‘I was born a Liberal, I just came out a few years ago,’ says Brison
Scott Brison has been called the dark horse of the Liberal leadership race, but then again he doesn’t care much for being the front-runner. “There’s a bandwagonning that occurs,” Mr. Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.) told The Hill Times in an interview at his Hill office last week. “Sometimes the wheels fall off bandwagons.” Mr. Brison, 39, […]
NDP Leader Layton hires a new executive assistant
NDP Leader Jack Layton has hired a new executive assistant. Emily Watkins will start her new job as EA to Mr. Layton (Toronto-Danforth, Ont.) on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Most recently, Ms. Watkins served as a legislative and communications assistant to NDP House leader Libby Davies (Vancouver East, B.C.). Prior to that, she worked as a […]
Conservatives will rebound in Quebec: Tory campaigner
The Conservative Party’s recent slide in public opinion polls nationally, especially in Quebec, is temporary and the party will regain its popularity in the coming weeks, says a top Quebec Conservative. “If we’ve seen a bit of a bump down … it’s basically because it hasn’t been the best two or three weeks. Stories [news […]
Climate change will be a true test for the Tories: NDP’s Cullen
In his end-of-session round of media interviews, Prime Minister Stephen Harper spent a lot of time trying to convince Canadians that he and his Cabinet had achieved a great deal in the first few months of their new mandate. Clearly, the lay of the land on Parliament Hill has changed significantly since the change in […]
The government can’t and won’t regulate lobbying out of existence
One of the greatest misconceptions about lobbying in this town is that piles of lobbyists have large amounts of influence with government decision makers through their connections, campaign donations, or partisan political affiliations. Lobbyists who meet directly with government officials are likely to influence decision-makers’ thinking in some way, but much of the value that […]
Economic, environmental and social well-being vulnerable to changed climate: Forest Products Association of Canada
The basic truth about climate change policy is that it is not simple. It is complex stuff that interweaves questions of ecosystem integrity, engineering, social cohesion, economics and international politics. For this reason, tantalizingly simple yet entirely ineffective solutions tend to come from those who are merely advocating positions. The reality is that addressing an […]
The Spin Doctors
Mike Storeshaw Conservative Strategist “The government’s legislative priorities have been made abundantly clear since even before we took office, and we’ve made significant progress. Canadians are finally seeing a government that does what it said it would do, and are responding positively. “So, for the fall session of Parliament, that’s where the focus will continue […]
LCPO signs up 48,000 new members in just two months
Ontario federal Liberals signed up 48,289 new members province-wide in the two months preceding the July 4 cut-off date for new members, more than doubling the party’s provincial membership since May, according to preliminary membership numbers obtained by The Hill Times. The federal Ontario riding of York West has kept its status as the largest […]
‘Quebec is applying the polluter pays principle’: Environment Minister Bechard
Another measure of which I am especially proud to speak today is the 2006 to 2012 Québec action plan on climate change, which our government launched on June 15 and which will have also positive effects on improving air quality. Even though Québec already has the best record in Canada for greenhouse gas emissions per […]
Camps forming around leadership candidates for successive balloting
Although there are 11 candidates in the race for the leadership of the Liberal Party, it looks like it all comes down to three camps, and only two of them seem to have potential for growth. That’s because they hope to get the support of more than 50 per cent of the delegates at the […]