@LMartinOtt

Globe and Mail Columnist since 2002. Author of 10 books (above). Was Washington and Moscow correspondent. McMaster, Harvard but mainly student of golf.

 Ottawa, Ontario
Joined July 2012
  • Tweets8.9K
  • Following704
  • Followers6.7K
39Media
Since Confederation in 1867 conservatives have been in power roughly one-third of the time. Was supposed to get better with Reform takeover. But since then it's one-quarter of the time (given Liberals' current mandate running till '29.)
JonMarchand@marchan690632h
Replying to @acoyne @LMartinOtt
The LPC has been in power for 72 out of the last 100 years. The country is where it's at because of the liberal voters that keep the party in power.
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Many thanks Howard. "Gimme a Crisis' will be on order today.
Howard Green@howardgreennews2h
Lawrence. See pp 223-226 of my latest book, “Gimme a Crisis: In the Room with Global Banker Rick Waugh”. Good story there. Best of luck with the book. Look forward to reading it. Howard
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But still better. Liberals' mandate runs to 2029. That means CPC in power just 9 of last 36.
Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩
@acoyne3h
Replying to @LMartinOtt
Well, they were only in power for 10 years in the 30 years before then.
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Which house really deserves that adjective? Norway's or his White House? politico.eu/article/donald-t…

Trump on Norway: ‘Shithouse country’

“What about me?” wonders U.S. president in a new blast at Oslo over the Nobel Peace Prize.

politico.eu
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Here's Friedman's AI column, which everyone in the Carney government should read, on artificial brains taking over the planet. nytimes.com/2026/10/25/opini…

Opinion | Thomas L. Friedman: We Just Set Off the Second Big Bang

Humanity is entering its most dangerous era yet.

nytimes.com
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Yep. A victory for "normal" Conservatives. Should give incentive for the normals at the federal level to move against the populist hard liners at the controls under Poilievre. theglobeandmail.com/canada/a…

Political hubris claims another victim – the NDP’s David Eby

Former Ontario premier David Peterson has gained some new company in the realm of snap election cautionary tales

theglobeandmail.com
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Since Manning and Harper’s Reform takeover of the Tory party in 1993, Conservatives have been in power only 9 years. That tells us what a disaster the move has been for them.
Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩
@acoyneOct 24
According to Preston the entire West should have already separated by now.
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Thanks John. Go for number 10! This will be my 11th. Eight on history and politics. Three on sports.
John Boyko@JohnwboykoOct 25
Replying to @LMartinOtt
Good on you for taking on another book. My 9th was published in June and I’m wondering whether a 10th is worth it.
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Trump has turned "the White House Rose Garden into what looks Liberace's bathroom." Bill Clinton.
Democratic Wins Media
@DemocraticWinsOct 24
BREAKING: In an amazing and rare political moment, Bill Clinton in one fell swoop, just humiliated Donald Trump for turning the White House Rose Garden into what looks like Liberace's bathroom and hammering Congressional Republicans for allowing it. This is amazing.
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Am researching book on the life of the PM. "The Making of Mark Carney." Anyone got any Carney anecdotes they'd like to share? Or tips on possible interview sources or story lines? If so much appreciated. I'm at [email protected].
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More madness. nytimes.com/2026/10/24/clima…

How Trump Gave the Worst Polluters a Free Pass

The president temporarily waived clean-air rules for industrial facilities that spew cancer-causing gases. Then his appointees worked to gut the regulations altogether.

nytimes.com
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Well said here. In the course of research for a biography I'm doing on Carney I find he was indeed "firmly titled toward Europe in any event." @sproudfoot.bluesky.social theglobeandmail.com/politics…

Opinion: Carney’s drive to make Canada a European cousin encounters a messy reality

Canada and the EU may be terrific friends with many shared interests and values but the fact remains that the most urgent issues for each are not the same

theglobeandmail.com
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Not by the ad, but by those who objected to it.
National Newswatch
@natnewswatchOct 21
Vance says he's 'disgusted' by GOP pushback to Ramaswamy ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother nationalnewswatch.com/2026/1…

Vance says he's 'disgusted' by GOP pushback to Ramaswamy ad featuring…

National Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views.

nationalnewswatch.com
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Former deputy prime minister John Manley tells it like it is. He says U.S. Ambassador Hoekstra is spewing nonsense.
Scott Robertson
@sarobertson_Oct 22
John Manley on U.S. allegations of election meddling by Canada: "My first reaction when I saw the document that was put out by the U.S. Embassy was, surely the ambassador, Mr. Hoekstra, has something better to do than come up with this nonsense."
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Did the media get conned into making a huge deal of this referendum? One which showed that there's still a substantial minority of malcontents in Alberta - as there always been. theglobeandmail.com/opinion/…

Opinion: Canada mercifully escapes the hard right’s rage

While nationalists and reactionaries are on the march around the world, the Alberta separatist movement’s sound defeat is another signal that Canada is defying the trend lines

theglobeandmail.com
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Someone called the whole referendum exercise a nothingburger. And I suppose you can make that case. Alberta has always had a minority of malcontents prepared to leave. As this week's vote showed, nothing has changed. It still does.
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The separatists, as I say in column this morning, had as little chance of winning the referendum vote as Eddie the Eagle of winning the ski jump gold at the Calgary Olympics. There should be no gloating from the federal side.
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Does anyone think the results on immigration questions on the Alberta ballot would be as they are if the questions had included the information that the Carney government is strongly cutting back on immigration?
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By giving the referendum campaign such major coverage when the Alberta separatists, as all polls showed, had zero chance of winning, I think the national media gave them more credibility than warranted.
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The giant media headlines make it sound like the referendum outcome was somehow in doubt. It wasn’t. Virtually every poll predicted a huge landslide win for the remain side. And that’s what happened.
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