‘Tight’ timeline for Lobbying Act review, all rules on the table: new lobbying czar
Canada’s new lobbying commissioner says the timeframe to begin a five-year review of the Lobbying Act this spring is “tight,” but doable, and that everything will be studied including restricting the political activities of lobbyists, making the registry more transparent, and overlapping rules in the Lobbying and Conflict of Interest acts. “I need to do my own […]
Liberals take the Goldilocks approach to carbon pricing
OTTAWA–Elizabeth May is horrified and Brad Wall plans to take the federal government to court. Liberals must have done something right because they occupied the moderate middle in last week’s proposed legislation on carbon pricing. Co-authored by the ministers of finance and environment, the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was unveiled to criticism from the […]
Seven Conservative MPs face divisive nomination challenges, party denies it’s behind the move
Seven Conservative MPs are facing nomination challenges for the 2019 election, but there is widespread speculation the party’s leadership is behind at least some of those challenges, which the party strongly denies. “There were some OLO staffers last fall who were overheard musing about the need to organize challenges against a handful of incumbent MPs, […]
Watchdog petitions Federal Court to kill new appointments for lobbying, ethics commissioners
An ethics watchdog is suing the Trudeau government for the way it handled appointments for the lobbying and ethics commissioners, saying the Liberals failed to honour legislative requirements mandating consultations with all parties recognized in the House of Commons. Democracy Watch announced on Jan. 18 that it had filed lawsuits in Federal Court challenging the appointments […]
Policy director to Natural Resources Minister Carr re-joins department
Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr’s in need of a new director of policy, with Michael Rau having recently left the minister’s office to return to work for the department. Mr. Rau is now acting director of the international energy branch at Natural Resources Canada, under the energy sector of deputy minister Christyne Tremblay’s office. In […]
Hold the last rites, Scheer’s got a pulse
OTTAWA—Compared to our southern neighbours, we are blessed these days to have predictable patterns in our national politics. One of those familiar routines is to have columnists and others write the obituary of the opposition leader of the day. If the Conservatives lead the official Opposition, it is almost certain such pronouncements will appear not […]
New Senate committee to place spotlight on Arctic
A new Senate committee dedicated to studying issues affecting Canada’s North, is planning to “hit the ground running” when the Upper Chamber resumes at the end of January, says the new group’s deputy chair. Approved by the Senate on Sept. 27, the new Special Committee on the Arctic held its first meeting on Dec. 13, […]
Conservatives willing to fight for NAFTA abroad, but Trudeau needs to prove he has a plan at home
The following is an edited excerpt from remarks Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer delivered to the Mississauga Board of Trade on Jan. 12. Negotiations over the future of NAFTA are still underway. And they’re not going well. The government is signaling they expect the U.S. to try to pull out of the deal. We have […]
Democrats would be lucky to have Oprah as a candidate
OTTAWA—It’s fascinating, in the eruption of excitement over a possible United States presidential run by Oprah Winfrey, to hear the cognoscenti prattling on about her lack of qualifications and experience for the office. One has to assume these folks have been a coma for the last few years. Does anyone not agree that the entire […]
Trump’s not all wrong, sometimes news is fake
OTTAWA—Whenever United States President Donald Trump hears facts and figures that he does not agree with, he simply dismisses them with his catch-all phrase “fake news.” This, of course, only serves to delight both the mainstream media and late-night talk-show hosts who have made a virtual industry out of harpooning Trump for his childlike capacity […]
