Month: April 2013

Stephane Dion slams Mulcair for "irresponsibility" in criticism of Supreme Court

Just in from Liberal HQ:

OTTAWA– Liberal Democratic Reform and Intergovernmental Affairs critic Stéphane Dion sent the following letter to NDP Justice critic Françoise Boivin today in response to the NDP’s request for Liberal support for the motion passed by the Quebec National Assembly earlier this month:

Ms. Françoise Boivin, MP
152 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Madam Member,

On behalf of the Liberal caucus, thank you for your letter dated April 29, 2013.  Continue reading Stephane Dion slams Mulcair for "irresponsibility" in criticism of Supreme Court

Coast Guard gets first of its 'Hero' Class vessels, CCGS Private Robertson V.C.

CCGS Private Robertson V.C.

The federal government today put a brand new Coast Guard vesssel, the CCGS Private Robertson V.C. (handout pic above) into service in Sarnia, today.

From the press release announcing her service: Continue reading Coast Guard gets first of its 'Hero' Class vessels, CCGS Private Robertson V.C.

On fracking, ferries, and forestry, BC voters promised lots of reviews

There are lots of issues the BC NDP is avoiding getting pinned down on and opting instead to offer “reviews” or “audits” before announcing decisions.  So, voters in BC will go to the polls on May 14 without ever knowing where the BC stand on the following issues (page references are to the BC NDP Platform): Continue reading On fracking, ferries, and forestry, BC voters promised lots of reviews

Correcting Tabatha Southey's record on my work

I like Tabatha Southey’s column a lot but today, she makes an error when she writes in her Globe and Mail column:

When it was announced that Osama bin Laden had been shot, Sun News did not break away from its recorded coverage of the royal wedding…

In fact, we did break away. I know because I was the on-air anchor for Sun News Network for our “breaking coverage” of the press conference in which U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed. That press conference began at about 11:30 pm ET though it originally been announced Continue reading Correcting Tabatha Southey's record on my work

Trudeau ads, for and against, spotted in the wild

  Every time a political party announces a new ad — be it positive or negative — political journalists inevitably ask how much was spent producing the ad; how much is being spent buying airtime; and where the ad will be running. And, inevitably, the party who gets asked these questions declines to answer. But thanks to Twitter  and to helpful readers using the #SawAnAd hashtag, journalists are able to get some sense of an answer to that last question — where are the ads running — and, in doing so, get some hints about the demographic that a party is targeting with said ad.   Continue reading Trudeau ads, for and against, spotted in the wild

Justin Trudeau ad: "Together we will build a better country"

It took a few days but the Liberal Party of Canada has responded to the Conservative attack ad launched within hours of Trudeau winning his party’s leadership. I have personally spotted the attack ad running on widely viewed television shows like American Idol on CTV and during baseball games on Sportsnet. I’ve heard reports from others who have seen it during NHL hockey games. That demonstrates two things: a) the Conservatives have lots of money and b) a lot of people saw the Tory ad. Continue reading Justin Trudeau ad: "Together we will build a better country"

The numbers on the federal Access to Information Act (2012)

 

Some data and numbers for the federal government’s performance under the Access to Information Act (ATI).  This data may have been around for a while but I just stumbled across it today and think a few bits to be worthwhile.

This data, published by the government, is for the fiscal year 2011-2012 which would have ended on March 31, 2012. The most recent complete fiscal year for the government is the one that just ended a few weeks ago on March 31, 2013 but I suspect it will be a while before the books are closed on that year. So the data on FY2012 is, so far as I know, the most recent complete year snapshot.

Requests under the Access to Information Act Number of Requests
Received during reporting period 43,194
Outstanding from previous reporting period 8,138
Total 51,332
Closed during reporting period 43,664
Carried over to next reporting period 7,668

Who made all these requests? Continue reading The numbers on the federal Access to Information Act (2012)