Month: August 2007

Tonight on CTV National News, I’ll be reporting on an initiative to get a section of Highway 401 in Ontairo between Trenton and Toronto renamed the “Highway of Heroes”.

A grassroots honour guard has been manning every overpass on this 170–km stretch of highway to honour Canadian soldiers who have fallen in Afghanistan.

Here’s a note posted to a bulletin board for those interested in military affairs written by a member of the Forces. His or her name was removed:

By LCol XXXXXX, Cdn Forces Military Police
 

            I had the honour of recently attending the Repatriation Ceremony for our fallen heroes last night at 8 Wing Trenton, and, although words cannot possibly do justice to this heart-wrenching experience, I thought it important to describe the overwhelming–and I mean overwhelming–support provided by law enforcement, fire services, ambulance services and, indeed, the public at large for this very solemn occasion. The procession included over twenty vehicles and had to be at least one km in length.  Cpl XXXX, SLt XXXXXX, and I were in the rear escort Military Police vehicle. I could not believe my eyes as we made the solemn journey from 8 Wing to the Coroner's Office in Toronto.

We were escorted by at least six or seven OPP cars and two motorcycles until we arrived in Toronto, and then Durham Regional Police, and then Toronto Police Services picked up the escort/traffic control duties.  Every overpass along the almost 200 kms of Hwy 401 had emergency services vehicles with lights flashing, members saluting, and citizens waving Canadian flags.  Every on ramp had a police vehicle blocking traffic, with members standing by the vehicles saluting.  Entire police detachments stood along the route, saluting in front of their vehicles.  Firehalls had their trucks out, with their members in full dress uniform out front paying respects to our comrades.  People stopped their cars along the side of the road, got out and saluted or held their hands over their hearts.  As we neared downtown, the streets were lined with crowds waving Canadian flags and paying their respects.  The outpouring of support for our fallen heroes and their families was beyond belief; never before have I been as proud to wear this uniform.

Finally, this would not have been possible without the OUTSTANDING support of our fellow police officers from the OPP and Toronto Police Services.  All of the police officers who supported this solemn occasion–and I would put a very conservative estimate at over 500–did so on their own time.  They were volunteers.  The Ontario Provincial Police (in particular Quinte West Det and Whitby Detachments), Durham Regional Police, and Toronto Metro Police–theyall deserve special mention for their outstanding efforts and their amazing show of support.

This experience will remain with me for the rest of my life.  I truly hope I never get the opportunity again; however, should such a tragedy once again befall our brave soldiers, sailors and airmen/women, it is comforting to know that Canada's quiet patriotism is very much alive and well–the torch burns bright and strong. 

If you’re interested, read the whole thread at Army.ca, where this was originally posted.

A new poll done for The Associated Press reports on the bookreading habits of Americans. I fear a poll of Canadians might produce a similarly dismal result:

A quarter of US adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year and, excluding those who had not read any books at all, the usual number of books read was seven.
Of those who did read, women and pensioners were most avid readers, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

Attention politics junkies: This just in from CTV’s public affairs department:

Triumph & Treachery: The Brian Mulroney Story,  A Landmark Political Special and CTV Exclusive Premiering September 9

Toronto, ON (August 21, 2007) – Leading Canadian broadcaster CTV announced a landmark political special, with the exclusive English television broadcast of Triumph & Treachery: The Brian Mulroney Story. The 90-minute timely special will make its television premiere Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 7 p.m. (check local listings) on CTV, just one day before the hotly anticipated book launch of Brian Mulroney: Memoirs, landing September 10 in stores across Canada.

The CTV exclusive production follows an innovative partnership between CTV and publisher McClelland & Stewart. French-language TVA will air the special in conjunction with Quebecor’s Les Éditions de l'Homme. It’s the first time The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney has granted such a comprehensive interview since leaving office in 1993. And helming the interview and guiding viewers through the special is CTV Chief Anchor and Editor Lloyd Robertson. Triumph & Treachery: The Brian Mulroney Story will be broadcast in HD (High Definition) television, the first time a prime ministerial documentary program has been presented in this format.

“This is a Brian Mulroney Canadians have never seen before,” said Robertson. “He opens up and shares intimate details about world leaders such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. He also lashes out at his political opponents and deals with the controversies that have followed him through the years.”

