Copps hires three new staffers in ministerial office: And Steve Grunau joins Alberta Independent Sen. Roche’s office
Federal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps beefed up her ministerial political office recently when she hired three new assistants. The ministerial political staff is headed by executive assistant Charles Boyer who was a former PMO flack before he joined Ms. Copps’ office in 2001. Minister Copps recently hired Ian Capstick, who is responsible for aboriginal and […]
Democratic freedoms on trial: NCC: against restricting free speech
If there was a law saying that you needed a bureaucrat’s permission to express a political opinion, you would probably be upset. In fact, you would probably say such a law infringed on your right to free expression. Well, believe it or not, such a law does exist and an Ontario judge recently ruled that […]
C-24 won’t be complete without C-34
Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley returned to Parliament last week to remind Senators that Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s Political Finance Bill leaves open a major loophole allowing donors to make secret donations to political trust funds. The Senators on the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee heard that Bill C-24, officially known as an Act to […]
Canadian help key to build International University of Baghdad, says an academic
Canada has an opportunity to play a leading role in the reconstruction of Iraq by helping to build an international university in the Iraqi capital city, says an Iraqi-born Canadian academic. Tareq Ismael, a professor of political science at the University of Calgary, is currently in the process of promoting the idea of building an […]
MPs’ and Senators’ Birthdays
*Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard, 58, June 16, 1945 *Ind. Sen. P. Michael Pitfield, 66, June 18, 1937 *Liberal Sen. Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, 66, June 18, 1937 *PC Sen. John Lynch-Staunton, 73, June 19, 1930 *NDP MP Bill Blaikie, 52, June 19, 1951 *Liberal MP Beth Phinney, 65, June 19, 1938 *Ind. MP Pierre Brien, 33, […]
Media’s due diligence?
Recently, The Toronto Star ran a picture of veteran anti-smoking zealot Garfield Mahood on page B4 proclaiming the news that he and two others had received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medals for their work against smoking. Mahood, 62, has been executive director of the non-profit — but hearty recipient of taxpayers’ cash — Non-Smoker’s Rights […]
Radwanski’s ugly showdown with Parliament
I find it patently absurd that George Radwanski, the Privacy Commissioner and therefore an Officer of Parliament, is publicly fighting those Members of Parliament for whom he is supposed to be working for in keeping the government of the day honest. Radwanski asserts that he should be free from any confidence votes that Parliament might […]
Ethics rules for MPs and Senators: seventh time lucky?
As Parliament rises for barbecue season, the fate of Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s promised code of conduct for MPs and Senators is uncertain. Those following the ethics code debate will find all of this somewhat familiar. This is Parliament’s seventh — yes, seventh — attempt at passing such a code. Given the code’s tendency to […]
Some winners and some stinkers at Press Gallery Dinner: Clarkson: the Alliance would get their Triple-E Senate: ‘Elected, Efficient, and E-merican’
OTTAWA–It was billed as Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s last Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner, the biggest and the best… and the meanest ever. Well-read and influential National Post columnist Don Martin predicted in The Hill Times the Monday before that since it would be Prime Minister Chretien’s last dinner he may as well “settle scores” with […]
A tale of two countries, Cuba and Myanmar
Cuba and Myanmar (formerly Burma) are two countries, oceans apart, on different continents, and Canada follows two divergent policies towards them. It is “constructive engagement” with Cuba, but isolation of Myanmar. Yet both these policies have had little impact on the leadership of the respective countries. President Fidel Castro has ruled Cuba since the revolution […]
