There ‘s no getting around it: Martin Singh is “the outsider” in the NDP leadership race. He’s never held office. He’s never been in party establishment’s “inner circle.” But he’s raised more than $50,000 from supporters by year-end (MP Niki Ashton had raised just $10,000) and you wouldn’t know he’s not had practice as a politician if you’ve seen him in any of the debates. Continue reading NDP Leadership hopeful Martin Singh: "We're getting support from all quarters"
Month: February 2012
Poll: Should government cut the civil service? Are you prepared to do without?
Abacus Data went into the field to sound out Canadians about some of the choices the government is facing with this spring’s federal budget. Tonight on the Daily Brief, Abacus CEO David Coletto gave us the numbers on what he found. Turns out, Canadians want the government to fight the deficit. But we’re not unanimous about how to go about that. You can bet the government itself is in the field with focus groups and polls testing out their ideas on the same issue. Continue reading Poll: Should government cut the civil service? Are you prepared to do without?
The government fights for its "lawful access"
Across our newspaper chain today, I argue that the C-30, the government’s so-called “lawful access” legislation, is bad, that, “there is no excuse for this kind of intrusion on the privacy rights of Canadians and certainly not one from a government that says it champions the idea that the federal government ought to respect individual liberties and rights.” [Read my full column on this]
Last night, perhaps seeing that there were a great number of pundits criticizing this bill [here’s the Post‘s Matt Hartley, for one], one of the aides for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews circulated three examples Continue reading The government fights for its "lawful access"
Warrant-less wiretaps: What Toews says and what C-30 says
In the House of Commons Monday, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said this, in response to allegations that his about-to-tabled legislation, would allow police to obtain information about the online activities of Canadians without a warrant:
Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that any outrageous claims that private communications will be intercepted without a warrant is a complete fabrication. Continue reading Warrant-less wiretaps: What Toews says and what C-30 says
Text of C-30: The bill that would allow warrant-less Internet wiretaps
Here is the text of the Bill C-30, tabled this morning in the House of Commons. Among its provisions, it would allow police to obtain customer data and other information from your Internet service provider (ISP) and other telecom provider without first obtaining a warrant from a judge. NDP MP Charlie Angus calls this “an unprecedented bill that undermines the privacy rights of Canadians.” Continue reading Text of C-30: The bill that would allow warrant-less Internet wiretaps
The Topp campaign responds to the Dewar poll
Earlier today, the Paul Dewar campaign released an internal poll of NDP supporters which purported to show that, on the first ballot of the NDP Leadership campaign, Thomas Mulcair would come in first with about one in four voters. Brian Topp would finish fifth.
The Topp campaign released this e-mail which campaign manager Raymond Guardia sent around in the wake of the Dewar campaign release (This if formatted as I received it): Continue reading The Topp campaign responds to the Dewar poll
Dewar campaign release: Mulcair leads in the NDP Leadership Race
It may seem odd for one candidate to release a poll that shows that candidate to be trailing in a particular political race. But I think the Paul Dewar Campaign wanted to show a couple of things by releasing poll data which shows Dewar to be in third spot when it comes first-place spot on the preferential ballots of NDP voters though he is in first spot when it comes to second-choice on that preferential ballot. Continue reading Dewar campaign release: Mulcair leads in the NDP Leadership Race
Cotler will represent Saudi journalist who faces death sentence over tweets
Hamza Kashgari is a Saudi journalist.
On the occasion of the Muslim prophet’s birthday last week, 23-year-old Mr Kashgari tweeted: “I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don’t understand about you.”
“I will not pray for you,” he added. ( Hamza Kashgari faces criminal charges over Twitter remarks )
Now he faces the death sentence in Saudi Arabia for those tweets. Continue reading Cotler will represent Saudi journalist who faces death sentence over tweets
Reaction to my "Don't mind us Canucks: We're just here for pipelines and pandas" column
As we arrived in China last week covering Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit there, this column of mine was published in our newspaper chain. It concluded:
The Chinese are sensitive about [human rights issues]. They do not like to be called out on their lousy human rights record. The Chinese need not worry. The Canadians this week are here for pipelines and pandas.
After reading that column, someone named Will Wei on my Facebook page accuses me of “hate speech” Continue reading Reaction to my "Don't mind us Canucks: We're just here for pipelines and pandas" column
NYT: Obama's High-Tech War on Leaks to Journalists
Adam Liptak, the New York Times correspondent at the Supreme Court writes:
… the Obama administration, … has brought more prosecutions against current or former government officials for providing classified information to the media than every previous administration combined. Continue reading NYT: Obama's High-Tech War on Leaks to Journalists