Public Works replaces Duncan [Director-general]
Public Works swiftly named Bruce Lorimer as the acting director-general for the Parliamentary Precinct Directorate last week, after the former DG Glenn Duncan abruptly left his job after he told a reporter that the Parliament Hill renovations have run wildly over budget and could cost nearly $1-billion. Mr. Duncan’s departure for a two-year stint with […]
Gun owners, hep-C victims battle for protest space on Hill [when House resumes]
Gun advocates and hepatitis-C victims have been battling for Parliamentary turf to stage their protests when the House returns in two weeks. Both groups had tentatively booked rallies to be held on Sept. 21, the same day MPs return to the House after a three-month summer recess, and the fall session begins, but it turns […]
Tory leadership candidates target moribund ridings: PC strategists try to win over voters on Tory-hostile turf
It was supposed to bring direct democracy to leadership selection process. But Tory strategists may be discovering that the new system means the secret to winning this race is to target moribund ridings where the number of active party members is lower, not higher. Under the PC constitution, for leadership election purposes, all ridings are […]
Jake Hoeppner threatens to quit federal politics
Reform Party MP Jake Hoeppner is threatening to quit politics as his party faces a credibility crisis. Mr. Hoeppner (Portage Lisgar, Man.), a 62-year-old grain farmer from southern Manitoba who was first elected in 1993, told The Hill Times last week that he is seriously thinking about not coming back when the House resumes sitting […]
Reform Party in turmoil: official opposition looks into the abyss as it faces credibility crisis [Caucus meeting in Banff]
It was supposed to be a fall session of highs for the Reform Party, the party that swept into Official Opposition in June 1997 and proved capable of tackling some controversial national issues. Instead, it was a summer of hell. The Reform Party’s former star justice critic is facing sexual assault charges, MPs are openly […]
MPs challenge minister over costs [of Parliamentary renovations]
Opposition MPs , furious that the cost of renovating the Parliamentary precinct could shoot up to nearly one billion dollars, want Public Works minister Alfonso Gagliano and his officials to come before the Natural Resources and Government Operations Committee to explain why the estimate has so dramatically increased. Public Works officials have admitted the original […]
Manley focuses cabinet on information future
Hang on to your mouse pad, I am about to dish out some well deserved credit to a bespectacled, mild-mannered, MP from Ottawa-South. He doesn’t need it, but hey, which politician doesn’t like a positive headline now and then. Industry Minister John Manley, once recognized more for being the relative of an Olympic medalist than […]
Tory leadership candidates strut in Wayne’s World [Elsie Wayne in Saint John, NB]
The five candidates for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative party were summoned to Saint John, New Brunswick two weekends ago by the party’s interim leader, Elsie Wayne, who is a former mayor of the old Loyalist city and likely the least beatable member in the whole House of Commons. In this first-time joint […]
[Former cabinet minister from Mulroney years appointed to IOF board]
And off the Hill to the private sector: Former cabinet minister from the Mulroney years Barbara McDougall has been appointed to the board of directors for the Independent Order of Foresters (IOF). Ms. McDougall was minister of Employment and Immigration before the Liberal sweep in 1993. She had also served as minister of state for […]
Question period: in the light of the recent decision of the Supreme Court regarding the secession of Quebec, what do you think is a clear majority?
“Well, I think obviously in a democracy and in a system that is based on democracy, we’ve always measured it on 50 plus one … I can understand the prime minister’s concern and everyone else’s, but it’s not right to change democracy for issues that are more crucial or more important than others. Unless there’s […]
