Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is blaming Prime Minister Mark Carney’s policies for Canada entering recession territory. Statistics Canada released a report Friday that said the economy contracted slightly for the second quarter in a row to start the year — a benchmark that meets some definitions of a technical recession. Some economists weighing in after that release said the recession talk was premature and argued that while Canada’s economy is soft, the declines are marginal and do not meet the definition of a widespread downturn. Poilievre said Friday there’s nothing technical about rising rates of mortgage delinquency, increased food bank usage and five quarters of falling business investment ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Canada’s former environment minister says a new proposal by the federal government to allow major projects to proceed even if they result in wildlife extinctions is “morally wrong.” “The rules were put there for a purpose and I would be extremely reluctant to see them changed,” David Anderson told The Tyee. Anderson played a major role in getting Canada’s Species at Risk Act passed in 2002 when he was environment minister in a Liberal government ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has pushed a pipeline idea that the BC government dismisses as a figment of her ­imagination to a fast-tracked national ­priority that could break ground just 15 months from now. That has left Premier David Eby sputtering in indignation. The awkward, tangled history of pipelines in BC shows that is not the best stance. He’s been reciting a litany of reasons why another oil ­pipeline through BC is a bad idea — no proponent, no ­financing, no firm customers, no route, etc. And yet, here we are: A concept the B.C. NDP has been fighting in various forms for at least 15 years has moved from a memorandum of ­understanding between Ottawa and Alberta to an ­“implementation agreement.” And that agreement has a shockingly fast timeline ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of Mark Carney’s second political honeymoon? Although the federal Liberals continue to lead their Conservative rivals in public support, new data from Liaison Strategies suggest the government’s approval ratings have taken a hit in recent weeks. Naturally, nuance is key here: net approval remains comfortably in positive territory, but the recent movement in the numbers can hardly be dismissed as mere statistical noise. According to the latest Liaison update — a two-week rolling poll fielded from May 4 to 16, 2026 — 56% of respondents approve of Mark Carney’s performance as Prime Minister of Canada, against 36% who expressed disapproval ... CLICK HERE for the full story

When The Bureau published its analysis of Bill C-2 last fall, the diagnosis was unsparing. Ottawa had confused expansion of state power over ordinary Canadians with the enforcement tools Canada actually needs to confront the Chinese Triads, Mexican cartels, and hostile-state networks that have turned Canadian cities into operational platforms for the hemisphere’s most dangerous criminal organizations. The government has now repackaged that same flawed instinct under a new number. Bill C-22, the so-called Lawful Access Act, deserves the same verdict. The critics arriving at that conclusion now span an extraordinary coalition ... CLICK HERE for the full story

IMAGE CREDIT :  CBC News   Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a landmark agreement today committing Ottawa to designate a new pipeline to BC's west coast as a project of national interest by October 1, 2026, with construction approval targeted for September 1, 2027. The deal pairs the pipeline with a new industrial carbon pricing framework and a fall 2027 construction start. British Columbia, the province where the pipeline ends, where the jobs would land, and where the export terminal would be built, was nowhere at the table. "This is a nation-building deal, and the BC NDP have been locked out of the room," said Trevor Halford, Interim Leader of the Official Opposition.  "While the Prime Minister and the Premier of Alberta were doing the hard work of growing the Canadian economy, the NDP is on the sidelines calling this pipeline a 'fiction' and an 'energy vampire.'  He chose petulance over partnership, and now BC ...

The federal government is planning to adjust the clean electricity regulations to give more flexibility to LNG power plants and help to double Canada’s electricity grid by 2050. Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday unveiled Canada’s long-awaited clean electricity strategy, which aims to lower energy costs for 70 per cent of Canadian households. The strategy says construction will cost more than $1 trillion and public dollars will be used to cover some of the cost ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

The Carney government is planning to propose changes to make it easier for natural resource projects — including pipelines — to be approved and built faster. Two federal sources say an announcement is planned for later this week that could shift the regulatory framework for all natural resource and federally regulated major projects, with a big focus on energy and natural resources. CBC News is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal conversations. The full details of the plan were not shared with CBC News, and sources warned elements of it are subject to change ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday he will "take into account" the advice of an independent advisory body to fill a number of vacancies in the Senate — though he didn't say explicitly how that will impact his decisions on appointments. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau upended 150 years of Canadian parliamentary tradition when he dumped Liberal senators, named Independents to the upper chamber and generally stripped the place of its partisan elements ...   CLICK HERE for the full story 

It’s an awkward time for many Canadian conservatives. The country is led by a rich former banker who has increased military spending and expedited resource-oriented projects. He also happens to be a Liberal. Meanwhile, the Conservative Party of Canada is struggling with defections and lagging in the polls. And last year’s election exposed a deep cultural divide between the small-government, buttoned-down conservatives of the recent past and an angrier, brasher right that views U.S. President Donald Trump’s bombastic rhetoric not as a threat but as an inspiration. The implications for Canadians are obvious and can be traced by opinion polling, which suggests many voters who once favoured the Conservatives have now switched allegiances ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the prime minister has "wasted an entire year" deliberating a potential new oil pipeline out of Alberta — criticism that comes after Mark Carney said a new pipeline is "more probable than possible." "He's been prime minister for a year and he still hasn't even made up his mind whether he supports a pipeline," Poilievre told reporters at a news conference in Toronto on Sunday morning. "He's wasted an entire year" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

