Friday, November 6, 2026
The Niagara Independent
Friday, November 6, 2026

Joan Tintor

Columnist
National

Contrition just another costume for Trudeau

One of the sidebars from Justin Trudeau’s most egregious self-embarrassment (so far) included this telling scene on the Liberal campaign’s media bus – just before Time magazine released the first of three photos showing Trudeau in costume and dark makeup – described by Teresa Wright of the Canadian Press: The journalists covering the Liberal leader’s re-election bid were heading away from a rally at a candidate’s campaign office in Truro, N.S., where a crowd of supporters and fans had done what they’d been doing all week: waiting and waiting for the leader to arrive before swarming him for selfies, cellphones at the ready.

Joan Tintor
National

The Bidding War Begins

The way the federal party leaders are promising new programs and tax cuts, you would never guess the federal government is running a $15-billion deficit this year, and is approaching $700 billion in debt (according to the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation debt clock). And we are not even a full week into the campaign. There are 33 more days ahead for leaders to promise to help you with buying a house, having a baby, child care, health care, university, retirement, and so on. If you’re my age and are only slightly worried that you will still be alive when this Ponzi scheme collapses, it’s not so bad. For younger people it should be pretty alarming, though many of them seem preoccupied with climate change and Doug Ford.

Joan Tintor
National

Media campaign against Scheer

Just over two weeks ago, public safety minister Ralph Goodale tweeted a 2005 video of Andrew Scheer debating same sex marriage in the House of Commons. It was a coordinated Liberal campaign attack, as it appeared simultaneously in English and French on no-parlez-francais Goodale’s Twitter feed. Dropping the video was also an obvious attempt to change the channel from a fresh and devastating report from the ethics commissioner, who ruled that Justin Trudeau had violated ethics rules (for the second time) in attempting to secure a deferred prosecution for Quebec-based SNC-Lavalin.

Joan Tintor
National

Singh struggles to the starting line

The election call is expected sometime this week or next, leaving little time for the major parties to get their major election readiness pieces in order. These include things such as: nominating candidates in every riding (and managers and financial officers), the policy platform, the leader’s tour, the advertising campaign, the rapid response operation, and (last but not least) cash or credit to pay for all of the foregoing. According to CTV, the Conservatives are in the lead on nominations, with candidates in 333 of 338 ridings. Max Bernier’s People’s Party is next with 315, the Greens have 284, and the Liberals 275. Going into the Labour Day weekend, the NDP had nominated candidates in barely half of all ridings, just 179.

Joan Tintor
National

Liberals choose bravado

The campaign is not officially on yet, but both the Liberals and Conservatives have revealed the catchphrases they want voters to remember in the weeks ahead and when they cast their votes in October. Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives have apparently chosen “It’s time for you to get ahead,” or, as they present it in print: “It’s time for you to get ahead” (emphasis on the ‘you’). Anyone paying attention to advertising or self-help books in the last five years or so will recognize the naked appeal to the customer/voter by using the word ‘you.’

Joan Tintor
National

Rules can never replace personal integrity

Much has been made of Justin Trudeau’s refusal to apologize for violating ethics rules – for the second time – when he and his office pressured then-attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to engineer a deferred prosecution for engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, after the independent crown prosecutor had decided not to offer them one. “The authority of the prime minister and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions as well as the authority of Ms. Wilson‑Raybould as the Crown’s chief law officer,” was ethics commissioner Mario Dion’s devastating conclusion.

Joan Tintor
National

China has ticked off a polite nation

Well, China did warn us that they were going to become a world leader in every field. Their latest achievement is burning down their own reputation with the world’s nicest people, Canadians. Over the weekend, the Globe and Mail published the results of a Nanos poll showing that nine in ten Canadians have a negative or somewhat negative impression of China’s government and its leader, President Xi Jinping. From the article: “Significantly both the intensity and scope of negative views are on the rise among Canadians. The brand of the Chinese government has effectively been negatively hammered,” pollster Nik Nanos said in an interview.

Joan Tintor
National

Trudeau is the buzz saw

“We walked into a buzz saw — (Narendra) Modi and his government were out to screw us and were throwing tacks under our tires to help Canadian conservatives, who did a good job of embarrassing us.” Just when memories of Justin Trudeau’s disastrous tour of India had faded from memory – just in time for this fall’s election – the above assessment from top Trudeau adviser Gerald Butts landed on the National Post’s front page, like a Facebook memory of a vacation with an ex-boyfriend.

Joan Tintor
National

Flood of unskilled foreign workers breaks another Liberal promise

“We will grow the middle class, and we will help those working hard to join the middle class do so.” – Liberal campaign platform 2015 This was the promise that was repeated ad nauseam during the Liberals’ successful election campaign in 2015, and then again and again by their ministers and MPs while in power. And who but the most cynical voter could resist such an appeal?

Joan Tintor
National

Liberals speak volumes by whom they try to silence

On Wednesday, the Globe and Mail broke the story that Justin Trudeau’s staff asked a former ambassador to China to watch what he says about China, because The Election: The Prime Minister’s Office asked former Canadian diplomat David Mulroney to check with the foreign affairs ministry before he makes future public statements on Ottawa’s China policy, citing the “election environment,” the ex-envoy says. The request came in a telephone call from a senior Global Affairs Canada official last Friday.

Joan Tintor