Latest news with #BrianMulroney
CTV News
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery launches online mapping tool
The new online mapping tool at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery makes finding plots much easier. Paper maps are a thing of the past at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery after it recently launched a new interactive digital map. People can now find their loved ones at Canada's largest cemetery and tourists can find notable Montrealers simply by using a smartphone. More than 1 million people are buried at the cemetery's 139 acres, making it easy to get lost. The new app brings directions into the 21st Century. 'It's like a regular GPS that you're using in the town, but applied to the cemetery,' said cemetery customer service manager Éric Choinière. In the menu, users can now search for a loved one and the map will locate the deceased. Choinière said it took several months to create. 'For us, it was important to give the family a tool so they can have access to the site and to enjoy their visit,' he said. Users can also learn more about their loved ones' neighbours in their final resting place. 'Ss they're walking on the map, it will identify famous people, mausoleum, the church that we have on site,' he said. Notable Quebecers, including Celine Dion's late husband René Angélil, former prime minister Brian Mulroney and Maurice 'Rocket' Richard, have been laid to rest at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges. Another new feature on the website shows when the grass is being cut, so visits can be coordinated. 'So you will know that, okay they went this week and the grass is done, so I'm going to go this week instead of waiting,' said Choinière. The cemetery is still working to improve the map, and Choinière said he hopes to add photos, so one day, people may even be able to pay their respects virtually.
Ottawa Citizen
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Mark Carney is on holidays. The government won't say where
Article content However, politicians weren't always so cagey. The Canadian Press reported than when Brian Mulroney was prime minister, he routinely informed reporters where he was vacationing. Former prime minister Jean Chrétien broke from the practice, causing what the media described as a 'furor' in 1993 when his office refused to follow protocol and disclose his week-long holiday at Florida's PGA National Golf Resort and Spa. Article content Article content Yet, holidays have long caused controversy: Free vacations at the hands of the wealthy Irving family caused a major problem in 2003 for Chrétien, who said politicians had every right to accept freebie holidays. Article content 'You know, we have the right to accept hospitality. I do accept hospitality once in a while. I visit my son-in-law, who has a lake, and I fish with him and I'm there with my grandson. Perhaps I should confess that,' Chrétien said at the time. (His son-in-law is billionaire Andre Desmarais.) Article content Article content It's not just Liberals, either. Article content Prime minister Stephen Harper's Labour Day visit to New York in 2011 — he saw a New York Yankees game and a Broadway show with his family — cost taxpayers some $45,000 and Peter MacKay, then the defence minister, had a military helicopter pick him and his buddies up during a fishing trip in July 2010.
Winnipeg Free Press
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canada still doesn't understand respecting Indigenous rights
Opinion Thirty-five years ago this week, history was made in Manitoba. Events this week in Ottawa point to just how little we have learnt from that history. In Manitoba in June of 1990, Elijah Harper, MLA for what was then the third party NDP Opposition in a minority government, said 'No', and opposed the Meech Lake Accord. The backdrop was clear. A crisis. In this case, the 'need' to include Quebec in the constitution. The solution, Canadians were told, was the Meech Lake Accord. It was agreed to by Canada's premiers with an artificial deadline set by then-prime minister Brian Mulroney. He talked about rolling the dice. There was one problem. There were many people opposed to Meech Lake. In particular, Indigenous people were clear. It not only excluded Indigenous people, but threatened to be a major step backwards. Elijah Harper was the voice for Indigenous Peoples when he came out against the Accord. What is often missed is how Elijah Harper said 'No'. He said no to procedurally giving leave to rush through the ratification of Meech Lake. Despite great pressure from the federal government, Speaker Denis Rocan ruled in favour of the key point of order brought forward by Elijah Harper arguing that the proper notice procedure had not been followed. There was no closure and the Legislature could not pass the Accord before the deadline. Thirty-five years later, in Ottawa, the House of Commons is rushing through Bill C-5 without consultation. It is a bill that claims to respond to a crisis. That somehow Canada's response to the so-called existential threat with Donald Trump is to throw out our existing processes for approving major projects, and instead we must speed up approvals by threatening to sideline Indigenous rights and environmental protections. To achieve this, the government is relying on the full support of the Conservative opposition, not only to support the legislation but to bring in closure, limiting debate. A handful of MP's have spoken out against both the contents and process of Bill C-5. The Green and NDP MPs who face a challenging situation because they do not have party status have opposed it. Even one Liberal MP called out the unfairness of the process. What is different is that in 1990, despite all the pressures, the Manitoba legislature followed its own procedures based on hundreds of years of parliamentary democracy and did not ram through the Meech Lake Accord. The actions of not only Elijah Harper, but so many other Indigenous people forced Canada to recognize the need to respect Indigenous rights. In many ways, it was a major first step towards what in subsequent years has been reconciliation. What has been happening with Bill C-5 in 2025 couldn't be more different. There has been a blatant disregard for the process you would expect for a bill of this significance. The hasty introduction and closure being attached to Bill C-5 fly in the face of the consultation you would normally expect on any bill, let alone the constitutionally required consultation on matters involving Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples have been clear in opposing both the process and substance of the bill. Many people have been calling out what is seen as a betrayal of reconciliation. We learned a major lesson in 1990. That Indigenous peoples will defend their rights. That reconciliation starts with not only recognizing Canada's history of genocide against Indigenous peoples but that provincial and federal governments must recognize the limits of their own powers in the context of Indigenous rights. But as Santayana said 'Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it ' Sadly, in 2025, key political leaders have chosen not to remember these lessons of history and are repeating Canada's failure to recognize Indigenous rights. There is one more lesson too. We also learned that the 'crisis' of 1990 was greatly exaggerated. Despite subsequent efforts with the failed Charlottetown accord, the constitutional question was never finally closed. But Canada continues. The so-called crisis we are facing currently will go the same way. What will matter is not just how we react to Donald Trump or any other political leader or economic threat. In terms of history, it is how much we will have acted in accordance with our own values based on our own distinct history. The events of 1990 set us on a better course. The events of 2025 with Bill C-5 threaten to set us back dramatically. Steve Ashton is a former member of the Manitoba Legislature. He was the NDP House Leader during the debate on the Meech Lake Accord in the Manitoba Legislature in 1990. Niki Ashton is the former NDP MP for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski
Toronto Star
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Allan Gregg: At the G7 meeting, look for Canada to do something unusual: Lead
Foreign policy, international affairs and Canada's role in the world have rarely been top-of-mind concerns for most Canadians. In 1911 Liberal Wilfrid Laurier lost an election by proposing lower tariffs with the United States. 77 years later Brian Mulroney won re-election while endorsing pretty much the same proposal. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001 captured public attention — as did Jean Chrétien's decision 18 months later that Canada would not join the 'coalition of the willing' in the invasion of Iraq.
