Service Canada: One-stop-shop?
Detractors and supporters are coming out of the woodwork in reaction to Service Canada, billed as “a new onestop federal agency aimed at improving services for Canadians while saving taxpayers $2.5 billion.” The agency is also described as “one of the biggest organizations in the federal government, employing about 22,000 who will eventually take over […]
Licensing will solve the schools’ copyright challenge
The educational bureaucracy wants an exemption from copyright and it wants it now but the educators are talking scary nonsense. That sleepy group, the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada, is about to take that perennial snoozer, copyright law, and try to drive it into the headlines. Parliament is about to take up Bill […]
Hamm’s departure no surprise
Hamm’s departure no surprise… Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm’s retirement announcement last week came as no surprise to Nova Scotians, the rest of Canada’s premiers and readers of this column. They’ve been hearing of Mr. Hamm’s intentions all summer. Talk of federal Deputy Conservative Leader Peter MacKay’s possible interest in the job was also not […]
Changes needed in higher echelons of CBC, says NDP culture and communications critic Charlie Angus
MPs will call CBC President Robert Rabinovitch before the House Heritage Committee to answer questions about management and could ask for millions back. The senior management of the CBC should be let go for the way they handled the lockout and new management should be brought on board who could chart a new direction for […]
The jig is up for the asbestos industry: NDP MP Pat Martin: I have been actively seeking a ban on asbestos ever since I worked in the asbestos mines as a young man
NDP MP Pat Martin worked as a carpenter in Manitoba. In June of this year the 4,000 delegates to the ILO (International Labour Organization) passed a resolution to ban the production and sale of asbestos. Ifeel I must respond to a letter in The Hill Times which suggests my “mad crusade” to ban asbestos is […]
The week ahead in Parliament
House leaders to decide on timing of seven supply days after Thanksgiving break The House Government Operations and Estimates Committee tabled its report on Bill C-11, the Whistleblower Bill, last week and Government House Leader Tony Valeri (Hamilton East- Stoney Creek, Ont.) said debate on the report would be given priority this week. Mr.Valeri said […]
How the word ‘mistake’ gets overused by newsmakers
‘Mistake’ once described some harmlessly annoying act of inattentiveness, like sitting on your sunglasses. Now it covers offences once categorized as sins or felonies. It’s a media-friendly noun made of rubber,”mistake.” No word in the English language has such flexibility. “Mistake”once described some harmlessly annoying act of inattentiveness, like sitting on your sunglasses. Now it […]
The Spin Doctors: “After the first week back in the House, how well is Parliament working?”
Leslie Swartman Liberal Strategist “I guess I’d have to say so far, so good… A little on the dull side, like my answer today.You would think that after a summer on the hustings, flipping every burger he could find across this great land of ours, that Stephen Harper could muster some semblance of excitement during […]
For last three elections, ‘glass ceiling’ of the party nomination process has held firm
Yes, we elect more women, but marginally. We don’t have any woman politician in Canada today with the profile of Hillary Clinton. One of the season’s new television series Commander in Chief stars American actor Geena Davis as the first female president of the United States. Apparently the series is a gamble, because as one […]
‘We’re at a breaking point’ right now, says governing Liberal Senator Colin Kenny of National Defence funding
And a Queen’s University report says DND administration should be overhauled to create a more efficient Armed Forces by removing non-essential public servants and reallocating their salaries and positions to the Armed Forces. National defence spending should be at least $30-billion annually, Ontario Liberal Senator Colin Kenny said, but a Senate Defence Committee report released […]
