Michael Den Tandt: Trudeau needs patience to avoid a McGuinty moment over...
There will be no Dalton McGuinty moment — that’s the incoming Liberal government’s intent. But making this stick will call for toughness, patience and a willingness to disappoint. It also requires that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The post-patronage era: Trudeau’s Senate appointments could lead to dynamism...
For generations, it was patronage heaven — the place where Canadian prime ministers sent an endless stream of political hacks and cronies. But now, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is preparing a new way...
View ArticleYou too can be a senator: Liberal reforms would let any Canadian apply to Red...
From Don Cherry to Chad Kroeger, any Canadian citizen could conceivably find themselves considered for a Senate seat under a suite of new reforms that opens up Red Chamber nominations to the public....
View ArticleAndrew Coyne: Who asked for this kind of Senate reform?
If, as the conspiracy theory had it, Stephen Harper’s habit of appointing every deviant, crook or crony he could find to the Senate was part of a master plan to so discredit the upper house as to make...
View ArticleMost Canadians want Senate reformed, not abolished: poll
As the Senate expense scandal hit a crescendo earlier this year, the Conservative government led by Stephen Harper commissioned a poll that revealed only about one-quarter of Canadians want the upper...
View ArticleCould your past life nix a Senate spot? Liberals appoint hypnotherapist,...
One of the panelists named by the Liberal government to a board that will select new senators tries to recover the past lives of people she treats using a largely debunked psychological technique....
View ArticleTasha Kheiriddin: If you want to reform our democracy, abolish the Senate
The sages have been chosen. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised, he has appointed an “Independent Advisory Board” to recommend candidates to fill 22 Senate vacancies, starting with five in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kady O’Malley: From the Senate to Conservative contenders, 11 things to watch...
Forget — or, at least, tamp down your expectations for— the first Question Period of the new sitting: it’s virtually always a major anti-climax, as it takes everyone — opposition MPs and ministers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘We are in limbo’: Senators return to the chamber with little idea how...
Members of the Senate returned to their chamber on Parliament Hill Tuesday with one big problem: no one really knows yet how the place is going to work. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Embattled Senator Mike Duffy may be en route back to the Red Chamber after...
Embattled Senator Mike Duffy is keeping his options open for a return to the Senate by filing the ethics declaration all senators are required to provide each year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Home mail delivery in danger again, and other reasons to fear for Liberal...
1. Home mail delivery in danger again Chris Roussakis / Ottawa CitizenOttawa resident Marymay Downing opposed Canada Post putting a community mailbox on her garden in Ottawa. As far as I recall, the...
View ArticleSenate ‘on the right track,’ Trudeau says as RCMP clears most Senators after...
OTTAWA — After nearly four years of scandal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday said the Senate is “on the right track” with word the RCMP has cleared most, if not all, of the 30 senators under...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Senate’s political dynamics shift as new appointments put independents in...
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s nomination of seven Senate candidates is reordering the core political dynamics of the Red Chamber. On paper, independent members, including those named Friday,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kelly McParland: Trudeau’s first senate appointees are exactly the sort of...
Surprisingly little attention has been paid to the first crew of senators named by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau appointed seven new senators last week, to a general lack of excitement....
View ArticleRex Murphy: The general theory of Senate relativity
By now, we’ve all accepted Einstein’s brilliant illuminations about the nature of time and space. We are comfortable with the idea that time is not an absolute; that its passage varies according to...
View ArticleJohn Ivison: Trudeau’s point man in Senate aims to regain public’s respect...
Riddle me this: when is the government house leader in the Senate, not the government house leader in the Senate? When he’s the government’s Senate representative, of course. Peter Harder, a career...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Duffy trial might be over but the Senate could head back to court over...
OTTAWA — The Senate is staring down the possibility of heading to court over more expense claims just one day after Sen. Mike Duffy’s was cleared on 31 charges. Revised Senate expenses table Friday is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In wake of Senator’s acquittal, giant inflatable Mike Duffy to fly again:...
One little-reported aspect of the Mike Duffy acquittal; the P.E.I. Senator’s giant inflatable counterpart could now be cleared to fly again. “He (Duffy) will be sticking around, so we’ll have to put...
View ArticleLinda Frum: The Trudeau plan won’t fix what’s wrong with the Senate
The following is adapted from a speech recently delivered by Senator Linda Frum. After what has been a very trying few years for the Senate, it remains a tremendous honour for me to serve my country in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Conrad Black: Celebrating the end of the Mike Duffy farce
My absence in England last week prevented me from celebrating the acquittal of Mike Duffy in this column, but there are a few points still to be made about it. There was never anything wrong with Mike...
View Article