David Akin’s On The Hill

A couple of headlines:

Williams calls federal ad blitz an 'insult'
Updated Tue. Apr. 3 2007 3:54 PM ET

Premier Danny Williams blasted the prime minister's province-wide ad blitz Tuesday, saying the radio and print spots are an insult to Newfoundland and Labrador.

“I think the running of those ads just insults the intelligence and the integrity of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador,” Williams said at a news conference.

“The quicker this government could be out of office would make me very happy, so if that's the case, this afternoon. I don't like what Mr. Harper represents, I don't like what Conservatives are representing right now in this country,” said Williams, who admitted he hasn't seen the ads.

Williams said he would be happy if the prime minister were voted out of office.

A few minutes ago, this news release crossed the wire:

Minister O'Connor Announces Plans to Construct a New Multi-Purpose Facility in St. John's
NR–07.019 – April 4, 2007

ST. JOHN’S, NL – The Honourable Gordon O’Connor, Minister of National Defence, joined the Honourable Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador at the Canadian Forces Station (CFS) St. John’s to announce that a new multi-purpose facility will be constructed at Pleasantville in St. John’s, replacing the current 16 military facilities located across Pleasantville.

Through a planned federal investment of $101 million, this new multi-purpose facility will replace facilities built 60 years ago which are increasingly costly to maintain.  The facility is intended to be built over the next few years, and will comprise of operational training space, offices and classrooms, special medical and dental facilities, and warehouse space.   …

The first time I met Ron Cannan (left), the rookie MP from Kelowna-Lake Country, he was running as fast as he could at me trying to steal the soccer ball I was trying to advance up the field. Cannan was on the ‘Conservative’ team and I was on the Press Gallery team in a match the PMO organized last June on the front lawn of Parliament Hill.

We’ve since met often under slightly less arduous circumstances.

And while there are a few in his caucus who try to avoid the media, I don’t get the sense that Cannan is one of those for the simple reason he goes out of his way to say hi when you pass him in a hallway and, when you ask him a question, he does his best to provide an honest and forthright answer. I e-mailed him the other day about the “Scott Ross” video taken at an open house his electoral district association (EDA) organized back in Kelowna. Cannan, who looks and runs too young to be a new grandfather (his first grandson is just six weeks old), sent along this reply:

My Riding Association held an Open House for my constituents on Saturday, March 31 from 1-4 pm.  I spoke with several constituents for about an hour about all kinds of budget and political issues.

I gave a brief address to the group, thanked the volunteers for organizing the open house and indicated I looked forward to continue meeting with the people that had come out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon to ask questions.

Shortly after I finished speaking one individual stood and demanded to make a political statement to the participants, he was reminded that it was an Open House. 

Another individual, Mr. Scott Ross, brought a camcorder to the meeting.  The footage was posted on YouTube. 

I am always available to my constituents to discuss any matter they wish and have made myself available to Mr. Ross.

Also, I look forward to the opportunity for political debate in a forum designed for that purpose.

A few constituents made appointments so we can discuss their specific cases further. 

I want to thank my EDA for hosting the function and for those who came to meet and speak with me.  

 

A little off the topic of federal politics here but, in a comment to an earlier post here, the question was asked why didn’t the Germans of the Second World War destroy the monument Canada unveiled at Vimy in 1936. CTV PoliticsBlog reader Ray writes in with the following:

 “…Adolf Hitler was a decorated veteran of the Great War and winner of the Iron Cross (if I'm not mistaken). There is a somewhat famous photo of Hitler posing in front of the Vimy monument in c.1940 (left). He seemed to appreciate great works of architecture, which may explain why he ordered that Paris remain intact during its capture. As well, Hitler would not authorize the use of gas by his troops against enemy combatants during the second world war, as he was injured by a gas attack during WWI, & felt that in combat, gas was too 'cruel and inhuman'. Obviously, this courtesy was not extended to everyone, but he did seem to posses a very real respect for  combat soldiers German, Canadian, American, British, or otherwise, past and present.
Perhaps even a butcher like Hitler realized the enormous cost in lives, on both sides, and opted to leave these monuments and cemeteries remain intact to honor those lost..”

Now, as it turns out, in preparation for a story on tonight’s newscast dealing with Vimy, I was over at the Canadian War Museum and talked to Tim Cook, who is the museum’s expert on all things World War I. He confirmed that Hitler had, indeed, visited the memorial and that Ray’s account is, by and large, correct.

