Month: May 2006

The Portable Document Format (PDF) file invented by Adobe is a wonderful invention but I’ve always wished Adobe’s whiz kids could do something to speed up the launch time for the Reader required to view PDF files. It’s got to be one of the slowest-loading — if not the slowest-loading — application on any of my machines and seems to get slower with every new release. (Adobe claims that the launch time of v 7.0 of the Reader is “up to 50 per cent faster” than v 6.0. I’m sure they’re right but, as a user, it just doesn’t feel any faster.)

I’m now pleased to learn of an alternative to Adobe’s Acrobat Reader, thanks to David Weinberger, that’s free and lightning-quick when it comes to loading. It’s called Foxit Reader and, like Acrobat Reader, it’s free. And if you want some basic markup and editing tools for your PDF files, you can fork over $39 (US) for Foxit Reader Pro rather than spending a few hundred dollars on the full version of Adobe Acrobat.

Neat.

Did you catch this? The new list of Parliamentary Secretaries? It was published about a week or so ago by the PMO and is republished today in the Canada Gazette. There are, so far as I can tell, just two changes to the original list:

• Cabinet minister-in-waiting James Moore gets added responsibilities. He was, in the first list, the PS to the Minister of Public Works who is, of course, Senator Michael Fortier and so Moore would be the man on the spot in the House of Commons if that department were ever again in the political spotlight. In this list, Moore, who hails from a Vancouver-area riding, has also become PS to the Minister for Pacific Gateway and the Minister for the Winter Olympics. That minister would be David Emerson — the very fellow who, many believe, is occupying the cabinet position that Moore would have occupied had Emerson not switched parties. Helena Guergis keeps her assignment as Emerson’s PS but will stick mostly to the International Trade side of things.
• Sylvie Boucher takes on a new job as the PS to the Minister Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages. On the first list, Boucher had only to worry about being PS to the Prime Minister. (Jason Kenney seems to be the main PS to the PM, a role that’s unchanged on the new list). Now Boucher picking up Josee Verner’s files. Boucher, of course, is unlikely to do much on the International Cooperation file. That would be the job of Ted Menzies, who is also a PS to Verner. But Menzies, a tremendously likeable farmer from southern Alberta, is functionally unilingual and, as a result, probably not the best guy to have on the Francophonie file. Boucher, a Quebec City-area MP is bilingual, as is Verner, who is also a Quebec City-area MP.

 

Here’s something new: The producers of the CBC Radio 1 program Definitely Not the Opera are distributing a weekly podcast. Like the podcasts from The Current or As It Happens, the DNTO podcast is a “best-of” package that will boil down the three-and-a-half hour broadcast into a 20 minute-long segment. Why not do the whole thing? Or break it up into hour-long chunks? Ah, well, grateful to have this and the other “best-of” packages nonetheless…

Also: On the sign-up page for CBC Radio podcasts, I hadn’t noticed that I can get an hour-long podcast from CBC Radio 3. Neat.

And finally, as a request to any CBC radio types out there: I know you did a survey but how about a podcast of The House?

Fans of great public radio podcasts will already know about the wealth of material from National Public Radio.

Former Liberal cabinet minister and current Liberal finance critic John McCallum is not running for the leadership of his party, he said this morning, and will instead campaign on behalf of Michael Ignatieff. Here’s the statement his office released this morning:

As you know, for the past several weeks I have been giving serious consideration to seeking the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. I have been consulting closely with family, friends and supporters. I have been listening intently to Liberals from across Canada.  I want to thank all those who had the confidence to encourage me to throw my hat into the ring.
I undertook these explorations with the strong conviction that the next Liberal leader, whoever that person might be, must demonstrate the ability to do three things:

• communicate a progressive vision for the country based on core Liberal values;
• develop and communicate a compelling vision of how we can take Canada to the next level and
  take on the world;
• and devote particular energy to rebuilding the Liberal brand in Quebec.

