Don Martin's Blog

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  Don Martin: Freeland wins a waiver from PMO control

  Thankfully there's one who can act without permission from a PMO largely drained of superior staffing talent. In a very tangible way, the prime minister’s job has suddenly achieved gender parity as a shared responsibility, writes Don Martin.

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  Don Martin: The Bloc leader stokes a Prairie fire

  So if the prime minister and Quebec's new face in the Commons continue to shrug at western fury, Quebec may find out independence is indeed achievable. For Alberta, writes Don Martin.

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  Don Martin: Scheer audacity to expect a win without change

  If the Conservative leader believes he need not change to captivate the convention floor, well, there’s only one way to view that: Scheer audacity, writes Don Martin.

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  Don Martin: MacKay fires first shot in a leadership takedown

  Scheer is now facing a dangerous sniper taking deadly aim at his head with a growing list of supporters behind many grassy knolls. Perhaps now is the time for the boring, besieged Andrew Scheer to mount a more aggressive defense of his position, writes Don Martin

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  Don Martin: Campaign 2019 is the battle where truth goes to die

  Every campaign war room has pails of political dirt held at the ready until it can be thrown for maximum muddy impact into the faces of reeling opponents, writes Don Martin.

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  Don Martin: The 438 days of Parliament that changed Canada, for better or worse

  Let's get the obvious out of the way first in delivering a eulogy to the 42nd Parliament, which has been put out of its misery after 438 sitting days over 3.5 years, writes Don Martin.

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  Don Martin: If Scheer wants to be the PM he needs a credible climate plan

  He doesn't need to be the jolly green giant. But if Conservative leader Andrew Scheer wants to be the next prime minister, he needs to release a credible and comprehensive climate change plan next week, writes Don Martin.

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  Don Martin: Last words from Parliament's nearly departed

  Before they disappear into the pages of Hansard history, let’s pause to quote some of the keenest observations from the nearly departed ranks of this Parliament, writes Don Martin.

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  Don Martin: Two reasons why voters should support a declaration of MP independence

  The notion of voting for a local force of independent personality over picking a government will drive many voters into established party camps. And yet, a re-elected Wilson-Raybould and Philpott would be assets in the next Parliament, even though I suspect they're just waiting to return to the Liberal fold in the post-Trudeau era, writes Don Martin.

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  Don Martin: Gen. Vance's leadership is no longer worth saluting

  It's easy to kneejerk a demand for the prime minister to resign, as the Conservatives do on the flimsiest of pretexts. But beyond Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance’s rushed judge and jury execution of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, other issues are starting to make that hefty pay raise given to him this week by Justin Trudeau fall somewhere between inexplicable and laughable, writes Don Martin.