Senate committee ‘divided’ over House privilege case: senators must decide whether to support House’s appeal to Supreme Court of Canada
The Senate’s Rules, Procedures and Rights of Parliament Committee is deeply divided over whether or not the Human Rights Act applies to Parliament Hill employees, as it reviews the sensational case of whether the House of Commons was right to block former House Speaker Gilbert Parent’s fired chauffeur from complaining to the Human Rights Commission. […]
Bill C-25 leaves civil servants open to harassment: Gualtieri: well-known whistleblower says Bill C-25 to leave civil servants without protection from harassment
Well-known whistleblower Joanna Gualtieri says the federal government’s sweeping Public Service Modernization Act, Bill C-25, will leave federal public servants without legal protection from personal harassment and future whistleblowers open to retaliatory harassment. [Graph Not Transcribed] Under Bill C-25, Sec. 236 — titled “No Right of Action” — will return personally-harassed civil servants to a […]
Globe ain’t as good as it thinks
The Globe and Mail, as everybody knows, is a good newspaper. Not as good, however, as it likes to think it is. But to be fair, with the Globe’s overhyped self-perception as the yardstick, nothing could really measure up completely. It is precisely because the Globe is usually relatively reliable in its depiction of events […]
Goldenberg racked up nearly $23,950 on travel, hospitality expenses, but he’s frugal compared to Boyer
Eddie Goldenberg, the chief of staff to Prime Minister Jean Chretien who is also considered as the most powerful staffer in the Prime Minister’s Office, spent $23,950.20 on travel expenses and meals over a 12-month period between March 2002 and March 2003. The figures were obtained through an Access to Information Act request by The […]
Paul Martin Jr.’s second national caucus draws a smaller crowd of MPs
Behind the caucus door… For all the hype and coverage surrounding Paul Martin’s “social issues” caucus meeting last Tuesday evening, covering the event proved to be a bit of a bust for the dozen or so reporters on duty outside the room. Mr. Martin only scrummed for a couple minutes, as a slow trickle of […]
The spin doctors: “Do you think the permanent voters’ list is helping to drive down voter turnout?”
“Do you think the permanent voters’ list is helping to drive down voter turnout?” Warren Kinsella Liberal Strategist “The NDP and others made a lot Chicken Little predictions about what a permanent voters’ list would mean in the recent Ontario election. Their prognostications about ballot box chaos came to naught, however. [Graph Not Transcribed] “A […]
Of Rock, ships, fish, and Irvings: conflict-of-interest
Industry Minister Allan Rock is under heavy fire for decisions affecting the Irving empire that he made as a minister after taking a fishing trip to the Irving’s private salmon fishing lodge on the Restigouche River in New Brunswick in the summer of 2001. Following the trip, during which Rock availed himself of the Irving’s […]
Time running out on finding a new Privacy Commissioner: the OPC could get another acting head after Bob Marleau steps down
Time is running out on the government to find a new privacy commissioner to replace disgraced former commissioner George Radwanski who resigned from the job in June, say MPs on the House’s Government Operations Committee who have been waiting for the call to put new rules to the test for reviewing the credentials of the […]
Political capital: earning, conserving and spending it are critical in governing and lobbying
In talking recently with a veteran, senior bureaucrat, discussion centred on how cleverly the in-coming Martin Administration is husbanding its “political capital.” [Graph Not Transcribed] “It’s a variation on Martin’s vaunted skill at expectations management,” she said. “They know they have to be very strategic in how they build and accumulate political capital, how they […]
Maharaj expects lower turnout at Libs’ leadership convention: Stephen LeDrew expects 65 per cent of delegates in T.O.
The Liberal Party’s policy chair is predicting a high number of Grit delegates won’t come to next month’s leadership and biennial convention in Toronto because of costs and, more importantly, because Prime-Minister-in-Waiting Paul Martin has the leadership already in the bag. Akaash Maharaj, who is also running for the presidency of the party, says after […]