It is and has been my belief that success in these areas offers the best hope for Canada and the best hope for Liberals to defeat the Conservatives in the next election.  And that has to be the top priority, transcending any personal ambitions.
I have now concluded that Michael Ignatieff's vision for Canada is very close to my own and that he has the best chance of leading our party to victory in the next election.
Michael Ignatieff offers thoughtful and principled leadership. He has the ability to inspire all Canadians – francophones, anglophones, aboriginals and all those Canadians who have come here from every corner of the globe – with a new and exciting perspective of what our Canadian citizenship can mean. He has demonstrated both the capacity and commitment to rebuild Liberal support in Quebec.  He can rally Canadians around a new vision of who we are, where we can go together, and how we can work to ensure a thriving, prosperous Canada at home and on the world stage.
I therefore wish to confirm that I will not be seeking the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.
And I am proud to announce that I will be throwing all my energy and support behind the candidacy of my colleague, the Member of Parliament for Etobicoke-Lakeshore and the man who I am convinced will be the next Prime Minister of Canada, Michael Ignatieff.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere respect and best wishes to all those other friends and colleagues who are seeking the Liberal leadership.

… because I know you’re dying to know what lucky MPs are getting to chair the various House of Commons Committees, here’ s an updated list:

• Transport Committe: Chair is Conservative Merv Tweed (Brandon-Souris), vice-chairs are Don Bell (North Vancouver) and Mario Laframboise (Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel)
• Government Operations and Estimates: Chair is Liberal Diane Marleau (Sudbury)
• Public Accounts: Chair is Liberal Shawn Murphy (Charlottetown), vice-chairs are Brian Fitzpatrick (Prince Albert) and Benoit Sauvageau (Repentigny)
• International Trade: Chair is Conservative Leon Benoit (Vegreville-Wainwright), vice-chairs are Pierre Paquette (Joliette) and Lui Temelkovski (Oak Ridges-Markham)

Chairs of these committees, incidentally, will earn an extra $10,500 a year in salary while vice-chairs will earn an extra $5,400 a year.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee is, by tradition, chaired by a member of the party that is the Official Opposition. And so, for that reason, the individual who chaired this committee for the last nine years — Edmonton-area MP John Williams — can no longer hold that job for he is now on the Government side of the House.

And so Liberal MP Shawn Murphy (Charlottetown) (left) was acclaimed as chair of this committee. Murphy has been on the committee for more than 5 years and was one of Williams’ vice-chairs in the last Parliament. Of course, the irony of this is that this is the very committee that did much of the investigation into matters raised by the Sponsorship scandal.

That’s why Williams, who is still on the committee, raised an objection at the committee’s first meeting this morning, immediately after Murphy’s election, that a Liberal ought not to be the chair of the very committee whose primary task for the last two years and for at least the next several months will an investigation of Liberal Party financing. Williams was joking — but only slightly.

In truth, as members of each party affirmed at this morning’s meeting, the Public Accounts Committee is among the more non-partisan of committees. “When it does get partisan, it’s big-time and usually follows what’s going on in the House,” David Christopherson, the lone NDP member of Public Accounts, told the committee. That said, Christopherson also noted that most of the decisions taken by the committee in the last Parliament were unanimous ones.

Murphy will be assisted by committee vice-chairs Brian Fitzpatrick (Prince Albert), a Conservative, and Benoit Sauvageau (Repentigny), of the BQ.

For this Parliement, the Committee will get a new researcher. He is Alex Smith and he joins committee veteran researcher Brian O’Neal. The Committee’s work is co-ordinated by clerk Danielle Bélisle.

 

The Alberta Conservative caucus is, I’m sad to report, deeply divided over the most contentious of issues: Which professional hockey team in Alberta is the best?

Right now, of course, MPs from the northern half of the province believe their team, the Oilers, is Alberta’s best and they point to their team’s upset victory over the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Tonight, MPs from the southern half of the province hope to be able to say that their Flames will be participating in the Battle of Alberta in the second round of the playoffs.

