What’s up with Pettigrew?
With the exception of few editorials and several columnists, there has been hardly any reaction from the general public on the news of Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew taking his chauffeur on foreign trips at taxpayer’s expense. Has the Liberal Party so brainwashed the average Canadian that an expenditure of $10,000 is a sum too […]
Commons legislative agenda to be dominated by election call
The House is back, but the upcoming session won’t have anything to do with legislative issues. It’s all about the election. The government says this session’s themes will be competitiveness, growth and prosperity, but insiders say the House legislative agenda will be dominated by the next election call. “Going into the session, our priorities will […]
The coming nuclear winter and all that political jazz: If there was ever a time to reconsider nuclear, it is now, global climate change is upon us
The term “nuclear winter”remains the unimaginable threat of a cold planet in the wake of a full-scale nuclear war.We heard it a lot in the Cold War years, and to a significant extent, that threat has receded. The potential of nuclear holocaust will never really disappear so long as nuclear arsenals exist. Nuclear weapons must […]
All party fundraiser on Hill for hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Bill Clinton to visit Ottawa next month
Can you say photo op? The so-called “Hands Across the Border,” all-party, power-housed charity barbecue on Parliament Hill this week has already raised $75,000 to help out hurricanes Katrina and Rita victims and organizers say they’re expecting 1,000 on the front lawns of Parliament Hill for the event. Liberal MP Andy Savoy (Tobique-Mactaquac, N.B.), chair […]
Forget Flaherty
Re: “Dissident Quebec Conservatives slam Harper’s leadership,” by Julie Van Dusen (The Hill Times, Sept. 19). Anyone who even remotely would consider Jim Flaherty as a suitable candidate is either totally ignorant of politics or has a short memory, or worse still, is a member of a small and radical advocacy group that has wreaked […]
Defence and security debate
Bill Graham used to say a lot when he first became minister of National Defence that for the first time in many years the defence portfolio will be front and centre in the government’s agenda. That’s more true now. This week, Mr. Graham tells The Hill Times Canada’s peacekeeping role is changing, Canada is looking […]
Recent government appointments
On Sept. 16, the federal Cabinet appointed Diane Labelle as acting assistant Clerk of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. On Sept. 14, Defence Minister Bill Graham appointed the following people to various aspects of the Department of National Defence: Rear-Admiral Ian Mack, former commander, Canadian Defence Liaison Staff (Washington), will not retire and is […]
Sen. LeBreton ill-informed
Re: “Tory Sen. LeBreton hopes lockout lasts until next election campaign,” (The Hill Times, Sept. 12). As a CBC journalist, I often find myself explaining to the public, both on and off the air, the reasons we have a bi-cameral system and why the Senate’s role is an important one in our democracy. Often, to […]
Flawed Access to Information Act is the real story, people
While everyone focuses on the Prime Ministerial-driven and largely irrelevant issue of whether the offices of the access and privacy commissioners will be merged, the much more important discussion of needed reforms to ensure the access law is loopholefree and effectively enforced, has been pushed to the background. Unfortunately, the designed-to-distract distraction concerning the federal […]
Martin’s administration will struggle as long as it waffles
Behind Cabinet doors, action deferred is the next best thing to doing nothing at all. What if the most contentious problems of the day were as connected as the knee and thighbone? Well, lift the lid on the politicians’ Pandora’s box and have a peek. Counterintuitive as it seems, the federal government’s decision to make […]
