Jonathan Hayward/CP
As O'Leary or his campaign team commits another blunder by posting a video of him having fun at a shooting range just as the funerals for the Mosque victims in Quebec starts, sharks of every colour -- blue, red, orange and green -- should be circling around him.
02/03/2017 09:14 EST
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
The Conservative leadership race is finally attracting attention. Kevin O'Leary's entrance into the campaign has finally achieved what has been missing to date, i.e., interest. With fourteen in the race, is it time for a few to take "a walk in the snow?" Is it time for a number of the contenders to set aside egos and throw their support behind a serious candidate?
01/19/2017 12:56 EST
Adrian Wyld/CP
I was asked if Kevin O'Leary could beat Trudeau and my answer was "possibly." Obviously O'Leary's action is interesting, but it is only the first step to actually doing something, the first step to moving beyond blowing smoke and hot air.
12/28/2016 11:32 EST
LARS HAGBERG via Getty Images
There are issues requiring tough decisions that a few selfies will not provide him with enough cover nor will they help him to change the channel to better issues or allow for better optics. His recent foot in mouth moment over his comments on Fidel Castro is just this past weekend's storm cloud. We also have other storm clouds developing on the horizon.
11/28/2016 10:56 EST
CP
At last count we had 12 people who have entered the Conservative leadership race or who have said they will enter it, all believing in their own mind that they can be the next prime minister of Canada, assuming of course they win the next federal election.
11/02/2016 02:21 EDT
Chris Wattie / Reuters
To be fair no government can deliver on everything in their first year. As the Trudeau Liberals are finding out, promises cost money and even free spending Liberals have to draw a line on what gets spent now and what gets pushed further down the road. Some of that is hidden under the guise of "consultation."
10/24/2016 10:25 EDT
CP
Most Canadians don't get their expenses covered when they move, although you can claim some expenses on your income tax if you moved over a minimum distance to a new job. I wonder what moving expenses media types get covered if they leave Ottawa and move to another city?
09/28/2016 04:30 EDT
LARS HAGBERG via Getty Images
Politicians need to keep in mind that it is the small things that add up over time and it is the small things that get them booted out of office. It's the continual picking away by the opposition of the day and the media that eventually sours voters on a government. What was Trudeau thinking when he suggested to his top two staffers in their letter of employment that they could access this relocation program in its entirety?
09/26/2016 02:32 EDT
Zoonar RF via Getty Images
As with most leadership races (regardless of political party) the voting public will be treated to leadership candidates turning on each other like dogs fighting for a bone. While the nastiness and name calling might end in May 2017, the divisions and animosities created will linger on until well after the 2019 election.
09/09/2016 04:32 EDT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
If you know someone in the Public Service or someone who has recently retired from the government, chances are you know someone who hasn't been paid or who isn't receiving the pay and benefits that they are supposed to be getting. We all have friends in that situation. And it isn't pretty.
07/22/2016 12:11 EDT
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
With two political leadership races underway, both of which at this point in time have put everyone to sleep, one can only hope that something happens to inject some life into them. We have had the first NDP leadership bid if you can call it that with the declared entry of Cheri DiNovo.
06/10/2016 11:18 EDT
Chris Wattie / Reuters
Anyone who signs up with the Liberals (with no membership fee involved) will have the right to take part in policy development, nomination meetings, conventions and future elections of the leader. The Conservatives have gone in the opposite direction to the Liberals with their new $25 membership fee that has to be paid by cheque or credit card. In effect the Conservatives have managed to make themselves more exclusive rather than inclusive. The Liberals have broadened their tent while the Conservatives shrank theirs. Time will tell who made the right move.
04/05/2016 11:11 EDT
CP
With Easter weekend behind us, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter especially all of those hard-working back-bench Members of Parliament and ministers and of course the prime minister too. Then again "hard-working" might not be an accurate description of our elected representatives.
03/29/2016 09:29 EDT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
$4.3 billion spent outside of the country will buy you a lot of thanks from some organizations such as the UN or from climate change conferences. That type of spending will also earn you a lot of selfies to up your political profile. But in the end it is our taxpayers footing the bill.
02/16/2016 12:30 EST
Bloomberg via Getty Images
How many times did we hear the media complain that the Conservatives used talk points all the time, often reading them from prepared scripts? We are now starting to see the Liberals doing the same thing. When asked about the need to get our downward spiraling economy moving, Trudeau's stock answer was, "We are going to do this right. We are going to do this responsibly." The only thing lacking was a piece of paper while he read the answer. For the party that promised to do things differently, it is much of the same. We haven't seen anything concrete to address the sinking dollar or get the economy moving.
01/14/2016 03:38 EST
CP
The Conservatives Party of Canada begins 2016 in a very different place from where they have been for the last 10 years. Defeats are never fun, but they offer the Conservatives a chance to rejuvenate, rebuild and rededicate themselves to promoting Canadian Conservative values.
01/12/2016 11:17 EST
CP
So far Trudeau has set a new tone and the media are still wrapped up in the photo ops. But it is substance that he has to worry about and as the year progresses Canadians will have different markers to measure him against -- broken promises being one of them.
01/11/2016 12:55 EST
GEOFF ROBINS via Getty Images
This will prove an interesting year for the NDP as they transition from Official Opposition status to third party status. They will be functioning with fewer MPs, fewer staff, and fewer resources. But the most pressing question is: How does Mulcair keep his job?
01/07/2016 02:56 EST
Last week the Conservatives had great fun targeting NDP leader Thomas Mulcair for the way his party used House of Commons dollars to pay staff in a regional Montreal office. Outside of the joy politicians and their staff get out of beating up on another party's leader -- what was the point?
05/18/2014 10:36 EDT
Getty
For the last couple of weeks we have seen the Conservatives targeting the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice and you have to yourself why? What is the objective? What do they hope to achieve?
05/08/2014 12:30 EDT