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Max Fawcett

Max Fawcett

The Walrus

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Pierre Poilievre's dystopian desperation

The Policy Horizons report was meant as a public policy thought exercise, not a piece of political ammunition. But in turning it into one, Pierre...

yesterday 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Mark Carney should axe the emissions cap

Mark Carney is poised to win the most seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan of any Liberal leader in 50 years. If he wants to double down on that...

wednesday 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre is a victim of his own successes

Pierre Poilievre has long been defined by his willingness to attack, and it’s what brought him to the brink of the biggest political victory of his...

22.04.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The CBC matters more than ever

The CBC matters more than ever

Pierre Poilievre’s rallies are a big hit, even if they’re not as big as his supporters would like to pretend. But the thousands of people turning...

16.04.2025 30

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The NDP needs more economic literacy

The NDP needs more economic literacy

Progressives can, and should, still care deeply about climate change, affordable housing, and any number of other issues that aren’t automatically...

15.04.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

How Alberta keeps wrecking Pierre Poilievre's campaign

Every time Danielle Smith and Preston Manning open their mouths, they remind people that they’re willing — proud, even — to put Alberta first....

11.04.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Mark Carney's housing plan is a big step forward

Mark Carney's housing plan is a big step forward

After years of watching federal and provincial elected officials either do nothing about the housing crisis or just tinker at the margins, young...

08.04.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Canada's Conservatives still want to bet on America

Canada's Conservatives still want to bet on America

Both Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith are still operating as though the world, and Canada’s place in it, haven’t fundamentally and permanently...

07.04.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Rehashing Bill C-69 isn't going to save Poilievre's campaign

Rehashing Bill C-69 isn't going to save Poilievre's campaign

This renewed bet by Poilievre on the oil and gas industry might help his Conservative Party of Canada win more seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan, if...

04.04.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre’s gender gap

As a general rule, men shouldn't talk about women's biological clocks. That's especially true if they have a track record like Pierre...

02.04.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith's separatism shell game

Conservatives are working through the various stages of political grief. Danielle Smith, ever the maverick, has decided to add a sixth one: empty...

01.04.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Growing Canada’s population isn’t radical — it’s essential

The combination of an aging population and declining birth rates is leading Canada, like every other developed nation on earth, into a demographic...

28.03.2025 30

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Abundance Liberalism has arrived 

As the surprise front-runner in an election that his Liberals seemed destined to lose, Mark Carney is the most visible champion of a broader movement...

27.03.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre vs Pierre Poilievre

There may have been a time when Canadians were willing to countenance the idea of electing a prime minister whose intellectual development apparently...

26.03.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith is Mark Carney's secret weapon

In a recent interview with far-right U.S. media site Breitbart, Smith handed Carney a gift-wrapped sledgehammer in the form of an admission that...

24.03.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Naheed Nenshi needs to get his elbows up

Naheed Nenshi has never failed at politics before. But if he keeps going the way he has over the last nine months, he's about to find out what...

21.03.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre can't escape Donald Trump

Recent polls show that voters don't trust Pierre Poilievre to deal with Donald Trump. His willingness to take Trump — a known and notorious...

20.03.2025 3

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre can't escape Donald Trump

Recent polls show that voters don't trust Pierre Poilievre to deal with Donald Trump. His willingness to take Trump — a known and notorious...

20.03.2025 6

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Conservatives just can’t quit the carbon tax

Pierre Poilievre has pledged over and over to "axe" the carbon tax. He probably never imagined someone else would do it for him.

18.03.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The PBO is making itself political by refusing to see the obvious

The Parliamentary Budget Officer's latest report on federal climate policy has, once again, only served to muddy the water — and empower those...

17.03.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre might have punched himself out

After two years of throwing haymaker after haymaker, Poilievre suddenly finds himself pouring political sweat.  

14.03.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Donald Trump doubles down on his dumb tariffs

If there was a Nobel Prize for dumb ideas, Trump’s trade war would be a lock for it.

12.03.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith is auditioning for Team America

Danielle Smith still seems to think that the trade war with Donald Trump is really about border security. How long until she figures out what's...

11.03.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Carney must go for the jugular

Canadians are looking for the person who can help guide the country through the economic and political storms of the next four years, not their own...

07.03.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Conservative leaders are failing Trump's tariff test

Attempts to appease Donald Trump have clearly failed. When will the remaining holdouts finally realize it?

