David Akin’s On The Hill

Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz has a good idea: Political reporters should stop letting sources who refuse to go on the record throw mud at political opponents.

Is it really necessary to allow operatives from one campaign to attack another candidate without their names attached? These strategists are paid to slam the other contenders. Why should they be able to hide behind a curtain of anonymity? Do you really want to be aiding and abetting that sort of cheap-shot politics? …

Political reporters, as a rule, are an industrious band of road warriors who work hard to get people to speak on the record. But under deadline pressure, they sometimes succumb to the lure of the juicy quote dished out by operatives trying to damage rival candidates. Perhaps it's time to rethink the practice.

Debate:

Neoconservative foreign policy — which is to say bellicose nationalism crossed with an idealistic faith in America’s capacity to transform the world for the better — is dead. Iraq was its Frankenstein’s monster, and the beast has turned on its creator. Our central task today is to devise a new way of thinking about the post-9/11 world.

[Those are the opening lines, incidentally, in James Traub's review of a new book about Richard Perle]

P.J. O'Rourke reviews a new book about the rise of the coffee chain Starbucks in this week's New York Times Book Review. O'Rourke doesn't much like the book under review but he does provide this great quote from the book:

Howard Schultz, [Starbuck's] chairman, [ says]:

“People weren’t drinking coffee. … So the question is, How could a company create retail stores where coffee was not previously sold, … charge three times more for it than the local doughnut shop, put Italian names on it that no one can pronounce, and then have six million customers a week coming through the stores?”>

Lucienne Robillard, who represents the Quebec riding of Westmount, announced today that she will resign her job late next month. Here’s the statement from her leader, Stephane Dion:

On behalf of the Liberal Party of Canada and our Parliamentary Caucus, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the Honourable Lucienne Robillard, Deputy House Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, who today officially announced her resignation as the Member of Parliament for Westmount-Ville-Marie effective January 25, 2008.

Over the past 12 years, as an MP and as a Cabinet minister, Ms. Robillard has served her constituents with enthusiasm, professionalism and dedication.  Her accomplishments reflect her commitment and devotion to Canada and her home province of Quebec, as well as her impressive expertise, integrity and commitment.

It has been a tremendous privilege for me to serve with Ms. Robillard in the Liberal caucus as well as in the Cabinets of former Liberal Prime Ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. 

First elected in 1995, Ms. Robillard was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006.  During her time in federal politics, Ms. Robillard has held a number of important government portfolios.  She has served as Minister of Labour, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Industry and the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, and Minister of Human Resources and Skills Developments. In February 2006, she was appointed as Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition and in January 2007, Deputy House Leader for the Official Opposition.

Ms. Robillard's accomplishments make her a formidable role model for young women who want to follow in her footsteps by dedicating themselves to public service, and I know she will continue to be an inspiration to future generations.

I wish Ms. Robillard and her family happiness as they pursue their future endeavours.  I am sure that she will continue to serve both Canada and Quebec as enthusiastically in her private life as she has throughout her political career.

The U.S. Congress this week passed a comprehensive energy package. The Washington Post reports that it may get weakened in the Senate and, if it doesn't, President Bush may veto the thing. Here's the highlights, according to the Post:

• Would raise CAFE fuel standards to 35 mpg by 2020
• Required that, by 2015, 15 per cent of power generated by U.S. utilities would have to come from renewable energy sources such wind, thermal, or biomass.
• Provide tax incentives to bring about a sevenfold increase in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel by 2022, two-thirds of which would have to be cellulosic.
• Re-write standards for appliances and light-bulbs which would effectively mean the end of the incandescent bulb by 2015. (Canada has also banned that energy-wasting bulb)
• A rollback of US$13.5-billion in tax breaks for the five largest U.S. oil companies.

The United States Congress passed legislation this week that would force automobile manufacturers to raise fuel efficiency standards. It's the first time in 32 years, U.S. lawmakers have raised the corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) standards. The new rule: By 2020, the combined fuel efficiency of autos churned out by the car companies would have to be 35 miles per gallon.

Canada generally follows the lead of the U.S. government on fuel efficiency standards although some environmental groups have been pressing Ottawa to be more aggressive, perhaps like the State of California, in pushing carmakers to make cars and light trucks that use less fuel and, hence, spew out less of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate. There appears to be support there for the CAFE modifications but Republican senators are threatening to strip out much of the rest of an ambitious energy package and President Bush has threatened to veto the bill.

In the meantime, Transport Canada yesterday released the list of 2008 model year vehicles that qualify for a federal rebate of up to $2,000. This is the second year of this program and, for the first time, Canada's best-selling vehicle, the Honda Civic, is on the list.

There are six new models to the list this year — a car must get 6.5 L / 100 km or better to qualify — including the Nissan Rogue, the Honda Fit, the Mercedes Smart (left), the Mini Cooper Clubman and the Chevrolet HHR, but there are still no models from Kia or Hyundai, both of which had complained, along with Honda, that the arbitrary standard unfairly excluded some of their models which were rated at 6.6 L / 100 km.

The Ottawa Citizen’s top defence reporter David Pugliese crunches the numbers today and finds that ‘pinko’ PM Pierre Trudeau spent relatively more on national defence  than any of his successors including ‘hawks’ like Brian Mulroney or even Stephen Harper.

