Selling the notion of leadership [Hugh Segal in Fredericton]
The long weekend was a glorious holiday weekend in these parts. It was a good weekend for hanging loose, doing nothing, playing a little golf, drinking a little beer, enjoying near-total immersion during the family-value days. This is reward for enduring the month of March. I marked the first Monday of August as the day […]
Committee chairs are now up for grabs
It’s time for musical committee chairs…The recent appointment of the new Parliamentary secretaries will have a trickle down affect as MPs look to see who will fill vacant committee chairs. Twelve of the 17 new parliamentary secretaries were committee chairs or vice-chairs. National Defence committee chairman Robert Bertrand and committee vice-chair Bob Woods were promoted […]
Astronaut salaries set
Out of this world salaries: the government recently set the salaries for Canada’s astronauts. What do the nation’s best and brightest pull in as they travel through the stars? Marc Garneau will pull in as much as $126,000 as will Steve MacLean, Robert Thirsk, Bjarni Tryggvason, and David Williams. However one of the best know […]
Tories unsure how to get media attention: Senator Ghitter says current race lacks excitement
Tory leadership race organizers may be able to get out the party members to vote but attracting the media to the campaign will be a more difficult challenge. Even advocates of the one person-one-vote rule for the leadership race admit that the new system has, so far, offered little in the way of ‘media-ready’ events. […]
Star case threatens press freedom [Hanna Sokolski of Canadian Polish Congress on coverage of Polish Holocaust: 1996]
Anybody interested in freedom of the press — and that should include journalists and politicians alike — might take note, and view with alarm, a recent horrific decision by the busybodies in the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The OHRC, chaired by the former provincial Tory cabinet minister Keith Norton, has notified The Toronto Star’s lawyers […]
Tory vets divided over new process [One person-one vote]
It was touted as a step towards democracy but for prominent Tory, B.C. Senator Gerry St. Germain the move to one person – one vote for next fall’s leadership race is a case of unnecessary tinkering. “I’m a true conservative, I only believe in change if it’s necessary. In my own view, there was nothing […]
Unions top up NDP warchest [Down from 1993 level: 1997 data]
The Liberals and the Tories may turn to the banks to fill their warchests, but the NDP continues to rely heavily on generous union donations to cover their election expenses. According to the party’s 1997 fiscal returns, the party took in a total $16-million last year and trade unions kicked in $2.2-million to the NDP […]
Internet makes Tory race easier
With the deadline for new entries now passed, members of the Progressive Conservative Party can now get down to the serious business of choosing their next leader from a set list of candidates for the job. With the Internet, that job is easier than before thanks to teamwork by the contenders to make sure even […]
Journalists fail to knock holes in junk science championed by anti-smoking lobby [Second-hand smoke]
In the middle of last week, The Globe and Mail’s pugnacious business columnist Terence Corcoran published another in a series of combative assaults against what he calls “the meddling busybodies in the health lobby.” In particular, Corcoran is incensed by the actions of the anti-tobacco lobby for perpetrating what he calls “the second-hand smoke scare.” […]
Prime minister Chretien flip-flops on MMT
In September, 1996, Canada’s Minister of the Environment, Sergio Marchi, spoke on third reading of Bill C-29, otherwise known as the Manganese-Based Fuel Additive Act. The bill would prohibit the use of the additive MMT in gasoline produced in Canadian refineries. The minister said the additive was a hazard to the public health and to […]
