Author: Cam Holmstrom

A couple of days ago I wrote about and brought attention to the disrespectful antics of Ontario Conservative MPP Toby Barrett and his attempts to link the celebration of D-Day with the flogging of the Ford Conservatives policy on the sale of beer. It was tacky, disrespectful and fully deserving

It’s now been one year since Ontarians elected the Ford Conservatives to a majority mandate, and it’s been a whirlwind of a first year. We’ve seen cuts all over, we’ve seen petty attacks from government ministers and members against those who dare to speak out against them and we’ve seen

In our democracy, we have certain institutions that are constant and that look out for all of us. We have different watchdog organizations set up all over government whose role is to keep an eye on the government, check on their work and most importantly, report to the public what

Back in April I wrote about one of the things I am proudest to have been a part of during my time on Parliament Hill; Bill C-262, An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The first week of June has finally come and with that the Fall Federal Election keeps getting closer and closer. There are only a few weeks left on the Parliamentary calendar, although with so much left on the agenda for the Liberal government to get done before rising for the

This week is a very solemn time for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. This week marks the 75th anniversary of the Day-D landings and the movements that led to the eventual end of the Second World War. Many Canadians from all walks of life can point to relatives

It was just last week that I wrote about a different take on the fall out of the moving of Jane Philpott out of the Indigenous Services portfolio way back in January, and her replacement with Seamus O’Regan. Last week Minister O’Regan went to Grassy Narrows and managed to dash

It’s almost been a year since the election of the Ford Conservatives in Ontario, but for many it’s felt like so much longer. Part of that feeling is due to the fact that the Ford team hit the ground running, putting forward their agenda all over the place, rarely stopping

Our parliamentary system has many different parts to it, some of which we don’t see as often. Everyday you can turn on CPAC and watch what’s going on in the Chamber of the House of Commons itself, but that is only part of the action that takes place. A lot

Today is an important day in Canadian, as an important piece of work has been released to the public. The work of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women was released this morning in a moving ceremony, a moment that many people have been looking towards for many

In the past month there has been a lot of ink spilled over the various parties plans for the environment and to tackle climate change. The New Democrats have, in particular, been wedged out of this conversation to date, with very little put on the table and only a fair

The House of Commons is in the home stretch before the Fall election, as the final month of sitting is underway. We’ve heard time and time again that this election is going to be a nasty one, nastier than what we’re used to, and so far, that prediction has seemed

When the Trudeau government shuffled their cabinet for the first time this year in January due to the retirement of Scott Brison, a series of events was set off like the whole SNC/PMO Scandal. But that wasn’t the only consequential change that was sent into motion by that shuffle. The

Language can be quite a thing and it’s amazing sometimes to see how people can take words, ideas and concepts and try to twist them into something that is totally different. Many people make a living doing it, myself included. Some do it very well and some do it cleverly,

A lot has been said about and a lot of ink has recently been spilled over the idea of the independence of MPs and the ability of individual MPs to make a difference. The narrative that’s been put out there is that MPs just don’t have that independence or have

Canadian politics over the past decades has come to ride more and more on the leadership of parties. All parties can point to this phenomenon and how it’s affected them. The names of Stephen Harper, Jack Layton and Justin Trudeau have all been seen to feature higher in the branding

Canada is a country that has immigration as a big part of its history. Every year in this country, thousands of people complete their path to citizenship at ceremonies from coast to coast to coast. As a part of that last step, new Canadians must recite the Citizenship Oath, and

In Canada over the past decade we’ve seen the continual growth of the phenomena of the “perpetual campaign”; when the campaign never seems to stop, running one into the next until we end up with this non-stop campaign cycle. In the age of social media, that has continued apace. It’s

The day that many in the Canadian political scene has been waiting for has come. Both Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott held press conferences in their ridings, announcing their intentions for their futures, what they would do and where they might land. The answers that came back were interesting, in

Ever since we saw the big flurry of events at the end of March/early April that led to the expulsions from the Liberal caucus of two well-regarded and like cabinet ministers, all of political Ottawa and Canada have been wondering; what will they do? What will be the future for