  Adrienne Arsenault, will take us through her conversation with Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this week — and why a man who's fast-moving in every other way isn't rushing toward a deal with the US ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

Where was this Pierre Poilievre during the 2025 campaign? I have listened to Pierre Poilievre for years, going back to his early days in Stephen Harper's government. I've written many times that he is a great orator. Tom Mulcair has said the same thing. But during the 2025 campaign we had a guy that lacked passion most of the time, sure he had a few moments, but at times he seemed completely out of place. His Leaders' Debate performance was weak and considering it was against Jagmeet Singh, an average orator, and a novice in Mark Carney he should have won outright. He came up short in that debate with a lackluster non-Poilievre caliber performance. Hearing that he did the Joe Rogan podcast I was apprehensive. I didn't expect much. Let me just say, the opening lines on MAiD and depression were terrible and showed two men speaking on a topic they clearly did not understand. So that was a bad start for me. Full disclosure: I have a relative that suffe...

Will Carney get his majority?   Well, we can certainly say he will have 171 seats after the three by-elections are done.  The two Toronto area riding's are safe Liberal seats formerly represented by Bill Blair and Chrystia Freeland. The only fight will be for the nomination, if that hasn't already been decided.  Given the poll numbers today as well, those two riding's will easily remain Liberal. So the Terrebonne riding has been held, historically, by the old Progressive Conservatives, the Bloc Quebecois, and the Liberals. The 2025 election saw the Liberals win it by 1 vote which was then overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada on technicalities. This was a routine ruling for the court. What will a round 2 look like? The same candidates for the two main parties are running again, and by that I mean the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois. The Conservatives came in at a very distant third in 2025 and aren't expected to be a major force in the by-election. ...

Dominic Cardy, leader of the Canadian Future Party In Davos, we witnessed a moment that tells us as much about our global predicament as about the profound choices facing Canada and the free world.  Prime Minister Carney’s address to the World Economic Forum was remarkable, chiefly because he did what too many leaders refuse to do. He acknowledged bluntly that the old world order is gone. As he put it, we are living through “a rupture, not a transition” in international politics, an era where the rules that once constrained great powers no longer hold, and a harsher geopolitical reality is upon us. This observation is obvious to anyone paying attention.  The certainties of the last 75 years are dissolving under the weight of rising autocracies, shifting alliances, and economic coercion practiced as statecraft. Where Carney was incisive, and where many of his predecessors were timid, was in naming the problem. The rules-based system of the post-Cold War era is eroding, leaving ...

I'll let Ms. Gilmore do most of the talking as her piece is excellent. Just to make it clear: she is an actual investigate journalist with accreditation and real training. She is not some citizen journalist. She went to school. She works in the field. As mentioned, she has press credentials which means she actually gets access to media rooms, conferences, press galleys, etc where real journalists can ask questions. Citizens journalists do not do that nor can they. Unlike journalists and the accredited media, people that produce non-news television programs and movies aren't held to the same standards when it comes to bias. Mr. Mastin's job and that of the CMPA is to lobby governments in Canada for monetary support for local productions. To sum up the issue first. Conservative influencers and some elected Conservatives shared a screen shot with the words "we have your back" claiming this came from the news media to Mark Carney and the Liberals. Their claim was ...

Mainstreet polled Canadians from January 31st until end of day Monday, February 2, 2026 and got results that more or less confirmed what Leger and Liaison saw in their polls: the Liberals are surging, the Conservatives are either stagnant or sinking.   When we have three polls saying basically the same thing we have a trend and we don't ignore trends. Party campaign staff do not ignore these trends either. They watch them carefully.   The numbers I am covering here are the all voters, and not the decided and leaning voters only categories from the poll. The latter is actually worse for the Conservatives. These are the, if you can call them that, better numbers.    NATIONAL NUMBERS: The current standings, nationally are as follows: 48% Liberal Party of Canada 34% Conservative Party of Canada 4% New Democratic Party of Canada 5% Bloc Quebecois 2% Green Party   REGIONAL NUMBERS: The Liberals lead in every region except the Prairie provinces of Alber...

  The expanded GST credit offers short-term relief but not lasting food affordability   Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is trying to fix food affordability with cheques instead of structural reform. This week’s announcement of a rebranded Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit may put cash in consumers’ pockets but it sidesteps the policies that actually drive grocery prices, including taxes, supply chain costs and regulatory creep. Carney boosted the GST credit, an income-tested, quarterly cash benefit that is not tied to specific purchases, by 25 per cent for five years, with a one-time 50 per cent top-up. For a family of four, that could amount to as much as $1,890 this year. Nearly 12 million Canadians will be affected. On the surface, it is hard to argue against any measure that puts money directly into the hands of families struggling to keep up with food prices. According to projections in Canada’s Food Price Report 2026, this benefit actually exceeds the e...