The Mommy Returns…
Commons Speaker Peter Milliken apparently loves directing Question Period so much, he won’t even let pneumonia keep him away. He took only two days off at the end of January when he came down with the illness and has been at work ever since, even though he is still recovering, says his director of communications […]
It’s show time for Mr. Manley
TORONTO–When Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister John Manley tells us how the federal government plans to spend more than $170-billion this year in his first budget to be released at 4 p.m. in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Feb. 18, it will be the result of months of complicated talks and the work […]
Call in the Copps to Tim Hortons
The Keystone Copps? There’s a whole lotta head-shaking going on over Heritage Minister Sheila Copps’ decision to run against Paul Martin for Jean Chretien’s job. Is she really so blind, or so full of herself that she really thinks she could even get close enough to see the dust? Is she setting herself up to […]
World order is shifting
OTTAWA–Is there a reconfiguration of alliances taking place on the world scene? Witness the recent, but previously unheard of, public disagreement among NATO military alliance members and continued disagreement among European Union (EU) member states on how to respond to the U.S.-proposed action against Iraq. The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council […]
Grit pollster Marzolini takes aim at Liberals’ Campaign Bill
OTTAWA–Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s proposal to make polling an election expense – a provision contained in his controversial and much-debated Campaign Finance Reform Bill – will make it even harder for backbench MPs to keep in touch with their voters through polling activities, says the Liberal Party’s pollster. “It certainly does put a ceiling or […]
Politicking is bad for your health?
For the second time in a few weeks, we have a case of a Liberal MP suffering a heart attack. Fortunately, for the second time, the prognosis is good. Robert Bertrand, the member for Pontiac-Gatineau-Labelle, Que., suffered cardiac problems a week ago, but his administrative assistant Pierrette Bellefeuille says it was a mild one and […]
Minister Vanclief hires a new executive assistant: Sylvie Millette LeDuc says a secret to a minister’s success is a great team
When Christine Donoghue decided last month to leave her job as executive assistant to Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief to move to a job inside the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Vanclief didn’t have to look too far for her replacement. He decided to hire Sylvie Millette LeDuc who was working in his ministerial office as a […]
Copps has plenty of sass
For the best part of the next year, the politician who may do the most good to and for Canadians could very well be Sheila Copps. Nothing done by her as Minister of Canadian Heritage is likely to make any great difference to ordinary Canadians. The benefit Copps may do to Canadians may come instead […]
“Will Sheila Copps give Paul Martin a run for his money?”
Warren Kinsella Liberal strategist “This isn’t the first time Sheila Copps has run for the leadership of a party. And, no, I’m not talking about 1990. “How about eight years before that — when she was an Ontario MPP? She was a young, new Liberal MPP, running against the establishment candidate — the one all […]
I’ve got Paul Martin on the brain: The glory and the hazards of being Paul Martin, leading contender
OTTAWA–As with most everyone else in Ottawa these days, I got Paul Martin on the brain. No, I’m not one of his confidants, strategists or “close personal friendsTM.” Indeed, it sometimes feels as if I’m among the few in this burg who ever admit to such lack of intimate connection. But when you’re in the […]
