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Federal Politics
March 13, 2010
TORONTO - The Conservative government gave a former Supreme Court justice guidelines Saturday for a review of whether MPs can see uncensored Afghan detainee documents, but critics were quick to call the decision a "stalling exercise" that wastes time and money.
Growing immigrant population means cross-the-board political scrap for votes
March 14, 2010
OTTAWA - Projections that visible minorities will soon dominate Canada's cities are no surprise to political operators in Ottawa.
Cash shortage for moms in Canada as Tories promise global aid
March 14, 2010
OTTAWA - Federal cash for troubled pregnancies and newborns in Canada remains in short supply even as the Conservative government leads a global campaign to improve the health of mothers and children overseas.
Demise of Canadian climate research would impact global initiatives: scientists
March 14, 2010
MONTREAL - When government funding for a foundation dedicated to climate research dries up at the end of the year, scientists say the aftershocks of its departure will be felt not only in Canada but by researchers around the globe.
No sympathy for Guergis 'hissy fits': Tory matriarch Deborah Grey
March 12, 2010
OTTAWA - If beleaguered Conservative minister Helena Guergis was hoping for sympathy from her political sisters, former party matriarch Deborah Grey was fresh out.
Federal government asking for public input on random breathalyzer tests
March 11, 2010
OTTAWA - The federal government is mulling over the idea of allowing random breathalyzer tests.
Harper government voices rare criticism of Israel over settlement expansion
March 11, 2010
OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has lightly rebuked Israel's decision to expand settlements in disputed territory, a rare criticism of the Jewish state by the Conservative government.
Police defend their investigation in Rahim Jaffer case
March 10, 2010
TORONTO - Police defended their investigation that led to drug and drunk driving charges against former Conservative politician Rahim Jaffer while legal experts said Wednesday the Crown had no choice but to withdraw those charges.
Let them eat seal: Parliament puts seal meat on the menu
March 10, 2010
OTTAWA - Forget the Winter Olympics, nothing unites Canada's parliamentarians like some bacon-wrapped seal loin.
Labour minister tweets away the time in House of Commons
March 10, 2010
OTTAWA - Lisa Raitt seems to have found a cure for ministerial boredom in the House of Commons.
High-on-the-hog MP pensions, mailouts spoofed by tax watchdogs
March 10, 2010
OTTAWA - The high-on-the-hog pensions enjoyed by MPs and their $10 million in household mailouts have been singled out for spoof awards from a taxpayers group.
Glowing hearts rise in Quebec
March 10, 2010
One of the most underreported stories coming out of the Olympics is, to my mind, one of the most important.
Tories should take Jaffer lesson to heart, dump minimum sentences: experts
March 09, 2010
OTTAWA - Justice Minister Rob Nicholson should take a long, honest look at the Rahim Jaffer case and apply its lessons to the Conservative criminal justice agenda, the head of the John Howard Society said Tuesday.
Coke charge dropped as ex-Tory MP Jaffer pleads guilty to careless driving
March 09, 2010
ORANGEVILLE, Ont. - Cocaine possession and drunk driving charges against former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer were withdrawn Tuesday after the one-time anti-drug activist pleaded guilty to careless driving.
Jean's Haitian homecoming: Canada's GG returns to ancestral home of Jacmel
March 09, 2010
JACMEL, Haiti - The bustling streets of a colourful Haitian coastal city ground to a standstill Tuesday as native daughter Michaelle Jean returned for a visit to her ancestral hometown.
Ex-Alberta MP Jaffer pleads guilty to careless driving, drug charge dropped
March 09, 2010
ORANGEVILLE, Ont. - Charges of cocaine possession and drunk driving against former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer were withdrawn Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to careless driving.
Finally, the Conservative vision is clear
March 09, 2010
We always used to knock Stephen Harper’s Conservatives for having no vision. The prime minister wasn’t one for big words and fancy phrases.
Rewording O Canada a massive bust but throne speech otherwise welcome: CP poll
March 08, 2010
OTTAWA - A new poll provides insight into why the Harper government popped its own O Canada trial balloon so quickly last week: massive and immediate public opposition.
Nunavut to balance budget, but fears future federal funding cuts
March 08, 2010
IQALUIT, Nunavut - Nunavut has tabled a balanced budget for this year, but the territorial finance minister is concerned about deficits elsewhere.
Feds will eliminate 245 patronage positions: Day
March 08, 2010
OTTAWA - The federal government has taken what is expected to be the first step in its efforts to rein in the civil service, trimming 245 patronage jobs on boards, agencies and tribunals.
Kim Campbell's journey to the top
March 08, 2010
Kim Campbell made history as the first female prime minister in the history of Canada. Here’s what she says about what she says about being powerful and being a woman in today’s world.
CSIS played critical role in Afghan prisoner interrogations: documents, sources
March 08, 2010
OTTAWA - Officers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service have played a crucial and long-standing role as interrogators of a vast swath of captured Taliban fighters, The Canadian Press has learned.
Ex-PQ minister slams proposed changes to political party financing rules
March 07, 2010
MONTREAL - A former Parti Quebecois minister who helped author the province's political party financing rules is lashing out at proposed changes to those very laws.
Privacy commissioner questions security of health records after doctors die
March 07, 2010
REGINA - Gary Dickson has seen abandoned medical records turn up in some pretty bizarre places in his time as Saskatchewan's privacy commissioner - mouldy basements, drafty Quonset huts, vacant buildings.
U.S. tops up Canadian stimulus fund to make embassy barricades less ugly
March 06, 2010
OTTAWA - The United States is kicking in half a million dollars towards beautifying the ugly concrete barricades around its embassy in Ottawa.