In both his 1,100-page memoirs, which spans the years from 1939 to 1993, and his interviews with Robertson, Mr. Mulroney talks frankly about his political career – sharing, often for the first time, his personal views on the momentous events that transpired during his tenure as prime minister. He reflects on his great political triumphs such as leading the Progressive Conservatives to back-to-back majority governments, guiding the country through a recession and leading the global opposition to apartheid in South Africa. He also openly discusses the emotional failure of the Meech Lake Accord, the rise of the Bloc Québécois and shares his personal opinions on some of the people who openly betrayed him throughout his political career.

Outside of politics, Mr. Mulroney shares intimate stories about his triumphs in early life – including his personal struggles with alcohol and growing up as one of six children in the working-class community of Baie-Comeau, on Quebec’s North Shore.

“Politics aside, Mr. Mulroney’s rise from poverty to the highest office in Canada is an incredible story of drive and determination,” said Doug Gibson, the editor of Mr. Mulroney’s Memoirs at McClelland & Stewart.

The CTV special features rare photos and archive footage of Mr. Mulroney as a child and private family videos during his time in office. CTV captures his emotional return to the streets of Baie Comeau where he visits the house he grew up in for the first time in 50 years. The former prime minister also travels to Parliament Hill – and returns to the floor of the House of Commons for the first time since he retired from politics in 1993.

If you’re in Western Canada, watch out, Liberal MP Garth Turner is bringing his “Lost Tory” tour near you.

Now, when Turner was a Conservative, many of his caucus colleagues resented it when he’d show up in their Western riding. They thought he was grand-standing (and stealing their thunder). For many Conservative MPs,  Garth’s forays into other ridings contributed to their decision to kick him out of that caucus.

But the Liberals have a different view.

“Turner will be contributing to the Party and the Leaders' narrative on broken promises and policy missteps by the Conservatives and explaining the rationale for his decision to leave the Conservatives and join the Liberals,” wrote Nicolas Ruszkowski, Director of Communications for the Opposition Leader’s Office, in an e-mail reply to a query I had. “He's also helping by spending a significant portion of time in unheld ridings, and we welcome the initiative.”

Here’s the release from Turner’s office:

The lost Tory tour

Despite a cabinet shuffle and promises of new ideas, legions of Canadians who supported the notion of a new Conservative government are very disappointed.

Income taxes were raised. Income trusts taxed. Government spending bloated. Interest rates raised. Inflation rekindled. This is not what taxpayers expected of a Tory administration. It’s not what Garth Tuner expected. The former life-long Progressive Conservative, twice-elected Conservative MP and former minister and leadership candidate was summarily tossed out of Stephen Harper’s caucus almost a year ago. The career financial author and broadcaster is now a member of the federal Liberal caucus. His daily blog (garth.ca) has become a lightening rod of opinion for those Conservative voters who, like him, think Mr. Harper has lost his way.

In response to a flood of invitations, Garth Turner will be holding a series of public, Town Hall meetings across Western Canada next month. He will be speaking on ‘What every Investor and Homeowner needs to know.’

 Town Halls will be held in the following sequence:

• Tuesday Sept 4            LaBroquiere, Manitoba
• Tuesday Sept 4            Winnipeg 
• Wednesday Sept 5       Regina (2)
• Thursday Sept 6           Duncan, BC 
• Thursday Sept 6           Victoria
• Saturday Sept 8            Vancouver
• Sunday Sept 9              Abbotsford
• Monday Sept 10          Kelowna (2)
• Tuesday Sept 11          Edmonton (2)
• Wednesday Sept 12     Red Deer
• Wednesday Sept 12     Calgary
• Thursday Sept 13         Lethbridge

“Conservative voters who expected Mr. Harper to govern without raising taxes, increasing spending or making life harder for investors, retired people or families are asking to be heard,” Turner says. “In each of the communities I am visiting, grassroots organizers have come together to stage these meetings. I’m eager to hear the people, and bring their voices to Ottawa, where they’ve been all but lost.”

As Ottawa gets set to welcome U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, security is, understandably, highly visible and omnipresent. But it can get a bit absurd. I’ve just returned from the U.S. Embassy on Sussex Drive in downtown Ottawa. It’s a highly visible building just down the street from Canada’s National Art Gallery. Today, with the leaders in town, there are lots of fences and barricades surrounding the building with many police officers standing behind those barricades.

But, at 11 a.m. this morning, there was no sign of protests and both pedestrian and vehicular traffic was lighter than usual.

Nonetheless, we set up our news cameras on the sidewalk near the Embassy just to take some pictures of the scene at the time.

A private sector security guard was quickly upon us.

“No pictures of the building,” the young man said sternly from behind his dark sunglasses.

“We can’t take a picture of the building?,” I asked. “That seems odd. Why is that?”

“Security reasons.”

