In politics, perception is reality: And for Martin Liberals, that reality, as it’s being shaped by Sponsorgate, is not good
QUEBEC CITY – Jean Lapierre, who went from being a talkative radio host to being a talkative federal minister, admitted recently that his party feels the pain of the “Sponsorgate Affair.” In one of the understatements of the year, Mr. Lapierre said that the Gomery Commission is not going to help the Martin Liberals in […]
Conservatives and Quebec [Conservatives urge Harper to broaden Quebec organization, March 28, 2005]
Regarding “Conservatives urge Harper to broaden Quebec organization,” (The Hill Times, March 28).You have identified the seminal issue that links the new CPC with the anti-Martin forces in Quebec (the general public and also the despised political establishment) the integration of Quebec in the Canadian Confederation as a semiautonomous “full-partner.” Such strategy allows full play […]
Government’s not so Compassionate Care program: Feds should go back to drawing board, plan needs redesign, greater public accountability
Federal planners significantly miscalculated the success they would achieve in developing an Employment Insurance benefits program aimed at giving family members time off to tend to a dying member. That’s, in part, because they imposed far too arbitrary restrictions and because they need greater accountability and transparency in developing such programs. The federal Compassionate Care […]
Liberals set up war room at Conservative convention
The Liberal Party set up a war room in Montreal at the Conservative Party’s first policy convention, providing communications support and tactics to Liberal spin doctors on the convention floor to counter the Conservative spin for three days. Steven MacKinnon, national director for the Liberal Party, told The Hill Times at the convention that his […]
Human rights 2004: Canada and the world
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On February 28, the U.S. Department of State released Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004. Usually referred to as the “Human Rights Report,” this year it was launched by a second echelon state official in the absence of Secretary Rice. If you blinked, you missed it. Its media moment was […]
Harper, Layton blast opposition Senate appointments
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper wasn’t amused last Thursday when Prime Minister Paul Martin designated two of his nine Senate appointees as members of the Progressive Conservative Party even though the party no longer exists. “Everyone knows that there was a fusion of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Alliance Party… the Prime Minister must be […]
Libs to pay price at polls if no Air India inquiry: MP Ohbrai: ‘How come they have a public inquiry for everything else and not for the biggest terrorist act?’
If the federal government does not call a public inquiry into the Air India bombings, the Liberals will feel the consequences at the polls in the next election, warns Conservative MP Deepak Ohbrai. “If there’s no public inquiry, they will pay,” Mr. Obhrai (Calgary East, Alta.) said. “This question will never go until there’s a […]
Inside Stronach’s $83,000 Montreal party: ‘Belinda should be in charge of hospitality suites from now on, of all the parties’: Postie Don Martin
Conservative Party delegates who went to the party’s first-ever policy convention recently in Montreal may have had divisive disagreements over social policy issues, but they sure agreed on one thing: rookie Conservative MP and billionaire auto parts heiress Belinda Stronach held the best bash all weekend. “Belinda should be in charge of hospitality suites from […]
RECENTLY RELEASED [Governing Education]
Governing Education, by Benjamin Levin, University of Toronto Press, 206 pages, $27.95. Blurb on the back of the jacket: “Governing Education is a unique and powerful book that provides an insider’s view of the workings of government. Benjamin Levin addresses virtually every major educational policy issue facing governments and society, and each is presented with […]
Stepping into Vienneau’s shoes as Global’s Ottawa bureau chief: ‘He was a great person, a great boss and I certainly hope that I can follow in his footsteps’
Global TV’s Jacques Bourbeau is the new Parliamentary bureau chief, but he’s also a bicycling fanatic who bikes to and from work every day, and puts another 60 kilometres at least twice a week spinning around town or in the Gatineau Park. Born and raised in Toronto, Mr. Bourbeau, 45, earned his BJ from Carleton […]
