Ministers hit hustings, so what happens to their departments?
CIVIL CIRCLES Political campaigning can be a bit of a juggling act for a minister, says Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan [Graph Not Transcribed] Liberal cabinet ministers were recently thrust into the election limelight by party strategists, who hope that by focusing on the Liberal “team” they will find more support among voters than simply campaigning […]
Challengers seek to unseat safe incumbents across the country: The Hill Times’ list of more safe seats, shoe-ins, cakewalk, you name it, from coast to coast in the final week
FEATURE In one of the most poll-driven federal election campaigns held in recent memory, the governing Libs are banking on a third majority with their 44 per cent popularity across the country. But it’s in the ridings where detailed polls of each of the 301 ridings would present a more helpful picture of the political […]
February budget looks unlikely [if Liberals win a third majority]
‘I wouldn’t expect any kind of document early in 2001,’ says Don Drummond The February budget — long a staple of Finance Minister Paul Martin’s — is likely to be delayed until the spring if the governing Liberals win a third majority on Nov. 27. Industry insiders say there simply isn’t any more money to […]
Stockwell Day’s is not the tale of the little party that grew
We are now getting a somewhat better look at Stockwell Day. Save for the gullible, there are no surprises. The Reform Alliance leader is a twister, a wobbler, a primitive. He has two sorts of health-care plans. He preaches “respect,” but his tongue is busy with innuendo, (about the Prime Minister’s in-laws). He has complained […]
Don’t listen to hypercentralists: devolution of power is a real possibility and our national parliament could be given more power
Arguments to centralize the main powers of the federation at the federal level or to vest the main federal power in the hands of a small oligarchy in Ottawa are very similar: they constitute an argument for centralization of power in few hands at the centre. This project is built on the model suggesting that […]
What’s up Toronto Globe and Mail’s nose these days, eh?
TORONTO — “Day’s plan found in secret paper,” screamed the main front-page headline in Tuesday’s Globe and Mail. What “secret paper” you ask? Why the standard “policy overview” which all parties send out to all their candidates to explain party policy to them. That way, the hope is, that all candidates for the party in […]
Douglas can “ruffle up your spirits, put a tongue in every wound” [in defence of medicare]
An argument between the Liberals and the Canadian Alliance about their health platforms aroused some interest last week. Prime Minister Jean Chretien and an influential Opposition spokesman, namely Canadian Alliance MP Jason Kenney, tossed around the question of one- tier, two-tier medicare. Some observers declared that the biggest issue in the campaign is the health […]
How the Liberals think they can win
Buoyed by public opinion polls, Liberal strategists believe their party can who win between 167 and 174 seats in the next federal election even though they’re starting to admit they’re going to lose some ridings in 103-seat Ontario. No party strategist will openly admit to the possibility of something other than a plain and convincing […]
Williams’ Waste Report reveals some fun stuff
Waste not? Why not! … Canadian Alliance MP John Williams’ latest Waste Report reveals some entertaining, if not costly, facts about government spending. Among them: the disappearance from the Department of National Defence of $128,000 worth of computers (the thieves obviously took out the computers through Windows 98). DND also forked out about $1,000 for […]
Grit Matthews in one wild, wacky race [Burin-St George’s riding]
Forget former Newfoundland premier Brian Tobin’s re-entry onto the federal political stage, the race in Burin-St. George’s, Nfld., is shaping up to be one of the most bizarre and unpredictable electoral battles in Campaign 2000. In this sprawling riding, which spans almost the entire southern half of the province and has one of the highest […]
