'There is nothing to say that if something similar is happening under our noses right now that we would be able to produce more just results,' says Independent Senator Marilou McPhedran, pictured, of former senator Don Meredith's harassment of Senate staff. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
No more shush deals: Senators ready to press for accountability, harassment reforms once Parliament returns
A Senate subcommittee approved a new policy for dealing with harassment in the Red Chamber before Christmas.
‘There’s a risk of excessive polarization of the party’: Harper’s interference in Conservative leadership dividing Conservatives
Some Conservatives say Stephen Harper is certainly entitled to his opinion, but others say he should stay out of this critical leadership race.
Reboot of Trudeau ‘from sunny to serious’ a recognition Canadians want a serious prime minister, say politicos
‘It's almost like we're seeing a new prime minister,’ says Jennifer Stewart, CEO Of Syntax Strategies.Politics This Morning
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Former diplomats and experts at odds over potential Canadian re-engagement with Tehran
Some believe that Canada needs to engage globally including with countries that it doesn't agree with, but others say restoring diplomatic relations with Iran will be viewed as a reward. PCO, Canada’s high commissioner to U.K. likely consulted in royal couple’s plans to move here part time, say experts
Multiple government departments remain quiet on any role they’ve played in the royal couple’s plans to move to Canada part time. Ottawa to give $25,000 in ‘immediate assistance’ per victim to Canadian families affected by downing of Ukraine International Flight 752
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has enlisted Independent Senator Stan Kutcher, an expert on mental health, to provide advice on how to support the grieving families.Canada Proud’s Jeff Ballingall joins O’Toole leadership team
The Canada Proud Facebook page, which is followed by more than 190,000 people, posted a glowing quote about Mr. O'Toole from a column by Toronto Sun columnist Brian Lilley. Public servants still waiting to engage with public service renewal parl sec
Liberal MP Omar Alghabra is the ‘first parliamentary secretary to be tasked to exercise leadership in this area,’ according to the Prime Minister's Office, but unions say they haven’t heard from him yet.Trudeau set right tone in the days after Flight 752 downing, say foreign policy experts
Trudeau's comments have underpinned Canada's interests-based foreign policy, says former diplomat Colin Robertson. One patrol ship and 118 Crown vehicles vandalized, part of $24.2-million in lost property in 2018-19
Federal court pay outs totalled roughly $28.1-million in 2018-19, including a roughly $10-million court award paid out by Global Affairs Canada under NAFTA’s Chapter 11. 'There is nothing to say that if something similar is happening under our noses right now that we would be able to produce more just results,' says Independent Senator Marilou McPhedran, pictured, of former senator Don Meredith's harassment of Senate staff. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
No more shush deals: Senators ready to press for accountability, harassment reforms once Parliament returns
A Senate subcommittee approved a new policy for dealing with harassment in the Red Chamber before Christmas.
If requirements are ‘unattainable,’ drop out of race, says Conservative Senator to leadership hopefuls
'When you have a $300,000 buy-in, you’re not going to get away from having people tag you as ‘elitist,' " says Najib Jutt, who has advised both Liberal and Conservatives in the past. Quitting the Royal Family is a little like quitting the Mob, and don’t expect a going-away party
The bottom line? If monarchy isn’t the thing for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, if they just want to be Harry and Meghan, maybe it’s time we started thinking about whether it’s the thing for a country like Canada.Canada lost a great one last week
At 88 years, John Crosbie's influence on provincial and national politics was profound and lasting.
Feds’ silence on funding, transition plan for child welfare law causing ‘intense nervousness and frustration’
Bill C-92 takes effect Jan. 1, bringing in new, stricter, and culturally sensitive standards to Indigenous child welfare decisions. Continued Liberal delays to end sexist Indian status rules ‘baffling’ to Indigenous advocates
The Liberals have promised to fully remove sex discrimination from the Indian Act by the election, but advocate Shelagh Day says with no public plan and no official date, 'it’s still only a promise.' Liberals passing the buck on weapons ban
If the Liberal government truly believes that the legal availability of assault weapons puts the public at risk, then why not enact measures that are available to them right now, while they are still in power?
River of the dammed
The deadline between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan passed on Jan. 15. Now the dispute goes to the three heads of government to agree on a mediator—and if they can’t agree, maybe we’ll see our first real 'water war.'I guess denying the Holodomor is okay with some Canadian academics
Dougal MacDonald’s insipid views do not belong in Canadian society, let alone on a university campus.Putin the immortal?
Russians sometimes call themselves 'Italians of the North,' and they don’t mean it in a good way. So he wants a strong state, run with a firm hand, even after he has retired, which means that a clear succession.
CIJA, Dairy Farmers lead last lobbyist push before election call
Lobbyists filed 772 reports last month, down from 972 in July, and from the 1,478 reports filed in June.
Despite majority support for a Canadian handgun ban, the politics of doing so may remain insurmountable
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals promised in 2015 to take handguns and assault weapons ‘off our streets,’ but have made only limited progress in the face of strong opposition.Tale as old as time: Liberal ethics breach proves politics still about comforting the comfortable
The SNC-Lavalin affair is about a political system that is rife for abuse, and those responsible for the recent abuses are seeking re-election on a platform of open and transparent government. 
Flanagan named one of two policy heads to Environment Minister Wilkinson
Erin Flanagan is director of climate, energy, and regulatory affairs, while Jamie MacDonald is director of nature conservation in the minister’s office.
