Canadian politics Archives - Queen's Journal

Western Canada is left behind in federal politics

Written on January 28, 2020. Posted in Opinions.

The Canadian federal election in October shed some much-needed light on important aspects of our nation’s political climate that are still going unaddressed. One of these notable outcomes was the plight of Western Canada, which was visible in the election results coming from Alberta and Saskatchewan. Of...

New minority government sitting in the hot seat

Written on November 29, 2019. Posted in Columns.

Last month, almost 18 million Canadians exercised their democratic right and voted in the federal election. After a hard-fought campaign by all parties, the Liberals, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, successfully formed government. Their diverse platform of policies surrounding gun control, pharma...

Engaging in federal politics is important more often than just once every four years

Written on November 22, 2019. Posted in Editorials.

This year’s federal election was unprecedented in terms of young voter turnout. Now that the election has passed, we have to keep that moment going, not check out of politics until the next time we have the opportunity to cast a ballot. While total election voter turnout was lower than 2015, it was...

How the surging campus vote is changing Canadian politics

Written on November 15, 2019. Posted in Features.

In 2015, the “Vote on Campus” initiative saw more than 70,000 ballots cast from students across Canada. In 2019, that number leaped to 111,300. The surge is ballots cast on campus isn’t only a sign of increased youth engagement, its also representative of a major demographic shift that will have consequences...

Governmental inaction forces youth to carry the burden of social change

Written on November 1, 2019. Posted in Editorials.

In today’s political climate, youth activism has become the new norm. From Greta Thunberg to the “March for Our Lives” organizers, young people are fighting for systemic change with an urgency governmental leaders lack. While youth activism is a positive trend, the frequency at which we see it suggests...

Canadian female politicians deserve better recognition and support

Written on October 29, 2019. Posted in Editorials.

Based on the rate at which women are being elected to Canadian Parliament, it’ll be another 83 years before the House of Commons achieves gender parity. This is because, despite marginal increases in representation, women still aren’t given the voices they deserve in Canadian politics—which hurts...

The year Rhinos invaded Queen’s

Written on October 10, 2019. Posted in Features, History.

Birds have, for too long, held a monopoly as political parties’ mascots. Eagles stand for nationalism, and doves for peace and democracy. It follows then, that a party whose views range from “abolishing the environment” to making the U.K. a Canadian province would choose a bird’s polar opposite as...

Why you should vote for the party, not their leader

Written on October 10, 2019. Posted in Columns.

The federal election is nearing, and many Canadians are feeling the pressure of having to make a hard moral decision when they hit the polls on Oct. 21. Before you vote, it’s vital to fully understand our electoral system and the nature of party politics in Canada. Factoring this into your decision-making...

Identity shapes values, making the political personal

Written on October 8, 2019. Posted in Lifestyle, Pop Culture.

Election season in an (unofficially) two-party democracy is always nerve-wracking. The argument constantly resurfaces over which party leader is stronger, or even the lesser of two evils. Political rhetoric thrives on duality. Even election issues themselves seem to be often broken down into two categories:...

What you should know about the major Canadian parties before voting

Written on September 24, 2019. Posted in Columns.

Canadians across the country will hit the polls on Oct. 21 to elect the country’s 43rd parliament. As busy students, it can be hard to keep track of each party’s plans if they’re elected. To help you on your journey to becoming an educated voter, I compiled brief overviews of the stances of Canada’s...

Federal Conservatives’ anti-university attitude won’t fly

Written on September 17, 2019. Posted in Editorials.

When politicians target universities, they diminish hard-working students and professors sharing knowledge and curiosity—not some imagined intellectual elite. However, it appears the Conservative Party of Canada hasn’t realized that quite yet. Last week, the Conservative Party distributed flyers...

Canadian politeness has no place in climate politics

Written on September 12, 2019. Posted in Editorials.

With Canada’s 2019 federal election campaign officially underway, now is not the time to extinguish the climate debate—it’s time to ramp it up. A recent Globe and Mail opinion disparaged the emphasis on climate rhetoric as the upcoming election approaches. The contention between the Progressive...

Jean Chrétien reflects on time in office

Written on October 30, 2018. Posted in Arts, Literature.

For Jean Chrétien, the art of storytelling is never far from politics. On Saturday, the former Prime Minister sat down with Senator Jim Munsen at the Holiday Inn on Princess Street to talk about his new memoir, My Stories, My Time. Reflecting on his time in office, Chrétien shared his experiences...

