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Toronto Star
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Shunned by Mark Carney, Toronto MP says ‘it's impossible not to feel disrespected'
OTTAWA—Toronto MP and former housing minister Nate Erskine-Smith says 'it's impossible not to feel disrespected' after Prime Minister Mark Carney removed him from cabinet. 'I ran again because of the opportunity to make an even bigger difference around the cabinet table and to help fix the housing crisis,' the Beaches—East York MP said in a post on X. 'The way it played out doesn't sit right and it's impossible not to feel disrespected. But I'm mostly disappointed that my team and I won't have the chance to build on all we accomplished with only a short runway.' The 10-year MP, who had previously said he would not run again in this election and came second to Bonnie Crombie in the 2023 Ontario Liberal leadership race, was promoted to cabinet in December in one of Justin Trudeau's final moves as prime minister. When Carney became Liberal leader and prime minister in March, he kept Erskine-Smith in cabinet. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW But on Tuesday, Erskine-Smith was one of three Toronto MPs removed from Carney's front-bench in a major overhaul that introduced many new faces but maintained the tradition of having a significant GTA representation in the federal cabinet. Overall, Carney's first cabinet since the election includes nine ministers from Toronto and the GTA, with five new faces, including former broadcaster and friend of Carney Evan Solomon, the rookie Toronto Centre MP who is now Canada's first ever minister of artificial intelligence. Federal Politics Live chat: The Conservative party, Carney's cabinet and politics in 2025 Star staff Reached by the Star, Erskine-Smith would not comment further. But in his social media posts, the MP long known as an outspoken parliamentarian on the more progressive side of the Liberal party, said 'you never know what the future holds.' 'But for now, I'll be working hard for my neighbours here in Beaches—East York, restarting the Uncommons podcast, and returning to Parliament with a renewed sense of freedom,' he said. Bill Blair, the MP for Scarborough West who was the chief of the Toronto Police Service for 10 years before entering federal politics in 2015, and Willowdale's Ali Ehsassi, who was a minister for a brief stint since March, were also removed from Carney's cabinet Tuesday. Blair has held several ministerial roles since 2018, including public safety and national defence. And the Liberals spent thousands of dollars on ads narrated by Blair in the final weeks of the election highlighting their gun-control agenda and their approach to tackling rising crime. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Carney has named public safety, long a Conservative attacking point, as one of the Liberals' key priorities next to the Canada-U.S. relationship and addressing the cost of living, and even appointed Brampton North—Caledon's Ruby Sahota as a secretary of state focused on combating crime on Tuesday. The issue has been a significant concern in suburban ridings in the Toronto area and Liberal minister Kamal Khera lost her Brampton West seat in an election campaign where her opponent, Conservative Amarjeet Gill focused heavily on crime. Gta 'The most honest reflection of the country': Inside the 905 — the ridings that helped deny Mark Carney a majority Noor Javed, David Rider, Raju Mudhar Three of the 10 secretaries of state appointed Tuesday are also from Toronto and the GTA. Here are the ministers from the GTA: Shafqat Ali (Brampton—Chinguacousy Park), president of the Treasury Board Anita Anand (Oakville East), minister of foreign affairs Gary Anandasangaree (Scarborough—Guildwood–Rouge Park), minister of public safety Julie Dabrusin (Toronto—Danforth), minister of environment and climate change Chrystia Freeland (University—Rosedale), minister of transport and internal trade Tim Hodgson (Markham—Thornhill), minister of energy and natural resources Maninder Sidhu (Brampton East), minister of international trade Evan Solomon (Toronto Centre), minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation and minister responsible for the federal economic development agency for southern Ontario Rechie Valdez (Mississauga—Streetsville), minister of women and gender equality and secretary of state for small business and tourism Here are the secretaries of state from the GTA: Ruby Sahota (Brampton North—Caledon), combating crime Adam van Koeverden (Burlington North—Milton West), sport John Zerucelli (Etobicoke North), labour Politics Headlines Newsletter Get the latest news and unmatched insights in your inbox every evening Error! 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Global News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Global News
