Budget 2018 not an election-year spending plan, but Liberals ‘pre-staging’ some issues: stakeholders
The Trudeau government’s third federal budget is not an election-year spending plan crafted with an eye towards the campaign trail, though certain elements could hint at what issues the Liberals will run on in the 2019 vote, say stakeholders. Nearly 200 representatives from the private and non-profit sectors gathered in the Reading Room in Centre […]
Status of government bills
HOUSE OF COMMONS Second reading: C-5, An Act to Repeal Division 20 of Part 3 of the Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1 C-12, An Act to amend the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Reestablishment and Compensation Act C-27, An Act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 C-28, An Act to amend […]
Highlights of the 2018 budget
Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled the 2018 budget in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. The spending blueprint projected about $6-billion in new spending and an $18.1-billion deficit for the 2018-19 fiscal year. Here are some of the highlights: $1.7-billion over five years for the three federal granting councils and research institutes to be […]
New Ottawa-based national manager hired for ministers’ regional offices
Christine Burke joined Public Services and Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough’s office on Feb. 12 to work as the Liberal government’s new national manager for ministers’ regional offices. Ms. Burke comes to Parliament Hill from the Ontario Liberal staff ranks at Queen’s Park in Toronto. She was most recently working as a senior communications adviser to Ontario […]
Third-party harassment probes of current, former MPs ‘unprecedented,’ say observers
The fact four of the five federal parties with seats in the House of Commons are currently gripped with investigations into the conduct of current and former MPs is “unprecedented,” and speaks to a shift in how political parties weigh the optics of handling allegations, say strategists and a former senior PMO official. “It’s unprecedented in […]
Has common sense taken its own long walk in the snow? A lament for the self-aware politician
Observers of politics over the last 10 days could be left wondering if there is any sensible, somewhat understated leadership. Watching the spectacle that was Justin Trudeau, Donald Trump, and Patrick Brown was agonizing. Our prime minister was on an official trip to India. Usually he is a star on foreign trips viewed by his […]
Liberals set their pre-election machine in motion with generous, progressive-themed budget
OTTAWA—The Liberals began laying the groundwork for next year’s re-election campaign with a wide-ranging budget package built around billions of dollars of new funding and initiatives designed to polish their progressive credentials. As expected, Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s third budget focused on advancing reconciliation with Indigenous people, expanding Canada’s scientific prowess, helping families, doing more […]
Liberals’ Healthy Eating Strategy serves up a table of junk food
The prime minister’s father, Pierre Trudeau, once said, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” The government may be good at keeping out of our bedrooms, but with the Healthy Eating Strategy, the kitchen is another story. The Liberals are serving up a table of junk food in their Healthy […]
MPs skeptical of releasing House attendance, but they have no ‘right to confidentiality,’ says democracy watchdog
With no formal roll call in the House of Commons, it can be a bit of a guessing game for anyone who wants to keep track of MPs’ whereabouts, which isn’t good enough when Parliamentarians are being supported by taxpayers’ money, says an accountability advocate. MPs themselves have mixed feelings about whether to make their […]
Liberals embark on spending-cycle shakeup with this year’s early budget
The Liberals’ third budget, tabled this week, came a month earlier than their previous two financial plans to give Treasury Board President Scott Brison “a win” in his push to realign the federal spending cycle, says an opposition MP. This is the first fiscal year in which the government is testing out a new way of […]
