“Does last week’s Tory byelection win in Perth-Middlesex, Ont., mean the Tories are back as the country’s ‘real’ alternative to the Liberals, as Joe Clark suggested?”
Stephen LeDrew Liberal Party President “First of all, I am absolutely delighted to fill in for my friend Warren Kinsella, while he continues to direct his efforts to provincial politics. “I saw Joe Clark’s interview on Monday night, and while everyone in the country empathizes with Mr. Clark’s very human desire to show his success […]
Life on the Back Page…
First, so it’s official, a week after quitting as the National Post’s Ottawa columnist, Paul Wells was trotted out by Maclean’s magazine last week as its new back page columnist (the weekly spot once owned by Allan Fotheringham.) P.W.’s first offering will be in next week’s edition of the mag, which hits the newsstands Monday. […]
MPs are somebodies
Dan McTeague, Liberal MP for Pickering-Ajx-Uxbridge, Ont., found himself on the cusp of making Parliamentary history last Tuesday when the House of Commons passed his private members’ bill on amending the Competition Act, Bill C-249. If the Senate gives the bill the green light as well, he’ll be the only backbencher to pass three bills […]
Drama in Perth-Middlesex
What on Perth?… What are we to make of last week’s byelection in the Ontario federal riding of Perth-Middlesex? There were so many factors in the Tory victory for Garry Schellenberger. A win is a win, and the Tories can’t be blamed for crowing about finally having a seat in Ontario once more. It does […]
Foundations mock ministerial responsibility: New study pushes for major reforms to bodies beyond Parliament’s reach
Since the Liberal government got into the habit of creating independent foundations about a decade ago, the criticism that has been heaped on these largely unaccountable federal agencies has been sporadic and almost completely ignored around Parliament Hill. Which could explain why every time one of these rare salvos is launched against them, the Liberals […]
Martin’s ’33 per cent solution’
TORONTO-Sources close to the Liberal Party’s top leadership candidate say Paul Martin will use what they’re calling the “33 per cent solution” to form his first government if he wins the next Liberal leadership convention. Sources told The Hill Times last week that Mr. Martin (LaSalle-Emard, Que.) will follow a very clear criteria in forming […]
Sen. Jaffer’s peace envoy title now accepted by Sudan: Initially rejected by Sudanese, Canada’s special peace envoy now warmly accepted
Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs says that British Columbia Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer who is Canada’s special peace envoy to the Sudan Peace Process is playing a constructive and valuable role in the peace process currently underway between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLA) to end the decades old bloody […]
Bush’s Middle East road map a commendable first step: But he may be gambling heavily
“We will never establish lasting stability in the Middle East until its most intractable dispute is resolved: the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians,” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told London Lord Mayor’s Easter Banquet on April 30, 2003. Of course, this observation comes as no surprise to observers of the Middle East. But the […]
Grit MPs lash out at Campaign Finance Bill
A number of Liberal MPs are rising up against the Prime Minister’s controversial Political Finance Bill — a centrepiece of his legacy — and some say they won’t support the bill unless the government backs down from its proposal to curb severely corporate fundraising. Stan Keyes, the Liberal Party’s national caucus chair, who appeared as […]
Opposition attacks Paul Martin’s use of privilege: Everything else warrants absenting from the House, but not a court subpoena: Alliance
Alliance House Leader John Reynolds has called on the House of Commons to review whether Paul Martin, the former finance minister, abused his Parliamentary privileges to get out of testifying as a witness in a million dollar tax case before the British Columbia Court of Appeal. “If the former minister of finance was formally charged […]