Ford says Carney must avoid being ‘bullied' in White House meeting with Trump
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney must make sure not to get 'bullied' in his first meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Ford made the comments at an unrelated event on Monday, where he said he was confident in the prime minister ahead of his first trip to meet face-to-face with Trump after an election campaign focused on the president. Carney departed for Washington, D.C., on Monday afternoon in preparation for Tuesday's meeting, his first trip to the United States since he was elected to form a minority government in a race where he talked tough on Trump. With the meeting looming, the president was dismissive and said he was 'not sure what he wants to see me about.' Ford said he wanted to make sure Carney didn't get pushed around in the potentially key White House summit. Story continues below advertisement 'I just mentioned to him, don't get bullied because we know where he's going, and stand firm,' Ford said on Monday morning. 'We're their number one customer — and yes, they're our number one customer — but just be strong, we have your back.' Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy While the premier offered advice to Carney ahead of his first major diplomatic mission to the United States, his office confirmed Ford himself had not been invited to attend. The Progressive Conservatives recently won a third successive majority on the promise that another majority would strengthen Ontario's hand to deal with Trump. While Ford has travelled to Washington, D.C., several times and met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, he has not spoken to the president. But at Queen's Park, even Ford's critics were sympathetic to the fact the premier was not included in the meeting and said it was appropriate that the prime minister meet with the president one-on-one for his first Washington visit. 'I think in this first meeting, I think it is important that they lay the groundwork, prime minister to president,' Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said. 'I think it's very important that the two meet one-on-one.' Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner also suggested the meeting made sense. 'You know what? I think Prime Minister Carney deserves an opportunity to have a one-on-one meeting with Trump, so I'm not going to criticize that,' he said. Story continues below advertisement NDP Leader Marit Stiles, however, suggested Ford's lack of invitation was a poor reflection on how he was handling Ontario's role in the U.S.-Canada trade war. 'I think at the end of the day, the premier has not proven himself to be ready for the fight,' she said. 'He's taken a laissez-faire approach to this, and that's not what Canada needs right now. We need people who are going to get up and fight for every single job in every single sector.'
Winnipeg Free Press
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Winnipeg Free Press
Liberal Leader Mark Carney ran a disciplined campaign in his trial-by-fire election
SASKATOON – Mark Carney's election campaign came full circle on April 26 when he returned to a weedy empty lot in Windsor, Ont., where, a month earlier, the Liberal leader experienced one of the most important moments of his rookie political year. On March 26, just days after the federal election campaign began and with the cross-border Ambassador Bridge in the background, Carney promised to protect the auto sector and warned that United States President Donald Trump sought to break the economy so that the United States could make Canada its 51st state. Later that day — as if conjured up by Carney's words — Trump injected himself into the fray again by threatening to impose new auto tariffs on Canada, allowing Carney to put on his metaphorical prime minister's hat and respond with authority as the trade crisis escalated. Back in Windsor on Saturday, as the election campaign was winding down, Carney again told a campaign rally that Trump is 'trying to break us so America can own us.' The rally crowd started chanting: 'Never 51!' On the influential Curse of Politics podcast, Liberal insider David Herle said such moments in the campaign's first week — when Carney was laying out the nature of the threat posed by the Trump administration — were his best. He said the Liberals have been 'living off that magic ever since.' Carney, who at age 60 is a first-time politician running to lead a G7 country, projects a deep calm when he speaks about the threats and challenges facing Canada — even when one of those threats is the prospect of being swallowed up by the U.S. Yaroslav Baran, co-founder of the Pendulum Group consulting firm and a former communications adviser to Stephen Harper, said Carney was able to leverage his brief time as prime minister in a way that shaped and boosted his campaign. Baran said Carney's use of the position was a little unfair, given the air of authority it gave him during critical periods in the campaign. 