Editorial
| March 8, 2010 The federal government released its $260-billion spending estimates and budget for the fiscal year 2010-2011 last, and in it, announced a freeze on the salaries of the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers, MPs and Senators. It also announced a freeze on Cabinet ministers' and departmental operating budgets, including the total amount spent on salaries, administration and overhead, according to last week's Throne Speech. | |
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| March 1, 2010 The Hill Times broke the story last week that Cabinet ministers' offices had been under orders to pressure bureaucrats to pare down the amount of information released under the Access to Information Act up until The Canadian Press also recently broke the story on how one political staffer killed the release of a document, which in turn forced the Prime Minister's Office to get involved. The PMO had to remind all political staffers to comply with the law. | |
| February 22, 2010 Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page released another zinger last week. This time, he is warning the federal government that it must eventually deal with Canada's aging population because it will continue to squeeze public finances and leave future generations with massive deficits. In his report, Mr. Page predicts that Ottawa will have to deal with an expanding "fiscal gap" in revenue in the decades ahead that could rise from $20-billion to $40-billion annually within two decades. | |
| February 15, 2010 The Canadian Press last week reported that a senior aide to then-Public Works minister Christian Paradis killed the release of a report last July requested by CP under the Access to Information Act. Now the Prime Minister's Office is involved. The news agency had been trying to get a copy of a 137-page sensitive annual report on Public Works' real estate portfolio. It includes information on high vacancy rates and weak returns on investment, according to CP reporter Dan Beeby who broke the story. The report had never been publicly released. The Public Works Department's real estate branch had consented to its release and the Access to Information Office at Public Works had decided after what CP describes as "extensive consultation," that there was no legal reason to withhold any of the report. The filed was deemed "sensitive," sent to Mr. Paradis' office for review, initially given the green light, but the office put a stop to it as it was being sent out. The staffer said only one small section of the report should be released. The department's director general, Sylvia Seguin-Brant, had argued that the entire report should be released after consulting with Justice Department lawyers. The department released a heavily censored report. But CP filed an access request on how the report was handled. | |
| February 8, 2010 Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced Canada's new greenhouse gas reductions target last weekend in Calgary, weakening Canada's target to 17 per cent over 2005 levels by 2020 to harmonize with emerging U.S. policy. Canada's previous target was a 20 per cent cut over 2006 levels by 2020. | |
| February 1, 2010 Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson raised a good point in one of his columns last week when he stated the painfully obvious. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "prorogation was about control of the public agenda." Period. Prime Minister Harper didn't shut down Parliament for two months to allow the government to "recalibrate." He shut it down to "deprive the other parties of a chance to do what they do best, make a racket." It's simple, but true. | |
| January 25, 2010 Prime Minister Stephen Harper's initial response to the Haiti earthquake has been impressive. It has been swift and to the point and has been recognized as such by a multiplicity of politicians, news outlets and pundits. Last week's media roundup in The Globe and Mail indicated that Mr. Harper has earned high praise. The Globe's impressive roster of positive coverage pointed out that La Presse columnist Vincent Marissal said Mr. Harper demonstrated "a great determination to rush to the aid of the Haiti people." La Presse's Alain Dubuc said "up until this point [...] the Harper government has reacted vigorously and swiftly." And Chantal Hébert in her column last Monday in Le Devoir said, "Over the course of the past week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has directed his propensity for wanting to control everything toward the Canadian response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti. The results have been impressive." In her Toronto Star column last week, Ms. Hébert said, "Could the disaster that has befallen Haiti become a game-changer in Stephen Harper's foreign policy? | |
| January 18, 2010 The Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson last week declared that Parliament has become "the most dysfunctional in the English-speaking world, weaker and more irrelevant than the U.S. Congress or the Parliaments of Britain, Australia or New Zealand," in a feature story. Other experts, columnists, and political watchers across the land and in the pages of The Hill Times have mercilessly slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper for proroguing Parliament. It's hit a curious nerve. | |
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