Reporter calls out restricted access at Liberal ‘open fundraising’ event
A Hill journalist is calling into question the Liberal Party’s promise to make its fundraising events more open and transparent, after party staff restricted media access at a June 19 Ottawa event for the party’s top donors. It was the first such event in Ottawa under the party’s new “open fundraising” format, introduced earlier this […]
Families Minister Duclos has two new political aides
Families, Children, and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has scooped up a staffer from Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef’s office. Kyna Boyce, who was previously a special assistant for parliamentary affairs and Atlantic regional desk adviser to Ms. Monsef, officially joined Mr. Duclos’ office on May 24 and is now a regional adviser for […]
Nearly half of Canadians who know about Phoenix snafu say it’s hurt their image of Liberals: poll
A new Forum Research poll suggests Canadians are familiar with the problems plaguing the Phoenix pay system and, among the informed, 44 per cent say it has shifted their opinion of the Liberal government for the worse—a level of response critics and pollsters say is surprising, given the number of Canadians directly affected by the […]
More broken promises on transparency
CBC’s Power and Politics host Rosemary Barton put it best Monday night as she sparred with Treasury Board President Scott Brison over the government’s newly released reforms to the federal access to information system: “It may be significant, but it is not what you promised.” The Liberal pre-election platform promised that a Liberal government would […]
Liberal summer caucus meeting to be held in Kelowna as party looks to maintain grip on B.C.
The federal Liberals will host their annual summer caucus meetings in Kelowna this year, The Hill Times has learned, as the party looks to secure its presence in British Columbia after approval of the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline drew sharp criticism from political leaders and voters in the Lower Mainland. Liberal MPs will descend on the […]
Canadian company the Conservatives used to count leadership vote leads election tech industry on both sides of the border
In the seconds before the Conservative Party declared Andrew Scheer its new leader with a slim majority after a marathon 13 rounds and what would later emerge as a vote-counting controversy, election organizers offered gratitude for the company that tabulated the score. “Before the moment you’ve all been waiting for, there’s one other thank you […]
Scheer’s free-speech promise: smart politics, not smart policy
OTTAWA—On the question of free speech new Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer wasted no time in signalling what Canadians can expect if they choose him to occupy 24 Sussex. Speaking to Conservatives the night he won the leadership last month, he repeated his campaign promise to stop giving federal funds to universities that fail to protect […]
While reporters watch Trump’s tweets, famines kill hundreds in parts of Africa
WINNIPEG—In late May, the government of Canada announced its Famine Relief Fund. The fund was launched to galvanize Canadians into helping the estimated 20 million people facing starvation in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and other countries in Africa. The announcement generated a bit of attention: a brief mention in the TV and radio news, a […]
Senate likely to rise this week, not expecting new bills from House, says Independent leader McCoy
The Senate is on track to rise at the end of the week, if it can work through hotly debated bills on indigenous registration and the federal budget, says the facilitator of the Independent Senators Group. “People are keen to go home, summer is approaching, and we’re pretty much on track with where everyone hoped […]
Senators polishing their image, one amendment at a time
OTTAWA—My, how the news about Canada’s Senate is changing, maybe for the better. While it would be naïve and premature to hope there won’t be more stories about misbehaving Senators, it is temporarily enjoyable to see Senate news focused on matters unrelated to abuse of power or the public purse. Whether by design or complete […]
