Election campaign appearances by Senator Mike Duffy in 2011 that are now part of a controversy over his Senate expense claims during the same time period, were part of a tour of campaign stops by high-profile party members organized by the national Conservative campaign headquarters to boost local candidates, says a Nova Scotia Conservative MP who shared in paying Senator Duffy’s expenses.
The Finance Department alone plans to spend $10-million on its own over the next 12 months on the federal government’s ‘Economic Action Plan’ budget advertisements, which will bring total costs for the controversial ad campaign to a minimum of $104.8-million over four years.
Meanwhile, the government’s conflict of interest commissioner has formally contacted Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office in an investigation into how and why the PM’s chief of staff rescued Conservative Senator Mike Duffy from a scandal over ineligible living and travel expense claims by giving the Senator $90,000 to repay the money before an independent audit report was made public.
Liberals say win indicates a change coming in Atlantic region, but tough to project Labrador byelection result nationally.
The government has given the House Finance Committee until midnight on Tuesday, May 28, to pass the legislation and to report it back to the House of Commons for third and final debate and passage.
The federal Cabinet wants to take control over collective bargaining at the CBC to rein in the cost of wages and pension plans for unionized employees, not out of a desire to interfere politically with the Crown corporation’s independence as Canada’s national public broadcaster, says government backbencher Ryan Leef.
Federal public servants in the media branches of more than two dozen government agencies and departments have used the term ‘Harper Government’ to announce federal funding, tax breaks, and a range of government handouts and projects in more than 500 news releases since last December.
'All this jet-setting by politicians is in bad taste in these times,' says Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
A Hill Times review of annual reports from nearly one-third of Canada’s federal Crown corporations and union contract terms for three of the biggest—the CBC, Canada Post and Via Rail—raises questions about the timing and intent of legislation that will give Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Cabinet unprecedented control over Crown corporation collective bargaining.
The government is threatening the journalistic independence of the CBC with legislation that will give Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Cabinet power over CBC collective bargaining with unions representing several thousand news and current affairs personnel, MPs and critics say.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau risks permanent damage from a barrage of Conservative attack ads trying to brand him as an inexperienced leader ‘in over his head’ unless the Liberals mount an equally forceful campaign establishing Mr. Trudeau’s qualities and character the way they want the public to see him, political advertising strategists for both Democrat and Republican campaigns in the U.S. told The Hill Times Thursday.
A controversial bill with new anti-terrorism detention and arrest powers, that human rights groups say threatens civil liberties in Canada, was passed Wednesday evening after a series of coincidental incidents that kept crucial information almost entirely excluded from the final House debate—the successful arrest on Monday of two alleged terrorism plotters in Toronto with existing anti-terrorism law.
The New Democrats say they suspect the federal government may have had an advantage Monday when it began debate over controversial anti-terrorism legislation at the same time—disclosed only later in the day— that the RCMP were planning a news conference to disclose the first arrests on alleged terrorism-related charges in Canada since 2010.
The federal government has begun officially referring to the Canadian Forces as the Canadian Armed Forces in departmental statements and speeches, a name change that one of Canada’s leading peace groups says will turn the Defence Department into a ‘political actor’ in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s efforts to expand his party’s conservative base.
The federal Liberals have gained ground over the past year as the party voters believe is the most effective opposition and risen significantly at the expense of the NDP, according to a Forum Research poll.
The federal Liberals, buoyed by an injection of financial donations generated by their recent leadership race and the public spotlight on new leader Justin Trudeau, are plotting summer strategy.
The federal Liberal Party has launched a so-called ‘Hope and Hard Work’ campaign on the heels of its record-setting leadership election of Justin Trudeau—but leadership vote numbers in Quebec show it may take more hard work than just hoping to win back the province that has overwhelmingly rejected the Liberals for two decades outside the party’s Montreal strongholds.
Basking in the glow of an enormously successful leadership election with 104,552 Canadians casting ballots, the federal Liberal Party, its six leader candidates, and MPs and organizers, made it clear Sunday they want to build on the vast network, built up primarily by landslide winner Justin Trudeau, and vault past the NDP to win government in the next federal election.
NDP will continue holding the government to account on ethical lapses, ‘fiascos’ such as the F-35 fighter jets procurement process, to show Canadians, they capable of replacing the government, says NDP Leader Tom Mulcair.
NDP MPs say the party’s resolutions, officially approved by nearly 2,000 delegates at its policy convention in Montreal, will become party policy and eventually the building blocks to winning the next federal election in 2015.