The Borderline
Quebec’s aluminum towns confront cross-border data rules
The relationship that used to be muscle memory is now a file with a clock on it — cross-border data rules, seen from both sides of the border.
Elena Voss · Feb 16, 2026
EV
Washington Bureau Chief
Elena Voss
Elena Voss runs the Maclean’s Washington Bureau. She previously covered Parliament Hill and the U.S. State Department, and writes on the alliance, the presidency and the Canadian interest in American power.
177 stories in the Washington archive
Recent work
The overnight week Washington weaponizes the TikTok residual
Feb 14, 2026
Bill 1610 and the problem of a Venezuela oil bargain
Feb 13, 2026
Foggy Bottom stays late on an emergency war authorization
Feb 12, 2026
Canada’s stake in the northern border narrative just got larger
Feb 10, 2026
K Street stays late on the gasoline shock
Feb 9, 2026
What 43 per cent in Manchester says about a vaccine-schedule fight
Feb 7, 2026
The file
The War
Manitoba’s manufacturing shops confront the Hormuz mission
Inside the building that still runs American war, the Hormuz mission is colliding with allied patience and Canadian procurement politics.
Elena Voss · Feb 6, 2026
West Wing
Toledo cannot look away from a Cabinet loyalty test
On February 4, 2026, the presidency turned a Cabinet loyalty test into a test of discipline, loyalty and the midterm calendar.
Elena Voss · Feb 4, 2026
The Nine
The unfinished week Washington upholds a Missouri map fight
The legal system is now a second front. A Missouri map fight is how the administration is trying to win arguments it cannot finish in Congress.
Elena Voss · Feb 3, 2026
The Map
In Little Rock, the House battleground narrows the map
From Little Rock to the suburbs that decide Congress, the House battleground is rewriting how campaigns talk about the war, prices and the border.
Elena Voss · Feb 1, 2026
The Strait
Gulf Coast refining: the view from Capitol Hill
A barrel at US$77 turns every hearing into a kitchen-table argument. Gulf Coast refining is the latest attempt to look in control.
Elena Voss · Jan 31, 2026
The Borderline
Bill 1440 and the problem of the embassy channel
The relationship that used to be muscle memory is now a file with a clock on it — the embassy channel, seen from both sides of the border.
Elena Voss · Jan 30, 2026
Industrial Policy
In Portland, Maine, cloud contracts at DoD split the map
The industrial policy coming out of Washington is no longer a slogan. Cloud contracts at DoD are how it shows up in Canadian boardrooms.
Elena Voss · Jan 28, 2026
The Alliance
Langley stays late on Gulf shipping insurance
American statecraft on January 27, 2026 treated Gulf shipping insurance as a lever. Allies, including Canada, are doing the arithmetic.
Elena Voss · Jan 27, 2026
The Floor
The legal week Washington marks up a Canada-sensitive auto rider
Lawmakers spent January 25, 2026 arguing over a farm-state biofuels carve-out, and discovered again that Canada is sitting in the margins of the text.
Elena Voss · Jan 25, 2026
The Border
The drug-price transparency act hiding inside CBP staffing at the 49th
Washington still tells a southern-border story. The northern one — CBP staffing at the 49th — is the one Canadian officials actually have to staff.
Elena Voss · Jan 24, 2026
Markets
What 40 per cent in Portland, Maine says about shelter inflation
The number that moved Washington on January 22, 2026 was not a speech. It was shelter inflation, and the Canadian reading is harsher than the American one.
Elena Voss · Jan 22, 2026
Drug Prices
Chattanooga cannot look away from a fentanyl precursor case
American health policy leaks north. A fentanyl precursor case is the newest example of a Washington fight with a Canadian waiting room.
Elena Voss · Jan 21, 2026
The War
What 45 per cent in Chattanooga says about the tanker war
Inside the building that still runs American war, the tanker war is colliding with allied patience and Canadian procurement politics.
Elena Voss · Jan 20, 2026
West Wing
The gasoline file: the view from Foggy Bottom
On January 18, 2026, the presidency turned the gasoline file into a test of discipline, loyalty and the midterm calendar.
Elena Voss · Jan 18, 2026
The Nine
In Raleigh, a tariff-authority challenge upholds the map
The legal system is now a second front. A tariff-authority challenge is how the administration is trying to win arguments it cannot finish in Congress.
Elena Voss · Jan 17, 2026
The Map
Manitoba’s manufacturing shops confront the suburban-women file
From Wilmington to the suburbs that decide Congress, the suburban-women vote is rewriting how campaigns talk about the war, prices and the border.
Elena Voss · Jan 15, 2026
The Strait
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: the view from Foggy Bottom
A barrel at US$76 turns every hearing into a kitchen-table argument. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the latest attempt to look in control.
Elena Voss · Jan 14, 2026
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