'Those kinds of moments help you if you are the incumbent trying to portray yourself as a statesman,' he said. 'When you actually play the role of a statesman at an important time, that helps you.' Baran also said Carney leaned into his muted tone and subdued manner of speaking, which helped him strike a contrast with other politicians — particularly with his unpopular predecessor Justin Trudeau. 'That was a conscious and smart move on their part,' Baran said. 'He or his advisers realize that he's boring, he is nondescript in the way he speaks, he lifts words off a page like they're anvils … he barely sounds like he's interested in his own message. Rather than trying to rapidly train him out of that into a different speaking style, they decided to lean into that and turn it into an advantage. Maybe we've had too much drama.' Don Guy, a previous campaign manager for former Ontario Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty, said Carney's campaign has gone 'pretty well' considering his inexperience. 'They were successful in establishing a frame around Trump in tariffs and positioning Mark's candidacy as prime minister as the best response to that in a way that transcended other issues for a lot of voters,' he said. It may feel like a year since Trudeau announced he would step aside as Liberal leader — it's been just over three months. And right around that time, many people wondered whether the Liberals could even finish third. 'Just about any senior Liberal in the country has been nervous throughout — not because of anything Mark's done, but because of just how quickly the turnaround happened,' Guy said. 'It's felt good … but in some ways, it's been the most nerve-racking because of the circumstances and how far behind we were for so long.' Guy said Carney's newness to politics prevented the Conservatives from pushing out tens of millions of dollars in negative pre-campaign advertising to crush his public image. Baran said Carney's hopes depend entirely on convincing a large number of Canadians that he represents a clean break from the unpopular Trudeau government. Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have spent much of the race talking about different things. While Poilievre has zeroed in since the beginning on the cost of living and has argued the Liberals don't deserve a fourth term, polls show many voters anxious about the threat posed by the Trump administration have been abandoning the NDP and Bloc Québécois for the Liberal party. Polling aggregator 338Canada shows Carney started off in a strong position, with a two-point lead that eventually grew to a five-point gap over the campaign. Carney hit a ceiling of 44 per cent support in the middle of the race. Poilievre closed the gap to three points just ahead of voting day, with the Liberals at 42 per cent and the Conservatives at 39 per cent. That tightening in the polls coincided with Trump apparently choosing to make fewer public statements about Canada — statements that, to date, have helped the Liberals' efforts to define the ballot question. Carney faced a trial-by-fire in this campaign and had to pick up some basic skills on the fly — how to turn on the charm with complete strangers, for example, or how to look at cameras without coming across as awkward. His rusty French was widely seen as one of his biggest liabilities going into the campaign, but he did not stumble in the televised French-language debate and a Leger poll earlier this month suggested that a third of Canadians who tuned in said he beat their expectations. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. Carney had his share of gaffes during the campaign — neglecting to report that Trump tried to sell him on statehood for Canada during their first phone call, for example, or failing to immediately eject a problem candidate who joked about turning a rival over to a foreign power for a bounty. But the missteps didn't seem to dent his image enough to seriously damage his prospects. Some observers say they're surprised at how a career banker made the switch to electoral politics with apparent ease. 'The thing that's really impressed me … and really has become evident during the leadership campaign and even more so during the election campaign, is he does genuinely like people and is interested in them,' Guy said. 'That makes becoming a quick study for some of the nuances of campaigning that much easier and that much more accessible.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2025.