I neglected to inform that we had already taken pictures of the U.S. Embassy before he had arrived and — I don’t think I’m spilling any secrets when I say this — we have plenty of “file pictures” of the U.S. Embassy back here in our bureau.

We packed up our camera gear and hustled back to our studio with these new top-secret pictures of one of Ottawa’s most visible buildings. Keep watching CTV Newsnet — we might try to sneak them on air!

Many in Ottawa — media types, lobbyists, and opposition politicians — thought that Calgary MP Diane Ablonczy (right) would easily make it to cabinet on Stephen Harper's first go-around with this in February of 2006. But it was only last week – three shuffles later — that Ablonczy made it in, albeit as a junior minister. Ablonczy had been Parliamentary Secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and did some good work in that role, some caucus and other sources tell me.
Today, on CTV's Question Period, my colleague Graham Richardson talked to Ablonczy about her elevation and her new job:

GRAHAM RICHARDSON: A long-time Conservative, all the way back to the early days of reform, a supporter of Preston Manning in the leadership for the Canadian Alliance, always thought to be cabinet material, but Diane Ablonczy must have wondered whether that would ever happen. Well, it has. The New Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism joins us. Congratulations, good afternoon.

DIANE ABLONCZY (Secretary of State Small Business and Tourism): Well,
it's good to be here.

RICHARDSON: Did you think it was going to happen? Why now, do you think?

ABLONCZY: Oh, I had actually given up on thinking that I would actually get an appointment like this because there are so many of us in Calgary, and Alberta, of course, because that's where a lot of the longest serving MPs have been, so I was pretty much resigned to maybe playing a different role, and that was okay. But I was really pleased to be asked to do this.

RICHARDSON: Was it honestly just geography or, from your perspective or
was the history of supporting Preston Manning a factor in you not being brought into cabinet?

ABLONCZY: No, I don't believe that was a bit of a factor, and I say that genuinely because the Prime Minister is not like that at all, and you know that there are delicate balances in cabinet-making. I think the Prime Minister is a very decisive manager, and he's now I think really fitting people into positions where he feels that they can make the best contribution, although regional balance will still be a factor, I think maybe less so as time goes on.

RICHARDSON: And there has been talk about gender balance. You're not a full minister. There are no women in senior, senior posts in this cabinet. Why? Is there an issue?

ABLONCZY: I don't believe there's an issue. We have some very capable women in all parties, and they are working flat out in the positions they've been given. So I don't think we should look at that. I think we should look at the fact that we've got the right people in the right places throughout parliament making it work well for Canadians.

RICHARDSON: But as a voter, women voters in Edmonton look at Anne McLellan's record and appreciate the proportion the Liberals had, is not that far from what you have in terms of, but in terms of the positions, I mean Anne McLellan was a big force in the Chretien cabinet. So the question is why isn't there someone like yourself in a similar position
in the Harper cabinet?

ABLONCZY: Well I don't know about that. You know, it may be, I think Anne was very capable. It may be that she was promoted because she won by such small margins. I mean, who knows, there's always political considerations, but I do know the Prime Minister's style is to fit the right people in the right places, and I just don't think it's very useful to look at gender and either promote or apply people in a place where they might not be best suited just because of gender or any other characteristic.

RICHARDSON: From your perspective, what is the challenge for this government this fall?

ABLONCZY: I think the challenge is to continue on the agenda that brought us into office, that Canadians gave us a mandate on. We've made good progress on all of the five priorities that we've had, but there are still some things to do. Our justice agenda, you know a lot of our bills are still stuck either in the house or the senate. In making sure that we have progress on patient wait times, now we have commitments on all the provinces to address wait times, but there's more to do. And we want to, of course, continue to democratize and bring accountability to the operation, so all of those things will be continuing on.

RICHARDSON: And you're surprised to be here I bet. Some people are surprised that there's still a government. Is that part of the exercise, you've got to figure out the story that you need to tell because you only thought you'd have to tell an 18 month story.

ABLONCZY: Well it's true. I mean I think everyone felt an 18 month minority government would be as long as it would go. Now it looks like we might go until the legislated next election date which will be October of 2009. It's really up to the opposition, isn't it? Because
they're the ones with the votes to bring down the government, to force an election earlier if they decide to do that. The government itself has to really address their mind to governing because that's what we have to, we're here to do.

RICHARDSON: I know it's only been a few days, but I want to ask you something on your portfolio. The Canadian dollar has hit tourism very, very hard, whether it's Waterton Lakes National Park or Niagara-on-the-Lake, a lot of border communities are hurting, the Americans aren't coming. How do you fix that?

