Rosemary Barton is the Hero We Deserve

I have a new op-ed on the Canadaland website, wherein I make the case for Rosemary Barton to be named the permanent host of CBC News Network's flagship politics show, Power & Politics. As someone who has watched a lot of politics shows (and even wrote about them for a while on Macleans.ca), she is a host that has impressed me more than any other since the days of Don Newman, and in my humble opinion, if the CBC brass were smart, they would make her the permanent host immediately and start branding the show around her with no time to spare.

National Post Radio: Dale Smith and Jen Gerson square off on Justin Trudeau’s plan to fix Ottawa

Finally online is a Canada Talks radio debate that I had a few days ago with National Post digital comment editor Jen Gerson about electoral reform, and in case you haven't read my work before, I took the con position, arguing that there's a lot more going for the status quo than people tend to believe.

The Senate is killing private members' bills – and that's a good thing

I have a new op-ed in the National Post, wherein I look at the number of private members' bills that are due to die on the Order Paper when the Senate rises any day now, and why it's not such a bad thing, as these bills have proliferated and become a genuine legislative problem in the past few years. Not to mention, it's also validating the role of the Senate when it comes to stopping bad bills before they make it into law, causing more problems down the road.

Government makes a hash of genetic privacy

My column this week on Loonie Politics looks at an issue that didn't get a lot of attention in the media over the course of the last parliament, but nevertheless is a growing issue as time goes on and genetic testing becomes more available. The machinations that took place are fascinating, and shows how the government seems to have dropped the ball on an issue they promised to do something about.

Was the Senate audit worth $23.6 million?

I'm featured this week on CBC Radio One's Day 6, in which I debate with the head of the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation about the Auditor General's report on the Senate, and I took the con position as to whether the audit was worth the money spent on it. Given that few people are raising questions about the audit and its process, I'm glad to be a bit of a contrarian from the rest of the pundit class on the subject, and I was happy to be asked onto the show.

Chong's Reform Act is 'actively toxic to Canadian democracy'

I have a new op-ed on the National Post's Full Comment page, which returns to the issue of Michael Chong's Reform Act, and I continue to deconstruct it as being a step in the right direction, to showing how it will be exactly the opposite. Originally the piece had more about Chong's hypocrisy in his hopes to use the Senate to kill a different bill he didn't like, but we wound up reworking it to stay focused on this bill, but it worked out quite well in the end.

Let’s all take a breath about the Senate audit

I have an extra column on Loonie Politics this week, looking at the Auditor General's report on the Senate. While pretty much every other pundit out there hyperventilates about the findings and is agitating for either a fantasy version of reform or for abolition (which is never going to happen), I try to put the whole report into some perspective in a calm and clear-headed manner, and to put the numbers into context rather than in isolation.

Chong’s Reform Act can’t restore accountability to leaders

My column this week on Loonie Politics takes another look at the Reform Act, and takes apart some of its fundamental goals – making leaders more accountable – and shows how the premise remains flawed while we maintain the current system of leadership selection, not just the method of removal.