Former Harper minister Jim Prentice under pressure to run for Alberta PC...
OTTAWA — Several current and past Conservative members of Parliament are hoping former federal cabinet minister — and potential Stephen Harper successor — Jim Prentice will jump into the race to be the...
View ArticleWho has had state funerals, and how do they work?
OTTAWA – The federal government announced Friday it will hold a rare state funeral Wednesday in Toronto for former federal finance minister Jim Flaherty. Here, in the federal government’s words, is a...
View ArticleMike Duffy still under RCMP shadow as Nigel Wright looks to the future
OTTAWA — Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, is relieved that the RCMP won’t be laying criminal charges against him and is expected to move back into the private sector — but...
View ArticlePMO paid more than $4.1 million to departing employees
OTTAWA — The Prime Minister’s Office coughed up $4.1 million in severance and separation pay over the first seven years of Stephen Harper’s tenure for 196 departing PMO employees, according to...
View ArticlePrime Minister’s Office tweets still blurring party lines
OTTAWA — The Prime Minister’s Office has toned down — but not halted altogether — its use of Stephen Harper’s PMO-operated Twitter account to direct people to Conservative party websites, despite...
View ArticleSome emails in Duffy spending affair reportedly deleted despite orders to...
OTTAWA — Information technology workers in the Privy Council Office appear to have deleted an email account from a key player in the Mike Duffy Senate affair days after being ordered to save every...
View ArticleHarper urges provinces to push forward on Senate reform
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has invited the provinces to push forward Senate reform, telling them that they should come to some agreement quickly on how to change the upper chamber. Failing...
View ArticleStephen Harper’s dispute with chief justice exposes frustration with top court
OTTAWA — An unprecedented public dispute between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada has laid bare the federal government’s frustration with the court’s...
View ArticleCanada commits 75 troops to military exercise in Latvia
WARSAW, Poland — The number of Canadian troops committed to NATO’s eastern flank in response to the crisis in Ukraine is to grow to more than 500 personnel this month. An additional 75 Canadian troops...
View ArticleFisher: Ukraine struggles to mirror Poland’s break with Kremlin (with video)
WARSAW — Poland is what many Ukrainians dream their country will become — a member of the European Union and NATO. But to get there it must find a way to get out from under the Russian yoke. During the...
View ArticleEthics watchdog rejects request to probe PMO actions in Mike Duffy audit
OTTAWA — The federal ethics commissioner has rejected a call from an independent watchdog group to investigate the actions of four former officials in the Prime Minister’s Office in Sen. Mike Duffy’s...
View ArticleAll the Stephen Harpers
During his eight-and-a-half years as prime minister, Stephen J. Harper has worn many hats — sometimes literally. With the return of parliament Monday effectively kicking off the campaign leading up to...
View ArticleParliament shootings: People are resilient to trauma, psychiatrist says
Ironically, psychiatrist Dr. Jitender Sareen was preparing to leave his Ottawa hotel for the Senate Wednesday morning to talk about mentally wounded soldiers when news of the brazen shooting at the War...
View ArticleBarack Obama calls Stephen Harper to express support following Ottawa shootings
WASHINGTON — Following Wednesday’s shooting in Ottawa that claimed the life of a Canadian soldier, U.S. President Barack Obama phoned Prime Minister Stephen Harper and pledged that the U.S. is “going...
View ArticleIt’s all about the words: Harper, Mulcair and Trudeau’s speeches visually parsed
It didn’t even take 12 hours for the partisan parsing to begin. Yesterday, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was shot dead while standing on guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. The gunman — identified as...
View ArticleThe Toronto Maple Leafs continue their push for brand expansion into China
The Toronto Maple Leafs might not be the most victorious team in the NHL, but they remain the most profitable. And now the franchise is trying to entice Chinese fans to its flock of beleaguered fans....
View ArticleFisher: Lowering Canadian dairy tariffs will ensure stronger trade ties with...
