House Affairs Committee work piling up as fillibuster continues over Standing Order reform push
Locked in a filibuster since last month over the Liberal government’s push to study possible changes to the House Standing Orders, “work is piling up” for the Procedure and House Affairs Committee, says NDP MP David Christopherson, vice-chair of the committee. “It’s a mess, and we’ve just got priority on top of priority, and many […]
Conservative leadership results to indicate level of MPs’ influence in ridings, say Tory MPs
Conservative MPs who have endorsed any of the 14 leadership candidates are working aggressively to deliver their ridings to their preferred candidates in next month’s leadership vote because the riding-by-riding leadership election results will be seen as a measure of MPs’ influence in their ridings, say Conservative MPs. As well, if an MP’s chosen candidate […]
Opposition House leaders want new special committee to take over Commons rule changes study, vow to continue filibuster against Libs’ plan to ‘unilaterally rewrite’ playbook
PARLIAMENT HILL—Conservative and NDP House leaders want the government to set up a new House committee to study its proposed sweeping changes to parliamentary rules and say they will continue to filibuster the Procedure and House Affairs Committee in the meantime. Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen (Portage-Lisgar, Man.) and NDP House Leader Murray Rankin (Victoria, […]
Feds expect to roll out findings of internal review on Phoenix pay system this summer
Senior-level officials who are responsible for Public Services and Procurement Canada’s problem-plagued Phoenix pay system will find out this summer if they will be receiving performance pay for the time leading up to Phoenix’s rollout, but they are on track to take home similar benefits for this past fiscal year, despite still having 284,000 pay transactions behind […]
Central NDP staff changes include new videographer
The NDP has undergone a healthy handful of changes to its central staffing roster on the Hill in the last few months, including the recent hiring of a new videographer, Geoff McCaldin, who’s marking his first day on the job April 3. “The videographer is really just a part of building our direct communications team, […]
Proposed navigation bill reforms amount to broken campaign promise: advocacy group, NDP
Critics are accusing the Trudeau government of breaking another high-profile campaign promise, after the Liberals on the House Transport Committee voted against recommending the repeal of Harper-era reforms that dramatically reduced the number of waterways under federal oversight. “We were really disappointed to see the recommendations. It really goes against what the Trudeau Liberals were saying […]
The future of polling lies in social media
Social media isn’t just a broadcast technology, it’s also a polling technology; one that is far superior to any other on the planet today, including the telephone. So why does the Canadian government continue to use telephone polling to find out what the citizenry is thinking? Why haven’t public servants progressed to new tools for polling, […]
Byelections, filibusters, and other godsends in boring April
OTTAWA—Canadian politics is pretty damn boring right now. Call that an uncomfortable truth for a column writer as I sit here trying to pick a riveting subject to engage you the reader. How about something on those recent byelections? No. Can you spell lame? I always love those byelection stories and how the contests themselves […]
‘Nation builder’ Gina Wilson striving for civil service where indigenous are ‘respected and included’
A self-described indigenous activist, Gina Wilson never envisioned herself turning to the “dark side.” Offered a job with the federal government, long-held as an oppressive force against indigenous people like her, she sought out the guidance of her mentor, activist and Order of Canada recipient Maggie Hodgson, who urged her to consider the opportunity. Fast-forward […]
Anti-globalist movement hasn’t hit Canada yet, poll suggests
Don’t expect to see any “Canada first” slogans bandied about by in-the-know politicians here; Canadians by and large support international trade and governance, a recent poll suggests. Well over half of respondents to a January survey of 1,501 adults agreed with statements supportive of free trade and participation in international organizations, while a much smaller […]