CBC
04-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Waterloo region council has an open seat. Here's how they might fill it
Social Sharing Waterloo regional council has a decision to make when it comes to filling former councillor Rob Deutschmann's seat. Deutschmann vacated his seat in January to run as the Ontario Liberal candidate for Cambridge in the recently decided provincial election, losing to PC incumbent Brian Riddell. After declaring the seat vacant on Jan. 29, regional council must decide how the seat is filled by Mar. 30. The choice is between appointing a new councillor to fill the seat or holding a by-election. Option 1: Appointment According to the Municipal Act of 2001, to be eligible for a council seat, the appointee must be a Canadian citizen above the age of 18 and they or their spouse must own property or rent in the Region of Waterloo. Other than these eligibility requirements, the act has no requirements for how to fill the seat by appointment. The first appointment option, listed in a staff report, is for regional council to select a candidate from the 2022 municipal election. That's what happened in 2015 when the death of Kitchener regional Coun. Wayne Wettlaufer led to then-chair Ken Seiling appointing Elizabeth Clarke, who was runner-up in the 2014 election. In the case of Deutschmann's Kitchener seat, Matt Rodrigues received the fifth highest vote percentage in the 2022 election, coming in about 400 votes shy of Deutschmann. "Staff have contacted Mr. Rodrigues and he has indicated that he remains eligible and is willing to serve," the report said. The second option is to appoint someone through an application process. This would open up a public option for any eligible candidates to submit an application. If council went with this option, a meeting would be held on Mar. 26 for applicants to present their case before a decision is made. The staff report says this option would cost about $5,000, which would be covered by the election reserve fund. The third appointment option is to simply pick someone. Councillors could present nominations for any eligible individual at the council meeting on Mar. 19, where council members would pick from a list. The report said this gives council the option to pick an applicant who meets desirable criteria, "such as, being committed to not running in 2026, providing a diverse voice to Council, or being able to get up to speed quickly." Option 2: By-election If Waterloo regional council decides against appointing a councillor, they would be required to call a by-election, which the staff report says would likely be between June 2 and June 30 this year. The cost for a by-election would be approximately $800,000, according to the report. If council decides to go the election route, the seat would remain open longer and it would cost far more than any of the other options. Council will make a decision on how to fill the vacant seat at a council meeting Tuesday.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crombie unveils plan to address safety concerns on Toronto transit system
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie has pledged to install platform barriers at all Toronto subway stations, increase crisis intervention teams and hire more constables for transit services across the province. Crombie did not release the cost of the proposed plan she would enact should she become premier, but said it will come during the campaign. "We want people to ride public transit and I want to make it as accessible and safe as possible," Crombie said at a subway station in Toronto's east end Friday morning. Should her party win the snap election called by Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, Crombie would hire 300 special constables for transit operations in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area. Crombie said she will announce transit plans for other cities soon as part of her plan to increase ridership across the province. She would also invest in more security cameras and safety equipment. Subway platform barriers at all stations in Toronto would cost $4.1 billion, the Toronto Transit Commission's latest capital budget plan said. Experts say platform barriers in cities around the world have reduced the vast majority of injuries and death on the tracks. It is particularly helpful for reducing suicides. There have been 816 suicides on Toronto's subway system since 1954, the TTC said, and another 915 people have attempted suicide over that time. In 2023, the last full year of data available, 11 people died by suicide and another 33 people attempted suicide, the TTC said. Toronto Public Health recommended the platform barrier system in 2014 in a larger report on suicide prevention. The TTC has also said it would save lives. The issue became prominent in 2018 after a 56-year-old man pushed a 73-year-old man onto the tracks in front of a moving train at Toronto's busy Bloor-Yonge Station. The man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Then-mayor John Tory agreed that barriers would save lives, but did not know where the money would come from to install them. At the time, the TTC estimated it would cost over $1 billion to install barriers on every platform. When asked by a reporter Friday about the billions that system would now cost, Crombie seemed surprised. "If that is the cost of safety, then so be it," she said. NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Crombie's proposed measures are good, but she also wants to see more transit projects actually come to fruition. "I think a lot of people right now are struggling with the cost of using public transit and we have a government under Doug Ford and the Conservatives that have promised transit projects, bungled them and never opened many of them," Stiles said. Friday marks the third day of the election campaign, with Ford set to make stops in Hamilton before an announcement in Niagara Falls, Ont. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will be in Chesley, Ont. The budget for the Feb. 27 election is $189 million. The opposition has said that Ford called the early vote due to good polling numbers, getting ahead of a federal election and using U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats as an excuse for personal gain. --with files from Allison Jones in Toronto This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2025. Liam Casey and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press Sign in to access your portfolio
