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Max Fawcett

Max Fawcett

The Walrus

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Young voters are calling the shots now

Young Canadians can be forgiven for being a bit confused by the latest federal budget. For the first time in their lives, they’re looking at a...

previous day 7

National Observer

Max Fawcett

We need more Canada, not less

As part of its weeks-long pre-budget rollout, the Liberal government has sent Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland out to announce a host of new...

18.04.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith’s latest attempt to own the libs will cost Alberta

“Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.” That’s the famous line said by Lord Farquaad in the Shrek movie that’s...

16.04.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Justin Trudeau should say yes to a carbon tax showdown

For Pierre Poilievre and his provincial allies, it’s all carbon tax, all the time. Never mind that his latest attempt at filibustering the April 1...

11.04.2024 30

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The carbon tax convoy hasn’t learned a thing

If at first, you don’t succeed in overthrowing the government, try, try again. That appears to be the thinking behind the carbon tax protests that...

10.04.2024 9

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Doug Ford is dumbing down Ontario

There’s fierce competition in the unofficial race for Canada’s most dangerous premier, with Alberta’s Danielle Smith deliberately destabilizing...

09.04.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Is it time for a Liberal-NDP merger? 

Canadian progressives are slowly coming to terms with the idea, or perhaps even the inevitability, of a Pierre Poilievre Conservative government. As...

04.04.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre’s climate policy is a joke

There’s a growing irony in the carbon tax increase falling on April Fools’ Day every year, since it now offers an annual reminder of just what a...

03.04.2024 9

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Nobody really cares about renters

Canada’s renters are finally getting their moment in the political sun. After a lifetime of being studiously ignored by most elected officials in...

01.04.2024 7

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Truth, lies, and that RCMP report

Are young Canadians on the verge of rising up against the government over a declining standard of living? If you read a recent column by the National...

28.03.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre has a Doug Ford problem

Pierre Poilievre’s pledge to get rid of housing “gatekeepers” was a nifty piece of political strategy that helped expand his appeal among...

26.03.2024 7

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The provinces are driving inflation now

For as long as he’s been the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre has had the political winds at his back. Inflation, which...

21.03.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The carbon tax is dead. Climate policy doesn’t have to be

How did the Trudeau government’s signature climate policy turn into a political albatross? As Ernest Hemingway might say: gradually, then suddenly....

20.03.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

We need more Wab Kinews

It’s not easy to be hopeful about politics right now. Whether it’s the return of Trumpism in the United States, the increasingly polarized...

19.03.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Can Naheed Nenshi win over the NDP?

It started as a race to replace Rachel Notley as the leader of the Alberta NDP. Now, with former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi’s official entry,...

14.03.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre plays politics with Paul Bernardo

With a double-digit lead in the polls and projections of a massive (and possibly historic) majority in the next election, the Conservative Party of...

12.03.2024 6

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Oilsands companies want Pierre Poilievre to save them

It’s been nearly two years since the Pathways Alliance, a consortium of Canada’s major oilsands companies, was created with the express purpose of...

07.03.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre bites his tongue on Bitcoin

For the first time in recorded memory, Pierre Poilievre is holding his tongue. Despite being roundly mocked for his embrace of cryptocurrencies like...

06.03.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Earth to millennials: Pierre Poilievre is playing you on housing

Credit where it’s due: Pierre Poilievre has talked a good game about housing ever since he was elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada....

04.03.2024 7

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith’s wind and solar double standard

By now, we’ve all gotten used to conservative governments saying one thing and doing another. But few have plumbed the depths of hypocrisy that...

29.02.2024 9

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre’s freedom isn’t very free

Just over two years ago, Pierre Poilievre kicked off his campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada with a video that hung his...

27.02.2024 8

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Truth, lies and emissions caps

He might be trailing in the polls and on his way to an epic electoral defeat, but Justin Trudeau isn’t done fighting just yet. During his Wednesday...

23.02.2024 7

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Canada needs a wealth tax

After the City of Edmonton and its taxpayers gave him hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new arena, you might think Daryl Katz would show a...

22.02.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The Trudeau Liberals need to be better at doing politics

There’s a litany of potential explanations for the disastrous drop the Trudeau Liberals have seen in their polling numbers over the last 12 months,...

16.02.2024 9

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith is still dreaming when it comes to oil’s future

Alberta’s UCP government may like to pretend it sees the world differently than Saudi Arabia but when it comes to their biggest industry, they speak...

15.02.2024 8

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Did we really think corporations like Bell would save the media?

Justin Trudeau is mad as hell and he’s not going to take it anymore. At least, that’s how he sounded when talking about BCE Inc.’s decision to...

