John Paul Tasker
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Past articles by John:
Ottawa under pressure to tighten gun laws after swift action in New Zealand
New Zealand's prime minister has won praise from gun control advocates around the world for her fast work in tabling restrictions on firearms after the Christchurch mosque massacre. Now, Ottawa is under heavy pressure to follow her lead. → Read More
Key moments from Gerald Butts's SNC-Lavalin testimony
Gerald Butts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's former principal secretary, is challenging former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould's version of events on the SNC-Lavalin file as he speaks before the House of Commons justice committee in Ottawa. → Read More
NDP MP Nathan Cullen isn't running again
Longtime NDP MP Nathan Cullen, among the party's most high-profile parliamentarians, is not running in the next federal election. → Read More
Ottawa one step closer to building Trans Mountain expansion, but project foes vow to dig in
The federal Liberal government cleared another hurdle standing in the way of constructing a $7.4 billion expansion to the Trans Mountain pipeline system Friday, securing new regulatory approvals from the National Energy Board. → Read More
Gerald Butts resigns as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's principal secretary
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's top aide, Gerald Butts, has resigned as the leader's principal secretary, effective immediately. → Read More
Senators at odds over pitch to take proposed new environmental assessment law on the road
Some senators are pushing back against a Conservative proposal to take the Senate energy committee on the road as part of its study of the Liberal government's controversial overhaul of environmental assessment legislation — calling the travel pitch an unnecessary and costly exercise. → Read More
Trudeau dismisses calls to fire McCallum as envoy to China after eyebrow-raising comments
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Liberal government's focus is on securing the release of two Canadians arbitrarily detained in China, and he doesn't believe swapping out Canada's ambassador in Beijing after his eyebrow-raising comments about the Meng Wanzhou case will aid in that effort. → Read More
'Try it, you'll like it': Indigenous relations minister defends much-maligned Bill C-69
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett is calling for patience from oilpatch boosters who have sought to undermine the government's overhaul of environmental law — telling them to embrace better relations with Indigenous peoples or risk seeing even more energy projects held up by the courts. → Read More
Bad acoustics delaying opening of new temporary Senate chamber
The Senate sat for the last time in Centre Block for at least a decade Thursday — but its planned move to a temporary chamber not far from Parliament Hill has been delayed as engineers work to address sound problems with the new space. → Read More
Trudeau names four new senators — including a failed Liberal candidate
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has named four more people to the Senate, filling all its remaining vacancies. → Read More
Senate passes bill that would ban whale, dolphin captivity in Canada
After a multi-year legislative battle, a bill to outlaw keeping cetaceans like whales and dolphins in captivity has cleared the Senate — all but ensuring the end of a once-popular theme park attraction in Canada. → Read More
Cannabis and the border: what pot-smoking Canadians need to know
Each day, 400,000 Canadians cross the Canada-U.S. border. Beginning Oct. 17, more and more of those travellers could be forced to answer an uncomfortable question posed by wary American customs officers: Have you ever smoked pot? → Read More
Canada still short of police officers trained to spot drug-impaired drivers
The number of police officers trained to recognize drug-impaired drivers is lagging far behind the number that police chiefs said would be needed after cannabis is made legal for recreational use nationwide on Oct. 17. → Read More
'Yay!': How the Canadians won the argument that opened the door to a NAFTA deal
After months of what had been described as "continuous negotiations," a crucial breakthrough materialized Saturday — a major concession by the U.S. team that made it easier for the Canadians to get to 'yes' on a new trilateral trade deal. → Read More
Canada, U.S. have reached a NAFTA deal — now called the USMCA
After more than a year of fractious negotiations, Canada and the U.S. have reached a tentative new North American Free Trade Agreement. Leaving a late-night special cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said only that it was "a good day for Canada." → Read More
What gun owners need to know about Ottawa's new firearms bill
The Liberal government is poised to pass new firearms legislation — changes to the country's firearms regime that Ottawa says are "modest" but necessary reforms to help tamp down on the frequency of violent gun crime. Here's what is in Bill C-71. → Read More
'Nail in the coffin': Oilpatch boosters demand Ottawa overhaul 'terrible' Bill C-69
Proponents of Canada's energy sector are raising the alarm about Ottawa's move to overhaul the environmental assessment process for major resource projects — warning that Bill C-69 could devastate an industry already grappling with constrained pipeline capacity and depressed commodity prices. → Read More
Tories slam 'back door gun registry,' e-petition collects tens of thousands of signatures
Conservatives continued their crusade against the government's so-called 'common sense' firearms legislation Wednesday, tabling an e-petition signed by tens of thousands of Canadians who are calling on the government to abandon Bill C-71. → Read More
'There is a growing frustration': Top Republican slams Canada's NAFTA negotiating tactics
The third most senior Republican in Congress fired a shot across the bow of the government in Ottawa Tuesday urging Canadian negotiators to drop some of their hardball negotiating tactics or risk being left out of a new NAFTA entirely. → Read More
Liberals look to brand Andrew Scheer as 'Stephen Harper 2.0'
Liberal Party strategists have started their 2019 campaign preparations in earnest, focusing their energies on Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and their plan to aggressively brand him as "Stephen Harper 2.0" ahead of the next election. → Read More