John Turner reflects on Ukraine’s ‘crusade for democracy’: At 75, Canada’s 17th prime minister considers heading up another Canadian election observer mission
Former prime minister John Turner still has many foreign elections to observe before he catches up to former U.S. president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter, who regularly criss-crosses the globe to monitor voting. But just weeks after heading the Canadian delegation that monitored the repeat second round of Ukraine’s presidential election on Dec. […]
Rookie NDP MP Siksay says he’s willing to take concerns about allegations of abuse in Bountiful to federal level
Now that the government has introduced its same-sex marriage legislation, is a similar debate over polygamy next? If so, Bountiful, B.C., patriarch and husband of multiple “spiritual wives” Winston Blackmore is ready. A recent newsletter posted on his website suggests that Mr. Blackmore and his community may be prepared to take on the state in […]
Governing from the Centre II: After the big tents: Political parties lose stride, flummoxed by chronic inability to recreate ‘big tents’
Canadian political parties may push each other to extremes during the regular season but once the play-offs start- the eve of an election-they clamour for the middle ground.Tories are suddenly compassionate, the NDP is fiscally responsible, the BQ forgets its separatist mission and the Liberals-ah, yes! the Liberals: they slip into the political centre the […]
PARLIAMENTARY CALENDAR: Goodale to testify before Environment Committee: Finance Minister to talk about fiscal reform as a policy tool to achieve Kyoto targets
MONDAY, FEB. 7 House Sitting-The House of Commons will return today for the winter session. For more information on the House Chamber schedule, call the Government House Leader’s Office at 613-952-4930. Gomery Inquiry-Jean Pelletier, former prime minister Jean Chretien chief of staff, former prime minister Mr. Chretien and current Prime Minister Paul Martin are all […]
Same-sex south of the border, eh? Supreme Court judgment opens up series of socio-sexual relationships under discussion
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Canada and the United States are alternative North Americas.The latest round of traditional wisdom is to compare us as “fire and ice.” Or to note the juxtaposition between the 2003 “Person of the Year”in the Canadian and U.S. editions of Time magazine. For Canada, it was the homosexual couple/marriage; for the United […]
Guite remains ‘person of interest’ for Public Accounts Committee
Chuck Guite remains a “person of interest” to MPs on the House Public Accounts Committee who are looking into apparent conflicting testimony from the bureaucrat who ran the federal sponsorship program when he appeared before them last year. “I view it as a serious matter and I believe the staff of the standing committee is […]
2005 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards
House Speaker Peter Milliken announced recipients of the 2005 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards to the House of Commons at the end of Question Period last Wednesday on Parliament Hill. The Speaker held a reception in Room 216-N in the Centre Block to which all Parliamentarians were invited. Roberta Jamieson, the CEO of the NAAF, and […]
Ducasse joins Layton’s office as Quebec assistant: Ron Wood moves on with John Reynolds to the MP’s office
Pierre Ducasse, the former NDP leadership candidate who unsuccessfully ran in the 2003 leadership campaign against NDP Leader Jack Layton, has joined Mr. Layton’s office as Quebec adviser and caucus liaison. Mr. Ducasse, 32, who won fifth place in the last NDP leadership race, started his new job last week. Born in the North Shore […]
Full of holes: Parliament’s reports on Canada Health Act: Legislation loses out to politics of chequebook federalism
MPs have some light reading on the Canada Health Act (CHA) coming their way. The act’s annual report to Parliament is due on Feb. 15.This year’s report, if recent reports are a guide, will be missing key information about the growth of private, for-profit health care services.The information will simply not be there. These annual […]
Sun Media reporter Rubec talks shop: ‘The key is talking to as many politicians’: Stephanie Rubec
Sun Media Parliamentary reporter Stephanie Rubec, 31, who was born in Fredericton, N.B., but raised in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., earned her bachelor’s of journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa and was hired by the Ottawa Sun in 1996. She’s been covering the Hill since 1999 and is this week’s “In The Hot Room” interview. What’s […]
