HALIFAX–Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty launched a post-budget blitz today by lecturing provinces on the need to lower taxes and taking a swipe at Premier Dalton McGuinty for making Ontario "the last place" in Canada to start a business. [...more]
Liberals pride themselves on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As a country we pride ourselves on the presumption of innocence. Yet, in the Parliamentary Ethics Committee you are apparently guilty until you prove yourself innocent. It is nothing short of a partisan kangaroo court. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, no matter what you may think of him, never had a chance. Committee members, such as the NDP’s Pat Martin, were free to say anything, no matter how outrageous or defamatory — all the while hiding behind parliamentary privilege. The whole process has debased our government more than it already was – following the sponsorship scandal — and it is utterly disgusting. [...more]
The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a landmark 2004 court ruling that recognized journalists have a broad right to protect confidential sources, even in the context of police investigations. Today's decision resurrects a search warrant giving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police the authority to seize a document from a National Post reporter that went to the heart of the "Shawinigate" scandal involving former Prime Minister Jean Chretien. [...more]
A Brian Mulroney spokesman explains why the ongoing ethics committee proceedings represent a travesty of justice When public figures offended powerful interests under Henry VIII, they would be summoned to appear in a large committee room. With no charge or indictment, no right to counsel, no right to cross-examine accusers and no right to appeal, they would be judged in secret by a panel of political opponents. Conviction was guaranteed. [...more]
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a mandatory four-year sentence for an Alberta police officer found guilty in the fatal shooting of a suspect. The important test case of mandatory minimum sentences involved an Alberta RCMP officer, Constable Michael Esty Ferguson, who inadvertently killed a drunken, unruly prisoner during a station house scuffle on Oct. 3, 1999. [...more]
The chair of the parliamentary ethics committee says allegations that Conservative officials offered to bribe late MP Chuck Cadman could have serious consequences, and the committee will look into the matter early next week. Paul Szabo said the committee has received motions from the Liberals, Bloc and NDP asking members to probe allegations by Cadman's wife Dona that her dying husband was offered a $1-million insurance policy before an important parliamentary vote in 2005, in exchange for his vote. [...more]
Phantom Observer | Peter Van Loan Has Got the Libranos’ Number Allow me to reproduce this exchange from yesterday’s Question Period between two Liberal MPs and Government House Leader Peter Van Loan: Ms. Raymonde Folco (Laval—Les Îles, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, Chuck Cadman was a man whose integrity was beyond reproach. Sadly, the same cannot be said of [...] [...more]
National Post | Terence Corcoran: So cold it’s getting hot Ah, the weather. It’s cold as hell out there. How cold is it? It’s so cold the CBC had to rush to assure all of us that global warming is still a big, big problem. With record snow falls, record cold snaps, the return of sea [...] [...more]
BBC | ‘Chemical Ali’ execution approved The execution of Saddam Hussein’s cousin and henchman “Chemical Ali” has been approved by Iraq’s presidency. […] BBC | Turkish troops ‘move out of Iraq’ Iraq’s foreign minister has said all Turkish troops have left northern Iraq after mounting a controversial ground offensive against Kurdish rebels. […] Jerusalem Post | Israel prepares for assault [...] [...more]
CTV | Canadians to resume transfer of Afghan detainees The Canadian military has resumed the transfer of detainees to Afghan officials. […] CTV | Liberals to RCMP: Investigate Tory bribe claims The Liberals are calling on the Mounties to investigate allegations that the late Tory MP Chuck Cadman was offered a bribe by his party in an effort to [...] [...more]
Prince Harry is being pulled out of Afghanistan after news of his deployment to the region was leaked in the media, British news organizations report. Harry has been secretly serving on the front line in Helmand since December, Britain's Ministry of Defence said Thursday. [...more]
Today I made a huge error while working with the code on my last template and my site went down. Now it is back up (finally) with a much better template but I have to clean it up. That will happen in the AM. Not tonight as I am getting very tired and that’s all we [...] [...more]
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said on Wednesday that his party won’t defeat the government on the federal budget, but also won’t vote in favour of it. “We’ll find a way to not defeat the government and to express our disagreement with this budget,” Dion said while leaving a caucus meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday. He said the Liberals will still have an amendment, but [...] [...more]
