Chretien asks Cabinet ministers to stick close to home
OTTAWA–Prime Minister Jean Chretien has ordered his Cabinet ministers to stay close to home during the two-week March break recess, imposing a ban on overseas trips and leaving Cabinet ministers with the “impression” that he is considering a Cabinet shuffle. The travel ban, imposed at last Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, was not primarily connected to the […]
“On the Iraq question, columnist Richard Gwyn recently wrote that ‘not in decades has Canada been so irrelevant to a major international issue.’ How do you respond?”
Warren Kinsella Liberal strategist “I admire Richard greatly, but — and you knew there would be a but, didn’t you? — he has succumbed to the culture of defeatism that has beset too many others these days. “It’s not enough to simply observe that the U.S. and Britain (on one side of the divide) and […]
Budget renews Liberal feud
TORONTO–Sheesh, thank God people don’t take the media and politicians seriously, otherwise, they would be highly confused, terribly scared and, most of time, upset with us. Take a look at the events of last week: on Monday, and for the last two to three years, the future of the country was at stake because of […]
MPs’ and Senators’ Birthdays
*Liberal MP Janko Peric, 54, Feb. 24, 1949 *Alliance MP Chuck Strahl, 46, Feb. 25, 1957 *Tory Sen. Bill Doody, 72, Feb. 26, 1931 *NDP MP Libby Davies, 50, Feb. 27, 1953 *Liberal MP Bob Speller, 47, Feb. 29, 1956 *Liberal MP Gary Pillitteri, 67, March 1, 1936 *Chief Government Whip Marlene Catterall, 64, March […]
Cruel and unusual punishment… [Smoking rooms]
Cruel and unusual punishment… It may not be politically correct to sympathize with smokers these days. But being locked up in a totally non-smoking building for five hours while under pressure to digest the biggest spending budget in close to 40 years and have stories ready to file the moment the embargo is lifted…well that […]
Manley team to open up campaign offices
OTTAWA–Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister John Manley’s undeclared leadership campaign team is currently in the process of setting up offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Calgary, senior Manley sources told The Hill Times last week. Operating under the umbrella organization of “Friends of John Manley,” the Manley (Ottawa South, Ont.) team is currently setting up […]
Canada’s place in world has been devalued and diminished: Canada-U.S. relationship weakened by waffling
PARLIAMENT HILL–I am pleased to see that the list of terrorist groups has been expanded now to 19 under the Criminal Code and Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act. [The newly-listed groups are: the Abu Nidal Organization, the Abu Sayyaf Group, and the Sendero Luminoso organization]. I am concerned, however, by the inefficiencies and the fact that many […]
It’s not only children who say the darndest things…
It’s not only children who say the darndest things… Perhaps there are parts of the budget speech that John Manley would like to do over again, but the statement he surely really wishes he never made was the one given to reporters the day before last Tuesday’s budget, when he visited the Greenboro Daycare Centre […]
C-12 gets interesting
The fate of Bill C-12, junior sports minister Paul DeVillers’ fairly innocuous bill to promote physical activity and sport, will be interesting to follow in light of new measures promised in last week’s budget that would force arm’s-length foundations to table their annual reports in Parliament. Last December, the bill was amended in the Senate […]
Coast Guard is neither an enforcement nor security agency: Our role is one of support to the security community: Meisner
The following is an edited transcript of the testimony of Tim Meisner, director of policy and legislation, marine programs, at the Canadian Coast Guard, who appeared before the Senate National Security and Defence Committee on Monday, Feb. 17. Mr. Meisner was called before the committee which is looking into the need for a national security […]
