Supply management proposal gets the short shrift as Tories prepare policy package
Conservative Party members wrestled Friday with how they’ll be perceived by the general voting public in 2019 as they began the process of whittling down a swath of policy resolutions that will help inform the party’s next election platform. When delegates reconvene on Saturday afternoon to talk policy, they’ll be staring down a list of […]
Public service hiring stats useful to show imbalances
Re: “#DMsSoWhite: so few visible-minority senior public servants, feds won’t release stats,” (The Hill Times, Aug. 15, p. 1). Perhaps the focus on the lack of visible minorities in the senior management of the federal public service is unfortunately balanced in the lower ranks. Then-Treasury Board president Lucienne Robillard said in 2002 that “recruitment practices are based on the fundamental values […]
Bernier’s diversity rant adds to Scheer’s headaches
OTTAWA—One week before the first Conservative national convention on Andrew Scheer’s leadership watch—and the last such gathering before the next federal election—one would not normally expect Conservative MPs to be debating each other on social media about whether to draw a line on Canada’s diversity. Against the backdrop of a simmering trade war with the […]
#DMsSoWhite: so few visible-minority senior public servants, feds won’t release stats
Fewer than 10 of 84 top-level public servants identify as visible minorities: so few that the federal government won’t pinpoint exactly how many there are. That means fewer than 12 per cent of top federal managers say they are people of colour. By comparison, that’s less than the 14.5 per cent of bureaucrats as a whole who […]
Maxime Bernier’s Twitter tirade a gift to Justin Trudeau
OTTAWA—Professional tip to all Members of Parliament, but particularly the Conservative ones, if you want to have a discussion about Canadian identity: Twitter isn’t the the best vehicle for you. That should seem self-evident but apparently that is not the case. Now if you want to wreak havoc, piss people off, and throw verbal hand […]
From tiny agency of six to department-in-the-making: elevating the Status of Women
Despite the Trudeau government’s efforts to brand itself as feminist and to transform Status of Women Canada from an agency to a full department, critics say it’s an open question whether Ottawa has elevated the portfolio of the Status of Women to a place where it has a similar level of prestige to other files. […]
The more the merrier, says Equal Voice head, as party-specific programs sprout to boost women in politics
Party-specific initiatives to draw women into politics are necessary and welcome, especially by members of the Conservative Party, which has fallen behind other major parties when it comes to putting women on the ballot, says the head of a national organization aimed at promoting women’s involvement in politics. In the 2015 federal election, the Conservatives […]
Mr. Prime Minister, meet George Costanza
TORONTO—That loud beep, beep, beep you’ve been hearing is the sound of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backing up and rolling over the #MeToo gains of the past several months—his own contributions included. Victims of sexual misconduct have especially heard the crashing of the progress that had finally given them the courage to raise their voices […]
Senate administration’s efforts on diversity should be applauded
The Senate has come a long way since the early 2000s. Back then, Conservative Senator Donald Oliver charged that the Senate’s administration—and the public service, in general—was rife with systemic racism. “The Senate’s lack of diversity is so glaring and so problematic to the future of our institution that it heightens the desire of many […]
Improve, then use, name-blind recruitment to boost Senate staff diversity: committee
A name-blind recruitment project could help improve Senate staff diversity, but only if done properly, according to the head of a Senate group studying employment equity in the Upper Chamber’s administration. In a report tabled June 21 with the Senate’s Internal Economy, Budgets, and Administration Committee—a powerful group of Senators that handles the Chamber’s legal […]
