Not welcome on the voyage
It wasn’t just reporters who had to face down the Prime Minister’s Office during last week’s accountability press conference. Liberal MP Stephen Owen, who serves as his party’s Treasury Board critic, was initially barred from entry as well. “I walked in and was asked to leave by some officious looking person,” Mr. Owen told The […]
What’s your take on the Conservatives’ decision to ban BlackBerries and cellphones from their national caucus meetings for security and caucus confidentiality reasons, but still allow them at Cabinet meetings?”
Mike Storeshaw Conservative strategist “It’s pretty simple, really. Apart from the obvious desire not to see a play-by-play of caucus meetings on the cover of The Globe and Mail-a regular occurrence with Liberal meetings-cellphones and BlackBerries can be a distraction. There’s a reason why you turn them off in movie theatres too, or at least […]
Grit Sen. Campbell saves a dog near Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa on his way home from Hill
Who says the Senate never does anything worthwhile? Earlier this month while walking back to his quarters at the historic Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa located high up on the banks of the mighty Ottawa River, Vancouver Liberal Senator Larry Campbell, the real-life model for CBC TV’s (now cancelled) crusading coroner in Da Vinci’s Inquest, […]
Say what? Mercer wins an Arthur Kroeger for public discourse
When comedian Rick Mercer found out he won an Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs award for excellence in contributing to public discourse, he was lying on the ground, holding himself, after getting kicked in his privates. Or so he says. It was tax time, he told an audience of 200 at the awards dinner […]
Afghanistan debate part II
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last week in the House Chamber that Canadian troops will remain in Afghanistan for “years,” indicating that Canadians will be in Afghanistan even after the current commitment expires in 2007. So last week’s “take-note of Canada’s significant commitment in Afghanistan” debate wasn’t exactly compelling, but it’s important it happened. Moreover, […]
This just in… federal Liberals advised to use internet to engage supporters and to raise money
Under the new, tighter spending limit of $3.4-million, some federal Liberal leadership candidates face an uphill battle to raise the money, but some Liberals say candidates should make heavy use of the internet to engage potential supporters and to run a more cost effective campaign. In this post Bill C-24 federal political world, Toronto Liberal […]
New Prime Minister Harper inclined to use government less as a punching bag and more as a vector…
Kurt Vonnegut, novelist and Armageddon predictor, has a name for political leaders. He calls them “guessers.” Groucho Marx funny and yet so gloomy that he is only reluctantly still alive at 83, Vonnegut is also dead on target. Since time began, those at the front of the human pack have been guessing about the future, […]
Recently-released books
Recently-released books: So what does world opinion look like these days? Léger Marketing has taken on that ambitious question in its new book, Voice of the People 2006: What The World Thinks of Today’s Global Issues, which polled 53,749 people in 68 countries. It is “an essential tool for anyone intent on knowing the latest […]
CPAC probes Governor General selection process in documentary
More Canadians think the Governor General should be elected, according to an SES Research poll in a CPAC documentary by Holly Doan released this week. But some say the idea is wacky and politically explosive. “I’m sure a lot of Canadians think the office should be elected but when you start thinking about that isn’t […]
Finley defends government’s childcare plan as more lobby against it
Amid a national grassroots childcare lobby on Cabinet and the Conservative caucus, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley says the government will be spending double what the Liberals promised for 13 years while in power. “We campaigned on this, we offered it to Canadians, they chose it, and we’re going to deliver it,” Ms. Finley (Haldimand-Norfolk, […]
