Unhealthy Grit split
Former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna was on ROBTV last week and told The Bottom Line’s host, Michael Vaughan, that the current split in the federal Liberal Party is actually healthy for the party. Now a practising lawyer, a member of several corporate boards and a high-flyer, Mr. McKenna, who is widely believed to be […]
Don’t like your Lib list: MP Macklin
I write today with regards to a list of ‘supporters’ of the Prime Minister, and former finance minister Paul Martin, respectively, painted in a divisive light in the June 10 issue of The Hill Times. I would like to stress that currently there is no formal leadership race in the Liberal Party of Canada, and […]
Jean Chr&ea;tien’s long-term plan
It is surprising the former finance minister Paul Martin has only now recognized what has been long self-evident outside of the bureaucratic mindset of Ottawa. The country has been drifting for years. The Chretien government drifted into the Quebec referendum just like they are now drifting through the shutdown of our softwood lumber industry and […]
PM to steamroller over any demons that get in his way
Never have so many, owed so much… Deputy Prime Minister John Manley’s tribute to his boss at the Grits’ big Ottawa fundraising dinner last Thursday night could have been summed up by changing the last words of Winston Churchill’s famous Battle of Britain quote from “to so few” to “to one man.” Mr. Manley waxed […]
Thanks, but no thanks to Martin
A wealthy businessman with a dream frantically raises money to erect an oasis in a barren desert wasteland. However, both his financial backers and politicians alike grow worried with rising out-of- control costs, and his underhanded and scheming antics. Is this the story of the infamous gangster Bugsy Siegel? I tend to think that these […]
Martin should take some lessons from Muhammad Ali
Float like a butterfly… So far, Paul Martin seems to be working on the first part of Muhammad Ali’s boxing style. The question is, when will he start with the bee-sting stuff? He has dodged all efforts by Mr. Chretien to deliver a killer punch, but the old Shawinigan Scrapper is getting in some body […]
Prime Minister hosts garden party tonight, sheesh
Checking out the champ… This is exactly what every political reporter in town will be doing this evening, weather permitting, when the prime minister and Madame Aline Chretien host their annual media summer garden party at 24 Sussex Dr. It is our first chance to really get up close and personal with Mr. Chretien since […]
Federal Liberal loya irga a tame affair really
Which came first: Liberal Caucus meetings or the loya jirga?… After the blood bath of two weeks ago, last week’s National Liberal Caucus meeting was, by most accounts, a very tame affair. The anticipated round two of MPs beating up on the PM failed to materialize. Were they cowed into submission? Or could it be […]
PM’s latest shuffle means pink slips for Paul Martin staffers: Most will continue working on Hill until end of the month, says former press secretary Melanie Gruer
Another group of heavy-hitting staffers suddenly found themselves out of work last week following Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s second Cabinet shuffle in as many weeks. Exactly seven days after former defence minister Art Eggleton was shown the door out of Cabinet, the PM stripped his long-time rival Paul Martin of his Finance portfolio. The move […]
After every federal election, Liberal members vote on whether their party should hold a leadership convention. The result shows whether the leader has the confidence of his party. Here’s how they fared.
Liberal Party Leader Year Support against holding a leadership convention Jean Jean Chretien 1998 90% Jean Jean Chretien 1994 91.2% John Turner 1986 76.3% Pierre Trudeau 1980 86% Pierre Trudeau 1975 79.9% Pierre Trudeau 1973 90.6% Pierre Trudeau 1970 89.1% Liberal Party Leader Year Support against holding a leadership convention Jean Jean Chretien 1998 90% […]
