Conservative divide questions
Was the “conservative divide”over with the acceptance of the merger of the Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties on Dec. 7, 2003? Events since would suggest otherwise. There were Progressive Conservative MPs who either retired or ran as Liberals. A court challenge to the manner in which the Chief Electoral Officer accepted the merger is still […]
The thin line that separates public policy and politics
Paul Martin’s government is keenly aware that vacating a decades-old place in the non-proliferation vanguard will be good for Liberal prospects in an election that is months, if not weeks, away. Would the federal Liberals abandon Canada’s historic opposition to the spread of nuclear weapons just to win votes? No, that would be too cynical […]
Conservatives say they ‘don’t want to win the battle and lose the war’
Publicly, everyone saying there’s no fall election coming, but it ain’t over until it’s over, which means the first week of November. The federal Conservatives say they don’t want to defeat the minority Liberal government this fall because they say an autumn election would likely yield the same results as the last federal election, say […]
Canada too globally interdependent
Re: Michael Orr’s letter published in the Aug. 29 issue of The Hill Times ,”Canada not so innocent.”I relate Mr. Orr’s comments to a letter I recently wrote to Lloyd Axworthy, president of the University of Winnipeg and a former Canadian foreign affairs minister. I was addressing Mr. Axworthy’s dissertation, which appeared in TheToronto Star, […]
Whistleblower protection passed in House of Commons
There are five fatal flaws with Bill C- 11, the Whistleblower Protection Bill, that was passed in the House last Tuesday, says Democracy Watch coordinator Duff Conacher. “It won’t set up a system strong enough to protect whistleblowers,”Mr. Conacher told The Hill Times. Mr. Conacher said the new bill’s flaws include: the fact that the […]
House Heritage Committee members vow to ask CBC management some tough questions on seven-week lockout
Liberal and opposition MPs say they all have some probing, difficult questions for the CBC’s top brass later on Oct. 27. Government and opposition MPs on the House Heritage Committee say they will ask the senior management of the CBC some tough questions on Oct. 27 when they appear before the committee about the way […]
Access Copyright and more
Re: “Licensing will solve the schools’ copyright challenge,”(The Hill Times, Oct. 3). Christopher Moore accuses educators of “lobbying hard for a free ride on the backs of those who create and make learning material available.” Indeed it is not educators, but Canadian copyright collectives and Access Copyright itself who is guilty of this.To require schools, […]
Public Accounts Committee to compare Sponsorship Scandal witness testimonies
The integrity of evidence heard at the Public Accounts Committee’s probe into the Sponsorship Scandal prior to Justice John Gomery’s Commission is “exceptionally important,”says Liberal MP Mark Holland,which is why the committee will do a formal analysis of witnesses’ testimonies to see if there are any discrepancies between the one the witness gave to the […]
Ibbitson on ills of Canadian polity
The Globe and Mail’s political affairs columnist John Ibbitson’s just-released book The Polite Revolution: Perfecting the Canadian Dream takes a wry look at the ills of the Canadian polity and it’s a bit of a slap in the head. Mr. Ibbitson says two great global migrations are underway: from poorer countries to richer countries and […]
Licensing internet is unworkable
Re: the opinion piece (The Hill Times, Oct. 3) by Christopher Moore says that the Council of Ministers of Education are “talking scary nonsense”when they say that internet use by students and teachers is illegal. He is right.The vast majority of internet use is covered by implied consent (how can somebody sue you for pressing […]