14.02.2024 9

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre has some explaining to do about Ukraine 

There are dumb political hills to die on, and then there’s the one Pierre Poilievre finds himself on right now. Once again, his Conservative Party...

12.02.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

It’s not too late for electoral reform

On Wednesday, the House of Commons voted against a motion calling for the federal government to establish a citizens' assembly to “determine if...

08.02.2024 40

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith just sold out the LGBTQ community. Who’s next?

Danielle Smith may be the leader of a conservative party, but her core beliefs are libertarian through and through. That’s why she’s always been...

06.02.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The provinces are trying to break Canada

Of all Pierre Poilievre’s familiar slogans, there’s one that stands above the rest: Canada is broken. There’s no shortage of irony there, not...

01.02.2024 30

National Observer

Max Fawcett

In praise of tough decisions

It was two years ago that a convoy of truckers, conspiracy theorists, and other conservative activists gathered in Ottawa. Depending on who you asked,...

30.01.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith’s dangerous dance with Tucker Carlson

I swear, I didn’t want to write about this. Much as it may shock some of my critics, I’m a big believer in freedom of expression. If Alberta...

26.01.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Our health-care system is crashing

The COVID-19 pandemic has already killed more than 50,000 Canadians and crippled our sense of national unity and cohesion. But its biggest casualty...

25.01.2024 4

National Observer

Max Fawcett

How Justin Trudeau can still win

The odds of a Justin Trudeau comeback seem to just keep getting longer. With a bunch of new polls leaving his Liberal party’s late-2023 bump looking...

24.01.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

How Justin Trudeau can still win

The odds of a Justin Trudeau comeback seem to just keep getting longer. With a bunch of new polls leaving his Liberal party’s late-2023 bump looking...

24.01.2024 5

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Like it or not, we live in Trudeau’s Canada now 

Whether it’s his socks, his propensity for taking selfies or his willingness to apologize for historical wrongdoing, there are a lot of things about...

23.01.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Rachel Notley is done with Alberta politics. Is Ottawa next?

After nearly a decade as Alberta NDP leader and four years as its first non-conservative premier, Rachel Notley has decided to hang up her political...

18.01.2024 5

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith’s attacks on wind and solar cold comfort for Albertans

It’s one of the oldest political maxims in the book: Never let a good crisis go to waste. Rarely has that spirit of political opportunism been more...

16.01.2024 9

National Observer

Max Fawcett

If Trump is re-elected, Canada will pay a high price

In his first official campaign speech of this most consequential of U.S. presidential elections, Joe Biden made the stakes perfectly clear. “This is...

15.01.2024 6

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre doesn’t care about freedom of the press

Pierre Poilievre, champion of the free press? It wasn’t on my 2024 bingo sheet either, but Canada’s leader of the official Opposition tried to use...

11.01.2024 5

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The West’s gentle fall is a bad omen

It used to be the case that a gentle fall was a welcome blessing to most Albertans. But after a summer of wildfires, drought and other climate-related...

09.01.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Poilievre’s “debtonation” is much ado about nothing

In his ongoing attempt to become the Jordan Peterson of elected officials, Pierre Poilievre has released another lengthy, laboured video about the...

05.01.2024 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

What Pierre Poilievre and Donald Trump have in common

Everything that happens in the United States eventually makes its way to Canada, whether we like it or not. It’s not surprising then, that nearly a...

04.01.2024 8

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Poilievre breathes new life into Trudeau’s chances

He’s not dead yet, folks. After months of increasingly dire public opinion polls, Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party of Canada are finally showing...

15.12.2023 7

National Observer

Max Fawcett

It's game over for oil and gas

If only Richard Nixon could go to China, then maybe only the United Arab Emirates could host a climate summit that yielded a unanimous agreement to...

14.12.2023 9

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Alberta’s emissions cap freakout is a tell

As premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith has made it abundantly clear that she’s interested in reducing emissions, not oil and gas production. In what...

12.12.2023 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The CBC needs to start Pierre-proofing itself

The CBC is facing an existential crisis unlike anything it’s ever seen. The Conservative Party of Canada, which holds a commanding lead in the polls...

07.12.2023 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Young voters are done with Justin Trudeau

Max Valiquette must love a challenge. The 50-year-old marketer and branding expert, who founded a youth-oriented market research company called...

05.12.2023 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The UN climate conference doesn’t matter — and that’s OK

Economic inflation is clearly on the decline, but we’re about to witness a massive outbreak of rhetorical inflation in Dubai. That’s where the...

30.11.2023 5

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith does socialism to own the libs

Ever since she announced her bid to replace Jason Kenney as UCP leader and Alberta premier, Danielle Smith has brandished the idea of a so-called...

29.11.2023 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

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