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — With the G20 leaders’ summit taking place across the Tasman Sea this weekend in Australia, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will both...
View ArticleFisher: New trade deals with China, India cement Australia’s status as key...
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia is on the kind of diplomatic tear that Canada can only dream of. Brisbane got lots of global attention by hosting the G20 leaders summit last weekend because so many...
View ArticleEXCLUSIVE: secret transcript of an imagined meeting between Wynne and Harper
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has time for everyone but Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. From New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Harper has met with almost anyone...
View ArticleDen Tandt: Spring election for Stephen Harper in 2015? Not so fast
What’s ahead for 2015 in politics? Before we get to that, let’s take a peek at last year’s crystal-ball column and see how I did. It is, to put it charitably, a mixed bag. First prediction: On Dec. 29,...
View ArticleI won’t be silenced, Mulcair tells Commons ‘referee’
OTTAWA — NDP Leader Tom Mulcair seemingly questioned the impartiality of the referee of the House of Commons on Tuesday, effectively accusing the Speaker of picking sides and favouring the government...
View ArticleEuropeans should get their house in order before taking Canada to task over...
Europeans have never been shy about calling out Canada for everything from the harvesting of baby seals to its treatment of aboriginal peoples to, of course, the great abomination of the moment, which...
View ArticleA continuing timeline of Canada’s Senate woes
Nov. 22, 2012: Senate internal economy committee tasks three senators with reviewing Sen. Patrick Brazeau’s housing allowance. Dec. 4: The Ottawa Citizen reports that Sen. Mike Duffy has claimed...
View ArticleConservative retreat from income-splitting pledge could lead to schism in...
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is retreating from an election pledge to provide income-splitting for Canadian families, saying Thursday that tax relief is a high priority for the Conservatives...
View Article‘Three Amigos’ summit expected to focus on trade, Mexico visa dispute,...
OTTAWA — When Prime Minister Stephen Harper lands in Mexico next week, he will likely smile broadly and appear chummy as he meets with his North American counterparts: U.S. President Barack Obama and...
View ArticleNorth American leaders called upon to save monarch butterfly
MEXICO CITY — Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto are being urged to do something to save a delicate symbol of the continent: the monarch...
View ArticleCanada, Mexico expected to sign deal increasing air travel routes between...
MEXICO CITY — Canadians looking to fly to Mexico are expected to find themselves with more options in the coming weeks and months, as the two countries are expected to sign a new agreement this week...
View ArticleCanada’s Arctic ice caps melting rapidly since 2005, according to documents
OTTAWA — Glacier monitoring conducted by the federal government in Canada’s High Arctic shows the shrinking of ice caps that started in the late 1980s “has accelerated rapidly since 2005” and is part...
View ArticleHarper, Obama talk emissions as Keystone XL hits legal setback
TOLUCA, Mexico – Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama have agreed to set new greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy-duty trucks, part of a larger effort to set broader...
View ArticleFeds need to do more to fight climate change, finds deputy ministers’ report
OTTAWA — A secret report from a committee of federal deputy ministers stresses the need for the federal government to further combat climate change and manage the risks that threaten Canadian...
View ArticleWater wars with U.S. will become bigger issue than Keystone, Canadian...
WASHINGTON — Canada must prepare for diplomatic water wars with the U.S., as demand on both sides of the border grows for this vital but ultimately limited resource, says Gary Doer, Canadian ambassador...
View ArticleJim Flaherty’s uncertainty about running again poses dilemma for Harper
OTTAWA – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s uncertainty about running in the 2015 federal election has renewed questions about what the potential exit from politics of the Harper government’s only finance...
View ArticleHarper, Baird caution Russia over ‘provocative actions’ in Ukraine
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his foreign minister took aim at Russia on Friday, insisting it back down from its military operations near Ukraine in order to reduce tension in the region. The...
