Five newsmakers to watch in 2014: Hébert
1. Kathleen Wynne: Until premier Wynne talked about running her first election campaign on a made-in-Ontario pension plan she was third on my list.
2. Pauline Marois: It is no secret that the premier is looking to make Quebec identity the ballot box issue of the campaign. Quebec has had identity-centred campaigns in the past and the issue has usually favored the PQ. But the proposed charter pits Marois against predecessors like Jacques Parizeau. No PQ leader has ever gone to the election barricades on an issue that has deeply divided its own ranks.
3. Stephen Harper: Even if the Conservative party were running high in the polls there would still be a political deathwatch on the prime minister in 2014. The mid-point of a third mandate is when the pre-retirement clock starts ticking on virtually all government leaders — regardless of their ratings.
4. Jason Kenney: The flip side of the speculation as to Harper’s future is real or perceived pre-leadership manoeuvring. Over the second half of 2013, Kenney managed to have his name come up in every post-Harper conversation.
5. Nigel Wright: So far, Harper’s former chief-of-staff has been discreet as to how far into the loop the prime minister really was regarding Wright’s dealings with suspended senator Mike Duffy. Should Wright face criminal charges, it will be hard for him to mount a full legal defence without filling in some of the blanks that have surfaced between Harper’s version of events and what transpired in some of his top aide’s emails.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/12/27/five_newsmakers_to_watch_in_2014_hbert.html
