Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Don Newman
For Carney, Now Comes the Hard Part of Policy Meeting Politics
By Don Newman September 30, 2026 For Prime Minister Mark Carney, yesterday was the sort of day he might look back on fondly from the other side of his political honeymoon. As he stood in Vancouver and announced that LNG Canada is moving forward with its $33 billion Phase 2 expansion project in Kitimat, B.C., Carney’s approval rating had just hit a new high of 62 per cent.
For Carney, Now Comes the Hard Part of Policy Meeting Politics
For Carney, Now Comes the Hard Part of Policy Meeting Politics For Prime Minister Mark Carney, yesterday was the sort of day he might look back on fondly from the other side of his political honeymoon. As he stood in Vancouver and announced that LNG Canada is moving forward with its $33 billion Phase 2 expansion project in Kitimat, B.C., Carney’s approval rating had just hit a new high of 62 per cent.
As Parliament Returns, Carney is in the Hot Seat but the Pressure is on Poilievre
By Don Newman September 19, 2026 Over the summer of 2026, the annual escape from the daily battleground of question period overwhelmingly benefited Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney used his summer vacation from the House of Commons to burnish his economic credibility with Canadians through infrastructure announcements, boost his global currency by standing up to Donald Trump on trade, and renew his parliamentary majority via three by-election wins.
From Foreign Investment to the EU: Mark Carney’s High-Stakes Week Ahead
By Don Newman September 12, 2026 The next week may be the most significant yet for Mark Carney’s government. It will be defined by two events that fall into that new category of Canadian politics known as “classic Carney”, and the success or failure of one or both could determine the future of his government and of this country. The first is the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto on Monday and Tuesday, and the second is Carney’s European Union trip to Strasbourg on Wednesday and Thursday.
Mark Carney’s Delegation Deficit
By Don Newman August 3, 2026 Since he was elected Liberal Party leader in March of 2025 Mark Carney has been the party’s greatest asset. He immediately turned the party fortunes around by presenting as the best possible option for standing up to Donald Trump’s economic war and annexation threats in 2025, erased a 20-point public opinion deficit, and led the Liberals to victory in an election which, weeks earlier, had seemed a one-way ticket to the political wilderness.
Getting Real About Trump’s Trade War
By Don Newman July 27, 2026 There are a lot of unrealistic Canadians. They’re the ones hoping that the 30-day reprieve before Donald Trump imposes new 50% tariffs on a variety of imports from our country to the United States somehow represents an opportunity to press for a new Canada-US-Mexico agreement (CUSMA). Not a chance.
The Carney Economic Agenda Meets First-Nations Friction
By Don Newman July 19, 2026 Two recent developments have exposed weaknesses in relations between Indigenous communities and the rest of Canada that could derail the Carney government’s infrastructure, energy, and growth agendas as well as progress towards reconciliation. Last Tuesday, it was announced that five First Nations in British Columbia have agreed to pay up to one billion dollars for a majority equity position in a massive storage tank near Kitimat.
En Route to NATO, Carney Doubles Down on NATO
By Don Newman July 6, 2026 While the Carney government bills itself as Canada’s “new government”, it has gone with the conventional choice in selecting a German-Norwegian consortium to supply and maintain up to 12 new submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP).
Separation Summer? Carney’s Real Test May be FDI Fall
By Don Newman June 27, 2026 As we approach the Canada Day launch of summer, much of the attention on Prime Minister Mark Carney and the challenges facing his government is focused on the fate of the CUSMA trade deal and Alberta’s future.
Welcome to the Political Needle-Threading Chapter of the Alberta Referendum Debate
By Don Newman June 15, 2026 As the October Alberta referendum looms closer, politicians representing the province are discovering the joys of needle threading. The most vivid example was Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s June 8th Calgary speech, in which the Alberta born-and-raised, more recently Alberta-elected MP, presented an argument to the province’s separatists for remaining in Canada.
Why not Both? A Possible Way Out of Canada’s Procurement Dilemmas
By Don Newman June 5, 2026 As Canada seeks to rearm and move to a modern, effective military capable of defending this country and meeting its treaty obligations to allies, the procurement choices underway by the Carney government will have implications far beyond the type of submarines and jet fighters necessary to meet those goals. The government is committed to buying new jet fighters to replace the aging fleet of CF 18s that have been flying since the 1980s.
Has Danielle Smith Squared the Circle?
By Don Newman May 23, 2026 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has found a new way to avoid putting a direct question about leaving Canada on a referendum ballot this fall. Instead, Albertans will be asked to cast a ballot on whether they want to remain as a province of Canada or have the provincial government start the process toward a binding independence referendum.
