Dale Smith

Dale Smith is a freelance journalist in the Parliamentary Press Gallery, and author of The Unbroken Machine: Canada’s Democracy in Action (release March 2017).

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2020 COLUMNS

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Liberals looking to force a confrontation in the New Year

Stop giving Doug Ford a pass

O’Toole debases himself to score points

One way or another, this government will pay for its CERB screw-up

Lies and damned lies about the carbon price

Senate stunt shows the limits of Trudeau’s “New Senate”

Abusing committees for partisan witch-hunts

Erin O’Toole’s misinformation problem

“Deliberative democracy” to what end?

COVID and the technocratic impulse

Not another unaccountable Officer of Parliament

We are now in a full-blown moral panic over judicial appointments

So you’ve invoked federal emergency powers. Now what?

Why can’t this government just amend bills?

The federal government is not a parental jurisdiction

Prorogation reports are one more useless Trudeau “innovation”

It’s time for Trudeau to strike a new vice-regal appointments committee

Freeland reminds us that it’s not 1995 anymore

Weaponizing committees can only lead to a bad end

O’Toole is not bringing about the promised change

Obfuscating jurisdiction to score points

Jealously guarding committee seats

There are places where this pandemic can cause permanent damage to Parliament

Handwaving over “excess profits”

Are the mainstream parties “intellectually exhausted”?

The Senate stands up to Trudeau’s abuse of process

If the NHL can bubble successfully, so can Parliament

Theresa May shows Canada how we should be running Parliament

Giving the premiers a pass

Trudeau has no obligation to consult the opposition on a Throne Speech

O’Toole has abandoned economic conservatism

Kenney flailing to maintain his list of “enemies of the state”

Saying anything to “Own the Libs”

Liberals flirting with a contempt of Parliament charge

Is it time to stop demanding leaders kick out MPs?

Revenge of the SoCons

The fetish around “making payroll”

In a flurry of pabulum, Bill Morneau makes his exit

Higgs and how not to Responsible Government

Mark Carney needs to stay the hell out of electoral politics

Another premier down, another horrific leadership contest

Shades of Fyre Festival as the WE Imbroglio continues

Kenney barrelling ahead with unconstitutional Senate “elections”

Trudeau needs to lay the groundwork for Payette’s replacement

It’s time for a culture change at the top

The calculation of sidelining Trudeau

Does PMO need a compliance officer?

The WE Imbroglio is what happens when leaders dismantle challenge functions

How can we get our economic thinking to evolve to meet the pandemic?

Who’s afraid of Wexit? The Conservatives, apparently.

Is it time for Bill Morneau to go?

MPs continue to make themselves irrelevant

Kenney’s “Fair Deal” is not about fairness but consolidating power

Jody Wilson-Raybould says it’s not her fault

The Liberals’ convenient fictions about the state of parliament

What Trudeau can do about the RCMP

There is a better way to reopen Parliament than with remote voting

Fear, Favour, and Committee Chairs

PROC set to open Pandora’s Box

The Canadian Senate as Greek Tragedy

What provincial legislatures tell us about how we’re treating pandemic politics

Just the appearance of accountability

And Dalphond makes nine

MPs on PROC not letting a good crisis go to waste

Senator Harder sees the light

Ramp ceremonies and creeping presidentialization

The virtual special committee is proving to be a failing experiment

Is Senator Woo the Phantom Menace?

Looking for a personality to rebuild the cult around

This isn’t the virtual parliament you’re looking for

When comparing Westminster parliaments, consider Canada’s unique challenges

Theatre or not, we still need Question Period

Looking for a villain isn’t accountability

Saturday’s emergency sitting proves the need for ongoing parliament

Stop delaying – bring on the Skeleton Parliament

Our parliament didn’t do its job on emergency legislation

This government needs to be open about its capacity issues

Crocodile tears and the lack of oversight from the Senate

Canadian politics needs to clean house in its backrooms

Crisis, ego, and the Skeleton Parliament

Welcome to the Skeleton Parliament

COVID-19 is serious, but not wartime serious

Should parliament suspend for the pandemic?

Did the Conservatives learn nothing from the Great Recession?

Is there any intellectual heft in the Conservative leadership race?

Hung parliament or not, protected nominations are an affront to democracy

Mythologizing Teck Frontier won’t help anyone

The battle over Woo’s motion has begun

The Buffalo Declaration is a ridiculous farce

Scheer’s expenses should be a wake-up for Conservative party governance

Senator Gold keeping an open mind on rule changes

Woo’s spells out his “programming committee” plans

Plans to streamline invite massive unintended consequences

Time is running out for Lynn Beyak

Bad bills won’t make Section 92 disappear

Where have all the Red Tories gone?

A quantitative retrospection in a qualitative world

The ongoing credulous takes on the Reform Act

When governments are vexatious litigants

Canada could use more “lifers” in Parliament

Does the Senate’s ethics regime need change for the sake of change?

Reports of our disintegrating institutions are greatly exaggerated

Civility and the death of Responsible Government

2019 COLUMNS