NYT reports: U.S. Tracked Foreigners Leaving for Canada

Interesting …

The pilot project with Canada, conducted from September to January, involved about a third of the traffic across the northern American border, tracking the departure of 413,222 foreigners from the United States. Starting this year, according to Congressional officials who have been briefed on the plan, the information collected at the Canadian border will be used to prevent certain foreigners who have stayed too long in the United States from returning again by revoking tourist visas or taking other steps.The effort relies on an ingenious solution: as foreigners leave the United States to enter Canada — and their passports are checked by the border authorities there — the information is sent back to the United States and recorded as the official “exit” record. By the end of next month, the project is scheduled to be expanded to almost all land border traffic between Canada and the United States.

via U.S. Tracked Foreigners Leaving for Canada – NYTimes.com.

After Harper's speech this morning, we still have questions

I’m not normally a fan of going about my Parliamentary news gathering in this fashion but there are some days when there doesn’t seem to be much choice… (see the raw video posted by CBC News above)

Meanwhile, here is the text of what Prime Minister Stephen Harper had to say to his caucus this morning: Continue reading After Harper's speech this morning, we still have questions

NDP MP Brian Masse makes the New York Times

Ian Austen, who reports for the New York Times about Canada,  only quotes opposition MP, New Democrat Brian Masse, in a piece that takes a look at one of the side effects of Alberta oil.

“Here’s a little bit of Alberta,” said Brian Masse, one of Windsor’s Parliament members. “For those that thought they were immune from the oil sands and the consequences of them, we’re now seeing up front and center that we’re not.”

Mr. Masse wants the International Joint Commission, the bilateral agency that governs the Great Lakes, to investigate the pile. Michigan’s state environmental regulatory agency has submitted a formal request to Detroit Bulk Storage, the company holding the material for Koch Carbon, to change its storage methods. Michigan politicians and environmental groups have also joined cause with Windsor residents. Paul Baltzer, a spokesman for Koch’s parent company, Koch Companies Public Sector, did not respond to questions about its storage or the ultimate destination of the petroleum coke.

Coke, which is mainly carbon, is an essential ingredient in steelmaking as well as producing the electrical anodes used to make aluminum.

via Mountain of Petroleum Coke From Oil Sands Rises in Detroit – NYTimes.com.

Front page faceoff: Rob Ford vs The Senate

Toronto Sun Front Page - Rob Ford

It is rare, believe it or not, for news about federal politics to make the front pages of the country’s newspapers. It is also rare for newspaper editors to give prominent front-page play to stories about another city’s mayor. Not today. The Senate Scandals and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford can be found on front pages all across the country  — but not necessarily coast-to-coast . Continue reading Front page faceoff: Rob Ford vs The Senate

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