Canada
Liberals widen lead over Tories under Carney, Ipsos poll shows
Prime Minister Mark Carney's leadership has sparked a surge in Liberal party support, with new Ipsos polling showing the Liberals widening their lead over the Conservatives. Yesterday's newsletter featured new polls from Angus Reid Institute and Leger. After that newsletter was published, Ipsos released its latest poll, which we reported on in this piece. Same trend.
Carney says solving U.S. issues ‘won’t happen overnight’ amid Trump tariffs
Carney is expected to hold his first conversation with Trump as prime minister in the coming days, as officials on both sides of the border continue more fulsome trade talks.
Carney says Ottawa will boost Arctic security with help from Australia
Ottawa will expand the Canadian military's presence in the Arctic and turn to Australia's over-the-horizon radar tech to monitor threats from adversaries such as China and Russia.
Carney held $6.8M of Brookfield options before quitting for political run
Carney, 60, resigned from his corporate roles when he entered the Liberal race, including a position as chair of Bloomberg Inc
F-35 review ‘understandable’ for many, but would it risk Canada’s security?
Prime Minister Mark Carney's request for a review of the U.S. F-35 fighter jet contract reflects souring U.S.-Canada relations, but has raised national security concerns.
Conservatives won't allow reporters to travel with Poilievre during upcoming election
There is no recent precedent for a major federal party barring reporters, producers, camera operators and broadcast technicians from travelling with a leader during a national election campaign. In the most recent federal campaigns in 2019 and 2021, for example, major broadcasters, including CBC/Radio-Canada, CTV and Global, a number of print outlets and the wire service, The Canadian Press, had journalists with past Conservative leaders Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole throughout the campaign.
Dept. of Campaign Emails: No CPC media plane
Paul Wells publishes the e-mail sent to Parliamentary Press Gallery members by CPC national campaign director Jenni Byrne. Read her rationale for yourself. Paul apparently has not got the e-mail from the Liberals who have informed the Gallery that they will provide a seat on their leaders' plane/bus at these rates:
- $1,500 per day;
- $6,600 per week; or
- $33,500 for the full campaign.
- Fees will cover: travel, food, access to filing rooms, and wifi.
The nightly hotel rooms for a 35-42 day campaign would be the responsibility of the reporter.
Global News, I can assure you, is prepared to pay the cost of covering the Liberal campaign and would have been prepared to pay the cost of being on the CPC leaders campaign.
In the six national campaigns I've covered the cost of a reporter travelling with a leader is usually about $10K-to-$15K a week and my network has always paid that fee. (Remember: Networks have to pay for a seat not just for a reporter but also two cameras and a producer. So networks are often looking at $100K a week per leader!) - -DA
Local lawyer acclaimed NDP candidate for Thunder Bay-Superior North
Wakefield has worked as a lawyer for almost 8 years, primarily in criminal defence with Legal Aid. “I think that we need a society that really cares about justice,” said Wakefield. Incumbent is Liberal MP and cabinet minister Patty Hajdu. And while this riding is NDP provincially, I have Hajdu right now as a 19-point favourite.
Liberals lagging other parties in candidates as election call could be days away
With a federal election call likely in a matter of days, no political party has nominated candidates to all 343 ridings, with Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals behind all the other national parties. The Conservatives lead the pack, with 258 out of 343 ridings filled as of last week.
Kent MacDonald acclaimed as federal Liberal candidate in P.E.I.'s Cardigan riding
Kent MacDonald, a seventh-generation dairy farmer from Little Pond, was acclaimed as the party's candidate for the riding this week. Current model suggests Kent becomes an MP by a 25-point margin. In August, I had Cardigan going CPC by 2 points.
The Provinces
Critics say Nova Scotia bill violates labour rights, threatens right to information
The omnibus bill includes amendments that would allow the Progressive Conservative government to fire without cause the auditor general and non-unionized bureaucrats, and veto the release of audit reports.
Élections fédérales à venir | L’ex-caquiste Eric Lefebvre démissionne
Devant le déclenchement imminent des élections sur la scène fédérale, l’ex-député caquiste Eric Lefebvre démissionne de son poste pour faire campagne avec les conservateurs de Pierre Poilievre. Il siégeait comme député indépendant depuis près d’un an. Lefebvre's nomination in the federal riding of Richmond Arthabaska had been out there for a while. My model has him a 30-point favourite to win. Incumbent is Alain Rayes who quit the CPC caucus to sit as an independent after Poilievre won the leadership.
