Health Council idea is a sharp one: New health system needs a new ‘holistic’ approach on public policy
Roy Romanow recently said that Canadians want and need a truly national health system. At the centre of his high-profile plan to build one is a recommendation that governments should create a national health council. It is an innovative and interesting idea that merits more discussion. Unfortunately, most Canadians have at best a vague idea […]
The real skinny on the government’s so-called Public Safety Act, known as Bill C-17
The U.S. invasion underway in the air and on the ground is intruding into Canadians’ privacy rights. Moreover, with official support from the Canadian government, this not-too-friendly fire directed at Canadians’ privacy protection makes forced integration a much more personal and painful reality. On the ground — at least for targeted Canadians from up to […]
Manley could bring spousal disclosure back in ethics: Lib MP Joe Jordan: if there’s no full disclosure, ‘what’s the check of balance’?
Deputy Prime Minister John Manley has left the door open to put spousal disclosure back into the government’s draft ethics package, even though he is staunchly against the idea. In testimony before the Procedures and House Affairs Committee, which started hearings on the package last Tuesday, Mr. Manley was grilled by several MPs who demanded […]
Beware of ‘political snipers’ Prime Minister Chretien: Political parties must be ‘democratized’ not Parliament
Last week’s vote on electing Commons committee chairs by secret ballots will undoubtedly have profound effects on the Canadian political system. But will it be for the better? I’m not sure. There’s little doubt that the Parliamentary “system” doesn’t work. Too much power is concentrated in the hands of the Prime Minister and, even more […]
Asper’s propaganda machine
CanWest Global boss Izzy Asper had one thing right: the media should end its “selective … dishonest … and biased reporting.” Unfortunately, it’s not likely to happen any time soon. And what’s more, his own newspapers are as guilty of it as any others. Asper made those comments recently during a speech to the Israel […]
Trudeau’s decisive galvanic effect on Nationalism
With his shrug to English Canadians, Trudeau gave us a paradoxical brand of nationalism that flourishes today The puzzle about Pierre Elliot Trudeau – one of his many, if not innumerable, puzzles and paradoxes – is how someone so utterly indifferent to English-Canadian nationalism could have had such a decisive and galvanic effect upon it. […]
Teachers want to know: ‘Are lobbyists necessary?’: Some handy tips of survival with and without a lobbyist in Ottawa
The naming of the session was brilliant: “Lunch with the Lobbyists.” “Lunch” and “lobbyists” — two words, two thoughts, that go together like, like, gin and tonic, or Wayne and Shuster — a perfect pair of nouns that conjure up the perfect stereotype: What do lobbyists do? Of course, they lunch. Well, we’ll have to […]
The U.S. has no choice
No wonder the U.S. government continues to consider Canada as a source of potential security threats. Canada’s External Affairs Minister Bill Graham has refused to sanction the activities of the humanitarian wing of Hezbollah. His rational that the humanitarian arm has no relation to the militant arm is ludicrous. Any organization that sponsors terrorism is […]
Tories big on Parliamentary reforms
No one should be suckered by Paul Martin’s attempt to make Canadians believe that he is genuinely interested in Parliamentary reform. What a miraculous conversion considering that Martin was part of the Liberal Cabinet and still is a member of a party that has only paid lip service to the idea of making Parliament more […]
Prime Minister Chretien should go early, now
I have a bottle of champagne chilling in the frigidaire in anticipation of Prime Minister Jean Chretien leaving office sooner than later. Frankly, I don’t believe he will be able to take the “heat” to which he will be subjected to over the next few weeks. It is my fervent hope that we will be […]
