Parliament AIIndependent · non-official
All columnists

Toronto Star

Mark McQueen

Publishing · On our record since 2024

Where this writer stands

Public safety3 pieces

Prevention and restraintEnforcement and sentencing
“If law enforcement had made an example of one or two bad actors some years ago, shady business types would have no reason to think wage theft was a crime with no real consequences.” Read the piece

Energy3 pieces

Restrict new oil and gasExpand production and export
“The deal could require the winning bidder(s) to put down a deposit of $100 billion now; Canada could use this money to build two pipelines east to the Atlantic and two west to the Pacific, plus the LNG plants necessary to get this energy to international markets.” Read the piece

Trade3 pieces

Diversify away from one partnerDeeper continental integration
“In true New York City real estate style, Canada could use next week's global investment summit in Toronto to announce plans to sell that $137 billion per year worth of oil and gas exports to someone else, starting in 2036.” Read the piece

Defence1 piece

Restrain spending and deploymentsHigher spending and more capability
“The first sign that the Carney government understood the challenge could be seen in last year's decision to dramatically increase pay for members of the Canadian Armed Forces.” Read the piece

Climate1 piece

Faster fossil phase-downSlower phase-down, production first
“To secure Carney's signature, Alberta agreed to raise that same industrial carbon tax even further over the next few years.” Read the piece

Fiscal policy1 piece

Higher taxes and public spendingLower taxes and tighter spending
“Canadians have no extra "wealth" to invest. Our governments are already carrying $2.5 trillion of public debt, leaving us to borrow even more on the global bond market in the hopes of making some coin on a start-up copper play.” Read the piece

Financial regulation1 piece

Tighter prudential rulesLighter capital rules and more competition
“the role of government is to create the "conditions under which" businesses can succeed. That's it.” Read the piece

Federalism1 piece

Ottawa leadsProvinces lead
“Carney should ignore its hypocrisy to the extent our Constitution allows.” Read the piece

Only opinion columns and editorials are scored. Each piece is read twice by a language model, which records the author's own stance on a policy topic only where the piece argues one, with a quote that must appear in the piece. An author's position on a topic is the average of their pieces, weighted by the model's confidence. News reporting is listed but never scored.

Recent work