A close call for PM
Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s government nearly suffered a major embarrassment last Tuesday when it came dangerously close to losing a vote on the estimates in the Committee of the Whole, when MPs met in a special sitting in the Commons to grill Justice Minister Martin Cauchon over his department’s spending priorities. Ever quick on the […]
Martin’s endorsement of national missile defence was a major victory for Canada’s corporate lobbyists
Last week, the Chretien government decided to take Canada one step closer to joining the Bush administration’s national missile defence system. But strangely, no one has explained what missile threat Canada faces leaving Canadians to wonder if national missile defence is more about defending the country from rogue U.S. trade policies than from rogue nations. […]
Apologies to the Glebies…
To residents of the Glebe who are not thrilled that the Ex will be around for at least one more year, more bad news. Richard Mahoney’s big summer barbecue is back with a vengeance. And apparently The Hill Times is to blame. In The Hill Times’ annual Hillites magazine an item on hot parties, I […]
Svend’s way
NDP MP Svend Robinson’s private members’ bill, C-250, which would amend the Criminal Code to include “sexual orientation” in the hate propaganda sections, has moved one step closer to receiving Royal Assent. It hasn’t been easy for the openly gay MP from Vancouver, first elected to the Commons in 1979. Mr. Robinson said his bill, […]
Zen and the art of lobbying…
HT columnist Sean Moore is on a sabbatical from his post as public policy adviser at Gowling Lafleur Henderson, officially to catch up on some fishing and reading and recharge the old batteries. Semiofficially, he’ll also be getting started on a book on lobbying with W.T. (Bill) Stanbury, professor emeritus at UBC and author of […]
Transport Committee digs in its heels
Government House Leader Don Boudria’s attempt to kill a recommendation made by the Commons Transport Committee to chop $9-million from VIA Rail’s annual budget was dismissed as “pathetic” and disappointing by backbench Liberals last week. The dispute is just the latest sign of how bad relations between the federal Cabinet and Liberal caucus have become […]
Eggleton works on comeback
Eggs sunny side up… Former defence minister Art Eggleton is working his way back to the bacon, and word is he just might get his place back at the Cabinet table once the regime change has taken place. Eggs has been busy raising his profile, attending media and political functions on and around the Hill […]
June 20 looms large for Boudria
The most unenviable MP on the Hill these days, as Prime Minister Jean Chretien pushes his legacy agenda through Parliament before the summer recess, is Government House Leader Don Boudria. Here’s his challenge. Within the three weeks remaining before the House of Commons must adjourn on June 20, as per the Standing Orders, or the […]
Mideast about to face test
One of the most common ways so-called intractable international problems finally get resolved is by artful lying. The opposing sides agree to disagree, or pretend not to notice that the other’s interpretation of key parts of the proposed pact is entirely different from their own, and so allow a momentum to develop that bulldozes aside […]
Harper to talk cities this week
PCO Clerk Himelfarb to talk to APEX on Tuesday MONDAY, June 2 House Sitting–The House is sitting this week and is scheduled to remain in session until Friday, June 20. For more information on the House calendar, please call the Government House Leader’s Office at (613) 952-4930. Alliance Leader’s Speech–Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper will […]
