UPDATED Monday, September 12, 2005. 11:00 PM. Chinese president Hu Jintao arrived in Ottawa last Thursday, on a trip that also includes visits to Toronto and Vancouver, various parts of Mexico, and the United Nations in New York. The Washington Post noted how the “United States relies on Canada for some 17 percent of its oil and energy and is […]
OTTAWA. Tuesday, June 28, 2005. 11:30 PM. So third and final reading on the Bill C-38 gay marriage legislation has now passed in the Parliament of Canada, by a 158-133 vote. As CTV News has put it: “After the same-sex vote was put to bed, the House immediately adjourned for the summer, thus ending one of […]
The politicians are apparently still wrangling on Parliament Hill. But already we have been told that Stephen Harper will be humanizing his image on the barbecue circuit this summer. Out in the wider countrysides and cityscapes beyond, it is time to worship the sun – and seek its wisdom on just what has been going on […]
OTTAWA. Wednesday, June 15, 2005. 2:00 AM. Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government has now survived “16 confidence votes” in a marathon late-night parliamentary session Tuesday. You might almost think the MPs were trying to show how they sometimes do have to work very late. But they were also just rushing to finish up for the summer holidays. There […]
Just why is it that Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal’s partially tape-recorded saga of meetings with Liberal emissaries before the May 19 vote in Ottawa is supposed to be so important again? The closest you can get to a serious answer comes from an article in the June 1 Globe and Mail in Toronto: “The Criminal […]
The members of the 38th Parliament of Canada have returned to Ottawa “for what is scheduled to be the final four weeks of the spring session.” And the “Conservatives say they will attempt to block the government’s two budget bills from being passed before the House of Commons summer recess.” Conservative leader Stephen Harper has indicated […]
With all polls now reporting, the Elections Canada preliminary results for yesterday’s federal by-election in Labrador show Liberal candidate Todd Russell with just under 52% of the vote, Conservative candidate Graham Letto with about 32%, and New Democrat Francis Fry with about 10%. So Paul Martin was probably breathing easier when he went to bed last […]
Now that Canadians do not have to rush into another federal election right away, the national commentariat has time for assorted post-mortems on the recent events in Ottawa. As Terry Weber of the Globe and Mail has reported, the ultimate razor-thin survival of Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government on Thursday, May 19, by a final parliamentary […]
Just what you think about former Conservative MP Belinda Stronach’s explosive decision to join Paul Martin’s Liberal cabinet depends on which side you are on. In the razor-thin confidence motion on Thursday, May 19, it means one more vote for the Liberals and the New Democrats, and one less for the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois. […]
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2005. 5 AM. According to CTV News, all four Canadian parties “have now agreed to sit down and meet to discuss a fair strategy for dealing with some of the MPs who are sick and unable to attend the vote,’ NDP Leader Jack Layton said Friday evening.” Jack Layton’s comments have apparently been […]
