Party execs to PM: lose one vote and you’re out: MPs suspect last leadership review not run on the up-and-up [Delegate vote and riding vote]
In a dramatic twist, top officials in the Liberal Party have decided that a leadership convention will be triggered if the Prime Minister loses either the review vote by party members or the review vote by elected delegates. “If he loses one vote, we go into a leadership convention,” said Aurele Gervais, the federal Liberal […]
Beware of the little guy with the big stick
Fore!… There was no way this week’s column was going to get into any analysis or predictions concerning the now open warfare between Mr. Chretien and Mr. Martin. This is not for a want of information on war councils last week, but merely a recognition of the fact that strategies were changing hourly and no […]
PM pressured to step down: Leadership review risks dividing us to the extent that our party has never been divided before’: MP
Paul Martin’s supporters hope Prime Minister Jean Chretien steps down before next year’s leadership review in order to avoid an ugly, nasty confrontation between the two political titans that could split the country’s “natural governing party” for years to come. “I wouldn’t recommend him to go through [the review],” said Liberal MP Janko Peric (Cambridge, […]
Dawson jumps from Sun Media to National Post
Dawson’s Creek… Parliamentary Press Gallery President Anne Dawson kept quite a secret while presiding over the nibs and nobs at the Gallery Dinner. Unbeknownst to almost everyone else, it was her last big public appearance as Ottawa bureau chief for Sun Media. Ms. Dawson, who took over the Sun job from yours truly 18 months […]
Liberals’ $1 memberships a big boost for Martin’s camp [Ontario wing]
A move by supporters of Paul Martin to drop the price of party memberships from $10 to $1 in the all- important battleground of Ontario has significantly increased their ability to defeat the Prime Minister at the upcoming review vote, say Martinites. Furthermore, they say the move means they can offer free memberships to new […]
Old hacks say Gallery dinner no longer booze fest
Guess who didn’t come to dinner… With all the buzz about the then undecided fate of finance minister Paul Martin that weekend, one might have thought scalpers could have had a field day selling tickets to the Gallery dinner to hobnob with ministers and hear Prime Minister Jean Chretien speak. In fact, tickets went begging […]
Shuffle hints at desire to rein in Crown corporations: Gilles Paquet. Federal Ottawa bureaucrats at a loss to explain nuts and bolts ramifications of June 2 Cabinet shuffle
The decision to place Crown corporations under the control of the Treasury Board is a response to recent criticism by the Auditor General, but the move will destroy the positive aspects of quasi- governmental entities, predicts Gilles Paquet, a leading government expert. Crown corporations, special operating agencies and independent foundations have all come under criticism […]
Who’s supporting who? Yes and No camps for upcoming Liberal leadership review (Last updated Tuesday, June 11 at 11:30 am]
(Last updated Tuesday, June 11 at 11:30 a.m. Numbers differ from print copy of The Hill Times on Monday, June 10. Watch for complete updated list in next week’s issue.) CHRETIEN SUPPORTERS *Herb Dhaliwal (Vancouver South-Burnaby, B.C.) *Rey Pagtakhan (Winnipeg North-St. Paul, Man.) *Dominic LeBlanc (Beausejour-Petitcodiac, N.B.) *Claudette Bradshaw (Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, N.B.) *Robert Thibault (West Nova, […]
From now on, the official term is ‘sack-ignation’ [Press Gallery dinner]
Hits and Misses… I hear Stephen Harper was pretty funny at the Gallery Dinner — with the highlight being his impersonation of Brian Mulroney in the role of Darth Vader. However, I’m told nothing he did was as funny as the garish golf shirt he wore for his television appearance the next day to respond […]
PM’s latest shuffle means pink slips for Paul Martin staffers: Most will continue working on Hill until end of the month, says former press secretary Melanie Gruer
Another group of heavy-hitting staffers suddenly found themselves out of work last week following Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s second Cabinet shuffle in as many weeks. Exactly seven days after former defence minister Art Eggleton was shown the door out of Cabinet, the PM stripped his long-time rival Paul Martin of his Finance portfolio. The move […]
