We fight for expression so long as it’s not expressive at all
PARLIAMENT HILL—No government may limit thought, word, or opinion without first proving their act is justified in law. It says so right in the Constitution. That’s any word or opinion. “One of our greatest values in this country is freedom of speech,” Government House Leader Peter Van Loan remarked the other day. Yet Canadians […]
Mortgage debt is catastrophic
PARLIAMENT HILL—They are famous last words, in the manner of the Italian cruise director who advised passengers to return to their cabins. “Two Steady Housing Years Ahead,” cheered The Globe and Mail. “Market Will Remain Steady,” headlined The Nanaimo Daily News. “Housing Starts Are Rising,” read The Edmonton Journal, with “stability,” (The Halifax Chronicle-Herald) […]
MPs have been talking about 150th anniversary of Confederation planning for four months
PARLIAMENT HILL—The Commons Heritage Committee met last week to plan the 150th anniversary of Confederation. MPs have discussed it more than four months now. So far they have (a) no budget and (b) no theme. The sesquicentennial year is 2017. “Our government believes this is a milestone,” Heritage Minister James Moore told MPs. […]
Media should investigate cross-Canada incidence of schoolroom misconduct
PARLIAMENT HILL—Ottawa fixated on a sex scandal last week—this time, away from Parliament Hill. A female arts teacher at a suburban high school was fired for kissing one male student, and having “intimate” relations with two others. There were off-colour emails, investigators found, and a “serial pattern” of uncommonly close friendships with male pupils. […]
There’s budgeting and then there’s military budgeting
PARLIAMENT HILL—There is budgeting, and then there’s military budgeting. In this winter of austerity, the Ottawa Citizen obtained documents that revealed the military will spend $841-million on a new city headquarters. That is 35 per cent more than the Empire State Building, and nearly four times the cost of the CN Tower. As […]
Fixating on the unknowable future a fascinating new year hobby, open to ribbing
PARLIAMENT HILL—Will a New Democrat become Prime Minister? Can the Senators win the Eastern Conference? Will the Defence minister regret selling his wedding photos to Hello magazine? Fixating on the unknowable future is a fascinating new year hobby and inspiration for good-natured wagering. “It is impossible to predict the future,” said science guru Arthur […]
Under Official Languages Act, Canada’s no more bilingual than it was a century ago
PARLIAMENT HILL—Official bilingualism is being throttled—by officials. This is irony. The policy was to promote tolerance and codify good manners, implying anyone who seeks federal office ought to be capable of taking questions from French-speaking taxpayers. “Nothing is more important to a person than to understand and to be understood,” Pierre Trudeau wrote in […]
2012 the year Harper shows us what kind of man he is
PARLIAMENT HILL—On the Parliamentary calendar this is the Year of Wolf Eyes. It’s the year Stephen Harper shows the country what kind of man he is, once and for all. Harper is already six years in office. He’s no enigma. People like and dislike him in unequal measure, about 40-60 according to Elections Canada […]
Evidence shows, holidays in 19th century House bar likely meant a rum punch
Parliament ran its own tavern for 49 glorious years. But what did MPs, Senators and reporters drink? Specialties of the House are lost to history. Public Accounts and Sessional papers are silent on the question, though the bar was so convivial reformers twice tried to shut it down, in 1874 and 1881. Old-timers […]
Remembering the most interesting Canadian you never heard of: Thomas White founder of the Parliamentary Press Gallery
PARLIAMENT HILL—Reporters pause this week to remember the most interesting Canadian you never heard of: Thomas White, founder of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. White died 123 years ago. His creation thrives. The old press room in the Centre Block of Parliament is surprisingly little-changed with Gothic Revival windows, doors trimmed in tiger oak and […]
