Conservatives, Bloc cite interpreter challenges to push for end to hybrid sittings
Amid continued discussion of the challenges, and injuries, being experienced by interpreters covering events with remote participants, Conservative Whip Blaine Calkins, backed by his Bloc Québécois counterpart, is calling for an early end to the House of Commons’ hybrid sitting arrangement. During the House Board of Internal Economy’s (BOIE) March 3 meeting, Calkins (Red Deer-Lacombe, […]
Conservative purity test for leadership does party no favours
OTTAWA—The Conservative Party of Canada’s leadership race is beginning to take full flight. Some key rules for the contest were announced last week, and the perceived early front runner Pierre Poilievre—the first declared candidate—is galloping across Canada trying to line up support. Another would-be contender, respected commentator Tasha Kheiriddin, announced she won’t be seeking the […]
‘Freedom Convoy’-prompted pause to Centre Block work cost estimated $3-million: PSPC
Work to renovate Centre Block and build a new underground visitor’s welcome centre is running apace to where where it was before a 16-day suspension caused by the “Freedom Convoy” that occupied downtown Ottawa last month, an interruption that Public Services and Procurement Canada estimates cost roughly $3-million. “PSPC is currently assessing the cost and […]
March 8 marks a ‘lady’ member in the House
When Agnes Macphail took her seat in the House of Commons for the first time on March 8, 1922, a bouquet of flowers greeted her at her desk, not as a warm welcome but because somebody lost a bet that she’d win. The flowers were only the beginning of the taunts, teasing, and name calling […]
Minister Rodriguez names press secretary, among other new hires
There’s been a fair bit of staff movement in Quebec Lieutenant and Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez’s office since Hill Climbers last checked in, including the addition of Laura Scaffidi as press secretary. Scaffidi landed in the minister’s office in January, fresh from three years as an associate development officer with the National Arts Centre in […]
Canada should make next-generation manufacturing a national priority, like U.S. and Germany
TORONTO—Without a much stronger and more innovative manufacturing industry, it’s hard to imagine a post-pandemic “Build Back Better” strategy that delivers good jobs and productivity gains to sustain and raise our standard of living. This has to be a priority. We still have to make things, based on our own proprietary technologies, for our own […]
Putin has shown, in a demented and terrifying way, why the possession of nuclear weapons must be outlawed now
EDMONTON—It’s no longer postponable. Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown, in a demented and terrifying way, why the possession of nuclear weapons must be outlawed now. Far from closing down the little that remains of nuclear disarmament agreements because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this seminal moment in the history of the 21st century […]
Peckford says COVID restrictions violate Charter of Rights he helped draft, but leading constitutional lawyer disagrees
Brian Peckford, who helped write the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and is the last surviving first minister involved in drafting the defining document in 1982, says the federal government’s COVID-19 measures and the now-revoked Emergencies Act violate the Charter, but a leading constitutional lawyer disagrees. Peckford was the Progressive Conservative premier of Newfoundland from […]
Conservatives say next federal election will be a ‘change election,’ amping up stakes and division in current leadership contest
Conservatives say they expect their next party leader to most likely be the next prime minister of Canada, which is why the leadership race, unofficially begun last month when MP Pierre Poilievre announced his candidacy, will be ugly and divisive. “The stakes are higher, and when the stakes are higher, people’s elbows start to go […]
The soul of the West hangs in the balance, as Russia bombs Ukraine
HALIFAX—Ukraine’s pop-star president, the guy in the T-shirt, says if Ukraine goes down, it’s not just the end of one country. It is the end of the world. In other words, if Ukraine dies, ask not for whom the bell tolls. You know the rest. It is true that war leaders deal in hyperbole, but […]