05.03.2025 40

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The 'freedom convoy' never really loved Canada

Check the social media accounts of any prominent convoy participant, whether it’s Tamara Lich, Pat King, or their dedicated transcriptionists in...

21.02.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Government is good, actually

Elon Musk and Donald Trump are taking an axe to the American federal government. American citizens will be the ones who pay the price.

19.02.2025 40

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith and pipelines could save Canada. No, really

Canada should present Danielle Smith with an offer she can’t possibly refuse: full and unqualified federal support for a new pipeline to tidewater....

17.02.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Donald Trump can't slow down the energy transition

Those cheering Donald Trump's attempts to double down on fossil fuels should enjoy the good feelings while they last. The energy transition,...

14.02.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Poilievre is losing ground thanks to the Trump effect

A plurality of Conservative supporters in Canada support Donald Trump. Do they realize that's about to cost them the next federal election?

12.02.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Mark Carney was made for this moment

Forget about a carbon tax election. Canadians are being thrust — very much against their will — into a much more serious and sobering...

08.02.2025 9

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith is walking the oil and gas industry into a trap

Alberta's premier has been unapologetic about trying to get special treatment for the oil and gas industry from Donald Trump. Why those efforts...

07.02.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

To save Canada, we need a stronger federal government

Donald Trump's threatened tariffs — and threats to our sovereignty — have united Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Now, what are we...

05.02.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The real foreign interference threat is on your phone

The findings in Justice Marie-Josée Hogue's report confirm what the last few months have made abundantly clear: the problem of foreign...

31.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Jagmeet Singh's NDP is in deep trouble

If they'd pulled the plug back and gone to an election back in the fall, they might have been able to leave the Liberals in their wake and form...

29.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Mark Carney has Canada’s Conservatives running scared

Is it Carbon Tax Carney? Canapé Carney? Redistribution Carney? Right now, Canada's Conservatives can't even settle on a nickname for their...

28.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Donald Trump might just make Canada great again

The United States president keeps threatening Canada's sovereignty. Could he unwittingly be lighting a nationalist spark under the entire country...

24.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith still wants us to surrender

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has charted her own course during the negotiations with Donald Trump and his tariff threat against Canada. So far,...

22.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Canada’s Conservatives want their own National Energy Program

Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith want to build pipelines and refineries in Canada — just like Pierre Trudeau's National Energy Program...

20.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Climate change's future is already here

Bad-faith provocateurs have been blaming everything from DEI to local Democrat politicians for the horrendous consequences of Los Angeles's...

17.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Danielle Smith puts petroleum over country

Even Stephen Harper has found the courage to speak out against Donald Trump. Why won't Danielle Smith?

15.01.2025 20

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Christy Clark crashes and burns

Clark, the former B.C. premier under the now-defunct right-of-centre BC Liberal Party, was already a weak candidate by any conventional measure. Then...

14.01.2025 50

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Trump’s threats expose the traitors in our midst

For many Conservatives in Canada, Trudeau’s belief in a “post-national” future was all the excuse they ever needed to betray their own country.

10.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Trump’s threats expose the traitors in our midst

Among Canadians, nobody is more enthusiastic about abandoning their country to the United States than Conservative Albertans: a recent poll from...

10.01.2025 5

National Observer

Max Fawcett

The oil and gas sector will miss Justin Trudeau. No, really

At last, the long national nightmare for Canada’s oil and gas industry is over. It loves to pretend it’s been labouring under the yoke of green...

08.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

How Justin Trudeau lost Canada

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, Justin Trudeau has laid down more than his share of blacktop during his nine-plus years in...

07.01.2025 8

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Geothermal energy is one of those rare win-win solutions

It’s hard to be a climate optimist these days. With Trumpism ascendant in the United States, Pierre Poilievre well on his way to axing the carbon...

06.01.2025 10

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Life after Justin Trudeau for the Liberal Party of Canada

When Justin Trudeau took over as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 2013, his job was to rescue it from political oblivion. Two years...

24.12.2024 5

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Pierre Poilievre is setting himself up to fail

“The greatest happiness,” Genghis Khan famously said, “is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes,...

18.12.2024 6

National Observer

Max Fawcett

Chrystia Freeland just changed the game

Chrystia Freeland has only just begun to fight. That’s one of the many possible conclusions you can draw from her remarkable resignation letter. It...

16.12.2024 5

National Observer

Max Fawcett