Politics

As the federal Liberals prepare to choose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s successor, another Liberal leadership race is getting underway in Quebec this week. The stakes are high for the Quebec Liberals, who have been in the political wilderness for years, with dismal polling among francophone voters. Candidates and observers say the party needs to broaden its appeal beyond Montreal if it’s to have any chance of forming government in the 2026 provincial election.The campaign will unfold in the shadow of the race taking shape in Ottawa. And with Trudeau’s former Quebec lieutenant, Pablo Rodriguez, the likely front-runner, the Quebec Liberals will have to set themselves apart from a federal party in turmoil.“Let’s face it,” said political analyst Karim Boulos. “It’s not a great time to be a L...

Canadians hoping plans for high-frequency rail between Toronto and Quebec City would move forward this year will instead see further delays — and the prospect of a federal election makes the timeline more uncertain than ever. Late last year, the federal government requested an extension on bids to build the rail corridor in a move that could push back selection of a private partner by several months beyond the initial deadline near the end of 2024.The holdup marks a minor setback to a project slated to span more than a decade. But while some observers worry the postponed proposal bodes ill for the pricey enterprise, others fret the whole undertaking could be thrown into limbo with a potential change in government around the corner following the prime minister’s planned resignation.Selectin...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says talk of Canada becoming the 51st state is a distraction from more pressing threats of U.S tariffs on Canada and their likely impact. In an interview that aired Sunday on MSNBC, he says Canada is ready to respond with retaliatory tariffs should president-elect Donald Trump follow through with a threat to impose 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico when he takes office next week.Trump has also referred to Canada as the “51st state,” a notion federal cabinet ministers initially played off as a joke but now appear to be taking more seriously.Appearing on “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Trudeau said Canadians need to take Trump’s expansionist rhetoric seriously, and that there is a certain amount of “flattery” in Trump seeing how gre...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spent Saturday night at Mar-a-Lago in Florida with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. In a statement on X, Smith said she had the opportunity to meet Trump at the resort and then at his golf club on Sunday morning.“We had a friendly and constructive conversation during which I emphasized the mutual importance of the U.S. – Canadian energy relationship, and specifically, how hundreds of thousands of American jobs are supported by energy exports from Alberta,” Smith wrote in the statement.“I was also able to have similar discussions with several key allies of the incoming administration and was encouraged to hear their support for a strong energy and security r...

The next Liberal leader needs to be prepared to “stick it out for the long term” as the party rebuilds after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation, former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps says. In an interview with The West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson, Copps said whoever emerges from the Liberals’ short leadership contest needs to be prepared to rebuild the party under a government led by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.“You want somebody who’s prepared to stick it out for the long term, because some of the names that have been mentioned, like (former Bank of Canada Governor) Mark Carney, for example, I think he’d like to be the prime minister. I’m not so sure that he’d like to lead a process of rebuilding,” Copps said.“Which may be what we’re facing.”The Liberals have been ba...

The battle for the leadership of the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives is three months from being decided, and the two men vying for the role are laying out different paths to try to reignite the party voted out of office in the last election. Obby Khan, a former pro football player, cabinet minister and business owner from Winnipeg, has pitched himself as the experienced candidate with a seat in the legislature who can build a “big tent” of urban and rural members. Khan’s Fort Whyte seat is one of two the Tories still hold in Winnipeg, where 32 of the 57 legislature seats are located.Wally Daudrich, a longtime party board member and hotel owner from the northern town of Churchill, has promised to bring a more conservative approach if he wins. He has said the Tories have lost their way in...

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s increasingly bold threats against Canada’s economy and sovereignty suggest “there’s something dangerous brewing” and a serious response is needed, a U.S. analyst says. David Frum, a staff writer at The Atlantic who has covered U.S. politics for decades, doesn’t believe Trump actually wants to make Canada a U.S. state, but says the fact the incoming president keeps repeating that idea means he’s eying some kind of aggressive action.“If you’re living with a mentally unstable partner and he says, ‘I’m going to push you down the stairs,’ he may not literally mean to push you down the stairs,” Frum told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.“If he then adds, ‘I’m going to chop you up with a knife,’ he may not literally mean t...

By Staff The Canadian Press Posted January 12, 2025 10:11 am Updated January 12, 2025 10:14 am 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says he won’t join the race to become the next leader of the Liberal party. MacKinnon says he feels the competition to become the next leader needs diverse, experienced and pragmatic voices in both English and French.While he feels he could be that voice, the Gatineau MP says the short length of this leadership race woul...

Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department after submitting his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump, an expected move that comes amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead. The department disclosed Smith’s departure in a court filing Saturday, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation, 10 days before Trump is inaugurated, follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions against Trump that were withdrawn following Trump’s White House win in November.At issue now is the fate of a two-volume report that Smith and his team had prepared about their twin investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of his 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents at hi...

Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark, who is considering a run for federal Liberal leader, has backtracked on her claim this week that she’d never been a member of the Conservative party. Clark told CBC Radio’s The House that she is “very seriously” considering a leadership bid, but expressed disappointment with the short timeline for the race.She also denied she voted for former Quebec premier Jean Charest in his bid to become Conservative leader in 2022, a race that was won by Pierre Poilievre.Clark, who has called herself a “lifelong Liberal,” said in the interview that despite publicly supporting Charest’s leadership run she never joined the party and never received a ballot for the race.The Conservatives have provided a screen grab of their electronic records, showing Clark w...