Former chief of staff to Ambrose joins Ottawa lobbying firm
Former chief of staff to Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has joined a lobbying firm in Ottawa as director of research. Daniel Bernier, who left Minister Ambrose’s (Edmonton-Spruce Grove, Alta.) ministerial staff abruptly in June, joined Summa Strategies last week. Since June, there has been no official explanation available for Mr. Bernier’s exit from the top […]
Finally! A story that doesn’t matter: Why we hyped JonBenet
Don’t blame media for JonBenet Ramsey. It’s been a hot summer, and sometimes you have to cut the tension. Journalists, like coroners, meet people at their worst. They are paid to dissect the results of tragedy or failure, and it wears. That’s why old reporters walk with a stoop. Coroners have their limits, too. Norway […]
How did CanWest get its scoop? By going on PM’s list
Any faint hope that the summer break might have cooled tensions between the press gallery and the Harper PMO was dashed after a hastily scheduled press conference on the softwood lumber agreement on Tuesday last week. After showing up at the appointed time and place-the House of Commons foyer, not the National Press Theatre, which […]
NDP policy convention Sept. 8 to 10 in Quebec City
MONDAY, AUG. 28 Parliamentary Delegation to South Africa-Speaker of the House Peter Milliken will lead MPs Jay Hill, Karen Redman, Yvon Godin and Michel Guimond on a Parliamentary Delegation to South Africa between Aug. 27 to Sept. 3. The delegates will meet with their counterparts Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria to discuss Parliamentary democracy and […]
Harper says the Internet will help get out his message. But without the press gallery, can he grow his tent?
Last week, national reporters received a little reminder about what to expect in their relations with the Prime Minister in the coming session of Parliament. After Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) announced on the Hill last week that the softwood lumber deal would go forward as a confidence matter this fall, a swarm […]
Liberals are in disarray, but they are also in transition
Last week, the Liberal Party’s deputy foreign affairs critic, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, resigned from his position as critic over yet another divisive issue for the party. On a trip with a fact-finding Parliamentary delegation to Lebanon, Mr. Wrzesnewskyj apparently made a slip by telling a reporter that Canada should negotiate with Hezbollah, adding that Canada should […]
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Honour sale of generic drugs to fight AIDS I was surprised when Stephen Harper deferred an announcement on increased funding for AIDS, saying, “We are undertaking some evaluations, but this government’s concentration in the fight against drugs in the next few years will be on enforcement, prevention and treatment.” The Canadian government recently enacted legislation […]
Environmental groups briefed on Conservative green plan
The government provided briefings on its environmental plan to environmental groups last week, but they were said to be very general and did not contain enough details to draw any conclusions about the Conservatives’ upcoming environment policy. “It was a very general briefing, I think there were only eight slides that we were shown,” said […]
Harper has the right strategy on Senate reform: Senator Elect
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is serious about Senate reform and is taking a strategic approach by tackling the issue in incremental steps, says Link Byfield, an Alberta Senator elect. “Serious Senate reformers realized a long time ago-some time between the death of the Meech Lake Accord and the death of the Charlottetown Accord-that the total-package […]
PM touts northern tourism
Northern tourism will play a large role in the future of Canada’s territories, Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) said in a speech from Whitehorse, Yukon on Aug. 17. Mr. Harper also used the speech to announce an extra $9.5 million in funding for the 2007 Canada Winter Games to be hosted by Whitehorse. […]