ABLONCZY: I think the important thing is to show tourism, both internationally and from the US, the advantages of being in Canada because we have so much to offer. I mean you that you and I were just talking, you lived out west for a brief period of time. I just visited the east coast for the caucus meetings. You can do no better in tourism than Canada.

RICHARDSON: But they are looking at the bottom line…

ABLONCZY: We have to get that message out.

RICHARDSON: They are looking at the bottom line.

ABLONCZY: There really is no bottom line. I mean if you go to Europe, it costs you three times what it costs in Canada, and you don't see the kind of natural beauty that we have. The US visitors still have a discount on the dollar, it's not as big as it was, but it is an
advantage. So I just think it's a communications issue, and we have the product. We've just got to get really, really good at selling it.

RICHARDSON: Diane Ablonczy, thanks so much for being here and congratulations. Appreciate it.

ABLONCZY: Well it was a pleasure. Thank you.

Last week’s cabinet shuffle generated plenty of orders-in-council, including an OIC designating who-does-what in case the Prime Minister or other cabinet ministers are in a coma or otherwise incapacitated.

As it has been since this government was sworn in back in the late winter of 2006, Quebec MP Lawrence Cannon (Pontiac) continues to be the man who becomes the Prime Minster if Stephen Harper cannot perform the duties of the office. Harper has not formally designated anyone in his cabinet as deputy Prime Minister but Cannon, who holds the Transport and Infrastructure and Communities portfolio, is in charge when the boss cannot be.

As for the portfolios that switched around as a result of the shuffle, here’s the list of backups:

• Gerry Ritz is the new Agriculture Minister. Chuck Strahl, the former Ag Minister, is first backup; Environment Minister John Baird is backup number two.
• Josee Verner is the new Heritage Minister. Former Heritage Minister Bev Oda is on deck and Immigration Minister Diane Finley is in the hole.
• Foreign Affairs now reports to Maxime Bernier but if he’s conked out, International Trade Minister David Emerson is the boss and if he’s comatose, Bev Oda is in charge.
• At Indian Affairs, Strahl is now the man, but the former chief (if you’ll pardon the pun) Jim Prentice is first backup and Monte Solberg, the Human Resources Minister is second backup.
• Prentice — many continue to believe he is the de facto deputy Prime Minister — is number one now at Industry. Number two is the Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and number three is Cannon.
• At International Co-operation, it’s Oda who is minister backed up by Bernier and Emerson.
• Defence lost Gordon O’Connor as Minister but he gets his job back if Peter MacKay is captured by the Taliban. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day would be in charge if the Taliban capture MacKay and O’Connor.
• Meanwhile at National Revenue, where O’Connor is now in charge, his backups are Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson and Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn.

By now, of course, everyone’s heard that Peter Mackay is running National Defence, Maxime Bernier is at Foreign Affairs and so on. But there were some other important shuffles happening as well — a re-jigging of the membership of cabinet’s seven committees.

Let me repeat something I wrote last January:

Committees of cabinet are important institutions. It is at committee, for example, that legislation or new initatiatives is hashed around. The new secretaries of state do not normally attend meetings of the full cabinet but they will attend meetings of a cabinet committee.

Prime Minister Martin had a relatively large number of cabinet committees, a function partly of the fact that he had a large cabinet. Prime Minister Harper had a slimmed down cabinet and a slimmed down committee structure with just six cabinet committees. Today, though, with five more ministers, he has added a new cabinet committee, “Environment and Energy Security”, and changed some of the leadership positions on other cabinet committees

Looking back to 2007, I identified Jim Prentice and Tony Clement as taking some big steps in terms of consolidating their influence with cabinet.

Now, two days ago, Prentice was a member of five cabinet committees and chaired two of them. Now he’s on just two committees and chairs only one. I think the most likely reading of that move is that his previous workload was crazy and this new workload, combined with the heavy-duty Industry portfolio, is still plenty busy. And, after all, Prentice is still on the all-powerful Priorities and Planning Committee (the only one Harper chairs) and chairs the second most powerful committee, Operations. (Only one other cabinet minister sits on both of those committees.  Read on to find out who.) 