The Conference of Defence Associations — an advocacy group whose membership, by and large, includes retired military types as well as the country’s military historians — doesn’t disagree with Pugliese’s analysis but notes that Trudeau’s spending ought also to  be compared to his predecessors. On that score, Trudeau spent the least. Here’s the CDA’s comment:

We would like to bring to your attention Canadian average defence spending figures, as percentage of GDP (ref: NATO):

1949-1956 (Louis St-Laurent): 6.5%
1957-1962 (John Diefenbaker): 5.4%
1963-1967 (Lester Pearson): 3.8%
1968-1984 (Pierre Trudeau): 2.1%
1984-1993 (Brian Mulroney): 2.0%
1994-2003 (Jean Chretien): 1.3%
2004 – current (Paul Martin, Stephen Harper): around 1.2%

 

Paul Szabo, the Liberal who chairs the House of Commons committee that has Karl Heinz Schreiber in front of it right now, is in the midst of his opening statement. First, he said the committee was disgusted that the police had failed to protect Schreiber’s “personal dignity” when Schreiber was taken from jail to his Ottawa home to review some documents.

Like all prisoners in jails, Schreiber’s belt had been removed and, as he approached his home in handcuffs, gravity would win out and Schreiber’s pants fell to his knees exposing his undergarments while our camera crews and others filmed the inevitable result.

Szabo took the police to task for allowing this to happen and to “others” — presumably our network and others — for exploiting it.

Then, Szabo launched into Schreiber’s lawyer Ed Greenspan who, after Schreiber’s first appearance, had labelled the event “a political circus.”

“This is not a political circus,” Szabo grandly pronounced.  “This is the Parliament of Canada.”

Schreiber was suitably impressed by all this, for his first words were: “I am deeply impressed and touched by your words.”

And so we’re off ..

You can catch this live on CTV Newsnet, of course, or watch via Parliament’s Web cast.

Environment Minister John Baird just announced a panel of advisors to give him advice as his government begins negotiations this week in Bali, Indonesia for a post-Kyoto climate change treaty.

The panel of advisors is led by former Quebec Premier Pierre-Marc Johnson and also includes Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Ian Morton, and Mary Simon.

Here’s their bios, as supplied by Baird’s office:

• Pierre-Marc Johnson is a lawyer, physician, lecturer, author, former Premier of Québec and former Professor of Law at McGill University. Since 1996 he has been with the prestigious law firm of Heenan Blaikie, where he acts as Lead Counsel in negotiations and mediations involving International Commercial Partnerships, International Trade, and Environment. He has wide experience in international negotiations with the United Nations on environmental and developmental issues and has advised NAFTA's Commission for Environmental Cooperation an international organization created by Canada, Mexico and the United States. He has lectured in North America, Latin America and Europe on the workings and effects of globalization, is the author of a textbook on trade and the environment in North America, has edited a book on international oversight of the implementation of the UN's Convention to Combat Desertification and has published many essays on issues related to the non-commercial side of globalization. He was founding member and Vice-Chairman of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and chaired its Foreign Policy Committee from 1990 to 1997. Dr. Johnson has an honorary doctorate from Claude Bernard University of Lyon, France. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Grand Officier de l'Ordre de la Pléiade.
• Elizabeth Dowdeswell is currently president of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. She has had an extensive career in government, education and international affairs and has been a member of numerous Canadian and international boards, advisory panels and commissions. She has served as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme; Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment Canada's national weather and atmospheric agency (where she played a leading role in global efforts to negotiate the treaty on climate change adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development); Canada's permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organization; principal delegate to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Visiting Professor in Global Health, Genomics and Ethics at the University of Toronto; Commissioner of the Commission on Globalization; and Associate Fellow of the European Centre for Public Affairs. She is the author of numerous publications in both the popular press and professional journals.
• Ian Morton, founder of the Clean Air Foundation and Chief Executive Officer of Summerhill Group, a Toronto agency that creates marketing strategies to help clients move the market toward better choices for consumers and the environment. He is a recognized leader on environment issues, responsible for creating some of the most innovative and effective public engagement programs on air quality, climate change, and healthy housing in Canada. Mr. Morton has won several awards for his work and was recently named by Strategy Magazine as one of seven marketing leaders to watch. He started Summerhill Group in 2001, after 16 years of working for a variety of environmental organizations. He brings an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving, and combines science, business, economics, policy, marketing, and communications in his strategies.
• Mary Simon, O.C., is the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), Canada's national Inuit organization. She is also an international advisor on the environment, human rights, scientific research and development, and peace. Ms. Simon was the first Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs during which she negotiated the establishment of the Arctic Council, which today has representatives from the indigenous peoples of eight countries in the circumpolar region, including Russia. Ms. Simon has served as Chancellor of Trent University, Chair of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of NAFTA's Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Ambassador to Denmark, Councillor for the International Council on Conflict Resolution with the Carter Center, and Special Advisor to the Labrador Inuit Association during the preparation of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement. Ms. Simon has been awarded the Order of Canada, the National Order of Quebec, the Gold Order of Greenland, the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. She is a Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America and of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society.