2020 has been a year for the books and has continually brought us things that we thought we’d never likely see. Between the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis that stemmed from it and all of the fall out across the board, it’s been a year that has continued to keep
Continue readingAuthor: Cam Holmstrom
Magpie Brûlé: Talking the Current State of COVID in Ontario & Liberal Cabinet Retreat with Kristy Cameron
Yesterday I joined Kristy Cameron on CFRA’s “Ottawa Now” along with Katlyn Harrison & Lindsay Maskell on the “Political Heat” panel. We talked about the current state of COVID-19 in Ontario, the rise in case numbers across the province, the Liberal Cabinet Retreat taking place in Ottawa and what we
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Talking the Liberal Cabinet Retreat & Surprising New Alberta Poll numbers on “The Arlene Bynon Show”
This morning I joined Arlene Bynon on “The Arlene Bynon Show” on Sirius XM’s Canada Talks 167, along with Alise Mills. We discussed the Liberals Cabinet Retreat starting today, what we might expect to see in the Throne Speech next week, how much we should expect for the Liberals to
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Real Consequences of Fake Stories
We do live in dangerous times and a lot of that comes back to some of the political rhetoric that we see out there. I say some of it because while some of the rhetoric that some politicians use may be over the top or overtly partisan, it’s not dangerous
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Talking the Start of the O’Toole Leadership & Conservatives Courting the Union Vote with Rob Snow
Wednesday I joined Rob Snow on 1310 News’ “The Rob Snow Show” along with Andrew Brander. We talked about questions about the Erin O’Toole’s Leadership of the Conservatives, what we can take from his first week in the position, how he is trying to position them, his attempts to woo
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: From Pity to Incredulity
The past 24 hours has been stark and shocking watching what just unfolded in the United States. For the all the things we’ve heard and seen from Donald Trump in his time as President of the United States, yesterday managed to be a bombshell. The words, spoken from his own
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Winners & Losers: CBC New Brunswick Election Leaders Forum
The New Brunswick provincial election comes to an end in less than a week on Monday, September 14th Given the nature of this first COVID campaign in Canada, every chance that a leader can get to speak directly to the public is important. Last week such an opportunity came with
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Sticker Shocked
The past six months have been stunning to think about in retrospect. That fact that we’re coming up on six months of fighting COVID-19 is in of itself stunning to think about. So much has changed in that relatively short period of time and more change is likely still to
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Talking WE Document Revelations & Calls for the Resignation of Dr. Williams with Kristy Cameron
This morning I joined Kristy Cameron on CFRA’s “Ottawa Now” along with Katlyn Harrison & Lindsay Maskell on the “Political Heat” panel. We talked about NDP MP Charlie Angus’ press conference on the revelations found in the WE documents, how this story isn’t going away & the call by the
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Of Losers and Suckers
Labour Day weekend is on our doorstep as the last marker of the summer arrives. Once this weekend is done, summer is effectively over, and we then move into the usual things that come with the Fall. Schools returning and our politics coming out of a few quiet weeks will
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Winners & Losers: Rogers New Brunswick Election Leaders Debate
2020 has been a year that has been anything but ordinary. We’ve been thrown curve ball after curve ball and have been doing our best to adjust and get through it all. But even in this crazy year we’ve seen some flashes of what used to pass as normalcy, one
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Potemkin Politics in the USA
Watching our neighbours to the South has become a bewildering experience for many Canadians. Honestly, it’s hard to keep up with the noxious combination of strife and insanity that we are seeing play out down there on a daily basis. It’s gotten so bad that many are very concerned if
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Ford’s Education Mess
For many families across the country a time that many have been dreading is here. In Quebec it came last week. For many across Ontario, tomorrow or next week will be the day. The run of the school year usually brings stresses and concerns, that’s nothing new. But normally they
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Talking the Return of Schools in Ontario & Statues with Kristy Cameron
Yesterday I joined Kristy Cameron on CFRA’s “Ottawa Now” along with Katlyn Harrison & Gabriela Gonzales on the “Political Heat” panel. We talked about the imminent return of schools in Ontario, Doug Ford’s broadside attacks against teachers, the teachers having to go to the labour board to get concerns addressed
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Enough
As the month of August ends and an end of the summer is just around the corner, it’s hard to find any positives out there. Really it feels like the fall of our discontent is on our doorstep and it’s hard to see any good coming from what’s ahead. This
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: A Clear Problem Coming into Focus
The last 24 hours in the United States has been something stark and difficult to watch, I cannot deny it. Seeing the video of the shooting of Jacob Blake, 7 times in the back as he walked away from police, has re-ignited the conversation around race, police and the political
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: “A Special Place in Hell…”
As Canadians, the last four years have been difficult dealing with our neighbours in the United States, or at least with the administration in charge. Sure we’ve always had moments of tension when our governments have disagreed on this, that or the other thing, but these past years have been
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: The Sloan Question
Now that the Conservative Leadership campaign is in the rear view, folks are looking ahead to things still to come in Canadian politics. We have a Throne Speech coming in a month which could be followed by a general election during a global pandemic, although the odds of that election
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Winners and Losers: The Conservative Leadership Race
Now that the votes have been cast, the points assigned and the winner declared in the Conservative Leadership race, it’s time to read through the entrails of what just happened and what it means going ahead. Like in all races like these, you come out of it with clear winners
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: The Morning After: O’Toole Wins
Last night we saw a leadership campaign unlike any other in Canadian history come to an end and in a sense, the ending was somewhat fitting for 2020. Thanks to COVID-19 the campaign to replace Andrew Scheer was not only delayed by a couple of months, it had to move
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