Delacourt off writing her Martin book
The Life of Paul, Part I… Don’t worry if you don’t see Susan Delacourt’s byline in the National Post for awhile, she hasn’t crossed over to the Other Side too. Instead, she’s on leave for a couple of months to write up the first half of the book she’s doing on Paul Martin’s push for […]
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 […]
Jim Hart’s new year’s prediction
My political contacts tell me that discontent is growing among the Liberal backbenchers in the B.C. Legislature, and why wouldn’t they be unhappy, they have little or no say in the course of this government. In my view, their role as MLA should be to represent the people who elected them and oppose the government, […]
Give me a break media
I’ve been thinking, national reporters are very dangerous animals who need to be fed daily and if they don’t find food, they’ll eat you alive. The “food” is obviously news and if there’s no news, they’ll invent it. Did you ever see a newspaper with a blank front page with the headline, “THERE IS NO […]
Beware of ‘political snipers’ Prime Minister Chretien: Political parties must be ‘democratized’ not Parliament
Last week’s vote on electing Commons committee chairs by secret ballots will undoubtedly have profound effects on the Canadian political system. But will it be for the better? I’m not sure. There’s little doubt that the Parliamentary “system” doesn’t work. Too much power is concentrated in the hands of the Prime Minister and, even more […]
Manley could bring spousal disclosure back in ethics: Lib MP Joe Jordan: if there’s no full disclosure, ‘what’s the check of balance’?
Deputy Prime Minister John Manley has left the door open to put spousal disclosure back into the government’s draft ethics package, even though he is staunchly against the idea. In testimony before the Procedures and House Affairs Committee, which started hearings on the package last Tuesday, Mr. Manley was grilled by several MPs who demanded […]
Asper’s propaganda machine
CanWest Global boss Izzy Asper had one thing right: the media should end its “selective … dishonest … and biased reporting.” Unfortunately, it’s not likely to happen any time soon. And what’s more, his own newspapers are as guilty of it as any others. Asper made those comments recently during a speech to the Israel […]
Trudeau’s decisive galvanic effect on Nationalism
With his shrug to English Canadians, Trudeau gave us a paradoxical brand of nationalism that flourishes today The puzzle about Pierre Elliot Trudeau – one of his many, if not innumerable, puzzles and paradoxes – is how someone so utterly indifferent to English-Canadian nationalism could have had such a decisive and galvanic effect upon it. […]
Teachers want to know: ‘Are lobbyists necessary?’: Some handy tips of survival with and without a lobbyist in Ottawa
The naming of the session was brilliant: “Lunch with the Lobbyists.” “Lunch” and “lobbyists” — two words, two thoughts, that go together like, like, gin and tonic, or Wayne and Shuster — a perfect pair of nouns that conjure up the perfect stereotype: What do lobbyists do? Of course, they lunch. Well, we’ll have to […]
The U.S. has no choice
No wonder the U.S. government continues to consider Canada as a source of potential security threats. Canada’s External Affairs Minister Bill Graham has refused to sanction the activities of the humanitarian wing of Hezbollah. His rational that the humanitarian arm has no relation to the militant arm is ludicrous. Any organization that sponsors terrorism is […]