Clement, though, continues to ascend, if you ask me. Clement — who was not shuffled and remains Health Minister and Minister for FEDNOR— loses his chairmanship of the Social Affairs committee but picks up chairmanship of the Environment and Energy Security Committee. EES is a new committee established at the last shuffle that could be increasingly important to the government’s agenda. I’m not so sure Social Affairs was the committee where it’s at.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty appears to be in the PM’s doghouse. Last week, before the shuffle, I asked University of Calgary political scientist Tom Flanagan what he thought Harper would be trying to accomplish with the shuffle. Flanagan, who taught Harper and was once Harper’s chief of staff, said that he expected Harper and his advisors would want to do something about “the needless political damage” done to the governnment by Finance. Flanagan was articulating what some other government insiders had been saying privately: Harper blames Flaherty for mishandling some taxation files, one reason why there was speculation last week that Flaherty might be shuffled off to Industry. Instead, Flaherty loses the influential leadership positions of chairman of the Economic Affairs committee and is no longer vice-chairman of Treasury Board, though he still a member of those committees. He continues to be a member of Priorities and Planning, as well. Some sources close to Flaherty, both here in Ottawa and from back in his Queen’s Park days, have said he is disappointed with the PMO’s moves.

Flaherty’s move has not gone unnoticed by the Opposition, either.  Here’s what one senior Liberal MP told me:

What we have is 2 1/2 demotions. Clearly O'Connor and Oda, but also it's a major slap in the face for the finance minister to be deprived of chairing the cabinet's key economic committee. It's bad for Canada when the PM sends this clear message of diminished faith in his CFO, while allowing him to soldier on wounded.

There are plenty of other leadership changes within the cabinet committees:

• Harper, as I mentioned, remains chair of P&P and is vice-chair continues to be Lawrence Cannon, the Transport Minister. International Trade Minister David Emerson is the only new member of that committee. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl are dropped from P&P.
• Prentice leads Ops and Government House Leader continues to be his vice-chair. New members of Operations include Nicholson, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl and new Secretary of State Diane Ablonczy. Out at Ops is Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Rona Ambrose, Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Cannon, Emerson, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, National Revenue Minister Gordon O’Connor, and Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg.
• So who sits on both P&P and Ops and therefore has more juice? Prentice and Treasury Board President Vic Toews. Who used to sit but doesn’t anymore? Cannon.
• Peter MacKay is the new chair of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, replacing Justice Minister Rob Nicholson who becomes vice-chair. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day was vice-chair; now he’s just a member of that committee.
• Toews, by dint of his job, was and is Treasury Board president.  Ambrose is now vice-chair of Treasury Board but, as noted,  no longer sits on Ops and, as a result no longer sits on at least one of the two “power” committees of Cabinet. She is also dropped from Economic Growth but remains on Environment and Energy Security (EES).
• On Social  Affairs, Senator Marjory LeBreton assumes the chairmanship, replacing Clement. Strahl becomes vice-chair, replacing Immigration Minister Diane Finley, who is now just a committee member.
• Finley moves over to become vice-chair of Economic Affairs while the previous vice-chair, Emerson, moves up to chair that committee, replacing Flaherty. That’s a shift many business lobbyists in Ottawa have taken note of.

More Canadians than ever believe Liberal leader Stephane Dion would make the best prime minister among the leaders of federal political leaders, polling company SES Research says in its latest survey. Dion’s personal popularity has surged, particularly in eastern Canada, says SES,  though he still trails Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

SES also found that support for the federal NDP is at its lowest level.

The poll comes out as Harper gets set to shuffle his cabinet this afternoon.

“Today's federal cabinet shuffle is another attempt by the Harper Tories to break away from what has been a neck-and-neck race with the Liberals over the past year,” said Nik Nanos, president of SES Research.

SES says that 23 per cent of respondents to its most recent poll now say that Dion would make the best prime minister. That’s a big jump from just 15 per cent who responded that way back in May.

Still, the man who is Prime Minister — Stephen Harper — was named by 31 per cent of survey respondents as the leader who would be the best prime minister.  That’s a slight drop from 33 per cent in the May poll.

When asked who they would vote for, SES found the two leading parties — the Conservatives and Liberals — in a statistical tie, with 36 per cent saying they would vote Conservative and 33 per cent saying they would vote Liberal.

The poll of 1,000 Canadians, conducted between July 28 and August 4, is accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, the pollster says.

Conservative support is up four percentage points since the last SES poll in May. Liberal support remains unchanged.

NDP support has dropped 4 percentage points and now sits at 13 per cent. The Green Party is at 8 per cent, down 2 percentage points from May.

In Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois leads all  parties with 41 per cent support of declared voters, up from 35 per cent in May. Conservative fortunes in Quebec are up since May to 22 per cent, from 17 per cent. Liberals are the favourites of 23 per cent of voters, down from 27 per cent. The pollster says the Quebec-only polling numbers have a higher margin of error. SES says they are correct to within 6.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20.