House says it’s prepared for Year 2000
From preparing software upgrade packages to providing onsite notebook testing facilities, House of Commons information technology specialists are working overtime in a bid to ensure that the business of Parliament keeps on rolling when the clocks roll over at midnight on Jan. 1, 2000. As public and private sector organizations race to avoid the anticipated […]
Newly elected Liberal MP Sekora starts hiring staffers [Sophia Betegh hired as legislative assistant]
Brand, spanking new Liberal MP Lou Sekora is in the process of getting his office set up with the help of his legislative assistant, Sophia Betegh. Mr. Sekora swept up the vote in the federal byelection held in Port Moody-Coquitlam, B.C., on March 30, upsetting the Reformers and delightfully surprising the governing Liberals. Mr. Sekora, […]
So long Johnnie, access commish exits
Canada’s access guru steps down and privacy commissioner gets two-year extension last week Canada’s outgoing access to information commissioner of Canada, who will finally step down this week after more than seven years in the post, but his counterpart is staying behind. After two extensions, John Grace’s term as information commissioner of Canada expires on […]
Put more than your spin on the Web [Government on the Net conference]
At last week’s Government on the Net conference, I had the opportunity to address several hundred federal government IT experts in a session entitled, “Putting Your Spin on The Web.” If you consider that the Government of Canada has over 130 listings for federal organizations at its primary Web site (and several thousand sub-listings), you […]
Question period: if you were offered an appointment to the Senate, would you accept it?
“I guess if I thought I had something to offer, I probably would and I’d be totally dishonest if I didn’t say that because I think the Senate does play a useful role in the Parliamentary system and I know there’s others that think differently, but I think it’s an important role and a good […]
[At the cutting edge: the crisis in Canada’s forest]
Don’t expect an unbiased report from Elizabeth May. Ms. May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, does with her book for the environmentalists what Maude Barlow does for Canada’s left-wing economists: she bolsters them with extensively researched facts and figures to argue against the powers that be. The powers in Ms. May’s case […]
MPs should challenge existence of hate on the Net
Hate. Some people love to hate. Oh, do they ever. They vent, foment, instigate, agitate, arouse, ignite, and incite it. In fact, they go out of their way to find like-minded souls and antagonize people not of their ilk. If truth be told, hate mongers get more mileage from the vociferousness of their opponents and […]
Why we need a national convervative alternative
A credible challenge to the Liberals is a long way off, and certainly will not occur in the next federal election At the federal level, the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party is now vacant and a race is imminent. Preston Manning has responded by suggesting a United Alternative for all those who want a […]
Hip, hip, hooray for the political elites [Democracy and decision making can be rendered ineffective by public scrutiny]
The Northern Ireland peace talks have served to remind me of Preston Manning and many like him, and their frequent denunciations of “elites” and the preference, expressed by demagogues everywhere, for the imagined uncommon wisdom of the cheerfully ignorant and willfully uninformed. While the agreements reached in Belfast do not necessarily signal a sectarian peace […]
Scholarship fund [Accounting treatment] [Letter]
While the government basks in the glory of a balanced budget for the first time in 28 years, a troubling issue ferments beneath the surface. The issue at hand is the accounting treatment of the Millenium Scholarship Fund. The feds have booked the $2.5-billion expenditure for this scholarship program in the 1997/98 fiscal year, even […]