Military escapes federal budget axe for now, but cuts loom in 2012-13
March 05, 2010
OTTAWA - The Canadian military dodged a bullet in Thursday's federal budget, but will still see a total of $2.5 billion carved out of future defence spending after troops withdraw from Afghanistan next year.
Federal budget vows to slash deficit, few details on where axe will fall
March 05, 2010
OTTAWA - Hard decisions on wrestling a monstrous deficit have been punted one year down the road by a Conservative budget that promises dramatic future cuts but leaves the punishing ground game for later.
Tory deficit-slashing plan needs some luck to meet targets
March 05, 2010
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's plan to largely get rid of the deficit in five years depends on a trifecta of happy news - uninterrupted economic growth, historically low interest rates and uncharacteristic spending restraint.
Opposition hammers 'tyrannical' Tories, but won't force election
March 04, 2010
OTTAWA - Opposition parties are full of sound and fury about what they say is Prime Minister Stephen Harper's tyrannical tendencies, his alleged cover-up of the Afghan detainee torture scandal, and Thursday's "do-nothing" budget.
In low-key response to budget, Quebec expresses concern on tax harmonization
March 04, 2010
QUEBEC - The Quebec government offered a low-key response to the federal budget Thursday but cited the absence of a tax-harmonization deal with Ottawa as an outstanding irritant.
Stimulus funds went unspent during height of recession, Liberals charge
March 04, 2010
OTTAWA - Liberals say the Harper government did not spend more than $1 billion of the money allotted for infrastructure projects last year, missing its best opportunity to create jobs when they were needed most.
New funding for auto industry unlikely in Thursday's budget: industry players
March 04, 2010
TORONTO - The federal government spent billions of dollars to assist the struggling auto industry in 2009, so it's very unlikely there will be any new money for the sector in Thursday's budget, industry players say.
No major spending, cuts in federal throne speech
March 04, 2010
After a controversial two-month parliamentary shutdown to “recalibrate” its agenda, the Conservative government laid out an austerity plan for the country in yesterday’s throne speech in a bid to chop the record $56-billion deficit.
MPs salary freeze largely symbolic, savings small
March 03, 2010
OTTAWA - The Harper government is getting some praise for its proposal to freeze the salaries of federal politicians - even though the move won't make a discernable dent in the $56-billion deficit.
Hold on son, Tories command re-examination of O Canada lyrics
March 03, 2010
OTTAWA - All those renditions of O Canada during the Vancouver Olympics seem to have the Prime Minister's Office singing a new tune.
Kenney appears to deny any role in removing gay rights from study guide
March 03, 2010
OTTAWA - Canada's immigration minister is apparently denying any role in the removal of references to gay rights from a citizenship study guide released last fall.
Title of Tory throne speech mirrors 2004 Australian campaign platform, Liberals say
March 03, 2010
OTTAWA - G'day. The Liberal pollys have gone all wobbly and are rubbishing the Tories for nicking a bonzer line from Oz for their latest throne speech.
Latulippe appointed head of Rights and Democracy on eve of throne speech
March 03, 2010
OTTAWA - A former politician with strong ties to the Conservative government has been appointed the head of a troubled human rights agency, in a move that is sure to enrage the opposition parties and some Muslim-rights groups.
No guarantees from opposition that Tory crime agenda will be reinstated
March 02, 2010
OTTAWA - The Conservative government may have won control of key committees after it prorogued Parliament, but that won't guarantee control of crime legislation when the House of Commons returns Wednesday.
Federal government plans Vimy Ridge Day ceremonies after last WWI vet dies
March 02, 2010
OTTAWA - The federal government plans to hold a national commemorative ceremony April 9 to honour Canadians who served in the First World War now that the last of them has died.
Political deadlock continues as Tories-Liberals both stalled: poll
March 02, 2010
OTTAWA, Ont. - An extensive new poll suggests neither Conservatives nor Liberals would have any reason to trigger a spring election as they return to Parliament to face looming confidence votes.
Harper hopes to bask in Olympic glow
March 02, 2010
The spectacular Canadian performance at the Winter Olympics could not have come at a better time for Stephen Harper. It’s the biggest feelgood story since the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series. The Games turned public attention fully away from the political shenanigans of the governing party in suspending Parliament.
Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to visit earthquake-ravaged hometown in Haiti
March 01, 2010
OTTAWA - The last time Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean visited Haiti, she wept to see the destruction wrought by vicious hurricanes on the country where she was born.
Harper says Thursday's budget the hardest because it meant saying 'No'
March 01, 2010
OTTAWA - Stephen Harper got lots of practice saying "no" during preparations for Thursday's federal budget.
What's worse, bullying the staff or bullying the system?
February 23, 2010
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown treated staff so harshly, it is revealed, that some of them contacted the National Bullying Helpline for assistance in dealing with him.
Time to let the era of Quebec grievance pass
February 16, 2010
Heritage Minister James Moore had a point of sorts in saying there wasn’t enough French content in the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics. There could have been more.
Flaherty needs to update GST rebate, for harmony's sake
February 11, 2010
With the next federal budget less than a month away, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has a golden opportunity to enhance the GST new housing rebate structure to be consistent with Ontario and British Columbia approaches to housing under the HST.
Note to Ottawa: America's problems are our problems
February 09, 2010
Before everyone gets down on Barack Obama, it should be remembered that it was George W. Bush who gave the country two wars, a staggering deficit and debt, no health care or environmental plan, a disparaged worldwide reputation and an economy on the verge of collapse.
Editorial Cartoon for February 8, 2010
February 08, 2010
Editorial Cartoon for February 9, 2010
February 08, 2010
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