Politics

As Congress convenes during a winter storm to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s election, the legacy of Jan. 6 hangs over the proceedings with an extraordinary fact: The candidate who tried to overturn the previous election won this time and is legitimately returning to power. Lawmakers will gather noontime Monday under the tightest national security level possible. Layers of tall black fencing flank the U.S. Capitol complex in a stark reminder of what happened four years ago, when a defeated Trump sent his mob to “fight like hell” in what became the most gruesome attack on the seat of American democracy in 200 years.No violence, protests or even procedural objections in Congress are expected this time. Republicans from the highest levels of power who challenged the 2020 election resu...

Monday could mark a historic week in Canadian politics if the growing chorus calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gets its way. The Globe and Mail is reporting that Trudeau is expected to announce he is stepping down as Liberal party leader as early as Monday.Trudeau has faced mounting calls for his resignation from MPs in his caucus as public opinion polls have continued to put the governing Liberals trailing far behind the Conservatives.The Globe report says three sources, who weren’t authorized to speak about the matter publicly, did not know a specific timeline but they expected Trudeau would announce his plans before a national caucus meeting scheduled for Wednesday.Neither the Canadian Press nor Global News have independently confirmed the Globe report.Over th...

The novelist Margaret Atwood once met a neurosurgeon who told her he was a big fan of hers, that he’d read all of her books and that, when he retired, he, too hoped to write some books. “What a coincidence,” Atwood is said to have replied. “Because when I retire, I hope to take up neurosurgery.”That anecdote was passed along by Rob Oliphant, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Don Valley West, when he was asked before Christmas about the type of leader the Liberals ought to turn to — should that job become vacant this week.Oliphant was not speaking specifically about Mark Carney but that anecdote, to a professional politician like Oliphant — first elected in 2008 — is an apt metaphor for the former central bank governor.Carney, now 59, is thinking about taking up politics after a long and...

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Sunday announced that he would meet with far-right politician Herbert Kickl as speculation grows that he will ask the Freedom Party leader to form a government. Van der Bellen made the announcement after meeting with Chancellor Karl Nehammer and others at his presidential palace.Nehammer has announced his intention to resign after coalition talks between his conservative Austrian People’s Party and the center-left Social Democrats collapsed over the budget.Nehammer has ruled out working with Kickl, but others within his party are less adamant.Earlier Sunday, the People’s Party nominated its general secretary, Christian Stocker, as interim leader, but the president said Nehammer would remain chancellor for now.In the past, Stocker has criticize...

The head of the RCMP unit in charge of protecting politicians says the force is ready for a looming federal election, even as it deals with an “unprecedented” level of threats against MPs and candidates. Michelle Paradis, the RCMP assistant commissioner in charge of protective policing, says requests for protection are continuing to increase, and more members are being recruited to meet the demand. Those members are consistently being trained up on new and emerging threats at home and from abroad, with the goal of ensuring they are “constantly vigilant,” she said.“What I want is for our officers to be trained in a way that… their head is basically on a swivel,” Paradis told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.“It’s not complacency. It’s about changing to...

Ten years ago, Jean-François Lisée predicted that Quebec’s independence movement would be reborn. “It could rise again given the right circumstances,” he said in 2015. “What could trigger it, I cannot say.”Three years later, as leader of the sovereigntist Parti Québécois, Lisée lost his riding and saw his party reduced to 10 seats when the upstart Coalition Avenir Québec, led by François Legault, swept to power for the first time.The 2018 election was widely seen as proof that separatism was no longer a defining issue in Quebec politics, and pollsters speculated that the PQ’s days were numbered. The province’s new leader was a former sovereigntist at the helm of a conservative-leaning, nationalist party promising not to hold a referendum, and Quebecers rewarded him with a decisive majority...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is back in Ottawa but he returns to more calls not only from his MPs to step down, but at least two riding association presidents as well. Global News confirmed that Quebec Liberal MPs called for Trudeau to step down, as first reported by iPolitics, following similar statements from the Liberals’ Atlantic and Ontario MPs. Now, Mattie Prima, the president of the Willowdale Federal Liberals Riding Association, wants to see the same.“I think that there comes a point with all leadership, there’s a way to gracefully say I’ve accomplished everything I’ve done and maybe it is time for a new leader,” Prima said.The MP who represents the area, Ali Ehsassi, has also called for Trudeau’s resignation. Story continues below advertisement Prima...

By David Baxter The Canadian Press Posted January 3, 2025 12:11 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking part in a virtual meeting of the Canada-U.S. relations cabinet committee, as people inside and outside the Liberal caucus call for him to resign as leader. The committee meets as president-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration quickly approaches.Trump promised to enact 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports unless both countries meet his demand to beef up security at the American border.He’s also been taunting Trudeau on social media, sugges...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size Canada will set up its first preclearance operation in the United States this year as part its plan to boost border security amid growing pressure from the incoming U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced Thursday that a two-year operation will be launched at a shared facility at the Cannon Corners port of entry in New York, which is on the other side of the border from the Covey Hill port of entry in Quebec.During that two-year period, the Covey Hill port of entry will be closed to travellers, who will have to enter Canada through Cannon Corners instead.“At the preclearance site, Canadian officers will examine travellers and goods to decide wh...

South Korean investigators left the official residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after a near-six-hour standoff on Friday during which he defied their attempt to detain him. It’s the latest confrontation in a political crisis that has paralyzed South Korean politics and seen two heads of state impeached in under a month. The country’s anti-corruption agency said it withdrew its investigators after the presidential security service blocked them from entering Yoon’s residence for hours, due to concerns about their safety.The agency said its outnumbered investigators had several scuffles with presidential security forces and expressed “serious regret about the attitude of the suspect, who did not comply with the legal process.”It said detaining Yoon would be “virtually impossible” ...