Thank you Mr. Chretien
Parliamentary Press Gallery President Anne Dawson made a point of thanking Jim Munson, the Prime Minister’s new acting director of communications last week, for his work in getting Prime Minister Jean Chretien to hold regular and more civilized press conferences in the National Press Theatre with us not-so-civilized Hill reporters. It was Mr. Munson who […]
Premiers should never drive: Just one more reason to be a passenger
Late one night in a political campaign, I was in the passenger seat of a car driven by a politician who would soon be in the Cabinet. We happened upon former prime minister John Turner who was out for a walk. My candidate friend flashed the lights, tooted the horn and pulled over to say […]
Commons to probe bureaucrats behind gun registry controversy
Senior public servants responsible for administering the government’s troubled national gun registry will have to answer for their actions to a Liberal-dominated Commons’ committee when Parliament resumes sitting on Jan. 27. Chaired by Manitoba Liberal MP Reg Alcock, members of the new Government and Operations Committee reached an “agreement in principle” the week Parliament broke […]
Liberal Party Rules for the Grit race: what to look for: A great deal of money will have been spent before rules come into effect
The National Post reported last week that the Liberal Party’s rules for the leadership race leading up to the convention in mid-November, 2003, are likely to be announced on Feb. 10. The Post said the party is expected to set a limit of $4- million on each candidate’s expenditures, impose a service fee of $50,000 […]
Grit leadership candidates to get 30,100 membership forms each
Federal Liberal leadership candidates will get at least 30,100 membership forms each for the upcoming leadership race, says the president of the party. Stephen LeDrew told The Hill Times last week that the provincial wings of the Liberal Party and the competing camps vying for the Liberal throne finally reached an understanding over the controversial […]
Supreme Court to allow media lockups
In what is being called an historic and ground-breaking move, the Supreme Court of Canada has given the green light to a pilot project allowing reporters to know the decisions taken by the country’s top justices in a lock-up briefing room before the briefings are made public. If the “experiment” proves successful, it will put […]
Spin Doctors delusional
Regarding “The Spin Doctors” column (The Hill Times, Dec. 16, 2002, on “Why have the Tory and NDP leadership races failed to create any excitement.” I just have this to say: The Liberals: a one person coronation. The Tories: will someone take this job please! The New Democrats: four MPs and a charismatic city councillor […]
It’s survival stupid, North Korea
More a cult than a country, the political equivalent of a Raelian nation-state, North Korea’s behaviour has always seemed to be harder to decode than that of any other country on the globe. An ideology of self-sufficiency piled onto pure communism that has left it poverty-stricken and backward. Bouts of mass starvation that were in […]
Elinor Caplan hires a new policy adviser
Minister of National Revenue Elinor Caplan has hired a new senior policy adviser. Mark Boudreau, joined Ms. Caplan’s office last week as the new senior policy adviser replacing Katherine Cornfield who is currently on maternity leave. A native of Moncton, N.B., Mr. Boudreau, 47, received his BA in economics and political science from York University […]
What’s up with Auto Caucus
Regarding the story “Grit Auto Caucus wants $50-million for Kyoto,” (The Hill Times, Dec. 16). Excuse my ignorance but isn’t the engine design and development program done in Japan, Germany, England and the U.S.? What auto company does real pollution research in Ontario? Canada has assembly plants but I’m not aware of any auto company […]
