vulnerable to foreign interference?
Michael Chong said it did not take long for him to become a target of Beijing.
In testimony before US lawmakers on Capitol Hill last year, the Canadian Conservative politician described how an alleged intimidation campaign against him was born after he spoke out against China’s human rights record in parliament.
Before Canada’s recent designation of 85 Chinese academic institutions as potential threats to national security, several Canadian universities had engaged in extensive interactions with some of those institutions.
The list of Named Research Organizations released Jan. 16 is part of Ottawa’s Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern, introduced to bolster Canadian universities’ research security.
Trying to tie Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to Donald Trump may not be the trump card the Trudeau Liberals think it is. For months, the Liberals have been trying to hurt Poilievre’s support among voters by connecting him to the presumptive Republican candidate.
The highly anticipated public inquiry into foreign election interference is set to begin Monday, examining how countries like China, Russia and India may have tried to meddle in Canadian democracy.
But some national security experts warn Iran’s growing influence may be missed, despite how far the regime has “spread its tentacles” in Canada.
There’s a weekend now ensconced in Liberal lore that happened in 2012, when Justin Trudeau was a second-term MP contemplating a run for the Liberal leadership. He had gotten beyond whispering about the idea with his closest advisers, Gerald Butts and Katie Telford, and gathered a broader group of friends and helpers – together with their families and his own – at some rented cottages in Mont Tremblant.
Days after Globe and Mail reporter Marieke Walsh asked Justin Trudeau about the optics of accepting a pricey holiday vacation as many Canadians struggle to put food on the table, the Canadian prime minister is still being jeered online for his robotic response in which he defended his decision to accept a free Jamaican getaway.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is asked if it’s appropriate for him to take an $80,000 vacation while Canadians grapple with economic challenges. pic.twitter.com/UiM84lziq1
— True North (@TrueNorthCentre) January 23, 2024
Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland tried to make Freedom Convoy participants into villains. Whenever they spoke about the convoy, during those fateful days in January 2022, they did their best to twist the facts and make the protesters look terrible. But by invoking the heavy-handed Emergencies Act, they instead made the convoy members the victims of government overreach.
As progress on some measures in the Liberal-NDP confidence-and-supply agreement continue to play out publicly, the two parties have quietly been in talks to table electoral reform legislation before the next federal vote.
Leading these negotiations on the political front, are Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and NDP MP and democratic reform critic Daniel Blaikie.
h/t Mauser
A new Abacus Data poll suggests that many voters don’t see similarities between the former president and the Conservative leader.
OTTAWA — It was an attack ad that had Liberals buzzing: video clips of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s comments juxtaposed with those of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
It wasn’t meant as a compliment: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made no secret of the fact he views Trump as a risk to Canada and thinks Poilievre is cut from the same cloth.
The Liberals are unable to run on their dismal record so their media has been told to go the “Worse than Hitler” route.