Interestingly, though, during the Second World War, the rumour got around to Canadian troops serving in Europe that Hitler had destroyed the Vimy memorial. Needless to say, it helped whip the troops up against the Germans. And, even though Canadian pilots would have flown over it countless times during the war and would have been able to see it standing perfectly intact, the myth persisted.

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Who says the mainstream media have a monopology on great video? Ron Cannan, the rookie Conservative MP from Kelowna-Lake Country held what looks to be an “Open House” in his riding. But when some disgruntled constituents showed up with a video camera to ask him why his government lied about taxing income trusts, the rules changed mighty quickly. Apparently it was an “open house” only for members of the federal Conservative party . ..

UPDATE: Stephen Taylor, founder (I think) of The Blogging Tories has some interesting thoughts on this.

This time next week, I expect to be standing somewhere on Hill 145, Vimy Ridge, France — the site of the Canadian Vimy Memorial (right) — as Prime Minister Harper and tens of thousands of other Canadians mark the 90th anniversary of what is, for many Canadian historians, the battle that forged the nation of Canada. I will be attending this ceremony in my professional capacity, as a journalist travelling with Harper reporting on his activities and the ceremony for CTV National News. (Here in Ottawa, incidentally, the Ottawa Citizen has been running an excellent series in the leadup to this event about Vimy and its significance for 21st century Canadians.)

The reporters at CTV’s Parliamentary bureau take turns accompanying the Prime Minister abroad and I am extra-fortunate that my number has come up for this trip for I was with the PM and his wife last year when they travelled to Europe for the G8 summit. That trip included a visit to the Vimy Memorial and to a small cemetery a few kilometres from Vimy where Mrs. Harper’s great-uncle is buried.

On our visit last year, the giant Vimy Memorial was still undergoing significant renovations. On this visit, of course, the Memorial, now rebuilt, will be “re-dedicated”.

The travel notice from the Prime Minister’s Office arrived this weekend. We depart from Ottawa on Saturday April 7 at 9 am on the Canadian Forces Polaris.  (That’s me, left, about to board the Polaris for the first time back in 2005 when I accompanied Prime Minister Martin to a NATO meeting Brussels). It’s not clear in the PMO advisory where we will be landing but when we visited last year, we landed in Lille, in the northwest corner of France near the Belgium border. Wherever it is we land, the PMO says we will be staying in Arras, a city to the west of Vimy. (What Canadians call the Battle of Vimy Ridge was actually one action in what the histories of other countries call the Battle of Arras.)

The main ceremony occurs on Sunday, April 8. The Prime Minister participates in an additional ceremony on Monday April 9 and then we all get back on his plane and return to Ottawa late Monday night.

The long-range weather forecast for Lille, France, sadly, is much warmer than it was 90 years ago — Low of 7C, high of 15 C, compared to temperatures around freezing on the same weekend in 1917 — but it appears to be about as grey: showers and rain are in the forecast.

I’ve just finished reading Pierre Berton’s Vimy, in preparation for this trip, and am making way through Ted Barris’ Victory at Vimy. I studied history at university and, in doing so, have read a great deal about life on the home front during the First World War; the great diplomatic struggles of the era that Canada was involved in; and the domestic political dramas that played out at the time. But both these books are excellent popular histories that focus almost entirely on the experience of about 100,000 Canadians at Vimy during and in the weeks prior to Easter weekend, 1917.

 

 

Some surprising news late this afternoon — the United States has formally complained to Canada about softwood lumber — accusing Canada and the provinces of paying illegal subsidies. You may have thought softwood lumber disputes were supposed to be a thing of the past but critics of the deal signed in late 2006 will be saying this is just what they predicted would happen.

The U.S., late this afternoon, alleged that $2-billion worth of aid that Canada and the provinces are providing to the softwood industry in Ontario and Quebec is illegal. So, the U.S. is seeking either more restrictions on the amount of Canadian lumber that can be exported to the Canadian market or they want more export taxes slapped on the wood. In any event, it's a sharp negative for the industry which thought it had won some lumber peace with the U.S. when it and Canada agreed to the controversial deal.

What may be even more frustrating is that Canadian industry gave up certain rights in the softwood lumber agreement that might help it win the current dispute. For example, the years leading up to the softwood lumber deal, Canada and Canadian firms won one victory after another in a variety of American and international courts. But Canada agreed to throw all those judgements out as part of the softwood lumber deal so if any Canadian company wants to use the courts to challenge the American view, they will not be able to use those earlier judgements to buttress the case.

