Today is Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 55th birthday. It is also is his 3,005th day in office. (The Library of Parliament counts his first day as Feb. 6, 2006, the day he and his first cabinet were sworn in.)
At 3,005 days in office, the country’s 22nd prime minister is its 9th longest-serving prime minister.
Here’s the top 15 as of today: Continue reading On Harper's 55th birthday, crunching some numbers for the 9th longest-serving PM
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec’s le premier ministre Philippe Couillard met for the first time today in Quebec City. It was a cordial meeting, a Harper aide said, though, so far as I know the meeting was not on any official itinerary distributed ahead of time to the Parliamentary Press Gallery. (His attendance at the Gala Triomphe was on his public itinerar) The meeting wasn’t necessarily a secret but neither the PMO nor the premier’s office seemed to be making a big deal of it.
Photo journalists were not invited in to take a picture of the two men meeting (though I note, the first Alison Redford and Stephen Harper as Premier of Alberta and Prime Minister, there were photos.) though I fully expect that new racy newsmagazine 24/7 to have the “exclusive” pix any day now. My Sun Media colleagues in Quebec, though, snapped the two men together at an event honoring athletes. (Above)
In the meantime, Harper’s office has helpfully distributed this “read-out” of the meeting between the two men:
“Prime Minister Harper indicated that the federal government intends to work closely with the government of Quebec to advance common priorities related to the economy and job creation. They discussed a series of issues, including infrastructure and energy development, and also identified avenues for collaboration in other priority sectors, namely Premier Couillard’s “maritime strategy”.
The two leaders highlighted the importance of Quebec playing a leadership role within the federation.”
Colleague Charles LeCavalier has the write-up on the meeting for our French language papers.
I say: Good luck, Premier, and good luck, prime minister, as you both work to make a more prosperous Québec “nation within a united Canada.”
Statement from the Liberal Party of Canada:
Statement on the death of the Right Honourable Herb Gray Continue reading Herb Gray. 1931-2014
Last week, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. Here’s The Sydney Morning Herald‘s Philip Coorey reporting on Abbott’s visit: Continue reading North Korea stares at Abbott and Harper (and me)
So here’s the conspiracy theory.
Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand surely knows that the Harper government — and its majority in the House of Commons — has a dim view of his impartiality. Whether that view is deserved or not is not the issue: The fact is Conservatives believe Mayrand has improperly interpreted and unfairly applied Canada’s election laws. And Mayrand or anyone at Elections Canada would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to know this.
And now, here comes that same government with a request last fall for his suggestions on how elections law ought to be changed.
Mayrand certainly knows that there would be a good chance that this government will not heed his recommendations and, in fact, may even try to diminish the power of his office. If that happens, his only recourse will be the court of public opinion. Continue reading The smartest money Marc Mayrand ever spent
Ajax, Ont.,
Reporter (Marissa Semkiw): “What income range for individuals and households constitutes middle class?”
Trudeau: “You’d like a number?” Continue reading Are you in Justin Trudeau's middle class?
Budget Rollout Calendar 2014-04-01
The document above, obtained by the Ontario Progressive Conservatives and provided to the media on April 1, 2014, is an alleged Ontario Ministry of Finance document.
The PCs claim:
“The Budget Leaking Team’s “Pre-Doc Communications Rollout” plan is 11-pages long covering 39 announcements over 27 days leading up to the Thursday, May 1, 2014 budget date.
•There is $5.7 billion in explicit new spending. This will widen the hole that already exists in the Liberals’ deficit projections.”
State Senator Dale Schultz was a rare Republican who voted against the bill, saying the party was “fiddling with mechanics rather than ideas.”
“Making it more difficult for people to vote is not a good sign for a party that wants to attract more people,” he said.
The New York Times today has a long read about how U.S. conservatives– the Republican Party — is changing election laws in several states.
Read it here: New G.O.P. Bid to Limit Voting in Swing States – NYTimes.com.
Democrats argue the whole point of the changes is to make it more difficult for the type of people who tend to voter Democrat — lower-income Americans and Black Americans — to actually vote. Continue reading In the U.S., conservatives tighten election laws — in the name of efficiency
Earlier today, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard spoke to the first-ever Progress Summit put on by the Broadbent Summit. Gillard led a left-leaning goverment and the Broadbent Summit is named after Ed Broadbent. (I surely don’t need to tell you who he is.).
Here is the text of the remarks Gillard was to give, provided by the event organizers:
In my home town in Australia, Adelaide, it is going to be 32 degrees today but the warmth of the welcome I have received has compensated for the difference between that and the freezing Ottawa air. So I am simply delighted to be here to join you for this important event.
While the weather is so starkly different, Australia and Canada share so much in common.
We are both vibrant liberal democracies in the Westminster tradition, with national and provincial level governments and we share our head of state, Queen Elizabeth II.
Our nations are rich in the resources the world needs and have large scale, efficient agriculture. Our economies are sophisticated and increasingly reliant on knowledge and service industries. We came out of the Global Financial Crisis, less damaged than many other nations in the world, in part because of the superior regulation of our banking and financial sectors.
The life expectancy of our people is more than 80 years, our GDP per capita is over $40,000 dollars and the World Bank puts us both in the top three best places to start a business. As a patriotic Australian please forgive me for pointing out we slightly beat you in each of these measures. All these indices are telling us that Canadians and Australians share the good fortune of living in two of the most prosperous places on the planet. We have the joy that comes with living not only in wealthy nations, but in peace and freedom. Continue reading Former AUS PM Gillard rallies the left in Ottawa speech