Official languages commish up for grabs
And the race is on, albeit a quiet one, for the leadership of the official languages office. While insiders say there is yet to be any active jockeying that is going on at the Prime Minister’s Office for the position, a number of names have surfaced as a possible replacements for Mr. Goldbloom, all of […]
A house divided: a US look at the “two” Canadas
During a U.S. Senate campaign speech delivered on June 16, 1858, former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” This statement was made in reference to the heated debate at that time in the United States concerning the abolition of slavery. However, the same statement could easily apply to […]
PMO shells out pay for staffers on PM’s campaign trail
The Prime Minister’s Office donated $43,389 to the Liberal warchest last election to cover the salaries of some of the prime minister’s top assistants. Liberal Party national director Terry Mercer said the money was used to cover the salaries of some of the prime minister’s assistants during the campaign. “It is the usual people that […]
Media has obligation to set Mulroney story straight
In his Friday, July 3 Report on Business column, The Globe’s Terrence Corcoran exposes a chronic media weakness – the inability or unwillingness to follow up on sensational stories which turn out to be, well, not true. Headlined: “The windfall scandal that wasn’t,” Corcoran writes that “It was big news back in 1995 when the […]
Financing reforms would mean cash windfall for parties [Report of House of Common’s Procedure & House Affairs Committee]
Political parties could find their bank accounts swelling, in some cases by millions of dollars if Parliament acts on a recommendation by a House committee to double the amount parties are reimbursed after elections. The House’s Procedure and House Affairs Committee spent several months studying electoral reform issues such as financing, the length of campaigns […]
Lobbyists dole out $250,000: dinners lure in lobbyists’ dollars
They attend more committee meetings than some MPs, they held lobby days on the Hill and they have clocked mile after mile around the corridors of power, trying to build support for their respective positions. They are Canada s trade, industry and advocacy associations, and last year they handed out more than a quarter of […]
Pot, fundraising and breastfeeding: not talked about in public
I was listening to my son the journalist on the radio the other day. He was interviewing a woman who teaches nursing, but whose activity is as a volunteer canvassing local restaurants in an effort to persuade their management to allow mothers to breast-feed their children when dining out, and to make their approval of […]
Liberals’ 200 most generous donors [Annual list of the top corporate & individual contributors]
From airlines, to banks, to drug companies to the Prime Minister’s Office and the just plain wealthy, The Hill Times presents its annual list of the top corporate and individual contributors to the Liberals’ warchest F
NDP MP calls for secretive Commons board to open up [John Solomon]
Secrecy still reigns on Parliament Hill, but an NDP MP wants to open up the secretive and powerful board that runs the House and has introduced a private member’s bill calling for its meetings to be public. NDP MP John Solomon (Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre, Sask.), a second term MP, says it’s time for the Commons Board […]
House says it’s prepared for Year 2000
From preparing software upgrade packages to providing onsite notebook testing facilities, House of Commons information technology specialists are working overtime in a bid to ensure that the business of Parliament keeps on rolling when the clocks roll over at midnight on Jan. 1, 2000. As public and private sector organizations race to avoid the anticipated […]