Globe and Mail
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Post-Mulroney, the Conservatives' brand is ‘loser.' It's time for an overhaul
How have Conservatives fared since making the big swerve rightward in the early 1990s? We recall that under Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative banner they won majority governments in 1984 and 1988. Then along came the dividers, the ideologues of the Reform Party, who grabbed 52 seats in the 1993 election and then proceeded to swallow the old Tories whole. And the rest is history – a primarily painful party history. Since the late Mr. Mulroney's departure from the party leadership in 1993, the Liberals have won eight elections to the Conservatives' three. The question now is whether the party will continue on its Liberal gift-giving track or clue in and opt, like the Liberal Party has just done, for a change of course: in the Conservatives' case, a change that broadens their identity beyond their Prairies-driven populist brand. Lawrence Martin: Why the Conservatives should dump Poilievre – but won't To be sure, the Conservatives' tradition is to lose most of the time. But in being bracketed further on the right in recent decades, they've lost even more of the time. If we count the four years (or so) to come under Mark Carney, the Liberals will have been in power for 27 years since 1993. The Conservatives? Nine. Their three victories came under Stephen Harper, who also lost two elections. Whether the wins were on account of ideology is doubtful. Two of the three wins came against Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff, arguably two of the weakest leaders in Liberal Party history. As for the Conservatives' defeats, three came courtesy of Jean Chrétien, one from Paul Martin, three from Justin Trudeau and one so far from Mr. Carney. In the meantime, a more moderate form of conservatism, as practiced by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, has resulted in three straight majority victories in the province. On that more centrist side is where the federal party has been most successful, as exemplified by multiple election winners John A. Macdonald, John Diefenbaker and Mr. Mulroney. More bad news for the Conservative Party in its current form is the advantage the collapsed NDP gives the Liberals. Their plight, and Mr. Carney's shift away from left-leaning Trudeauism to the centre, means Liberals' available real estate has significantly expanded. It is especially the case if the Conservatives are cocooned on the right. Another factor that suggests the Conservatives need a big rethink is the plight of the populist brand. Leader Pierre Poilievre, who joined the Reform Party as a teenager, is an embedded populist. What Donald Trump is doing to the image of populism is ghastly. Under him, it is authoritarian, xenophobic, demagogic, vulgar, imperialist ... and I'll stop there. Lawrence Martin: How the Conservatives can save themselves: Changing Canada's image as the great white weakling of the North With the election of Mr. Carney – a big banker, an establishment man, a globalist respected for his knowledge – Canadians have signalled a turn away from populism. They're fed up with the politics of polarization. Mr. Carney might even bring back a modicum of respect for elites. His Liberals are popular in Quebec. As Mr. Mulroney argued, without Quebec the Conservatives' chances of winning a majority are scant. Post-Mulroney, the party has scored low in the province. A political party's deficiencies can be overcome with a popular leader, but the current Conservatives are saddled with one who lost his own seat and who, according to a new Nanos poll, is almost 25 points behind Mr. Carney in approval ratings. In the election campaign, many of Mr. Poilievre's economic policies were welcome enough, so much so that they were copied by the Liberals. Policy was less his problem than personality, likeability and his concocted look. Having been an MP for 20-plus years and party leader for almost three, that image is ingrained, hard to change. There's an old saying about all politics being local. That is not the case now. With foreign threats on the rise, with the country being bludgeoned by Donald Trump's tariffs, with Big Tech and AI posing new challenges, politics is becoming more and more global. The Liberals found a man of global stature to meet the times. Ironically, given all his political experience, Mr. Poilievre looks unseasoned by comparison. He has spent precious little time abroad. He gives no sense of having an informed global perspective. Hard economic times are ahead for the country. The Carney honeymoon will likely end before long. How he hopes to pay for all his wide-eyed promises is a mystery. There's a good chance the Conservatives will benefit in the polls, thus dampening momentum for bold change. But that would be folly. The trajectory Conservatives have been on since being overtaken by the Reform ideologues has been predominantly a failing one. They need put this phase of their history behind them.
