The B.C. NDP have responded (above) to some negative ads put up by a right-leaning group known as the Concerned Citizens for B.C. as well as other ads put out in the last week by the B.C. Liberals. From the B.C. NDP press release: Continue reading Hi, I'm Adrian Dix and I'm not the scary guy my opponents would have you believe
By the numbers: The Harper Conservative majority in the senate
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today appointed five new senators including Doug Black (above in an interview with me from March,2012) who got the most votes among all candidates to be a senator-in-waiting in Alberta’s provincial election last year. With these new appointments, the 105-seat Senate is now filled with 53 Harper appointees. So it’s not only a Conservative majority in the Senate, it’s a Harper Conservative majority.
Since taking office, Harper has now made 58 appointments — some had already resigned, one died in office, and one (Fabian Manning) quit and then got reappointed. That means, with 58 appointments to the Senate, Harper has passed Brian Mulroney in terms of senate appointments.
That’s a bit of an awkward accomplishment for Harper who, in March,2004, said, “I will not name appointed people to the Senate.” Continue reading By the numbers: The Harper Conservative majority in the senate
Tax breaks to save heritage assets? What about our national parks?
MPs have and will continue to criss-cross the country soliciting ideas that might make it into Jim Flaherty’s 2013 budget. (If you’re in St. John’s, NL Friday morning, you can bend the ear of the junior minister of finance, Ted Menzies at one of these consultations) One thing we know for sure about Flaherty’s budget: There ain’t a lot money that can be spent on new programs. But what about tax breaks that would spur spending on public assets, assets the government would normally assume financial responsibility but for which, in a time of austerity, it doesn’t necessarily have the ability to do so? Continue reading Tax breaks to save heritage assets? What about our national parks?
Here we go: BC Liberals air first political ad ahead of spring election
Earlier this week, a group calling itself the Concerned Citizens for BC launched attack ads aimed at Adrian Dix and the BC NDP. Dix’ NDP has a 15 point lead on incumbent B.C. Liberal Premier Christy Clark with less than 16 weeks until e-day. Today, at separate press conferences, both Dix and Clark said they’d avoid negative ads.
Well, so far, Clark, at least, is true to her word and her party is first out of the gate with a political ad, i.e. paid for by the party. (You may have heard some controversy about the $15 million in taxpayer funds being spent on ad campaign that New Democrats say is a thinly-disgused pro-Clark campaign). Here’s the Premier:
McGill University seeks to ban its own student journos from filing ATI requests on it
A disturbing piece in the McGill Daily …
In December, McGill filed a motion with the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec against 14 McGill students, seeking to disregard several Access to Information (ATI) requests.
In the conclusion of the motion, McGill demands the authority to “disregard future requests […] submitted by the respondents or students of McGill or student journalists of The McGill Daily and the Link (Concordia University) or by persons associated to McGilliLeaked or by persons that could reasonably be linked to such requestors,” if those requests meet one of five vague characteristics.
One of those characteristics includes being “overly broad.” Another is if the request “is associated to one or more categories of documents and information published on McGilliLeaked, a website that compiles the results of ATI requests.
Some of the categories on McGilliLeaked include “administrative,” “contracts,” “construction,” “legal,” “expenses,” and years, such as “2010,” and “2011.”
The McGill University media relations office, having seen this article, provided me this morning with the 20-page motion it has filed in support of is request to disregard these and future ATI requests.:
McGill motion to block student journos from making ATI request by David Akin
In Conservative Kamloops, 600 show up for the next leader of Parliament's third party
Hate to steal again from the Instagram feed of Gerry Butts, an advisor to the Justin Trudeau for Leader campaign, but he gives us this picture tonight from Kelowna where, shortly after it was taken, his candidate spoke to the crowd. Butts, on Twitter reported:
600 people to see justintrudeau in #Kamloops, BC. Six. Hundred. People. For a #Liberal. #lpcldr instagr.am/p/UxKx8KJNpu/
— Gerald Butts (@gmbutts) January 22, 2013
Now, Butts is certainly not a disinterested party here, of course, [UPDATE: The Kamloops Daily News goes with 600 as well in “Trudeau wows Grand Hall Crowd“] but that certainly looks a rather full house to me and it’s worth pointing out the following: Continue reading In Conservative Kamloops, 600 show up for the next leader of Parliament's third party
Welcome to Twitter, Mrs. Harper
Many in the Parliamentary Press Gallery have long known that Laureen Harper, the wife of the prime minister, is much more “plugged-in” than her husband. That’s partly because of his position (PMs generally don’t use BlackBerrys) but also because she is more digitally inclined, if you will. I have it on good authority that she’s long been monitoring various blogs and I’m certain she’s long kept an eye on certain Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks, soemtimes for her own interests or the interests of her teenaged children and sometimes for her husband’s political interests. Continue reading Welcome to Twitter, Mrs. Harper
Liberal Leadership Debate in Vancouver
BC Liberals continue to push around local riding associations
Every party now and again feels the need to trump the wishes of their local riding association and appoint a candidate to run in a general election. But, with the British Columbia general election just a few months away, the Liberal Party of British Columbia (which should definitely not be confused with the Liberal Party of Canada) seems to be making it more of a normal practice of trumping its local riding association. Continue reading BC Liberals continue to push around local riding associations
Wall to Obama: Approve that pipeline, Mr. President
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall sends a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama encouraging Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. The letter, below, is signed by 10 U.S. governors but not, notably, by Alberta Premier Alison Redford.
Continue reading Wall to Obama: Approve that pipeline, Mr. President