Inside House Finance pre-budget consultations: ‘our testimony will take care of whoever is Finance Minister having this testimony on-record’
The House Finance Committee is plowing ahead on its pre-budget consultations and plans to wrap up hearings on Nov. 7 before the House breaks, but it’s uncertain if the usually influential report will be released this year, before the next federal budget, says the committee’s leader. Liberal MP Sue Barnes (London West, Ont.), chair of […]
Chretien-Martin condominium
In his elegantly-written biography of Paul Martin, The Power Of Ambition, John Gray describes him and Jean Chretien as, “one of the most effective, if not the most effective, political combinations the country has ever seen.” [Graph Not Transcribed] That’s overdoing things a bit. But for John A. Macdonald and Georges-Etienne Cartier, there would have […]
The spin doctors: “Has Sheila Fraser’s audit on George Radwanski ‘cranked’ up pressure for Parliamentary reform and on making the government and its bureaucrats more accountable?”
“Has Sheila Fraser’s audit on George Radwanski ‘cranked’ up pressure for Parliamentary reform and on making the government and its bureaucrats more accountable?” Warren Kinsella Liberal Strategist “I don’t know where this one is going to go: it has already taken so many unexpected twists and turns, anything is possible. “Mr. Radwanski will answer the […]
There go the TV debates
TORONTO–The worst thing that happened to nationally televised political campaign debates is that the first one actually meant something. Those of a certain age will recall the 1960 showdown between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy, and the impact, in Kennedy’s favour, that it had. It wasn’t that Kennedy articulated his positions more clearly. Quite the […]
Grits want some policy at Liberal convention
It won’t be a policy convention, but a government backbencher says next month’s Liberal leadership convention should definitely include more policy workshops as well as briefing sessions on the impact of the new and controversial Campaigns and Elections Financing Bill C-24 as incumbents and candidates prepare for the next federal election. Grit MP Walt Lastewka […]
The spin doctors: “Should Liberals be worried now that the Alliance and Tory House leaders are working on a joint strategy to take on the government in Parliament?”
“Should Liberals be worried now that the Alliance and Tory House leaders are working on a joint strategy to take on the government in Parliament?” Warren Kinsella Liberal Strategist “These guys couldn’t work together on a three-house paper route. Concerned? Yeah, you bet. Paul and Sheila are up nights, now, and they’ve got the worry […]
Whistleblowing protection not in the cards: Robillard
Though union leaders are gearing up to make their final pitch before Parliament tomorrow to amend the government’s Public Service Reform Bill with better whistleblowing protection, the person they really need to influence likely won’t be swayed. In an interview last Thursday, Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard confirmed that she is not ready to accept […]
Public servants have ‘game’: why balanced reporting rarely emerges from large, lumbering bureaucracies
If you want to understand how organizations work, turn your gaze away from the foibles and quirks (or every inspired leadership) of the persons who lead them. Of course leadership can make a huge difference. But if you want to play the odds, i.e., make better predictions over a variety of different situations over a […]
The spin doctors: “Now that they’ve opened up George Radwanski’s office, where else should MPs be pushing to allow the sun to shine in?”
“Now that they’ve opened up George Radwanski’s office, where else should MPs be pushing to allow the sun to shine in?” Warren Kinsella Liberal Strategist “After the precedent set by assorted MPs in the Radwanski matter, I fully expected someone — the media, the public, the NDP lobbyists at Democracy Watch — to focus everyone’s […]
Competition Bureau to look into automatic injunction provisions
While the battle rages in the committee room this fall, another federal agency will be also taking a closer look at the automatic injunction provisions. The Competition Bureau plans to undertake a preliminary inquiry into allegations of anti-competitive practices by patent drug companies, after receiving a complaint filed in May by a coalition of union […]
