Van Dusen enjoys human drama of covering politics: ‘It’s got excitement, intrigue, careers dashed, careers made, loyalty and skulduggery’: Van Dusen
When CBC TV’s Hill reporter Julie Van Dusen is in the Centre Block foyer after the daily 45- minute Question Period sessions, you can’t miss her. A veritable dynamo, the diminutive red-haired veteran reporter is always asking tough, provocative and hardhitting questions. Sometimes she’s loud, always solid and sometimes, she unloads her trademark humour on […]
Correction [Government kicks off same-sex debate, February 14, 2005]
In last week’s story, “Government kicks off same-sex debate,” (The Hill Times, Feb. 14), a Conservative motion on farming relief should have been attributed to rookie MP Diane Finley, her party’s agriculture critic, and not to John Finlay, a former Ontario Liberal MP. We apologize for the error. I
Public servants too afraid of making mistakes: Marleau: TB Parliamentary Secretary Diane Marleau says program-delivery arm needs overhaul
Liberal MP Diane Marleau, the federal government’s Treasury Board Parliamentary secretary, says public servants are too afraid of making mistakes and that the government’s program-delivery arm is no longer effective. “There is so much fear of making a mistake that some programs are becoming increasingly difficult to access by ordinary Canadians… It’s quite a situation.You […]
AG Fraser reports to Parliament
Auditor General Sheila Fraser released another round of her quarterly audits to Parliament last week. No sponsorship scandals here, but good, solid audits, nonetheless. In fact, the government already acted on one of her audits on Crown corporations last week in anticipation of the audit. Among her audits, the AG looked at the accountability of […]
NDP didn’t lay a glove on me: O’Brien [O’Brien doesn’t speak for all London-Fanshawe, February 14, 2005]
Regarding the letter from Shawn Lewis entitled, “O’Brien doesn’t speak for all London-Fanshawe,”(The Hill Times, Feb. 14). Lewis claims that my opposition to same-sex marriage does not reflect the majority opinion in London-Fanshawe, Ont. Any MP can only assess the input received from constituents. Based on opinions expressed from my constituents, 90 per cent to […]
Political promises
It’s the law. Or not. Political promises, even when put in writing are not worth the paper they’re printed on.The Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who signed the document on TV, promising no tax increases.The same court ruling stated “anyone that believes a campaign promise, is naive about the […]
Don’t do it Canada [missile defence]
It seems totally preposterous that Canada would opt for the old “Star Wars” program, considering the evidence that it would not work, especially in terms of getting “bang for the buck.” It didn’t garner the support necessary for the Reagan U.S. Administration.These times are different, we’re told. Ballistic missiles are a reality that I’m sure […]
Liberals’ upcoming caucus committees to review issues before Cabinet does: ‘It really inserts the caucus committees into the legislative and policy development process’
In an attempt to empower Liberal MPs, Andy Savoy, chairman of the national Liberal caucus, is poised to announce the creation of three caucus committees which he says will “mirror” Cabinet committees. Moreover, Mr. Savoy says the Liberal caucus committees will deal with all important pieces of legislation or issues before they go to Cabinet […]
NDP stands up for public health care, not privatization: We don’t know where government is spending when funding has no accountability
If you don’t know where you are spending your money, you can’t manage it. It is the first lesson in Budget-Planning 101. And Canadians don’t know where the government is spending tax dollars when healthcare funding is given away with no accountability guarantees. The 2004 First Ministers’ Meeting on Health was supposed to fix health […]
Set up an inquiry to probe high number of inquiries: Make sense to spend $100-million to find out who mismanaged $100-million? Nope
We should ask the government to create an inquiry to conduct an inquiry into the high number of Canadian inquiries, and, more specifically, how they’re run. To date, there have been more than 440 commissions in the history of this country. Most are long-running and expensive. And the results are not always very forthcoming. Usually, […]
