Pierre Poilievre's campaign was faltering — but Mark Carney's was vulnerable too. The inside story of how the Conservatives and Liberals both fumbled the 2025 federal election
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National Post
32 minutes ago
- National Post
From Alberta to Stephen Colbert: An imagined look at who Mark Carney will offer statehood to next
This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney promise to recognize a Palestinian state provided that its leaders can abandon violence and become a liberal democracy — and do so by the end of the summer. Article content Carney's conditions are basically impossible: Gaza remains in control of a literal terrorist organization that refuses to surrender, while the Palestinian areas of the West Bank are in the hands of a Palestinian Authority that has suspended elections since 2005. Article content Article content The other easy critique — and the one being made by the Conservatives — is that it rewards terrorism. For decades, Canada has explicitly rejected unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, including in a House of Commons vote held just last year. The only reason Carney is breaking with this precedent is because of a series of events that kicked off with the slaughter and mass-rape of hundreds of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. Article content Article content At a time when Canada faces threats unlike any since the Second World War, complete national unity is an imperative. This may include the extension of self-determination to regions such as Alberta which pose barriers to this. However, this is predicated on Alberta's agreement to much-needed social and political reforms. If, in the next six weeks, the province can suspend its oil sector, transition its vehicle fleet to 50 per cent EVs and phase out its environmentally destructive beef sector in favour of more sustainable nutritive options such as quinoa or jicama we will recognize a State of Alberta at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Article content Article content Afghanistan Article content Article content The worsening condition of Afghan women and girls leaves no room for delay in a co-ordinated international action to extend peace and security in the recently established Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. For this reason, Canada will recognize Afghanistan and its Taliban government and urge our European partners to do the same. That is, if the Taliban government can sign a memorandum of understanding to recognize the systemic equity-hostile dogma of its current policies and commit to hiring marginalized Afghans in at least 11.5 per cent of civil service positions. Article content Puerto Rico and Stephen Colbert Article content Bullies like Donald Trump only understand strength. This is why, in a bold show of diplomatic convening power, Canada will unilaterally recognize Puerto Rico as the 51st U.S. state, and immediately petition Washington to make space for Puerto Rican representatives in its Senate and House of Representatives. We will also be instructing our diplomats to indefinitely continue recognizing Stephen Colbert as host of The Late Show.
Montreal Gazette
2 hours ago
- Montreal Gazette
Libman: Much at stake for Quebec party leaders in Arthabaska byelection
Many Gazette readers might have trouble locating the largely rural Arthabaska riding on a map, but we'll be hearing a lot about it in the days ahead. Located between Montreal and Quebec City, advance voting begins there this weekend for an Aug. 11 byelection to replace Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Eric Lefebvre, a recently elected federal Conservative MP. The byelection is a critical test for Quebec's main political parties and their leaders. Over the past 25 years, the riding has shifted between the Parti Québécois, Liberals, Action démocratique and CAQ. And this byelection offers the possibility of a breakthrough for the provincial Conservatives, with party leader Éric Duhaime potentially making his grand entrance into the National Assembly. The Conservatives finished second here in the 2022 vote with an unknown candidate. Duhaime is the standard bearer this time, and polls show his party neck and neck with the PQ. At a candidates debate last week, he was the centre of attention and primary target of the others, usually the sign of a front-runner. The former radio shock jock has the gift of the gab and would light things up in the assembly. This is Duhaime's best shot. If he doesn't win, the Quebec Conservative Party he has resurrected over the past few years will likely go back in hibernation. For the PQ, anything short of a win will be interpreted as a stalling of the party's momentum, after leading in the polls for almost two years now and having won the last two byelections (Jean-Talon and Terrebonne). PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is as confident now as Pierre Poilievre was a year ago in the federal campaign — looking in the mirror, and believing the person staring back at him is the future premier ministre. The byelection will also be the first electoral test for the Liberals since choosing former MP Pablo Rodriguez as leader. There are genuine concerns about his ability to make inroads in the regions. If they fare poorly in Arthabaska — a 97 per cent francophone mother-tongue riding — questions may bubble up as to whether they made a mistake in not opting for Charles Milliard or Karl Blackburn. When asked about the regions, Rodriguez, who was a child refugee from Argentina, talks about growing up in Sherbrooke — which happens to be just south of Arthabaska. We'll see. At last week's debate, the Liberal candidate in the riding also had to fend off criticism about Rodriguez's role in the Justin Trudeau regime regarding the exaggerated influx of newcomers. As for the CAQ, it has won this riding convincingly in all five elections since the party's founding in 2012. It will likely be a very different story this time. This week's news that Quebec's auditor general is probing millions in provincial subsidies to the electric battery industry (Northvolt and Lion Electric) is another blow to a government that appears to be falling apart at the seams amid other financial fiascos like SAAQclic and Santé Québec. It's too early to call this byelection a foreshadowing of the general election that's still over a year away. Nonetheless, the results could unleash internal party tensions at the CAQ. François Legault's leadership hasn't yet been challenged from within, but you can bet his MNAs are hearing considerable grumpiness from voters during the summer break as they spend more time in their ridings. Legault seems desperately hoping for a Hail Mary with a cabinet shuffle in the fall, which he (oddly) advertised well in advance. If the byelection goes sour in a riding his party has dominated for over a decade, and his rearranging of the cabinet chairs doesn't prompt any meaningful bump in support, he will soon have an important decision to make about his future. For a seemingly nondescript byelection in the dog days of August, there are certainly many moving parts, with potentially consequential spinoffs.
Toronto Star
3 hours ago
- Toronto Star
The left needs to learn how to talk to young men — or it will keep losing them to the right
By Craig A. Johnson is the author of "How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism" (2025) and host of the podcast "Fifteen Minutes of Fascism." He teaches in the history department at the University of California, Berkeley. It takes only a few minutes of listening to right-wing politicians and podcasters to understand why their message appeals to so many young men in Canada, who increasingly feel that society has abandoned them in favour of women, racial and sexual minorities and the moneyed classes. Conservatives have sold them on the idea that they represent the true counterculture, rising up against the excesses and iniquities of the left-wing establishment that have kept them from finding a job or partner or affordable home. Meanwhile, there is a fundamental problem with the message progressives have for young men today, especially those who are cisgender, heterosexual, or white. The left has to convince young men, many of whom feel barely in control of their own lives, that they're members of a privileged class — and what's more, that the privileges they enjoy are unjust and should be dismantled. Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
