Mark Ramzy

Mark Ramzy reports on federal politics through the lens of how security, policing and foreign-policy decisions reshape civil liberties and affect everyday life, as a political reporter for the Toronto Star. His coverage follows federal power where it intersects with policing, surveillance, hate-crimes legislation and arms exports, often using exclusive details and internal documents to show how policy works in practice. He works across print and audio, contributing both reported features and analysis on parliamentary fights, party strategy and national security debates.

Police data powers and the cost of surveillance

Ramzy’s reporting on the Carney government’s expansion of police data powers shows how abstract security laws hit consumers directly, including through higher cellphone bills and broader access to subscriber information.

In that work he breaks down complex lawful-access provisions and connects them to the services people rely on, making clear where the state’s demand for data meets the private infrastructure that carries it. He brings the same focus to policing and procurement, highlighting cases such as the RCMP paying for a Black Hawk helicopter it cannot use and the strain that places on border and security operations.

In coverage of a Trump-era summit where the United States urged allies to treat left-wing extremism as a top threat, he flags how shifts in counterterrorism strategy raise civil-liberties concerns and reshape Canada’s place in that agenda. Together, these stories trace a consistent thread: federal security policy is never just about crime or terrorism, but about who can see what data and at what cost.

Hate-crimes bills, symbols and anti-racism architecture

Ramzy frequently follows the Carney government’s efforts to redefine the state’s response to hate and extremism. In one major scoop on an upcoming hate-crimes bill, he reports that the government plans to ban the intentional display of “hate” and “terror” symbols, detailing how the legislation would classify such symbols and the enforcement tools it would create.

The piece combines advance reporting on the bill’s text with accounts of how communities and civil-liberties advocates expect the law to be applied, reflecting his habit of pairing legislative detail with on-the-ground reaction.

He extends that line of reporting to the institutions built to combat racism and religious hatred. In a co-written story on the Carney government’s decision to scrap special envoy posts on Islamophobia and antisemitism in favour of a single advisory council, he lays out how the move departs from earlier promises to keep those roles and what it means for communities that had come to see the envoys as a direct channel to government. That coverage situates personnel changes within broader debates about trust, representation and the government’s willingness to maintain dedicated anti-racism infrastructure.

Across these pieces, Ramzy treats hate-crime and extremism policy as a structural beat, linking legislation, institutions and civil-liberties risk rather than treating each development as a one-off story.

Arms exports, Israel and security alliances

Ramzy’s foreign-policy reporting zeroes in on how Canada’s export-control regime functions under pressure from allies and conflicts abroad.

In a widely discussed article on Canada’s halt of new military exports to Israel, he details how shipments have continued via the United States, documenting a pathway that critics describe as an “absolutely appalling” loophole. The piece steps through licensing rules, supply-chain arrangements and the practical effect of routing exports through an ally, making clear where policy on paper diverges from practice.

By foregrounding both the bureaucratic architecture and the voices of lawyers and advocates, his work on arms exports treats export bans not as symbolic gestures but as systems that can be navigated or undermined.

Parliamentary deadlock, party strategy and political audio

Alongside his security and foreign-policy work, Ramzy tracks the day-to-day politics of Parliament Hill and party strategy. His reporting on a leaked audio recording in which the public safety minister links the Liberal government’s gun buyback push to pressure from Quebec shows how internal political calculations shape public-safety policy, and how leaks illuminate that gap between public messaging and private rationale.

The story reconstructs the context around the recording and explains how regional demands influence federal firearm legislation, reflecting his broader interest in the mechanics of minority governance and regional bargaining.

He carries that same focus into audio journalism as a regular voice on the Toronto Star’s political podcast “It’s Political.” In episodes dissecting the federal budget and a pivotal confidence vote, he joins colleagues to walk through which promises matter, how parties frame spending to their bases and what could topple or sustain a governing arrangement. In post-election discussions, he talks through surprises in the results and what they reveal about voter alignments and party fortunes.

An episode on the stalemate in the House of Commons leans on his analysis of a contentious request for documents, with Ramzy parsing what the government is withholding, what opposition parties are demanding and how procedural warfare can grind legislative work to a halt.

Across these formats, Ramzy’s work emphasizes explanation and consequence. He tends to treat documents, leaks and draft legislation as starting points rather than endpoints, using them to clarify who gains power, who loses privacy and where federal decisions intersect with civil rights, public safety and international obligations.