Last week’s media reaction to Finance Minister Goodale’s tax cuts reminds me of the story of the tavern peanuts
Media reaction to Ralph Goodale’s tax cuts reminds me of the story of the tavern peanuts. There was a barroom in Toronto that used to give patrons free peanuts by the sack. Newsroom staff attended weekly. You could eat all you liked and toss the shells on the floor. Journalists are no fools; we knew […]
The Spin Doctors: “What’s your party’s campaign slogan for the next election?”
Leslie Swartman Liberal Strategist “Here are my picks. Given the season we are in, I’ve decided to base them on traditional Christmas carols: “Stack the halls with fawning voters, fa la la la la, la la la la.” “O come all ye faithful, vote early and often, o come ye, o come ye to mark […]
Retired deputy minister urges civil service to resist reforms
Former deputy minister Harry Swain is urging senior bureaucrats to fight back against reforms, says 238 new rules, plus legions of comptrollers and auditors won’t prevent malfeasance. Amidst the dire warnings about Canada’s future and a stinging criticism of the Martin government, a former deputy minister is urging senior bureaucrats to fight back against reforms […]
Political parties crank up war room preparations
With the threat of an upcoming election around the corner, all parties are working to finalize the list of people who will work in their respective campaign ‘nerve centres’ also known as war rooms. With the threat of an upcoming election around the corner, the strategists of the four political parties were working quietly last […]
N.B. byelection kills rumours about Tories
Lord works in mysterious ways… If Bernard Lord was hoping to make the jump from provincial to federal politics, he’ll have to get his train back on the track. But after a crucial byelection loss last week in New Brunswick that train seems to have derailed on a bridge and is sinking deep into the […]
The Secret Mulroney Tapes doc an oral history ‘of some of the most controversial, dramatic years in Canadian political history’
The Secret Mulroney Tapes: Unguarded Confessions of a Prime Minister has been on best-seller lists since its release in September. On Nov. 21, Canadians will get a chance to hear the unmistakable deep, coffee and ex-cigarette smoker voice of Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th Prime Minister, talking candidly about politics while he was in office with […]
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Liked NDP MP Charlie Angus story Re: “MP Angus says Kashechewan is ‘Paul Martin’s New Orleans’” by Bea Vongdouangchanh (The Hill Times, Nov. 7). Thanks for the coverage of the Kashechewan nightmare. But will anything actually happen? Meanwhile, Liberal strategists are complaining that the NDP forced an election so that their party will not be […]
What’s needed to change Ottawa’s culture of secrecy
Canada’s Access to Information Act needs a drastic overhaul unless Canadians want to continue to be left on the outside and to be uninformed. Current government thinking is pro-secrecy, despite the Gomery hearings helping to raise the ante for more open and honest government. For instance, the Martin government is thinking of making internal audit […]
Prof. Kay’s House of Commons seat projections Liberal win
If an election were held days after Justice John Gomery released his first report on the sponsorship scandal, the Liberals would have won another small minority government, said Barry Kay, a political science professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. “The Liberals lost a bit of ground, most of it in Quebec, but gained […]
Chretien’s lawyer expects Federal Court decision in 2006 or 2007
Jean Chretien’s legal team is planning to argue before Federal Court that the Gomery Report should be thrown out, alleging mainly that Judge Gomery is biased. Former prime minister Jean Chretien’s lawyer says he expects the Federal Court’s judicial review of the Gomery Report to be complete by either the end of next year or […]
