Talkative Brian Tobin frustrates, helps PMO: minister Brian Tobin wasn’t supposed to comment on Bouchard’s resignation
Industry Minister Brian Tobin, who is rumoured to be interested in running for the Liberal leadership, upset many people and frustrated the Prime Minister when he publicly commented on Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard’s resignation last month, The Hill Times has learned. It’s all part of the spirited, ongoing and underground campaign for the top job […]
Martinites still plotting and scheming
While most supporters of Paul Martin are convinced the Prime Minister will signal his intention to resign before the Liberal party’s next biennial convention, expected some time before 2003, some senior Martinites warn that the governing Grits would face an ugly and divisive battle if the Prime Minister does not step down. One Martin organizer […]
Political community dismayed by collapse of family values [Super Bowl and Survivor programs]
American cultural hegemony was on display, through the usual channels, last weekend. The Super Bowl, a bowl to end all bowls, was the centrepiece, bedecked with gladiators, offerings to heroic generals, with singers and dancers galore, providing not only a half-time show but a pre-game show, a rendering of the hymn America The Beautiful, made […]
Central bank should assess its policy on the Canadian dollar
The transition taking place in the Bank of Canada, because of the resignation of Governor Gordon Thiessen, gives the Central Bank an opportunity to assess its policy on the state of the Canadian dollar. The present board and governor seemed to focus on inflation to the detriment of examining other policy issues that affect the […]
Parliament to deal with largest bill in history, the Banking Bill
[Graph Not Transcribed] This session of a new Parliament will begin with a major bill on financial legislation. It will in all likelihood be a full version of Bill C-38 which died on the Order Paper due to the fall election. With 900 pages of text and consequential changes which affect about 4,000 pages of […]
The Hill Times index of the 37th House of Commons
Number of MPs: 301 Number of Grits: 172 Number of CAs: 66 Number of Bloc: 38 Number of NDP: 13 Number of PCs: 12 Eldest Member of Parliament: Liberal MP Clifford Lincoln, 72 Youngest Member of Parliament: Alliance MP James Moore, 24 Number of women in current Parliament: 62 Number of women in Liberal caucus: […]
Chretien government takes doing nothing to an art form: lobbyist
[Graph Not Transcribed] While the PMO has spent the last few weeks putting the final touches on Tuesday’s Speech from the Throne, or the “SFT,” as its called in the Privy Council Office, Ottawa’s lobby community has been waiting since November to find out how Prime Minister Jean Chretien plans to kick off his third […]
NDP needs dynamic personality, a federal party with chutzpah
[Graph Not Transcribed] New Democrats across the country are aware that their party is in serious trouble at the federal level. With its number of seats having been reduced from 21 in 1997 to just 13 in the November election, the NDP nearly lost its official party status; even worse, it trailed well behind the […]
Mr Landry you are no Mr Bouchard, his resignation a great loss
Lucien Bouchard’s departure from politics is good for Canada. Quite astutely federalists are reticent about trumpeting this flat statement of reality — just as canny American “cold warriors” avoided triumphalism when the Soviet Union collapsed. If your enemies are destroying themselves with internal strife, you don’t interfere; likewise, when a hated/feared foe is departing the […]
Get serious, time for small “c” conservatives to talk to Alliance
It is necessary to view the election from the messages sent to all Canadians and those messages are, as far as I’m concerned, that the Liberal party can treat those who do not support it, with contempt and disdain. It can do this because conservatives are not united and, therefore, not a threat. In fact, […]
