Does no one see a problem in Elections Canada looking into Elections Canada?
PARLIAMENT HILL—Elections Canada is looking into irregularities in votes managed by—Elections Canada. Does no one see a problem? Police must be relentless, fearless, and meticulous in pursuit of truth. Yet the nation’s vote police, Elections Canada, are short on all counts. Evidence shows the agency appears oblivious to election manipulation by party operatives; that […]
Toews makes it harder for prisoners to buy puzzles and prayer mats
PARLIAMENT HILL—In the annals of Hill entertainers, 2012 will be remembered as the year The Vic Toews Show ran its course. It’s been a great ride: this B-talent from Steinbach, Man., who made top bill by declaring war on phantom crime waves, then slandering fellow MPs as being in league with pornographers, then complaining […]
Lougheed gets lionized as greatest premier of the era
PARLIAMENT HILL—Memories, like fishing anecdotes, grow more outrageous with time. So it is that 27 years after he left office, Alberta’s Peter Lougheed is lionized as the greatest premier of the era, a political colossus. He is praised lavishly on TVO. An Edmonton Journal item asks, “Lougheed For Governor General?” A tribute in his […]
Dean Blundell, on-air talent at CFNY-FM, holds a Canadian media distinction, eh?
PARLIAMENT HILL—In all Canadian media a distinction is held by Dean Blundell, on-air talent at CFNY-FM, Toronto’s “102.1 The Edge.” In 10 years, The Dean Blundell Show has been the subject of nine inquiries by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. This does not include repetitive complaints deemed unworthy of investigation since they touch on […]
Media once again blew an election call
OTTAWA—Media once again booted an election call and quickly moved on without explanation or mea culpa. Pundits and pollsters weren’t merely wrong on last week’s Alberta election, they were emphatically wrong. We will presumably keep this up until the public shames us into competence. Alberta politics defy casual interpretation. The province is calcified […]
For Ottawa, NHL hockey is big escape
PARLIAMENT HILL—For a brief moment last week politics was not with us. On every street in Ottawa, in every shop and schoolyard, the people asked, “Did you see Neil?” “Did you see him!” The subject was Chris Neil, Senators winger, a farm boy from Flesherton, Ont., leader of the club in penalty minutes, best […]
Santa Maria! That Ethics Commissioner’s Office works slowly
PARLIAMENT HILL—There is time, and then there is Ottawa time. It can be tabulated by phases of the moon. I know a branch of government, Archives Canada, that takes six weeks to make a photocopy. Delivery in three weeks is called “rush service.” I’m not making this up. Yet even in The Land Where […]
Grit ridings targeted by Tories saw unexplained increases in their number of polling stations
PARLIAMENT HILL—Liberal ridings targeted by Toronto-area Conservatives in the last election saw unexplained increases in their number of polling stations, records show. Five ridings saw dramatic gains in poll sites, including one neighbourhood in Ajax, Ont., where five different ballot stations were placed within metres of each other on the same street. Documents obtained […]
Conservative-friendly balloting helped deliver near half of Alexander’s plurality in last election
PARLIAMENT HILL—Conservative-friendly balloting at a suburban Ajax, Ont., country club gave MP Chris Alexander near half his plurality in toppling a Liberal incumbent last year, documents show. Elections Canada placed 13 polls at the Carruthers Creek Golf Club, advertised as “Durham’s foremost golf and country club.” Alexander won 10 of the 13 polls with […]
Elections Canada allowed ballot boxes in a gated community clubhouse, a suburban supermarket, a lawn bowling club
PARLIAMENT HILL—A Hill Times investigation shows Conservatives harvested thousands of votes after Elections Canada placed ballot boxes in evangelical churches, clubs and other locations that appeared to favour government supporters. Ontarians voted in a gated community clubhouse and a church whose congregation included the local returning officer, records show. Conservatives swept both polling stations […]
