The Globe’s silly scolding of journalists badly-timed and uninformed
Timing, as you know, is everything. Which is why The Globe and Mail’s Susan Delacourt must have felt a bit silly about her rather odd “analysis” piece in last Saturday’s Globe scolding journalists for “failing” to get the APEC story when it actually occurred on Nov. 25, 1997. Delacourt accused mainstream journalism of missing the […]
Official records tampering bill chips away at secretive Ottawa: private member’s bill passes key hurdle to penalize officials for record tampering [Colleen Beaumier and Bill C-208]
It took Ontario Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier’s private member’s bill (Bill C-208) on penalizing federal officials for record tampering to show official Ottawa that secrecy violations they wouldn’t rather touch can be addressed. Bill C-208, that is now nearer to becoming the law of the land, establishes criminal sanctions of up to $10,000 fines and […]
Italian MPs score on House committees: Bevilacqua, Volpe and Guarnieri get some key Commons committee chairs
Members of the so-called Italian Liberal Caucus, once frustrated by being shut out of influential posts on Parliament Hill, have taken over the helm of three of the House’s top committees. Government backbencher Joe Volpe (Eglinton-Lawrence, Ont.) traded his Parliamentary secretaryship to the health minister to take over the Health Committee and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Vaughan-King-Aurora, […]
They get no respect: new report on political ethics has some simple advice for MPs [A Question of Ethics: Canadians Speak Out by Maureen Mancuso & Michael Atkinson]
Canada is not facing a true crisis of legitimacy, but public confidence in political leaders and in our democratic system is sagging, threatening to crumble our political structures which have been weakened by neglect and continued lapses of ethical judgment, says a recent report. But according to the extensive cross-country survey conducted by five political […]
Conservative MP expected to quit caucus [to run as candidate for Jean Charest’s Liberals in Quebec]
Quebec Tory MP Andr Harvey is expected to tell his caucus this week that he will step down to run as a “star” candidate for Jean Charest’s Liberals in Quebec later next month, leaving the Tory caucus with just 18 seats in the House of Commons. Mr. Harvey (Chicoutimi, Que.), the party’s whip, told The […]
Tories head into uncharted territory to elect leader on one person-one vote
Was that it? After almost three months in progress, during which — at times — it seemed to nearly fall off the national radar, the Tory leadership race grinds to a finish this weekend. There’s one more party event — speech night, to be held at the Harbour Castle in Toronto this Friday, on the […]
Federalists and separatists have same agenda: exploitation of federalism the real threat to unity of this country
There are three groups of citizens in this country: separatists, federalists and Canadians. To the first group belong all those whom, we are told, want to break up our country. To the second group belong those who anointed themselves our saviors from the first group. To the third group belong all the people, 96.7 per […]
Government MP Joe Volpe says CRTC doesn’t protect consumers: government task force on broadcasting questions CRTC delegration, plans to hold weekly Monday meetings [Liberal caucus task force headed by Sarmite Bulte]
The government MPs who formed a caucus task force on broadcasting last spring to seek a greater voice in public policy decisions say the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has no power to protect consumers. After a feisty closed-door meeting on Parliament Hill last week, at which MPs questioned members of the CRTC, Liberal MP […]
Tories face unbridled and unmanageable democracy
Ronald Reagan’s favorite words in the Constitution of the United States of America, as he often said, were the first three: “We, the people.” As an abstraction, it resonates nobility of thought and purpose. In real time, we the people can also be a distraction, rude, rough, unpredictable, and sometimes fearsome. This has special application […]
Reform targets private members’ business [Subcommittee on Private Members’ Business]
The Enforcer cometh…The Subcommittee on Private Members’ Business, the source of much anger and backroom manoeuvering for MPs trying to get their private members’ bills made voteable has a new chair. Rookie Ontario MP Lynn Myers now must steer the committee on the decision of whose bills survive and whose die on the Order Paper, […]
