Rapid-Fire Politics: Provinces in the red and a tragedy in the north

This week saw a pair of provinces pitch big deficits and hopes for better times ahead. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s budget refuses to raise new taxes, but hopes deficit spending will somehow soften the blow of collapsing oil prices and job losses. Can the NDP government in Wild Rose Country withstand the economic and political fallout?

At the federal level, huge challenges lie ahead for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government on new medically assisted death legislation and the tragedy unfolding in Attawapiskat. Meanwhile, Global Affairs Minister Stephane Dion is taking heat over the sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia.

Maclean’s Ottawa bureau chief John Geddes and columnist Evan Solomon confront these issues in their latest attempt at rapid-fire politics.