Yesterday in the House of Commons, Glenn Thibeault, the NDP MP from Sudbury, Ont. delivered the following “S.O. 31”, which I’m picking as the early favourite this holiday season to win the Oscar for SO31 of the year.
You can read up here on the running “S.O. 31” battle between New Democrats and Conservatives.
In Montreal this morning, MP Marc Garneau – who also holds the title as first Canadian in space — announced he will seek the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.
The Twitterverse could not resist coming up with some campaign slogans. Some samples: Continue reading To infinity and beyond! The Liberal leadership race gets its astronaut!
On Monday, three by-elections were held.
Easy to figure out the winners because they’re the ones with the most votes.
But what does it all mean? That’s not so easy to figure out, apparently, but I try here: Continue reading Pundits Puzzle Over Meaning of By-Elections!
When the polls close Monday evening in three by-elections across the country, many in the nation’s capital believe the results will tell us a great deal about the popularity of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives or which party has the early lead to carry the anti-Harper banner in the 2015 general election.
In fact, voters in the Ontario riding of Durham, the Alberta riding of Calgary Centre, and the B.C. riding of Victoria are quite likely to cast a vote with any number of provincial and municipal issues on their mind.
After all, just as there is only one taxpayer, there is only one voter.
So though that one voter is electing a federal politician, that voter may be influenced by issues which that federal politician could have very little to do with. Continue reading Thoughts ahead of by-elections: All politics are local, this time more than most
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The 100th edition of the Grey Cup goes off today at 6 pm Eastern in Toronto. Battling for the oldest professional sports trophy in the world will be the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders.
Politicians, by and large, take a regional approach to their decision who to cheer for. You’re from the West? You cheer Stamps. You’re from the East? It’s Ar-gooooos.
But what if you’re from the East but find yourself in the West? Like, say, the country’s prime minister? Continue reading When Argos met Stamps in Grey Cup 59, the result made Stephen Harper cry
On Tuesday, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources met. And, after that meeting, our Daniel Proussalidis asked the only Liberal member on that committee, David McGuinty, what he thought about what he’d heard at that meeting. You know the results of that “Go Back to Alberta” conversation.
On Wednesday, McGuinty apologized for his post-committee comments and resigned his position as the Critic for Natural Resources for the Liberal national caucus. Continue reading Apparently, apologies from Mssrs. McGuinty and Trudeau were not good enough
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, like many federal government public sector unions, is upset that the Harper government is trying to trim the civil service. Earlier this week, the Harper government announced it had reduced the size of the civil service by nearly 11,000 positions. Most of those job cuts came by attrition — i.e. someone retired or quit and no replacement was hired — and only a few were actual layoffs. And while 11,000 sounds like a lot, there are about 275,000 federal civil servants. So that’s about a 4% reduction.
But, as I said, PSAC is upset about this and they’re going to take it out on cross-border shoppers Friday, if I read between the lines in this press release correctly: Continue reading Thinking of cross-border shopping Friday? Could be a gamble.
Wonder what Alex Burton might say about his rival for the Liberal leadership, Justin Trudeau?
In any event, here’s an “open letter” to Ottawa South MP David McGuinty about his anti-Alberta comments:
Honourable David McGuinty, M.P.
House of Commons
111 Justice Building
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Dear David,As I sat in an RV park in Grande Prairie, AB, early this morning, I took some time to reflect upon your recent comments. Continue reading Leadership candidate Burton "extremely disappointed" about McGuinty
On Tuesday afternoon, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources met to consider “Innovation in the Energy Sector” (Here are the minutes with the witness list).
Our reporter, Daniel Proussalidis caught up with the Liberal MP on that committee, David McGuinty, after the committee meeting had concluded and asked McGuinty if he had heard anything during the committee “that would reassure you about the way the oil sands are being developed — the innovation or technology that’s being employed?” Continue reading Audio: David McGuinty in his own words: "Go back to Alberta"
London Free Press colleague Chip Martin had a front-page scoop in mid-October:
Government cheque paid for ex-MP Joe Fontana’s son’s wedding reception
LONDON, ONT. – Federal tax dollars paid the $1,700 deposit on the 2005 wedding reception for Mayor Joe Fontana’s son, QMI Agency has learned.
And the then-manager of the London facility recalls another cheque issued by the feds appeared several months later to cover the outstanding $18,900 Fontana still owed. … [Read the rest of Chip’s story]
Today, the RCMP made the following announcement:
Continue reading London mayor, former federal minister, charged with fraud
