‘Everything on the Hill is being spun, nothing is said that’s not deliberate,’ says new Parliament Hill Global TV scribe
Global TV’s Hill reporter Ben O’Hara- Byrne, who started reporting on federal politics six months ago, says when he files his stories he tries to demonstrate how federal laws or political issues will affect the everyday lives of Canadians in order to keep people interested in the world of federal politics and he sees this […]
Message to Conservatives: stop focusing on election talk and focus on issues that really matter to Canadians
Jay Hill ignores the fact that this government and this Prime Minister have already faced more than 40 confidence votes in the House of Commons. There will be more to come, on such important issues as the energy price relief bill. In recent days, I took the unusual step of providing opposition House leaders with […]
A look at MPs’ salaries and travel expenses for 2004-2005
Member of the Sessional Travel House of Commons allowances($) expenses($) Abbott J 141,000 140,584 Ablonczy D 141,000 105,091 Adams Hon WP 141,000 36,629 Allowance as Committee Chairperson 1,439 Alcock Hon R 141,000 77,236 Allard CM 34,075 9,909 Allowance as Committee Vice- chairperson 7,244 Allison D 106,925 49,551 Ambrose R 106,925 92,543 Anders R 141,000 94,928 […]
Harper’s OLO has more Quebec advisers than PM Martin’s PMO
The Conservatives have nine top Quebec advisers working in the OLO, which is more than the PMO. Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper’s Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition has more Quebec advisers than Prime Minister Paul Martin has working in the Prime Minister’s Office. The OLO confirmed it has nine top Quebec advisers. […]
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada speaks up on new Copyright Act, says it’s standing up for students
The educational community’s proposed amendment to the Copyright Act to address the educational use of “publicly available” internet materials has never included a demand that everything that can exist in digital form should automatically be available for educational purposes without permission or payment. In his opinion piece on Oct. 3 in The Hill Times, Christopher […]
Opposition parties could still defeat government on or after Nov. 14 and PM Martin could set longer 36-day campaign
The sponsorship scandal was the salient issue in the 2004 election. It’s up to the opposition parties to make it the salient issue of Election 2006. It’s a big political mistake to rule out that the opposition parties won’t defeat the government in the week of Nov. 14 or after because it’s the prerogative of […]
Conservatives threaten to defeat Liberals even if it means a cold Christmas federal election
Conservatives aren’t ruling out defeating the government late next month, in the seemingly neverending game of political chicken on Parliament Hill. The Conservative Party isn’t ruling out defeating the government, even if it means an election near Christmas, says Conservative House Leader Jay Hill,in the seemingly never-ending game of political chicken on Parliament Hill. “If […]
Germain tries out the funny guy schtick
Stand-up guy…The Parliamentary Press Gallery owes Anthony Germain one. When it booked the Museum of Civilization in Hull, sorry, Gatineau, on Oct. 22 for the annual Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner, it forgot to check if its emcee for the past 10 years was available. As it turned out, Dan Dugas,Broadcast News reporter and comical Impersonator, […]
Bill C-24 to bring ‘more substantive changes to party system than ever contemplated’: LeDrew
The new Campaign and Financing Bill will drive donations underground, will do nothing but breed cynicism and “will bring about more substantive changes to the party system than anyone ever contemplated,”says the former president of the federal Liberal Party of Canada, who also once called the legislation as “dumb as a bag of hammers.” Stephen […]
Lobbyists and contingency fees: is the ban naive, over simplistic and just plain dumb? Many lobbyists and lobby experts say it’s so
Some lobbyists and experts say the ban on lobbyists receiving contingency fees for work on government contracts forces the whole issue underground. The controversy over contingency fees allegedly received by former Public Works Minister David Dingwall during his post-Parliamentary career as a lobbyist continued to consume the Commons last week, both in Question Period and […]
