In one of his first acts of office, U.S. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order that effectively kills the Keystone XL pipeline project.

The order states that the pipeline “disserves the U.S. national interest” and that approving it would be inconsistent with his campaign climate pledges.

Kenney calls the Keystone XL decision a ‘gut punch’ — but it’s one that’s been telegraphed for months. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Todd Korol

The project, first announced in 2005, would have carried 830,000 barrels of crude a day from the oilsands in Alberta to Nebraska and connected with the original Keystone pipeline that runs to Gulf Coast refineries.

"I really don't think that this works out to be a major, significant change to American oil supply right now," said Warren Mabee, director of Queen's University's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy. 

In its treatment of old people Canada is an “international outlier”, says a recent report by Queen’s University’s School of Policy Studies. Canada spends less than most rich countries on long-term care: 1.3% of gdp (including the cost of compulsory insurance) compared with 1.7% on average by members of the oecd. That money is skewed towards institutions such as Tendercare Living rather than towards helping people remain in their own houses. In Canada 42% of people over 80 who need constant care are in institutions, compared with an oecd average of 30%.

It’s an issue that cannot wait: how do we deal with the pressing challenges of an aging of society and avoid the looming fiscal costs and social failure that we face unless we get serious.  

In the pantheon of bad government appointments, Julie Payette – who last week resigned as governor general, owing to findings that she engaged in what amounts to workplace harassment at Rideau Hall – ranks near the top.

Choosing a governor general – or more precisely, recommending to the Queen a suitable representative for the Crown in Canada – is not among the most difficult tasks of a prime minister. The main challenge arises in selecting among a wide range of worthy candidates.

Which leads to the question, what are the core qualifications for governor general?

Opposition members on Thursday accused the Liberal government of blatant partisan manoeuvring when it prorogued Parliament last summer, in what one MP said showed a “toxic disdain for democracy” by the prime minister.

Liberal, Conservative and NDP members of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs debated whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was justified in his decision to shut down Parliament for five weeks this summer, just as his government was reeling from the WE scandal.