Canada’s respectable compromise
OTTAWA–While some decried Canada’s policy on the Iraq crisis as fence-sitting, it is ultimately being viewed as seeking a respectable compromise. The Canadian proposal currently circulating at the United Nations, especially among Security Council members, is asking the world community to consider imposing a March 28 deadline for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to completely disarm […]
Treasury Board’s lost control: Grit MP Alcock
OTTAWA–Liberal MP Reg Alcock, chair of the new Government Operations Committee, plans to call Treasury Board officials to the mat when Parliament resumes next Monday to find out why the government insists on tabling spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year that are regularly off by billions of dollars. On Feb. 16, Treasury Board President […]
U.S. and UN global twins
The great fear of multilateralists is that the United Nations will soon become a house divided against itself and thereafter will become an empty shell. This division could happen in either of two ways: France could respond to a Security Council vote in favour of the U.S. resolution that effectively calls for war on Iraq […]
A brief history of gun control in Canada, 1867 to 1945: The history of federal government’s efforts to regulate ownership and use of guns
The huge cost overrun on the Canadian Firearms Program and the deadline for registering all firearms (originally Jan. 1, 2003, then extended by six months) has reignited intense controversy over the rationale and efficacy of Canada’s gun controls. But conflict in Canada over regulating firearms is nothing new. It has occurred many times since Confederation. […]
America could liberate Iraq without civilian casualties
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has clearly revealed Iraq’s continuing efforts to hide its program to develop biochemical weapons of mass destruction while pretending to cooperate with the UN weapons inspectors. Most experts think that it takes a small amount of laboratory space to develop these bio-chemical weapons of mass destruction. A modern lab […]
Bills need sunset clauses, urges Grit Senator Banks: ‘Some pieces of legislation are sort of sitting there almost hanging over our heads’
OTTAWA–If the federal government passes a piece of legislation but never bothers to bring it into force, should it be allowed to sit there in suspended animation for years on end? This is a question that has been preying on the mind of Alberta Liberal Senator Tommy Banks who was astonished to learn recently that […]
Forget the slow boat they’ll be jetting to China…
Ottawa Citizen news digger Glen McGregor and his wife Ottawa Citizen columnist Shelley Page are also adding to the Hill’s growing adoption club and will be heading off to China next month to embrace a sister for their daughter Cleo. The McGregors got word of their new baby just before the House rose for the […]
“Were backbencher Carolyn Parrish’s comments that Americans are ‘bastards’ overplayed by the media?”
Warren Kinsella Liberal strategist “No, the media did the job it was supposed to do. What she said was newsworthy. “In another time, in another circumstance, I would say she deserved a paragraph in a ‘Notebook’ column, no more. After all, Ms. Parrish is not a member of Cabinet or even a Minister of State […]
Yanks, Americans
Regarding Gene M. Simon’s letter to the editor last week in The Hill Times (March 3) from Williamsville, N.Y. Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish’s comment was far too broad. I have great American friends although, from his tone, I doubt that Mr. Simon could ever qualify. From whom or what would he defend Canada? Millions around […]
Don’t become Rt. Hon. Member from CSL
OTTAWA–Paul Martin’s recent tangle over his “seeing eye” blind trust agreement governing his ownership of Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) has given him a newfound appreciation for the post of an appointed, rather than an independent, ethics counsellor. The former finance minister and leadership hopeful, who still advocates creating an independent ethics watchdog to replace Howard […]
