Following Bob Rae’s dramatic announcement this morning that he will not seek the permanent leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, the party’s national board met by teleconference this evening. The big news? Leadership race vote will sometime in April 2013. Also notable tonight: Not a peep in terms of a news release, etc. about Rae’s decision although Liberal Party prez Mike Crawley did put this on Twitter to his 2,493 followers: Continue reading Liberal leadership race: Some details on the rules, please?
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I ask Bob Rae: If the Liberal Party didn't exist, would we invent it?
Just before the all-night voting session in the House of Commons got underway Wednesday night, I asked interim Liberal leader Bob Rae about his decision not to run for the permanent job:
Message to journos from Minister Kenney: Call us before writing sob stories from refugees facing removal
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney this evening released what is to me, at least, a remarkable statement that takes direct issue with some reporting in La Presse and also takes on the claims of a refugee — Kenney’s office calls her a fugitive — facing deportation.
Here’s the release in full (the hyperlinks, with more background, are provided by me): Continue reading Message to journos from Minister Kenney: Call us before writing sob stories from refugees facing removal
A separatist fantasy: The death of Charest?
Colleague Daniel Renaud reports on this odd image, reproduced on the front page of Le Journal de Montréal (below) this morning: Charest Mort au pied du Khadir. It is a poster, found but not seized, apparently, by police investigators in the house of Amir Khadir, the separatist Québec Solidaire MLA. Police were at his house after the arrest of his daughter Yalda during the student protests. Continue reading A separatist fantasy: The death of Charest?
Getting oil from Kitimat to the open ocean: Can we do that?
I’m looking to tap the brainpower of the blogosphere for a very specific question:
Can we safely move oil from Kitimat, B.C., down the Douglas Channel, and into the open Pacific Ocean?
Continue reading Getting oil from Kitimat to the open ocean: Can we do that?
Lousy poll numbers prompts B.C. Premier to slag pollster
Premiers Brad Wall and Alison Redford, of Saskatchewan and Alberta respectively, are the country’s most popular premiers, pollster Angus Reid says in a new survey.
At the other end of the scale are Nova Scotia’s Darrel Dexter — just 27 per cent approve of the way he’s doing his job — and B.C.’s Christy Clark – second lowest at 30%.
Continue reading Lousy poll numbers prompts B.C. Premier to slag pollster
In London UK: Where the press is going gaga for Queen's floating pageant
I’m in London, England right now, covering the visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his wife Laureen, and their children Ben and Rachel as they represent Canada at Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. The big event Sunday – in driving rain and chilly temperatures (10 C) — was the Thames Pageant. The Queen, in her royal barge, the Spirit of Chartwell, led a flotilla of 1,000 boats of all kinds down a seven-mile stretch of the Thames. Some of my favourite paragraphs from the wall-to-wall-to-wall coverage in the papers here:
Continue reading In London UK: Where the press is going gaga for Queen's floating pageant
Media Ownership and Convergence in Canada: Alternate Take
Recently, the Library of Parliament published a paper titled “Media Ownership and Convergence in Canada”. It is, as I said on Twitter when I first read it, a shabby piece of scholarship that the Library ought to withdraw or revise.
Why? It is an inaccurate and wholly incomplete picture of media ownership and convergence in Canada. Policy makers, Members of Parliament, and every day Canadians who might rely on this paper to advocate for the change of any laws or regulations (or to decline to change any laws and regulations) could very likely make some bad decisions. Continue reading Media Ownership and Convergence in Canada: Alternate Take
The week in Canadian journalism: It was a strange one
It’s been a slightly crazy week if you’re a Canadian in the news business. We start with a friend in Montreal, a top editor at a national wire service, who summed up the feeling in newsrooms across the country quite nicely with these 140 characters:
Continue reading The week in Canadian journalism: It was a strange one
Newfoundland first to re-draw its electoral map
All across the country, panels of eminent persons are looking at ways to re-draw the electoral map to take into account our growing population.
The group in Newfoundland and Labrador are the first to publish proposed new boundaries. At least three ridings look to get what seems to me a radical makeover.
Continue reading Newfoundland first to re-draw its electoral map