Tag: Justin Trudeau

The Trudeau Town Hall: non-questions, dodgy answers

The Trudeau Town Hall: non-questions, dodgy answers

Posted by | Jan 11, 2018 | , |

It was an interesting choice by Justin Trudeau to launch his good news cross-country jobs and economy tour in the Maritimes, a region where there has been little joy on that score for a long time. One might think he would be rendered a little gun shy by the fact that the economic growth he was on the road to promote has completely bypassed the Atlantic Region. Annual estimates published last week by Statistics Canada show job growth in Canada of 336,500 in 2017. In the Atlantic Region it was minus 2,100 in 2017 – a total made up...

Read More
Liberal mid-term troubles recall same old political landscape

Liberal mid-term troubles recall same old political landscape

Posted by | Oct 24, 2017 | , |

As the federal Liberal government marks its second anniversary it appears at least some of the bloom is off the Trudeau rose. Several national polls actually have the Liberals neck-and-neck with the Conservatives. The CBC’s Poll Tracker aggregation, updated Oct. 17, had the Liberals slightly ahead, but down ten points from their standing a year ago. The drop-off in support extends to the Atlantic Region, where Poll Tracker finds a similar ten-point drop from this time last year, albeit from a much higher starting point. Despite the decline in popularity, Poll Tracker still has the Liberals more than 20...

Read More
Electoral reform abandoned; cultural jobs decreasing

Electoral reform abandoned; cultural jobs decreasing

Posted by | Feb 5, 2017 | , |

After showing very little interest in the topic for the last year or so the media are in a tizzy because Justin Trudeau finally stuck a fork into the cooked goose of electoral reform. Nathan Cullen, the NDP’s advocate for disposing of first past the post (FPTP) called Trudeau a liar. Many commentators went with that characterization, adding electoral reform to a growing list of broken promises, ranging from the trivial (the budget deficit) to the weighty (climate change and aboriginal rights). Abandoning efforts to scrap FPTP was a disappointment and the way the Liberals made the scuttling public...

Read More
Low profile for federal budget at Liberal lovefest

Low profile for federal budget at Liberal lovefest

Posted by | Apr 4, 2016 | , |

We are in the middle of a two-week parliamentary recess when Liberal MPs and cabinet ministers are roaming far and wide to sing the praises of the new federal budget. The finance minister even took the budget message all the way to Paris, where, according to the news release from his department, Bill Morneau was “…in France to Promote Canada’s Plan for Growing the Middle Class.” Given such efforts to spread the word about the budget, it’s a bit strange that when the Prime Minister visited Halifax on the weekend the budget was barely mentioned. Justin Trudeau pressed the...

Read More
Liberal Land Part 2: The Allure of Prince Justin

Liberal Land Part 2: The Allure of Prince Justin

Posted by | Mar 12, 2016 | , |

It’s no real surprise the Liberal Atlantic premiers failed to kick up a fuss when the Justin Trudeau Liberals confirmed they’ll let stand the Harper government’s damaging changes in health and equalization transfers. Partisan considerations certainly come into play, although the phenomenon of provincial Liberals confronting their federal counterparts is not unknown in Canadian history. But in the present circumstances the mood of cooperation that pervades relations between Ottawa and the Atlantic Provinces has an added dimension – Justin’s Trudeau’s popularity in the region and the impact of that popularity on the political fortunes of at least some of...

Read More

Richard Starr, The man behind the Point

About Richard

RICHARD STARR has had careers as a journalist, public servant, broadcaster, political staffer and freelance policy adviser. He is author of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, a former radio and TV producer and weekly newspaper editor, and the author of three non-fiction books. Starr has lived in Dartmouth for more than 30 years.

Subscribe to Starr’s Point

Support Provided by