Whether Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget is passed by the House of Commons on Monday or defeated – which would prompt another election and yet another distraction from Canada’s affordability crisis – it won’t make any difference to financially struggling Canadians.
“Canadian Politics”
Is Mark Carney’s budget a Progressive Conservative budget?
Attempting perhaps to turn a story about his own leadership into a story about whether the Canadian news media have unfairly focused on dissent within the Conservative caucus, Pierre Poilievre challenged reporters on Wednesday to pay as much attention to the recent criticism levelled against the federal government’s budget by Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith.
Of course, that Erskine-Smith might deviate from the Liberal government’s official line is hardly surprising at this point. The left-leaning Liberal backbencher has spent much of the past decade displaying a willingness to go his own way, so much so that many members of the parliamentary press gallery probably no longer consider it newsworthy when he does.
Conrad Black: Conservative MPs leaving Poilievre shame themselves
There has been a good deal of nasty talk recently, especially in notoriously Liberal journalistic circles, about dissenters crumbling away from Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre into the outstretched arms of the Liberal government, straining to scavenge itself into a parliamentary majority. The customary version is that the Liberals are rubbing their hands in glee at this anticipated Conservative disintegration but prayerfully hope that it will not shake out the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, whom they believe to be a permanent doormat for them on the threshold of the prime minister’s residence, (if it is ever ready for reoccupation).
Here are four ways Mark Carney can dodge an election and pass his budget
OTTAWA — Heading into the weekend before a crucial budget vote, it was not clear how Prime Minister Mark Carney’s minority Liberal government would survive a confidence showdown on Monday and prevent a snap election during the upcoming holiday season.
Two sources told the Star on Friday that the government had no assurances how Monday’s confidence vote on this month’s federal budget will go. But the Liberals are still projecting optimism that their minority administration can win the vote and proceed with a $581-billion spending plan that opposition parties have criticized for its big deficits and tens of billions of dollars in spending cuts.
Conservatives won’t say if MPs will be forced to vote against budget
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his office will not say if his caucus will be whipped by party leadership and urged to vote against Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget next week — a vote that could trigger another election if the minority government falls.
Asked by reporters in Calgary on Friday if he was confident that all his members of Parliament would vote against the budget in the House of Commons on Monday, Poilievre wouldn’t directly answer.
LPC internal polling must be saying Poilievre is vulnerable if an election is forced.
GALBRAITH: Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives don’t need new leader, just Valium
Yesterday, Pierre Poilievre held his first media availability since the floor crossing that had politicos (and many Canadians) picking their jaws up off the floor. He stood at the mic with a few of his MPs, hit his talking points and dodged answering questions about how he plans to hold his caucus together.
Backbench MPs are expected to use their brains or their mouths, but not both
The independent thought alarm went off in the Liberal universe again, and of course, the culprit was Ontario MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith. The MP for Beaches-East York has made a habit of using both his brain and his mouth since he entered politics a decade ago, which is a combination that will earn any MP a permanent seat on the backbench (though Mr. Erksine-Smith did enjoy a brief stint as housing minister in the final and desperate months of the Justin Trudeau government).
LILLEY: Pierre Poilievre pushes back on media – as he should
In the wake of Chris d’Entremont crossing the floor to the Liberals, there has been pressure on Pierre Poilievre to show that he’s changing.
In interviews after joining the Carney government, d’Entremont said that his former party was run like a frat house.
Michael Taube: No, Pierre Poilievre’s leadership isn’t in trouble
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has had a difficult couple weeks. His only Nova Scotia-based MP, Chris d’Entremont, crossed the floor to the Liberals on Nov. 4. Alberta MP Matt Jeneroux then announced on Nov. 6 that he’ll be resigning his seat next spring.
Both decisions were obviously unfortunate. No political leader would ever willingly want to go through these types of political headaches. This was especially true when last week’s focus should have been squarely on a federal Liberal budget touting a much-higher-than-expected deficit of $78.3 billion.
Poilievre says no reflection on his leadership style following floor crossing and resignation
In his first media availability since two MPs announced they’re leaving his caucus, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he plans to continue leading the party as he has been.
When asked by a reporter to respond to comments by former Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont — who last Tuesday announced he was crossing the floor to the Liberals and later blamed Poilievre’s leadership style for his decision — Poilievre quoted previous remarks made by the defected MP in the House.
“First of all, I just quote Mr. d’Entremont,” Poilievre said, in response to the question about his leadership style, before reading d’Entremont’s previous criticisms of the Liberal government, including “out-of-control spending and massive deficits.”
CHARLEBOIS: Donald Trump’s beef with the packers — and Canada’s silence at the grill
Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration was directing the Department of Justice to investigate major meat-packing companies for allegedly driving up beef prices through collusion and price manipulation. The move — unsurprisingly — generated headlines, applause from ranchers, and skepticism from economists. Still, it raises an uncomfortable question north of the border: why hasn’t Canada done the same?
Pierre Poilievre’s popularity is unprecedented. But is his future as Conservative leader safe?
What happens when a political leader is both deeply admired and deeply disliked? As Parliament breaks for the week, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and his team may get a brief pause from the daily political grind, but the core of his public image is already well defined. He inspires intense loyalty among his supporters and equally intense opposition from his critics. It’s a divide that’s become impossible to ignore in the past week.
Can the Conservative caucus please eat a Snickers bar?
Floor-crossing is just about the ultimate political betrayal, and the motivation of the political migrant is almost always self-serving. In the case of Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals last week, it is impossible to infer anything else.
Only about six months have elapsed since the last federal election, during and after which Mr. d’Entremont was happy to echo Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s “negativity,” which he now cites as the reason for his migration to the Liberal benches. He cannot reasonably claim that his constituents are better served by him now sitting with the governing party, because if they wanted to vote for that party, they would have back in April. Neither party has meaningfully changed its approach since spring (with the exception of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s more docile approach to U.S. President Donald Trump), and certainly not enough for Mr. d’Entremont to claim the ground has shifted so much as to justify his defection.
Ekos poll finds Canadians most concerned about ‘growing political and ideological polarization’
While the focus last week was on how Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s budget will affect Canadians’ pocketbooks, the top issues “keeping them up at night” involve deep concerns about the country’s future, according to Frank Graves, founder and president of Ekos Research Associates Inc., based on the results of a recent Ekos poll.
In the late October survey involving 1,581 respondents presented with a set of 10 choices, 70 per cent identified “growing political and ideological polarization” as their top issue of concern. Next, at 67 per cent, was the “acute decline of our democratic and public institutions.” The poll results were released on Oct. 29.
Carney’s Floor-Crossing Campaign. A Media-Staged Bid for Majority Rule That Erodes Democracy While Beijing Hovers
OTTAWA — On budget day, Ottawa’s reporters were sequestered in the traditional lock-up, combing through hundreds of pages, when Politico detonated a perfectly timed scoop: Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont was weighing a jump to Mark Carney’s Liberals. Within hours, he crossed, moving the government to within two seats of a majority — one that would guarantee Carney’s hold on power until 2029 — without Canadians casting a single ballot.