Health committee to report on naturopathic medicines: public backlash prompted minister to conduct a review of the laws governing natural health products
Have a headache? Two tablespoons of powdered ginger should numb the pain. Can’t sleep? A few tablets of Melatonin should provide a good night’s rest. But depending on the outcome of the House Health Committee’s report on naturopathic medicines anticipated this week, consumers and manufacturers of these products are apprehensive that new regulatory proposals will […]
Official records tampering bill chips away at secretive Ottawa: private member’s bill passes key hurdle to penalize officials for record tampering [Colleen Beaumier and Bill C-208]
It took Ontario Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier’s private member’s bill (Bill C-208) on penalizing federal officials for record tampering to show official Ottawa that secrecy violations they wouldn’t rather touch can be addressed. Bill C-208, that is now nearer to becoming the law of the land, establishes criminal sanctions of up to $10,000 fines and […]
Parliament Hill journalists rally around CBC’s Terry Milewski: journalist pulled from the APEC story is defended by many Hill reporters who say they’re not stenographers
Many Parliament Hill journalists say the CBC TV reporter who was recently yanked off the sensational APEC story for allegedly being too close to it did nothing wrong. CBC TV reporter Terry Milewski, who works in Vancouver and broke many of the APEC stories, was pulled off the story after his E-mails were used as […]
PM’s party costs top $1m: Brian Mulroney outspent prime ministers on entertaining at 24 Sussex Drive
Life is just not as much of a party at 24 Sussex Drive under Prime Minister Jean Chr tien than it was with his Tory predecessor Brian Mulroney, according to recently-released spending figures for entertaining at the prime ministerial residence. Tabled in the Senate last week in response to questions from Tory Senator Orville Phillips […]
Government backbenchers ride wave of independence: cabinet moves controversial private member’s bill into committee [Albina Guarnieri bill to end concurrent sentencing for serial killers and rapists]
Backbench Liberal MPs kept their winning streak alive last week in a last-minute vote that saw opposition and government MPs side with ministers to move a controversial private member’s bill through the House that would keep serial killers locked up for longer sentences. The bill had been languishing in the House for years. Liberal MP […]
The Globe’s silly scolding of journalists badly-timed and uninformed
Timing, as you know, is everything. Which is why The Globe and Mail’s Susan Delacourt must have felt a bit silly about her rather odd “analysis” piece in last Saturday’s Globe scolding journalists for “failing” to get the APEC story when it actually occurred on Nov. 25, 1997. Delacourt accused mainstream journalism of missing the […]
Senate agriculture committee finally gets controversial Health Canada [report on growth hormone]
The Senate Agriculture Committee is declaring a victory after it finally received a complete report from Health Canada two weeks ago written by Health Canada scientists reviewing a controversial growth hormone being considered for use on dairy cattle in Canada. “It’s proven Parliamentary committees should get the total information they need to do their job […]
MPs take polar views to privatize Canada’s health care system [Keith Martin for privatization and Carolyn Bennett for public system]
Opposition parties exploit it. Governments pledge to fix it. Polling researchers conclude that it is the primary concern to Canadians. The issue, of course, is Canada’s health care system — a system under tremendous strain since its conception 30 years ago. Today, Canada’s population is aging, medical technologies are more sophisticated, and the fiscal realities […]
They get no respect: new report on political ethics has some simple advice for MPs [A Question of Ethics: Canadians Speak Out by Maureen Mancuso & Michael Atkinson]
Canada is not facing a true crisis of legitimacy, but public confidence in political leaders and in our democratic system is sagging, threatening to crumble our political structures which have been weakened by neglect and continued lapses of ethical judgment, says a recent report. But according to the extensive cross-country survey conducted by five political […]
Italian MPs score on House committees: Bevilacqua, Volpe and Guarnieri get some key Commons committee chairs
Members of the so-called Italian Liberal Caucus, once frustrated by being shut out of influential posts on Parliament Hill, have taken over the helm of three of the House’s top committees. Government backbencher Joe Volpe (Eglinton-Lawrence, Ont.) traded his Parliamentary secretaryship to the health minister to take over the Health Committee and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Vaughan-King-Aurora, […]
