Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets Ontario Premier Doug Ford after announcing a new child-care deal in Brampton, Ont., on March 28.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were once enemies. Now they’re friends.
This is bad news both for the federal Conservatives and for the Liberals and NDP at Queen’s Park. It’s one reason why the provincial Tories are likely to prevail in the June 2 election.
Earlier this week, Mr. Ford and Mr. Trudeau appeared together to announce a $10-billion child-care agreement.
“It’s always great to be making big announcements for Ontario families alongside Premier Ford,” Mr. Trudeau declared. “Doug, it’s so good that we’re again together today.”
For his part, Mr. Ford thanked “our federal partners for their collaboration … it shows what we can accomplish working together.”
Earlier in March, the two got together to announce $263-million in joint federal-provincial funding for the Honda plant in Alliston.
Mr. Trudeau had to miss the announcement of a new $5-billion electric-battery plant slated for Windsor, because of an emergency NATO meeting in Europe, but he appeared by pre-recorded video.
The two governments also co-operated in police actions to disperse anti-vaccine mandate protesters who blockaded downtown Ottawa and the border at Windsor.
And they worked co-operatively, for the most part, on pandemic measures, with Mr. Ford going overboard in praise of the Deputy Prime Minister. “I absolutely love Chrystia Freeland,” he gushed. “She’s amazing.”
This is a far cry from a few years ago, when Mr. Ford fought Mr. Trudeau over asylum seekers, trade negotiations and especially the federally imposed carbon tax.
“It just makes me sick,” Mr. Ford said about the federal Liberals in a 2019 Progressive Conservative fundraising letter. “Politicians who want to make your life more expensive don’t deserve to get elected. End of story.”
Mr. Trudeau, in turn, campaigned as much against Mr. Ford in that year’s federal election as he did against then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer.
“Andrew Scheer wants Canadians to double down on Conservative politicians like Doug Ford,” the Liberal leader said repeatedly during the campaign. At one event he mentioned the Ontario Premier 14 times, and not in a good way.
Ontario and federal political parties, both progressive and conservative, come to power by winning over the seven million people who live in Greater Toronto and Hamilton. Sometimes, politicians might decide the best way to earn their votes is to criticize politicians at another level of government.
Liberal premier David Peterson opposed PC prime minister Brian Mulroney’s free-trade agreement with the United States. PC premier Mike Harris fought Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien over health care. Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty and Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper sparred over taxes and transfers.
But just as often they get along, as John Robarts did with Lester Pearson, Bill Davis with Pierre Trudeau and now Doug Ford with Justin Trudeau.
So what caused the change for Mr. Ford and Mr. Trudeau? Each may have noticed that taking shots at the other wasn’t making either more popular. More importantly, the arrival of the pandemic put a damper on partisan politics. Ontario voters expected Ottawa and Queen’s Park to work together to protect the public good. So they did.
This leaves opposition parties at both levels in an awkward spot. Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath both risk being marginalized by the Ford-Trudeau entente; both trail in the polls six weeks before the election.
Anything can happen during an election race, but on the eve of the Ontario campaign, the PCs appear to be on the cusp of a second majority government.
The federal Conservatives have thrice been frozen out of suburban Ontario, and thrice out of government. Child-care announcements and good-news stories about more jobs and expanding factories, with the Prime Minister and Ontario Premier clapping each other on the back, won’t make a breakthrough any easier.
Suburban Ontario voters seem to value efficiency in their governments. They want their tax dollars spent efficiently, health care education and other services delivered efficiently.
Since the Second World War, Liberals have governed in Ottawa and Progressive Conservatives at Queen’s Park more often than not. Ontario voters seem to like it that way. Maybe they find it efficient.
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Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