CTV News has learned members of the House of Commons Ethics Committee will end their investigation into the so-called Mulroney-Schreiber affair. Liberal members of the committee made the decision after learning that former prime minister Brian Mulroney was not willing to make a second appearance before the committee. Mulroney’s lawyer has said he will give a detailed [...] [...more]
Heads of the country’s manufacturing sector said they’re frustrated the Canadian government didn’t give the ailing industry more prominence in the federal budget. Speaking to Canada AM Wednesday, industry officials said the money the Conservatives did earmark for the industry is like a drop in a very large bucket. “Rome is burning and they threw us a [...] [...more]
It’s no secret that few people are enamored with the new Jim Flaherty “prudent” budget. Sure, a few partisan Conservative bloggers are satisfied because they’ve been sold by the crumbs thrown to the slavish taxpayer once again. But try to find one thing which stands out as beneficial to Canadians, and you get a chorus [...] [...more]
NEW YORK — William F. Buckley Jr., the erudite Ivy Leaguer and conservative herald who showered huge and scornful words on liberalism as he observed, abetted and cheered on the right’s post-World War II rise from the fringes to the White House, died Wednesday. He was 82. His assistant Linda Bridges said Mr. Buckley was found [...] [...more]
Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold [...] [...more]
OTTAWA — Stéphane Dion followed the script developed by his senior caucus leadership as he announced yesterday that there wasn’t enough in the Harper budget to justify an election. The Liberal Leader, who insiders say wants an election, did not look like a happy man as he emerged from the House of Commons lobby, hand-in-hand with [...] [...more]
Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.”They pose a threat to humanity,” said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey ahead of a keynote address Wednesday before Britain’s Royal United Services [...] [...more]
Blue Like You | The political implications of yesterday’s budget - With gossipy update The vast majority of media pundits and bloggers seem to be suggesting that the Federal budget is basically a snoozer. It’s a safe proposal with no ‘poison pill’ to infuriate the Liberals - and not a whole lot to either cheer or [...] [...more]
Montreal Gazette | L. Ian MacDonald: It’s a budget that Dion couldn’t afford to vote against Rather than buying a new pair of shoes for the traditional photo before yesterday’s budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty got an old pair resoled at an Ottawa shoe-repair shop. It was a substantive, as well as a symbolic, gesture. All the [...] [...more]
National Post | Clinton tries to cling to Ohio lead CINCINNATI, Ohio — With a week to go before Ohio’s pivotal nominating contest, Hillary Clinton was fighting to hold onto a dwindling lead as rival Barack Obama worked to undercut her support, particularly among working class voters. […] National Post | Turk envoy tells Iraq no timetable for [...] [...more]
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Tuesday night both threatened to take the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement if elected president, warning Canada and Mexico the deal is dead unless America wins concessions to strengthen labour and environmental standards. During a nationally televised debate in Cleveland, the two Democratic [...] [...more]
CBC | Government loses court battle to crack barley monopoly The federal government’s attempt to strip the Canadian Wheat Board of its barley monopoly was rejected by a court for a second time Tuesday, setting the stage for a showdown with the opposition in Parliament. […] CTV | Bush to Harper: I’ll provide troops for Afghanistan Prime Minister Stephen Harper [...] [...more]
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney will not return to the House of Commons ethics committee, his counsel confirmed Tuesday, officially declining a request from chairman Paul Szabo. No reason was given for the decision, but Guy Pratte, Mulroney’s lawyer, said he would be giving a detailed response to Szabo on Wednesday. Szabo had requested Mulroney make another [...] [...more]
PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) — Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was handed over to Arizona authorities Tuesday to face charges alleging he arranged the marriages of two teenage girls to older men. He already has been convicted in Utah in connection with an arranged marriage involving a 14-year-old girl. Deputies from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office took custody [...] [...more]
(CNN) — Casualties could have been reduced by half among Marines in Iraq if specially armored vehicles had been deployed more quickly in some cases, a report to the Pentagon says. Marine Corps spokesman Col. David Lapan said the Defense Department’s inspector general wants to investigate the report’s claims that bureaucratic delays undermined the program to [...] [...more]