Expect some political fallout on this news. Prime Minister Harper made a great show of proclaiming peace with the Americans on this issue and clearly there is none. His political opponsents on this issue will say his attempts to forge a relationship with Washington that was different from the Liberals seems to have been for naught. Harper’s first trip as Prime Minister, of course, was down to Washington to get U.S. President George Bush to personally put his weight behind the negotiations.

International Trade Minister David Emerson's reaction tonight — and I should say this was in a press release issued at 7:10 pm (Ottawa time) a Friday night — a time when organizations will often announce bad news that they hope gets ignored — Emerson's reaction is that this is an administrative issue and, as he said in a statement, “We expected that such administrative issues would arise.” But some say that’s like saying, “Pk, tomorrow I'm going to punch you in the face” and then tomorrow, after you get slugged, you you shrug it off by saying, “well, ok, that was to be expected.”

This news is really not going to go over well in the communities where there where layoffs and mill shutdowns before and after the deal. Those communities were mostly in Ontario and Quebec where Harper and the Conservatives are hopeful of building support that will take them to a majority. It may even be the sort of issue that re-energize the Bloc Quebecois.

Liberal MP Mark Holland (left) is an avid fan of Facebook. He believes it is a great tool to help him make connections with voters and potential supporters. With Facebook, though, you can only see what Holland — and other Facebook afficionados, including me — are doing if you sign up for a Facebook account and then become Holland’s Facebook “friend”. So, for the benefit of those who are not a Facebook Friend of Holland, here’s what he posted there this afternoon as Parliament breaks for a two-week Easter recess (I’ve provided the hyperlinks):

As we break, the environment on the Hill is not a positive one. The constant threat of election has heated up the partisanship and dragged almost to a stop productive work. We have to find some kind of stability. If not now – then right after an election. Constantly having bills die on the order paper, spending hundreds of millions on elections, loosing month and month of productive legislative sessions – it's crazy. I didn't run as an M.P. to be a perpetual candidate and I am certain that’s not what the people who elected me were hoping.

As a couple of examples, as Natural Resources Critic, I moved that our committee begin work on a strategy to ‘green’ our national energy supply. I think this could be critically important work – especially with electrical producers looking for direction as their aging plants will soon be up for refurbishment or replacement.

My bill, C-373, to modernize our animal cruelty laws is badly needed and many years over due. It represents countless hours of work by myself and many others. To loose (sic) it again – to have to restart again is madness.

All the work we put into C-30  (The Clean Air and Climate Change Act) that needs to be implemented, particularly in the face of such pressing need for action. And so on and so on. To be so involved in these issues and know that they may all soon die and that we would have to start over again in a new session…how much sense does this make?

It has to be my greatest frustration since becoming an M.P. Since our process necessitates that all bills must start over again once a parliament dies, so much good work gets lost. It is also impossibly difficult to plan out your action plan when you don’t know if you have two weeks left or another year.

Regardless of our political stripe – we owe it to the electorate and ourselves to stop this constant game of chicken and to focus on getting work done. To focus on making the country, our communities and the world a better place.

On another note – more attack ads are on the way over the Easter break. How festive. It is incredible how nasty and mean spirited the Prime Minister and his clan are. With the never ending barrage of personal attacks and smears, the Press Gallery constantly comment that they have never seen anything like it.

This is not what Canadians expect from political discourse. My projection is that these new rounds of ads will be soon seen as a serious error in judgement. The first massive run might be forgiven but to go again – to spend so much again and be so negative. This isn’t Texas Steve…  Expect new lows in the days ahead and let it motivate all of us to get rid of this group and elect a leader of optimism and conviction.

Now playing: McCoy Tyner Trio Feat. Micheal Brecker – I Mean You

Members of Parliament finished up their work this afternoon and are now out of Ottawa and back in their ridings for the next two weeks. Well, not all of them will be back in their riding:

Ottawa – March 30,2007 – The Speaker of the House of Commons, the Honourable Peter Milliken M.P., will be leading a parliamentary delegation on a visit to Trinidad and Tobago, April 2-6,2007.
The delegation will be meeting with their counterparts in Port of Spain and Scarborough.
This visit is an opportunity for Members to exchange information and express views on matters of common concern, as well as promote knowledge and understanding of parliamentary democracy and the development of parliamentary institutions.

The members of the delegation are:
The Honourable Peter Milliken, M.P. (Liberal)
Mr. Barry Devolin, M.P. (Conservative)
Mr. Michel Guimond, M.P. (Bloc Quebecois)
Mr. Paul Szabo, M.P. (Liberal)