Conservatives advertise for a CRTC head: a judge may be a good idea
Last week, the government issued a call for applications for the next chairperson of the CRTC–a vital federal agency about which everyone has strong opinions. Charles Dalfen‘s exit completes his term at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission at the end of December. The word around town is that the jockeying and lobbying has begun […]
Rise of skills agenda in Harper’s Conservative government
“The agriculture industry faces an incredibly wide variety of human resources changes. While the workforce is getting older and is shrinking, there is more and more competition for highly skilled or specialized workers.” So said Newfoundland farmer Mervin Wiseman. He co-chairs the new Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council, and on the Saturday before Parliament resumed, […]
Bring the names of the provinces to the capital’s streets
Is Ottawa an exciting capital? Does it say enough about the country? On the first point, I think the answer is largely yes. On the second one, I think it is not really. These ought to be two key questions for the mandate review panel for the National Capital Commission, appointed by Transport Minister Lawrence […]
Harper maintains heavy schedule on cultural diversity
Parliamentary decorum, cultural diversity and broadcasting policy are three rapidly evolving issues I have focused on during this past session of Parliament. So an end-of-term report card is in order. Parliamentary decorum On Parliamentary decorum, this has been a dismal year. Each party blames the others for the descent into poor decorum which has now […]
Liberal and Green party leaders not thinking about our future
Liberal and Green party leadership candidates have been off and running for a while now but their policy development has been weak. Indeed that may be why their media coverage has dropped off. True, media tend to cover the horse-race aspects of a contest more than provide deep insight into policy platforms, but so far […]
So far, PM Harper government keeps the faith on his party’s promises to immigrants and ethnic minorities
When it comes to the promises in the Conservative platform that address immigrants and ethnic minorities, so far the Harper government is keeping the faith. On May 1, the Prime Minister announced there would be an Air India judicial inquiry after all, satisfying the continued wish of the families of survivors. This comes after the […]
How do you get decorum in the House? Bring in a new Code of Parliamentary Decorum and end heckling, period
It’s a new Parliament, with new and re-elected members. There’s a new mood for ethics, integrity and respect. But how different will the House really be? If Parliamentarians want to change their image and, more importantly, change how Canadians regard Parliament, a great deal will be achieved if they improve the decorum in the House […]
Premiers want a national strategy to avert future skills crisis
The provinces came to town and the upshot was that (a) they agreed that Canada is facing a national skills crisis and that (b) we need a national strategy for post-secondary education and skills development. Just to be clear, they are not rushing to give up provincial jurisdiction to the federal government in education and […]
Will Prime Minister Harper make inroads with minorities?
The ethnic vote is the bedrock of the Liberal Party and proved to be so in the recent election, although it showed signs of slipping away this time. Count on the Conservative government using its governing opportunity to firm up the inroads they have begun to make. If there was one message that repeatedly came […]
Promises needed on Parliamentary decorum
Here’s an issue that has barely raised its head in this campaign: Parliamentary decorum–good behaviour in the House. It was touched on in the leaders’ debate, but with no specifics and without any real discussion. Wouldn’t it be nice if parties could sign on to a “new code of Parliamentary behaviour”: a simple three-step code […]
