Selling the notion of leadership [Hugh Segal in Fredericton]
The long weekend was a glorious holiday weekend in these parts. It was a good weekend for hanging loose, doing nothing, playing a little golf, drinking a little beer, enjoying near-total immersion during the family-value days. This is reward for enduring the month of March. I marked the first Monday of August as the day […]
Committee chairs are now up for grabs
It’s time for musical committee chairs…The recent appointment of the new Parliamentary secretaries will have a trickle down affect as MPs look to see who will fill vacant committee chairs. Twelve of the 17 new parliamentary secretaries were committee chairs or vice-chairs. National Defence committee chairman Robert Bertrand and committee vice-chair Bob Woods were promoted […]
Astronaut salaries set
Out of this world salaries: the government recently set the salaries for Canada’s astronauts. What do the nation’s best and brightest pull in as they travel through the stars? Marc Garneau will pull in as much as $126,000 as will Steve MacLean, Robert Thirsk, Bjarni Tryggvason, and David Williams. However one of the best know […]
Tories unsure how to get media attention: Senator Ghitter says current race lacks excitement
Tory leadership race organizers may be able to get out the party members to vote but attracting the media to the campaign will be a more difficult challenge. Even advocates of the one person-one-vote rule for the leadership race admit that the new system has, so far, offered little in the way of ‘media-ready’ events. […]
Tory vets divided over new process [One person-one vote]
It was touted as a step towards democracy but for prominent Tory, B.C. Senator Gerry St. Germain the move to one person – one vote for next fall’s leadership race is a case of unnecessary tinkering. “I’m a true conservative, I only believe in change if it’s necessary. In my own view, there was nothing […]
Unions top up NDP warchest [Down from 1993 level: 1997 data]
The Liberals and the Tories may turn to the banks to fill their warchests, but the NDP continues to rely heavily on generous union donations to cover their election expenses. According to the party’s 1997 fiscal returns, the party took in a total $16-million last year and trade unions kicked in $2.2-million to the NDP […]
Feisty debate over right-wing of Canada draws a crowd [National Debaters Forum]
It may have started out as the Ottawa equivalent of let’s put on a show in the barn: take four conservative thinkers, add long-standing topical debate, stir and serve — still hot — to an audience made up of embattled Reform and Tory members currently at war over the future of the right wing in […]
The Tory leadership five: Joe Clark has 30% of Parliament Hill caucus behind him: Hill Times poll
Experience, knowledge and integrity are why Joe Clark should lead the Tories into the new millennium and more importantly, back into the government, say a majority of the members of the federal Progressive Conservative Party caucus on Parliament Hill. According to an exclusive poll conducted by The Hill Times last week, a majority of the […]
Journalists fail to knock holes in junk science championed by anti-smoking lobby [Second-hand smoke]
In the middle of last week, The Globe and Mail’s pugnacious business columnist Terence Corcoran published another in a series of combative assaults against what he calls “the meddling busybodies in the health lobby.” In particular, Corcoran is incensed by the actions of the anti-tobacco lobby for perpetrating what he calls “the second-hand smoke scare.” […]
Ontario schools question could land in PM’s lap: Catholic schools issue threatens to bubble over as premier Harris appears determined to forge ahead
The highly controversial Ontario schools question will likely land in the lap of Prime Minister Jean Chr tien and his Ontario federal MPs in the next year, setting off a political time bomb for the 101 Grit MPs in the province. Ontario Education Minister Dave Johnson who was asked about the possible elimination of all […]
