Government uses Air Canada like a semi-Crown corporation: But Air Canada is essentially a monopoly operating in a free market environment, the worst of all worlds!
Years ago, air travel was a luxury, reserved only for the wealthy or people on important government business. Ordinary people took the train or drove in the family automobile. In more recent times, however, air travel became more accessible and affordable — until Sept. 11, 2001. For most of the world, Sept. 11 put a […]
Prime Minister Chretien hasn’t changed Ottawa’s scandal culture: If waste were a hanging offence in Ottawa, the city would be a charnel house, more scandals will become
Eggleton certainly did nothing illegal. The former defence minister’s ministerial discretionary fund was, by definition, his to disburse as he wished. True, he was wasting taxpayers’ money by paying $36,500 for a 14-page report (seven of the pages were taken up with a bibliography) on stress among soldiers, a topic already being studied by his […]
It’s going to get ugly, Liberals in fighting mood [Cabinet shuffle]
‘Flying’ back to Ottawa…Some 16 Liberal staffers and lobbyists were minding their own business and enjoying a lovely day last Sunday golfing in Mont Tremblant, Que., when cellphones started ringing on the greens, as reported last Monday morning on The Hill Times website and which was incidentally followed by The Globe and Mail last Tuesday. […]
Lib MP Sgro says Canada’s urban strategy all about cooperation: Developing strong urban partnerships between all orders of government key to transportation concerns
In the 2001 Throne Speech, the Liberal government committed to a dialogue with partners across Canada about the opportunities and challenges facing urban centres. The Prime Minister’s Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues was mandated to conduct this dialogue and suggest how the federal government can improve its role and relationship with urban Canada. The […]
Journalists should ask how existing rules were brazenly broken: Hoy asks why just fire Eggleton? Granted, can’t expect Chr tien to fire himself but he set tone on sleaze
Here’s the deal. Context, as we know, is everything. So when recently-deposed defence minister Art Eggleton insisted, as he did in an interview this week with The Toronto Star, that, “I did nothing wrong,” he has a point. Not that handing out an untendered contract to a former girlfriend is appropriate. But — and here […]
Who’s inviting who to annual Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner: CBC television’s Hill reporter Julie Van Dusen, a.k.a. ‘Jugular Julie’ to bring Auditor General Sheila Fraser
The Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner, once an off-the-record evening of all-male drunken rowdiness, racy speeches, and some bad behaviour, is a sold-out affair Saturday night. Some 550 tickets were sold. Started at the time of Confederation, the annual gala for journalists and politicians to schmooze is today a more sophisticated affair. There’s still some bad […]
Radwanski under political fire: But George Radwanski makes no apologies for style
Two Liberal MPs are attacking Federal Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski ‘s confrontational approach to public policy issues and former privacy commissioner John Grace says Mr. Radwanksi’s style is “dangerous.” But in an interview with The Hill Times, Mr. Radwanski defended his style, saying in this post-Sept. 11 world when privacy rights are at a crossroads, […]
Tremblay gives up signing duties
As the RCMP begins a criminal investigation into the three federal contracts worth $1.6-million to a Liberal-friendly Montreal marketing firm, one of the senior civil servants identified by the Auditor General as demonstrating an “appalling disregard for the Financial Administration Act,” has voluntarily given up his signing authority. Auditor General Sheila Fraser said two senior […]
New Grit MP Frulla shocked by chaotic Lower Chamber [Seven new MPs tell all about first impressions of Ottawa and what they want to achieve as MPs
When newly-elected Quebec Liberal MP Liza Frulla, an effervescent former journalist and Quebec culture minister, emerged from her first day of Question Period on the Hill last Tuesday, she was little shell-shocked. She was shocked by the heckling, the constant chatter, the noise and the games in the Lower Chamber and in the confusion, she […]
Lobbyists need a strategy of their own, talk about guilt by association: why don’t you
What is a lobbyist to do? The daily onslaught of front-page coverage heralding “corruption,” “conflict of interest,” “ethical transgressions” and the “integrity challenged” invariably also includes reference to the “activities of lobbyists.” Talk about guilt by association! The irony is that many, though not all, lobbyists have a central role in how these stories play […]