After a Year of Carney, the Conservatives are Biding Their Time
By Don Newman May 12, 2026 On the recent anniversary of the April 2025 election that confirmed Mark Carney and the Liberals as Canada’s government, there were many analyses offered on what the year had achieved and what the next one might hold. But few people took a closer look at what the first year of Carney’s tenure has meant to the Official Opposition, the Conservative Party, and its leader, Pierre Poilievre.
With a Little Help from his Friends: Mark Carney’s New Trade Committee
By Don Newman April 25, 2026 In the classic Canadian tradition of diffusing the pain by enlarging the official target field, Prime Minister Mark Carney this week unveiled a 24-member Advisory Committee on Canada-US Economic Relations to buttress his negotiating team heading into the looming CUSMA review with the United States and Mexico.
PSD Bank Rhein-Ruhr eG
Amrize Shareholders Approve All Proposals at 2026 Annual General Meeting Amrize Ltd / Key word(s): AGMEGM Amrize Shareholders Approve All Proposals at 2026 Annual General Meeting 21.04.2026 / 22:15 CET/CEST _____________________________________________________________ CHICAGO/ZUG, Switzerland April 21, 2026 - Amrize (AMRZ) shareholders approved all proposals at the company's first Annual General Meeting today.
Carney’s Majority has Changed the Game, Including for Poilievre
By Don Newman April 17, 2026 The newly cobbled together majority government in the House of Commons has given the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Mark Carney more time and more leeway to peruse its far-reaching, extremely expensive “Build Canada” agenda. But the new alignment in the Commons has also changed the calculations of at least two of the three opposition parties.
If this Keeps Up, Carney Could be Headed for a National Unity Government
By Don Newman April 10, 2026 Politicians who worry that the newest Conservative convert to Mark Carney’s Liberals will hold right-wing policy views that are incompatible with the government’s social policy positions have not yet recognized what’s going on.
The Carney Government and Alberta’s Quest for a New Pipeline
By Don Newman March 21, 2026 Sometime during the evening of April 13th, Mark Carney will quite likely find out that his majority in the House of Commons is secure. The results of the upcoming federal by-elections in University-Rosedale and Scarborough West in Toronto will confirm that. If, a few hours later, a Liberal victory in the Montreal-adjacent riding of Terrebonne is also confirmed, that will be the icing on the cake.
The New Poilievre: Further from Trump, Closer to Carney
By Don Newman February 28, 2026 Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tried to get back in the game this past week. Poilievre did that with a speech in Toronto on Thursday that actually mentioned President Donald Trump by name. More notably, he mentioned Trump in a critical way.
Carney's Shift of Canada's Defence Centre of Gravity
By Don Newman February 17, 2026 Prime Minister Mark Carney revealed his government’s Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) Tuesday, including plans to spend more than 6 billion additional dollars transforming the Canadian Armed Forces into a modern self-sufficient military force. Carney said the plan’s primary role will be to defend Canada and Canadian sovereignty.
Danielle Smith is Playing with Fire
By Don Newman February 5, 2026 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is playing with fire. Depending on what happens in the next few months, that fire could consume Smith, her Alberta United Conservative Party government, the province of Alberta, and Canada as we know it today. As premier of Alberta, Smith is trying to play the dangerous game of appeasing the separatist movement in the province while saying she wants Alberta to remain in Canada.
Poilievre's Conservative Leadership is Now Secure, for Better or Worse
By Don Newman January 31, 2026 After the year Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had in 2025, — which started with victory in the air and within months turned to ashes — 2026 has begun on a high. Friday night at the Conservative Party convention in Calgary, where a required leadership review was held to enable the removal of the party leader following an election loss, Poilievre was confirmed in his job by more than 87% of the delegates in attendance.
Will Poilievre's Calgary Victory be Pyrrhic for the Party?
By Don Newman January 28, 2025 While we prognosticators are always cautioned to be wary of absolute, unqualified predictions in politics — especially in this era of “anything’s possible” — it is as safe as it can possibly be to say at this writing that Pierre Poilievre will be confirmed as leader of the Conservative Party at its convention in Calgary later this week. Poilievre will be confirmed by a large enough majority to quell any dissent surrounding his continuing in the job.
The Carney Doctrine
By Don Newman January 20, 2026 In Davos on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered the most important foreign policy speech by a Canadian politician since Lester Pearson proposed the first United Nations Peacekeeping force at the UN in November of 1956. Seventy years ago, Pearson proposed a formula for bringing the Suez crisis between Egypt, France and Great Britain to an end. It won him that year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Carney chose the annual World Economic Forum for his address.