Liberals announce 25 per cent increase to research spending in 2018 budget

Written on March 9, 2018. Posted in News.

On Feb. 27, the federal Liberals revealed a 25 per cent increase to research spending in their 2018-19 budget. As a result, the Trudeau government has committed sizeable grants for health, science and the humanities over the next half decade. The budget pledges $925 million over five years to Canada’s...

Liberals can’t have it both ways on Canada’s climate targets

Written on January 30, 2018. Posted in Editorials.

Putting a price on carbon pollution has become the paradigm of climate policy. It’s widely considered a catalyst for low-carbon innovation and the shift away from fossil fuel dependency. Since taking power in late 2015, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has held the idea as a central policy...

Taking my seat: Where are our leaders?

Written on January 30, 2018. Posted in Lifestyle.

It’s 2018 and I’m waiting for our political leaders to step up. Why is it every day that we hear about a new scandal or problem? Why do we hear so often about the celebrities we idolize, the leaders of the free world and the leaders in our own backyard in a negative light? I find, comparatively, when...

The millennial vote goes deeper than surface level politics

Written on October 5, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Despite being over two years away from the 2019 election, the debate surrounding candidates and their appeal to young Canadians already seems to revolve around who is the trendier choice. But millennial voters deserve more credit than that. According to a CBC article, millennials and Generation X...

Taking my seat: Gerry Ritz says Barbie, I say empowering female leader

Written on October 3, 2017. Posted in Lifestyle.

Causing controversy in the Twittersphere on September 19, Conservative Canadian Member of Parliament Gerry Ritz referred to Catherine McKenna, Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, as “our climate Barbie.” We should hold our elected government officials to the highest of standards, right? Yet...

Lacing up for the Conservative race

Written on February 16, 2017. Posted in Lifestyle.

Ever since Stephen Harper’s defeat in the 2015 federal election, the question of who’ll be the most the effective leader for the Conservative Party in the Trudeau era has been on the minds of Canadians on all ends of the political spectrum. During Harper’s tenure as Prime Minister, he was by far...

Canadian Senator offers advice to Queen’s students

Written on November 25, 2016. Posted in News.

After serving more than thirty years in the Canadian Senate, Anne Cools knows politics. First summoned to the Senate in January of 1984 on the recommendation of Pierre Trudeau — “Mr. Trudeau,” she noted affectionately — Cools has been serving Canada ever since as the first black female senator in...

Trudeau’s Year in Review from a student’s perspective

Written on October 21, 2016. Posted in Lifestyle.

“Sunny ways my friends, sunny ways,” said an ambitious and freshly-elected Justin Trudeau in a reference to Sir Wilfred Laurier’s famous doctrine. A year into their first mandate, the Liberals have been busy implementing the enthusiastic agenda that Canadians were promised during the 2015 campaign...

Physician assisted dying legislation flawed

Written on May 31, 2016. Posted in Lifestyle.

Legislation on physician assisted dying passed by the House of Commons today poses many issues, according to Queen’s Bioethics professor Udo Schüklenk. In February 2015, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the case of Lee Carter v. Canada that any competent Canadian adult who suffers intolerably...

Feminist paintings critique current politics

Written on October 29, 2015. Posted in Arts.

Who would paint a nude portrait of Stephen Harper? Kingston artist Margaret Sutherland would. Sutherland is best known for her portrait of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Emperor Haute Couture, which shows Harper reclining on a sofa nude with a dog, surrounded by faceless men in suits. One...

Landmark summit a chance for change

Written on January 24, 2012. Posted in Opinions.

When Stephen Harper meets with Aboriginal leaders at today’s First Nations summit in Ottawa, he’ll have a lot of ground to cover. After all, the summit will mark the Prime Minister’s first official meeting with First Nations chiefs since taking office in 2006 — and it’s about time. The reality is...

Blame boomers for low turnout

Written on October 18, 2011. Posted in Opinions.

Ontario’s Oct. 6 provincial election that saw Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals form a minority government had a voter turnout of 49 per cent — the lowest in the province’s history. The result in Ontario is just the latest in a series of provincial elections around the country where the voter turnout has...

The Liberal rebuild

Written on May 31, 2011. Posted in Opinions.

As the Liberal Party enters a substantial rebuilding phase, it’s useful to reflect on the results of the recent election and its implications for the future. On May 2, Ted Hsu secured his seat as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands. The riding now represents one of just 34...

Tag: Canadian politics