The rift in this caucus spilled into the House of Commons this afternoon, when Laurie Hawn, the rookie MP for the riding of Edmonton Centre rose to his feet:

Mr. Laurie Hawn (Edmonton Centre, CPC): Mr. Speaker, on August 16, 1812, Canada won the Battle of Detroit with a small army of regulars, militia and native allies, after several shots were fired.

On May 1, 2006, Canada again won the Battle of Detroit with a small army of Edmonton Oilers, after 66 shots were fired.
In the spirit of sport and healthy competition, we, at least the Edmonton Conservative caucus, want to congratulate the Edmonton Oilers on their hard-earned and upset victory over the Detroit Red Wings in round one of the Oilers' run to the Stanley Cup.

Although we cannot officially cheer for our southern friends and rivals, the Calgary Flames, in their game seven tonight, we do relish the prospect of getting on with one of the greatest rivalries in professional sports, where many more shots will be fired, in what we call the “Battle of Alberta”!

Manitoba Conservative MP Brian Pallister (left) was elected last night as the Chair of the House of Commons Finance Committee. Pallister was Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s “nominee” for this position.

There had been some talk that Alberta Conservative John Williams might have been Harper’s nominee but Williams is not on Finance. There was also some gossip that Ontario Conservative Garth Turner was going to contest the Prime Minister’s nomination and stand for the position himself but, in the end, it was Turner who nominated Pallister.

The vice-chairs of the committee are Quebec Liberal MP Massimo Pacetti — he chaired this committee in the last Parliament — and Bloc Quebecois MP Yvan Loubier.

 

The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs says the House of Commons ought to make permament guidelines which allowed TV cameras into House of Commons committees. Some excerpts from the PROC committee’s report to the House:

“…on May 16, 2001, and adopted the same day, it was recommended that the electronic media be allowed, on a trial basis, to videotape any public committee meetings held within the parliamentary precincts in Ottawa, subject to certain guidelines. This trial period has been successively renewed since 2001.”

“..There do not appear to have been any significant problems or complaints with respect to the guidelines.”

“…We continue to believe that it is important that Canadians be able to see more of the work on committees and of Members, and that the televising of committees is an integral part of making Parliament more accessible and transparent to the public. The original objectives were to provide Canadians with a fuller picture of Parliament, to give them an opportunity to see MPs at work and to see what committees are doing, and to promote coverage of less high-profile hearings and committees, including those of particular interest to certain regions or interest groups. It remains our hope that the electronic media will take advantage of this opportunity to enhance coverage of the work of parliamentary committees.”

“…Members of the Committee believe that it may now be appropriate to make these guidelines permanent.”

But before making the guidelines permament, the Committee says it wants to review the matter with the Parliamentary Press Gallery, the Clerk of the House, and MPs.

 

A special committee of MPs will review the Accountability Act. It is to be called the Legislative Committee on Bill C-2 and its members include:

• Monique Guay – BQ – Quebec
• Marlene Jennings – LIB – Quebec
• Tom Lukiwski – CON – Saskatchewan
• Pat Martin – NDP – Manitoba
• James Moore – CON – British Columbia
• Rob Moore – CON – New Brunswick
• Brian Murphy – LIB – New Brunswick
• Stephen Owen – LIB – British Columbia
• Daniel Petit – CON – Quebec
• Pierre Poilievre – CON – Ontario
• Benoît Sauvageau – BQ – Quebec
• Alan Tonks – LIB – Ontario

The Ottawa Citizen reports this morning that some Liberals are accusing the government of “stacking” this committee by appointing four Parliamentary secretaries to the committee. Normally, only the Parliamentary Secretary of the minister associated with the committee’s work would sit on the committee. In this case that would be Poilievre, the P.S. to Treasury Board president John Baird, who introduced the bill in Parliament.

But this committee also includes the Lukiwski, PS to House Leader and Minister for Democratic Reform Rob Nicholson; James Moore, PS to Public Works Minister Michael Fortier and to Minister for Pacific Gateway and Minister for the Olympics David Emerson; Rob Moore, and PS to Justice Minister Vic Toews. Petit is the only Conservative on the committee that is not a PS.

Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale complains that this arrangement threatens the independence of the committee.