Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sits inside a car as he visits a classic car exhibition on Fête Nationale in Shawinigan, Que., on June 24, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
The stunning byelection loss in a reliably Liberal Toronto riding doesn’t bode well for the political future of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre delivers a speech at the Canada Building Trades Union conference in April 2024 in Gatineau, Québec.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Requiring businesses to lobby through the people, not government, as Pierre Poilievre recently suggested, may sound like a better way to make policy. It’s not.
Anti-carbon tax protesters wave signs and chant slogans as they block a westbound lane of the Trans Canada Highway near Cochrane, Alta., April 1, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Why the public resistance to carbon tax policies? New research suggests a few key factors that may play a role in influencing popular support for carbon tax efforts in Canada.
An image shows the firearms found in the car driven by Gabriel Wortman, the perpetrator of the April 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead. It was shown at the Mass Casualty Commission inquiry.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
Over the past year, Ottawa has had a mixed record in implementing the Mass Casualty Commission’s firearm recommendations. Some provinces, however, have sought to limit implementation.
Federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre speaks about his proposed car theft policy during a news conference at the Port of Montréal on Feb. 6, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Pierre Poilievre’s “tough-on-crime” rhetoric relies on discredited ideas that can lead to overly harsh penalties and actually increase crime.
People protest Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s proposed youth transgender policies as she appears at an event in Ottawa on Feb. 5, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
On both sides of the transgender care debate, what is presented as ‘fact’ distorts real complexities of gender-affirming health care, leaving many in the dark about what is really at stake.
Former president Donald Trump waves after speaking at a caucus night party in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 15, 2024. He’s just one of several populists who could win elections in 2024.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In more than a dozen countries this year, populist leaders are poised to either take power or consolidate their hold on the opposition. Migrants are the unfortunate target of populist ire.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in November 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The supply-and-confidence agreement between the Liberals and NDP has helped both parties develop and take credit for the expansion of social policies across Canada. But is it on life support?
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is seen during a news conference following an interest rate announcement in October 2023 in Ottawa.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Recent Bank of Canada findings that showed Canadians have misgivings about a central bank digital currency should serve as a wake-up call that policymakers must do more to bridge the trust deficit.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe speaks to the media at the Saskatchewan legislature in Regina. His government plans to invoke the notwithstanding clause to override a judge’s injunction and introduce legislation about the province’s pronoun policy in school.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu
The only solution to the ominous threats posed by the increasing use of the notwithstanding clause is to amend Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at his party convention on Sept. 8, 2023 in Québec. A strategy focused on fiscal conservatism, family and traditional values regarding sexuality could be very advantageous for his party.
La Presse Canadienne/Jacques Boissinot
Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party could make gains by rallying the libertarian right, evangelical Christians and immigrant communities, especially Muslims, on issues of sexuality.
Pierre Poilievre speaks in the House of Commons during Question Period on Parliament Hill in June 2008 when he was 29.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Can a politician with a relatively narrow life experience represent the diverse needs of Canadians?
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs speaks to the media outside Government House in Fredericton, N.B., following a cabinet shuffle in June 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is pursuing a hard-right agenda without much scrutiny. He has imposed his agenda on a centrist province with barely any national media attention.
Resistance to policies like safe supply still create barriers for vulnerable people, despite evidence that harm reduction saves lives.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Harm reduction is grounded in evidence. But policies, stigma and ignorance about substance use still create barriers in battling Canada’s drug poisoning crisis.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in March 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
Pierre Poilievre is right that Canadians should be shielded from disinformation. But they should also be wary of politicians misleading them on the impartiality and independence of Crown corporations.
The word ‘woke’ has become a politically potent term used to define and discredit a host of social issues.
(Shutterstock)
The word ‘woke’ has increasingly become caught up in the rhetoric of the culture war. But debates around wokeness and what it means are drawing attention away from the real issues.
Paul Langlois, left, and Rob Baker from the Tragically Hip help unveil a plaque at Springer Market Square in Kingston, Ont., in February 2017.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
There is a distinction between deliberate use of a song to support a particular political campaign, and incidental music in the background at a social function hosted by a political party.
Former President Donald Trump reacts to the crowd after he finished speaking at a campaign rally in support of Sen. Marco Rubio in Miami in November.
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The newest class of right-wing populists aims to not only dismantle the guardrails of democracy, but also the most fundamental principles of the rule of law. We must prepare.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to the crowd gathered at a meet-and-greet in Stoney Creek, Ont., in March 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alex Lupul
The goal of the labour movement is to advance the interests of workers everywhere. Nativist narratives about defending Canada could explain Pierre Poilievre’s popularity among some union members.
Protesters, supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, storm the National Congress building in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
Populism has been unleashed. We’re beyond the stop-gap measures of small-step reform or pragmatic centrist liberalism. What’s next? We’re about to find out.