The New Urgency of Mark Carney's Minority Math Problem
By Don Newman January 17, 2026 Before the House of Commons holiday break, it seemed as though it was just a matter of time before Mark Carney’s Liberals would slip into a majority in the House of Commons. Now, as MPs prepare to return to their seats on January 26th, as Pierre Poilievre braces for the hurdle of his end-of-January leadership review in Calgary, and as the NDP prepare to elect a new leader in Winnipeg at the end of March, Carney’s calculus may take on more urgency.
The 2026 Political Look-Ahead: More of the Same
By Don Newman December 17, 2025 Canada is still adjusting to the dramatic political changes that affected the country in 2025. The coming year will likely include the same kind of disruptions both at home and elsewhere that will shake the political firmament in 2026. The dramatic comeback of the Liberal Party this past year and its victory in the April general election stood the political landscape on its head.
Trump's NSS: A Warning to the World, a Threat to Canada
By Don Newman December 9, 2025 Anyone who thought negotiating a productive new Canada-United States trade deal with the Trump administration was in the offing will have been thoroughly disabused of that idea after reading the National Security Strategy (NSS) released late last week in Washington. The NSS — the production of which from the executive branch is mandated by federal law — is also, in this case, the Trump administration’s outline of how it wants the world to be.
The Leftward Tilt of Carney's Casualty Count
By Don Newman December 1, 2025 They were among the few long faces at last Saturday evening’s annual Press Gallery Dinner. Stephen Guilbeault looked as though he had just lost his best friend. Green Party Elizabeth May looked as though she would break into tears.
Could Trading Tariff Relief for F-35s be an Offer Trump Can't Refuse?
By Don Newman November 24, 2025 While Prime Minister Mark Carney’s response of “Who cares?” when asked Monday about the last time he spoke with Donald Trump could have been either genuine or tactical indifference, there’s no question that Trump really does care. Canada’s review of the contract to buy 88 F-35 fighter jets from the mammoth American defence contractor Lockheed-Martin is clearly annoying Trump.
How Pierre Poilievre Just Avoided an Election, and Why he Wanted to
By Don Newman November 18, 2025 Pierre Poilievre didn’t want an election, and he knew that Monday night’s vote in the House of Commons on the Carney government’s first budget would be close. But the numbers that really mattered to the man doing the counting had more to do with voters outside than inside the House of Commons. When any minority government loses a vote of confidence, an election is almost certainly triggered.
Ottawa's Incomplete Major Projects List
By Don Newman November 14, 2025 Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement Thursday of seven more projects to be referred to the Major Projects Office was much like his first announcement of projects in September. It was underwhelming. It’s not easy to be underwhelming when you’re announcing projects deemed to be “nation-building,” and worth billions of dollars if they were all approved.
The Conservative Party's Problem is Bigger than Poilievre
By Don Newman November 7, 2025 A defection to the Liberals and a controversial resignation from the Conservative caucus in the House of Commons have increased the pressure on party leader Pierre Poilievre as he faces a vote in January on his continued leadership of the party. Unless there is an unlikely crumbling of support for him in the Parliamentary caucus, Poilievre will win his leadership vote. However, the size of the victory will tell how crippled his leadership has become.
In an Economic War, a Budget Both Weapon and Target
By Don Newman November 5, 2025 The Carney government has acted as promised, presenting a budget that will change the way both the federal and provincial governments operate in Canada and boosting private-sector economic opportunities. What is not certain is that it will protect Canada from the devastating, capricious tariffs that President Donald Trump has imposed on the country and could add to or increase in the future.
The Political Peril Facing the Carney Budget
By Don Newman October 31, 2025 On November 4th, we will find out more details of the Carney government’s plans to develop the Canadian economy with less reliance on the United States and more independence and sovereignty for the country.
Budget 2025: Mark Carney Needs an 'Ask Not' Moment
By Don Newman October 24. 2025 With the federal budget 10 days away, the Prime Minister has been walking two paths at the same time. One path is the traditional path of announcements. The other is the path of trying to get Canadians to realize that the November 4th budget will tell the hard truths about the country and the policy shifts and sacrifices that everyone will have to make. Carney was on both paths this past week.
Trade Politics in a Time of Coercion
By Don Newman October 10, 2025 No one should be surprised that Donald Trump and his punishing tariffs on Canadian exports to the United States are creating dilemmas for both of our country’s major political parties.
