Month: May 2013

Duffy lobbied for Sun News Network? News to us.

Tonight, CTV’s Parliamentary Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported that Senator Mike Duffy tried to use his influence on a CRTC decision involving Sun News Network. Fife cited unnamed sources for this allegation.

The application Sun News Network has before the CRTC is pretty important to me and my colleagues.

Here’s what our network’s vice-president Kory Teneycke has to say about what CTV reported tonight:

Senator Duffy does not, nor has he ever, been employed as a lobbyist for Sun News/Sun Media. Nor have we asked Senator Duffy act as an agent on our behalf.

The CRTC process is a quasi judicial process, not a political one.

We believe we have made a very clear, compelling, and public case for Sun News. It is now in the hands of the CRTC Commissioners, who will make their decision.

We appreciate the support we have received from tens of thousands of Canadians who have mailed letters, signed petitions and emailed the CRTC as a part of their public consultation process.

Statement from Senator Duffy

Just e-mailed to me from Senator Mike Duffy:

“It is clear the public controversy surrounding me and the repayment of my Senate expenses has become a significant distraction to my caucus colleagues, and to the government. Given that my presence within the Conservative caucus only contributes to that distraction, I have decided to step outside of the caucus and sit as an independent Senator pending resolution of these questions.

“Throughout this entire situation I have sought only to do the right thing. I look forward to all relevant facts being made clear in due course, at which point I am hopeful I will be able to rejoin the Conservative caucus.
“This has been a difficult time for me and my family, and we are going to take some time away from the public. I ask the media to respect our privacy while these questions are resolved through the appropriate processes.

In hot water for big spending ways, Canada's top librarian quits

Hot off the presses ..

Not only did the French- and English-speaking Caron bill taxpayers more than $4,000 in 2011-12 so he could take one-on-one Spanish lessons, he signed a $10,000 contract last year for another year’s worth of lessons though a spokesman said no charges were ever actually incurred on that second contract.

Still, Caron appeared to enjoy the taxpayer-funded perks of the job.

Caron enjoyed dining, for example, at the swanky Rideau Club in downtown Ottawa, billing taxpayers more than $2,100 for his 31 visits to the members-only club over the last two years. And if he wasn’t eating at the Rideau Club, taxpayers still paid: He expensed more than $8,700 for 35 business lunches elsewhere over the last two years.

Researchers with the opposition NDP calculated that Caron’s total bill to taxpayers for his travel and hospitality was more than $87,000 last year alone, including six trips to Europe so he could meet with international archivists. By comparison, his boss, the heritage minister, spent about only half that – $47,755 – on travel and hospitality.

via Sun News : In hot water for big spending ways, Canada’s top librarian quits.

The opposition NDP is on to this:

Trudeau wins while the Conservatives are sore losers in Labrador

The Conservative Party of Canada has been around in its current form for nearly a decade and, in all that time, its one and only leader, Stephen Harper, has never awoken the morning after a day of elections with fewer seats in the House of Commons than he had the day before. Until today.

On Monday, in the federal riding of Labrador, the Conservative incumbent, Peter Penashue — who had resigned his seat and his position at Harper’s cabinet table in March because of serious allegations of multiple violations of election finance law when he won the seat in 2011 — lost to Liberal Yvonne Jones. Continue reading Trudeau wins while the Conservatives are sore losers in Labrador

Monday could be a day the Liberals haven't seen for a decade

Tomorrow, voters in the riding of Labrador will go the polls. According to three polls of voters there, the Liberal candidate, Yvonne Jones appears to be the prohibitive favourite.

If she wins, it will be the first time the federal Liberal caucus will have grown as the result of an electoral event* in nearly a decade.

Here is the list of electoral events going back to the last electoral event which saw the number of seats held by the Liberals in the House of Commons increase: Continue reading Monday could be a day the Liberals haven't seen for a decade

Politics of History: The Terms of Reference

Railway Committee Room

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage met on May 6 and decided to study Canadian history and how Canadians acquire knowledge of our past.

Here are the terms of reference for this study, as decided on by the committee at that May 6 meeting: Continue reading Politics of History: The Terms of Reference

A review of the polls in BC: Dix leads in all but the gap varies

A running tally of the polls published in the B.C. election campaign (the writ dropped on April 16), arranged here, with the most recent on top. In every poll, Adrian Dix and the NDP lead with Christy Clark and the Liberals in second. The biggest gap of 22 points between the two was found by Justason in a poll published April 29. The smallest gap was 2 points in poll published May 9 by Forum.

Continue reading A review of the polls in BC: Dix leads in all but the gap varies

The report card on Christy Clark's "BC Jobs Plan": A "C-"

Christy Clark announces Jobs Plan
VANCOUVER – BC Premier Christy Clark releases her provincial jobs plan during a Vancouver Board of Trade meeting on Sept. 22, 2011. (CARMINE MARINELLI/QMI AGENCY)

“We have set out these bold goals and we are reaching our targets. I’m going to run in the next election on the strong economy. I’m going to run on (being) number one in job creation.”
– Christy Clark to her party’s convention in Whistley, BC, October, 2012

This morning, Statistics Canada released the final report card before Tuesday’s general election in B.C. on Clark’s 17-months-old Jobs Plan. BC is unequivocally not “number one” in job creation. In fact, it is not number one in any employment measurement used by Statistics Canada.  And yet, it could be a lot worse, I suppose. So I’m giving the BC Jobs Plan a “C-” at this point.  Continue reading The report card on Christy Clark's "BC Jobs Plan": A "C-"