View ArticleDuffy vowed to hurt high-ranking Tories if expense issue led to charges, new...
OTTAWA – Embattled Sen. Mike Duffy vowed that if he ever faced trial over his questionable expense claims, he would bring down high-ranking members of the Conservative party, according to a new book....
View ArticleHarper still waiting for Obama to pay up on beer bet
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he’s still awaiting a special delivery from President Barack Obama, although the White House says there’s no brewing cross-border conflict. On Friday, Harper...
View ArticleWhat free trade with South Korea means to Canada
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s trip to Seoul to finalize a free-trade agreement with South Korea is a milestone in Canada’s trading relationship with the rest of the world, and potentially an...
View ArticleThe Flaherty file: What you need to know
– Full name: James Michael Flaherty — Born Dec. 30, 1949 in the Montreal suburb of Lachine, Que. (Age: 64) Sixth of eight Flaherty children — Took a newspaper delivery route as a kid in order to afford...
View ArticleSupreme Court set to rule on Marc Nadon’s appointment to top bench
OTTAWA — Marc Nadon, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s most recent appointee to the Supreme Court of Canada, finds out Friday whether he can actually serve as one of the country’s top justices. Here’s...
View ArticleSupreme Court rejection of Nadon latest legal blow for Harper
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is under pressure to quickly appoint a new Quebec judge to the Supreme Court of Canada after the top court rejected his controversial choice unveiled last fall....
View ArticleBudget bill expected as parliamentarians return from break
OTTAWA — The federal budget bill, the Conservative government’s rejected Supreme Court selection and continued parliamentary brawling over proposed elections reforms will be in the spotlight when the...
View ArticleStephen Harper is doing the rhetorical heavy lifting for the West on Russia,...
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Canadian business may have to suffer for “the greater national interest” as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Crimea, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. Speaking to a...
View ArticleSCC cherry-picks principles of interpretation to bounce Justice Nadon
When it came time for Prime Minister Harper to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada left open by the departure of Mr. Justice Fish (who I had the honour of appearing before on his last day...
View ArticleHarper to accept top court’s decision on Marc Nadon
THE HAGUE, the Netherlands – Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday that he will accept both the letter and the spirit of a Supreme Court decision last week that rejected his hand-picked nominee,...
View ArticleCost of Marc Nadon’s Supreme Court nomination: $245K, plus salary
OTTAWA — The Conservative government spent approximately $245,000 on the selection process to get Marc Nadon onto the Supreme Court of Canada — only to have the top court rule he’s not eligible. The...
View ArticleMulcair forced before Commons committee to defend ‘satellite’ offices
OTTAWA — NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair will face an unexpected grilling from MPs after being ordered to testify before a parliamentary committee about his party’s “outreach” offices around the country,...
View ArticlePosh properties available as Canada sells off several diplomatic digs
OTTAWA — Got a few million dollars socked away? Looking for posh digs in highly desired neighbourhoods in major world capitals? A big-name owner is looking to sell some gorgeous surplus properties. The...
View ArticleStephen Harper forced to step in after complaints against MP Eve Adams
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been forced to step into an embarrassing political battle involving one of his MPs, asking the Conservative party on Wednesday to review a riding...
View ArticleLet Eve Adams run for nomination where she wants, Tory MP says
OTTAWA — Embattled Conservative MP Eve Adams has received a bit of caucus support in her effort to run for the party nomination in an Oakville-area riding. Calgary Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai, the...
View ArticleNew U.S. ambassador Heyman focuses squarely on climate change
OTTAWA — The new United States Ambassador to Canada says developed countries must take responsibility for climate change, but — as a decision looms on the Keystone XL pipeline — he stresses that energy...
View ArticleCoyne: Proposed anti-terrorism bill must stand or fall on its merits
There is a tendency, in discussions of national security, or civil liberties — perhaps in discussions of most things — for people to retreat into cliché. Raise concerns, however well-founded, about the...
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