Blog Posts by Andy Radia

Screen grab from justinoverhishead.caJustin Trudeau has had a lot of people — especially in the media — come to his defence over the past couple of weeks about those darn negative attack ads.

Well, now his mom his coming to his defence.

[ Related: Tories release first attack ads against Justin Trudeau: “He’s in way over his head” ]

According to an article published at northbaynipissing.com, Margaret Trudeau spoke about the ads at a recent speaking engagement for mental health awareness.

“...someone is bullying my Justin and that makes me mad,” she said to rousing applause from the packed audience at the Capitol Centre.

“We have to get rid of bullying in politics,” Trudeau said, “ and focus on what we can do for each other.”

Unable to resist a small jab in her son’s defense, she pointed to footage in the TV ads of Justin removing his shirt during a fundraising event.

“If Stephen Harper took off his shirt in public, I’m not sure he’d raise any money for charity,” Trudeau quipped.

The full article can be read here.

[ Related: Are

A lot of us will remember the Alberta provincial election in 2012: Just days before voters cast their ballots, pollsters told us that Danielle Smith's Wildrose Party were poised to form government.

Something happened on the way to the victory party — Albertans changed their minds and decided to give Alison Redford and her Progressive Conservatives a convincing majority.

Are we seeing the same thing happening in B.C.?

According to a Forum Research poll, conducted after Monday night’s leaders debate, Christy Clark's Liberal Party is now within four points of Adrian Dix's NDP.

Q: If a provincial election were held today, which party are you most likely to vote for?

A: NDP: 39 per cent; Liberal: 35 per cent; Green: 12 per cent; Conservative: 9 per cent

No, this isn't a Liberal Party sponsored ad, like the one we saw on the front page of a well-read Vancouver newspaper on Wednesday.

But could it actually be true?

Could the Liberals be in the midst of an epic comeback — just two weeks ago, polls

Stephen Harper celebrates on election night 2011May 2nd marks the two year anniversary of the Harper government’s current mandate.

Two years have passed since the Tories won the election that allowed them to break away from the shackles of a minority and implement their agenda unfettered.

It's been a tumultuous time: Like all governments, they've had their share of successes and controversies. They've been praised for their handling of the economy, while taking a lot of criticism for shutting down debate and for their record on the environment.

[Related: Harper celebrates 54th birthday: If you could give the PM 54 of anything, what would it be? ]

We went to our expert political panel to get their thoughts on the first two years. We asked them to identify the good, the bad and the ugly of the Harper majority government.

Here are their responses:

Warren Kinsella, Liberal insider and Sun News Network political analyst:

The good? Harper made good on his promise on womens' reproductive choice - to the shock of people like me. He said he

CBC President Hubert LacroixAs is becoming the norm, there's a surprise in the Harper government's new budget bill introduced earlier this week.

As explained by the Globe and Mail, Bill C-60 will give Cabinet the "explicit power to give Crown corporations orders as to how they should negotiate with employees, both unionized and non-unionized."

The Bill affects all crown corporations under the auspices of the federal government but, today at least, it's the supporters of the CBC who are voicing their concerns.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting — an independent watchdog for Canadian programming, radio, TV and new media — believes the bill takes direct aim at the independence of the Corporation.

"CBC is not just another crown corporation. The financial decision-making the government plans to take over will affect CBC's editorial independence," Ian Morrison, spokesperson for the group said in a statement.

"If this Bill becomes law, the government will have one more lever to control what the CBC does, the programs it

BC NDP leader Adrian DixAnother day in the B.C. election campaign, another 'bozo comment' from the past comes back to haunt a candidate.

This time, however, the candidate, isn't being fired.

According to the Vancouver Sun the NDP is standing by Korean-born Jane Shin — who is running in the Vancouver-area riding of Burnaby Lougheed — for calling Chinese people "chinkasauruses" in an online gaming forum 11 years ago when she was 21.

"I’ll use myself as an example. If I made those comments today, I should be fired," veteran NDP MLA Jenny Kwan told the Sun in Shin's defence.

"Jane made those comments in the context of a gaming forum 11 years ago and I think today she has matured. She is a sincere, respectful person. She oozes respect when you talk to her."

[ Related: Ousted B.C. Conservative candidate says he won’t be ‘bull’-ied ]

At first glance, the move not to fire Shin appears "hypocritical."

Two weeks ago, at the start of the campaign, the NDP fired candidate Dayleen Van Ryswyk after it was discovered that she had

Ontario PC leader Tim HudakThursday is the official 'budget day' in the Province of Ontario.

Going against the norm, however, Premier Kathleen Wynne has already shared some of the details: As explained by the Toronto Star, we can expect the budget to include a $260-million investment in home care, a 15 per cent cut to auto insurance rates, new funding for northern roads and bridges and some sort of social assistance reform.

Regardless of what's in it, Tim Hudak's PCs aren't going to support it.

[ Related: Oakville power plant closure will cost Ontario taxpayers $310M ]

In an interview with Yahoo! Canada News earlier this week, Tory Finance Critic Peter Shurman said he can say "with a high degree of confidence" that his party will not vote in favour of the budget.

"It doesn't matter what it is," he said.

"There's not been a budget in my six years here...that really ever materialized in terms of what it espouses do. The deficit is never the deficit, the spending that's meant to stimulate for example job growth, never

Prince William is Canada's favourite Royal according to a new poll.The excitement over Will and Kate's wedding, the 2011 Royal visit and the Queen's Diamond Jubillee celebrations seems to be fading in Canada.

According to a new poll — released on Tuesday by Angus Reid — 40 per cent of Canadians would rather have an elected head of state compared to only 28 per cent who would like to keep the monarchy as is.

"This is the second highest level of support for an elected head of state since Angus Reid Public Opinion began tracking this question in October 2009," notes the survey report.

The poll also suggests that Prince William is a lot more popular than his father Prince Charles: 47 per cent of those surveyed would like to see William take over for Queen Elizabeth versus only 18 per cent who want to see Charles as King.

It's become an ongoing debate in Canada.

Other commonwealth countries have already recognized that having a ceremonial monarch does nothing significant for their country’s pride and nationalism. In recent years, Australia, New Zealand, and

The Ontario Power Authority said that the Liberal government's decision to cancel the Oakville powerplant, prior to the 2011 election, will cost taxpayers $310 million.$565 million.

That's one whopping gas bill.

On Tuesday — as part of a legislative committee investigating the gas plant closures -- the Ontario Power Authority said that the Liberal government's decision to cancel the Oakville powerplant, prior to the 2011 election, will cost taxpayers $310 million — almost 8 times more than the figure the Liberals were touting.

[ Related: Ontario Liberals to announce budget on May 2 ]

That's in addition to the $275 million to government spent to scrap and move a generating station from Mississauga to Sarnia.

If you're keeping score at home, the total damage to Ontario taxpayer pocketbooks is over half a billion dollars.

Cue the outrage.

As explained by the Toronto Star, Premier Kathleen Wynne has already acknowledged that the plant cancellations were “politically motivated” and were meant to save Liberal seats in the 2011 election.

But on Tuesday afternoon, Wynne — who served as the Liberal's campaign co-chair in the 2011 campaign — told the committee, while