CAQ defeat in Terrebonne: another wake-up call for the Legault government
David Boudeweel-Lefebvre The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has suffered a significant defeat in the Terrebonne by-election, a vote triggered by the resignation of Pierre Fitzgibbon last September. The Parti Québécois (PQ) and its candidate Catherine Gentilcore secured a decisive victory, further solidifying its momentum against a declining CAQ.
Ford government to make gas tax cut permanent despite carbon tax change
During the election campaign, the Progressive Conservatives promised to make the gas tax discount permanent — a policy the party says it will follow through on.
Holt Liberals project $549-million deficit in their first N.B. budget
.. despite Premier Susan Holt's campaign promise to balance the budget in every year of her term. In his budget speech, Legacy was unapologetic. "We will not sacrifice fixing health and education, and addressing the very real affordability challenges New Brunswickers are facing or shirk our responsibility to tackle the impacts of tariffs head-on in favour of satisfying the bottom line," he said.
Elsewhere
Chief justice pushes back against calls to impeach judges who rule against Trump
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement following President Donald Trump's call for a judge to be impeached for ruling against the administration. “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a rare statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Trump aides prep more tariffs for April 2 on imports worth trillions
The potential to more than double the scope of Trump’s tariffs has alarmed economists and some congressional Republicans, while other White House allies are concerned about the logistical challenges of a complicated new import tax regime. The precise nature of these new duties has spurred extensive discussions at the highest levels of the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House aide Peter Navarro and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent all playing a role in the talks, the person familiar with the plans said. (🎁 link)
Media
2024 Finalists - National Newspaper Awards
Congratulations to all the finalists! Almost without exception, the work of all the journalists and their organizations here are supported financially by the federal government's Refundable Labour Tax Credit, a tax credit that is not available to private sector broadcasters such as my employer, Global News, or CTV, TVA, or CityNews. That observation is not meant to diminish the work of my newspaper colleagues - I am a two-time NNA nominee and one-time winner myself -- but something to consider as media subsidies may be a topic in the upcoming election campaign. -DA.
How billionaires and powerful law firms are working to restrict libel protections and silence the press in Trump’s America
Eduardo Suárez Murder the Truth is an exposé of the right-wing campaign to overturn this important precedent to muzzle the media and silence dissent. I recently spoke to Enrich about this campaign against press freedom, how it affects independent journalists and small publications, and why it might be turbocharged under Donald Trump.
Reader Notes
A reminder that: The headlines, excerpts, and photos here are generated by the publishers of the clipping. The publisher is at the bottom left of the clipping. If I've got a comment, you''ll see that in italics. But if I've generated the headline and the excerpt, you'll see me taking attribution by finishing with -DA in bold. The stamp stuff at the bottom are scans from my collection and, if there’s a stamp blurb, I’ve written that bit. -DA
You can help keep this newsletter going with a monthly pledge -- Just $5 would do it -- via Patreon or, if you want to make a one-time donation, send an e-transfer to jda@davidakin.com.
Science and tech
When you might start speaking to robots
Gemini Robotics fuses the power of large language models with spatial reasoning, allowing you to tell a robotic arm to do something like “put the grapes in the clear glass bowl.” These commands get filtered by the LLM, which identifies intentions from what you’re saying and then breaks them down into commands that the robot can carry out.
The Calendar
- 0930 ET: Sudbury, ON - Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to reporters.
- 1230 ET: Thunder Bay, ON - Indigenous Services Min Patty Hajdu makes an infrastructure funding announcement.
- 1300 ET: Ottawa - PM Carney will meet with the Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations.
- 1500 ET: Ottawa - PM Carney meets with the Cabinet Committee on Canada-US Relations and National Security.
- 1600 ET: Sherbrooke, QC - Veterans Affairs and Revenue Min Elisabeth Briere and LPC MP Marie-Claude Bibeau make a funding announcement
- 1800 ET: Sudbury, ON - Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to supporters.
- 2030 ET: Nanaimo, BC - CPC MP Melissa Lantsman campaigns in the riding of Nanaimo--Ladysmith