Canada-China Relations House Committee members announced, to meet to decide chair
Plus, Marco Mendicino takes to the keys before a CBC interview, and former PMO spokesperson Justin Kingsley’s film Chaakapesh is coming to Ottawa.
‘There has never been an ethnographer-activist the likes of James Teit’
Wendy Wickwire talks about her compelling new book, At The Bridge: James Teit and an Anthropology of Belonging.
‘One of the best drummers in the world’: politicos remember the life of Neil Peart
Plus, Lisa Raitt, Jane Philpott, and Megan Leslie to discuss modern leadership In Toronto on Jan. 20, and Jean Chrétien celebrates 86th birthday in the air. Big changes in the PMO: former MP Lapointe joins as new caucus liaison
Plus, Andrée-Lyne Hallé has moved over to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office as deputy chief of staff and director of operations. ‘Still a mess, still needs a lot of work’: Shared Services Canada gets new master under digital government minister
PIPSC president Debi Daviau says her union was not involved in discussions with the PMO prior to the decision to move Shared Services Canada under the minister of digital government. 
Lobbying Act review overdue, but court case could delay it further
The Lobby Act is two years past a mandated review by Parliament.
Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct establishes principles, rules of ethical behaviour expected from lobbyists
'I believe that transparency is a pillar of a healthy democracy. The federal lobbying regime, with its public Registry of Lobbyists, is a key tool for transparency,' says Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger.
Public officials are expected to always act in the public interest
'One of the best tools our Office currently uses to demonstrate transparency is our public registry,' says Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion.
Stewardship of public trust a foundational block of our duties as Parliamentarians
In the 43rd Parliament, we have an opportunity for collaboration across party lines to strengthen national institutions and to return the ethical pendulum to equilibrium, a position of adherence and restraint.Lobbying and democratic governance in Canada
We have the duty to initiate a reflection on developing forms of political control and public scrutiny that have the potential to induce more accountability in the relations between the PMO and its corporate courtiers.
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Politics This Morning: Ambassador Barton to testify before Canada-China House Committee
Plus, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland dismisses engaging in a 'prisoner swap' with China to secure the release of the two Canadian detainees. 
By exclusively focusing on the dissemination of some of our values, Canada is merely amplifying its domestic priorities outwards while other pressing geostrategic issues are flouted.
A Public Safety draft June 2019 memo noted that climate change losses to the economy could be as high as $5-billion in 2020 and could escalate to between $20-billion to $40-billion a year by the 2050s.
Canada’s interests will probably therefore coincide increasingly with western Europe and those economies seeking to strengthen the core values that underpin liberal democracy globally.
Can we, Conservatives, really be all that surprised that the left has quite successfully been able to persuade voters to believe this stereotype that we're a party of old, white men?
Veteran Conservative strategist Yaroslav Baran provides this thumbnail post-mortem and action memo for moving forward.
While we have some highly promising clean-tech companies, we are blowing it when it comes to creating the Canadian capacity to capture the growing opportunities in the global clean-tech market.
‘There has never been an ethnographer-activist the likes of James Teit’
Wendy Wickwire talks about her compelling and historically important book, At The Bridge: James Teit and an Anthropology of Belonging.
Politics This Morning
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Ministers Anand, Fortier make headway in firming up their staff teams
Associate Finance Minister Mona Fortier has hired two of her now-former MP assistants to work in her new ministerial office.Finance Minister Morneau gets his office in shape
Plus, former finance staffer Alyx Holland has joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office as a senior policy adviser. Mark Bourrie, Robyn Doolittle among authors shortlisted for Taylor Prize
Plus, former PC minister John Crosbie dies at 88, and Trudeau honours fallen Canadians at Parliament Hill vigil. Trudeau comes back to Ottawa with a vacation beard
Plus, Stephen Harper has been named to Order of Canada, and the feds have opened up online consultations for a new Afghanistan monument. ‘The tail doesn’t wag the dog’: PSAC wants a deal of its own amid ongoing negotiations
The government is ‘disappointed’ PSAC rejected an offer in line with recent agreements signed by 34 other bargaining units, according to a Treasury Board spokesperson. New deputy ministers at helm of immigration, innovation, health, environment
Former public service commissioner says preparatory work needed in government before an election 'best led by a deputy minister,' and that governments tend to avoid major appointments once writ is dropped. CTV’s Don Martin delivers barn burner speech, brings the house down at farewell shindig
Don Martin will soon be found on a golf course in Florida. Hillites celebrate new Parliament at old, favourite watering hole
They served poutine!From ‘failed state’ to stability: Rwanda has made ‘impressive’ strides, says envoy
High Commissioner Prosper Higiro speaks of his at times risky path to politics and how far the country has come 25 years after the genocide.Ecuador’s future is in mining, and Canada can play a big role, envoy says
Ambassador Diego Stacey says there’s 'political will' in oil-exporting Ecuador to improve its trade relationship with Canada.MacEachern to host fundraiser event for ovarian cancer research on Jan. 23 at the Métropolitain
Greg MacEachern, pictured left with CBC's David Thurton last month, is holding an event to raise money for ovarian cancer research, in memory of Greg MacEachern's sister Andrea who died last year from the disease. The event will be held on Thursday, Jan. 23, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m. at the Métropolitain Brasserie in Ottawa.
The Hill Times photograph by Cynthia Münster
Ottawa-area residents gather on Parliament Hill for a candlelight vigil on Jan. 9, 2020, in memory of those killed in the plane crash in Iran. More than a hundred victims were on their way to Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ottawa MPs and ministers Catherine McKenna and Mona Fortier were among those who paid their respects. 