Brian Stewart's 'On the Ground': The Power of Observation
|In Featured Review, Policy Special On the Ground: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent By Brian Stewart Simon & Schuster, September 2025/352 pages Reviewed by Don Newman October 5, 2025 Almost from its inception, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was known for the exceptional calibre of its foreign correspondents. Matthew Halton and Peter Stursberg during the Second World War; Knowlton Nash and James M.
Is 2028 the Endgame of Trump's Rampage?
By Don Newman October 3, 2025 I am hereby making a bold prediction: There will be no 2028 presidential election in the United States. The Constitution of the country calls for one, the electoral system is gearing up and ready for one, and politicians in both the Republican and the Democratic parties are preparing to hold multimillion-dollar political extravaganzas that will last almost two years as they fight for power.
The Federal Budget Countdown is On
By Don Newman September 26, 2025 The federal budget countdown is on. November 4th is the date the Carney Liberal government will pull back the curtain on Canada’s finances and its plans for navigating the country through the economic wreckage created by the punishing and possibly illegal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne will present his budget to the House of Commons after the markets close on the first Tuesday in November.
The Poilievre-Carney Showdown that Wasn't
By Don Newman September 18, 2025 I thought it might be interesting. That’s why this week I made one of my rare appearances in the Parliamentary Press Gallery of which I am a lifetime member for the opening session of the fall sitting of Parliament and the much-touted question period face-off between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Parliament Returns to Face the Tests of a Grown-Up Country
By Don Newman September 12, 2025 Now is the time we’ll find out whether Canadians are grown-ups, and Canada is a grown-up country. Parliament returns on September 13th for its fall sitting, which feels like the real launch of the session that began with the throne speech from King Charles in May, with Prime Minister Mark Carney now facing Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre in the House.
As the Promise of CUSMA Fades, Carney Turns to Europe
By Don Newman August 29, 2025 We have to face facts. While Canadian government officials are working to prepare for the review and possible renegotiation of the CUSMA — the Canada United States Mexico free trade agreement that governs and provides for free trade among the three nations — much of that preparation may well be a waste of time.
Donald Trump's Siege of Washington
By Don Newman August 14, 2025 The decision by President Donald Trump to federalize law enforcement in Washington D.C. has serious implications far beyond his already worrying expansions and abuses of presidential power.
Consultation Summer: Is Mark Carney Closing the C-5 Gap with Indigenous Groups?
By Don Newman August 9, 2025 The Carney government’s promise to speedily build infrastructure and other projects in the “national interest” per the provisions of the One Canadian Economy Act is running into the predictable opposition and potential delays.
Canada's Trump-Tariff Summer and the August 1st Non-Surprise
By Don Newman August 1, 2025 Why is anyone surprised? Did anyone really think Donald Trump was going to agree to a deal that would reduce tariffs already in place on Canadian exports to the United States? Apparently so.
Pierre Poilievre's Fate is Now a Numbers Game - Policy Magazine
By Don Newman July 16, 2025 Two-and-a-half months after a federal election that made him the third consecutive Tory leader in a decade to lose to the Liberals, Pierre Poilievre’s leadership of the Conservative Party is now a numbers game: His vote percentage in a byelection, his support in a 2026 leadership review and his polling numbers at the beginning of next year, ahead of that review, will determine his future. At the moment, Poilievre’s numbers, according to a recent Research co.
Danielle Smith, Doug Ford, and Mark Carney's Consultation Summer
By Don Newman July 8, 2025 While the premiers of Ontario and Alberta have overcome their differences over how to deal with the threatening tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on Canada, their newfound harmony won’t necessarily be contagious this summer. As Prime Minister Mark Carney implements the changes enabled by the One Canadian Economy Act, some differences may be more difficult to finesse.
To Dome or Not to Dome?
By Don Newman May 23, 2025 The backlash to the news that Canada is in talks with Washington to participate in a space-based missile defence system designed to protect North America is an early warning to the Carney government on how difficult it will be to make substantive changes in a large number of areas promised in the recent election campaign.
From Rollout to Pileup: The Week that Was for the Carney Cabinet
By Don Newman May 15, 2025 For an action-oriented new government about to reinvent the Canadian economy, find new trade and defence partners and withstand the onslaught of President Donald Trump and his tariffs and territorial ambitions, this week was not an auspicious beginning. Instead of appearing as a crack, recently elected team of men and women ready to redefine Canada, the first meeting of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet looked more like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.
The Battles Ahead for Pierre Poilievre
By Don Newman May 8, 2025 Pierre Poilievre has moved quickly to consolidate his leadership of the Conservative Party in the wake of its disappointing loss in the April 28th general election and his own stunning personal loss of the suburban Ottawa riding of Carleton, which he had held for 20 years.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Don
Contact Don, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack