Conservatives hope summer spending wins votes OTTAWA -- Three weeks into their summer break, Conservative government MPs have been busy crossing the country handing out cash some hope will boost their party's political fortunes.... And, as soon aircraft maker Bombardier announced a new jet Sunday at an air show in England, Industry Minister Jim Prentice put out a news release reminding voters in Quebec that the federal government was giving the company $350 million to ensure it made those planes near Montreal. Prentice was among 62 Conservative MPs who have put their names on more than 130 news releases in which they announced, re-announced or otherwise took credit for nearly $3 billion in spending announcements that have gushed forth since MPs broke for summer recess 24 days ago. Read the full story ...

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Prospect magazine says half a million people around the world took part in its poll to find the world's top public intellectual.... The magazine then tries to figure out how Fethullah ended up on top and says: On 1st May, Zaman—the highest-selling newspaper in Turkey, with a circulation of over 700,000 and a string of international editions—ran a story on its front page alerting its readership to the appearance of Gülen on the Prospect/FP list, and to the fact that we were inviting people to vote.... On the other hand, perhaps we can see through Gülen’s victory the emergence of a new kind of intellectual—one whose influence is expressed through a personal network, aided by the internet, rather than publications or institutions.

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Mr. Novak was working on his master's thesis on parliamentary reform at the University of Calgary, and was recommended for the project by Rainer Knopff, a political-science professor at Mr. Harper's alma mater, the University of Calgary.... Meanwhile, over in Environment Minister John Baird's office, press secretary Eric Richer is wrapping his tenure as a political communicator and heading back to the public service. Richer had been doing communicatins for the Governor General when he moved from there (a civil service job) to become the press secretary for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

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The individual, whose identity cannot legally be revealed, sent 448 separate requests for information from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the four-month period between Sept. 1, 2007 and the end of the year. The CBC first became subject to federal access-to-information laws on Sept. 1 and, to date, has now received 604 requests -- and almost all of them are from that same one individual. The CBC, the Canadian Wheat Board, and more than 65 other federal agencies, crown corporations and institutions became subject last fall to federal access to information laws as part of the Conservative government’s Federal Accountability Act.

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Dave Batters, one of the cheeriest, up-tempo MPs you'll ever meet, is on medical leave, the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix reports.... Regina MP in hospital with ‘serious’ medical issue By Anne Kyle The StarPhoenix 10 Jul 2008 REGINA — Palliser MP Dave Batters confirmed Wednesday he is on medical leave dealing with “a serious issue.” “I would like to thank all the people who have wished me well during this difficult time,” Batters, 38, said in a prepared statement.   more »

On page 3 of that newsletter, riding association president Jane Cornelius included the following joke in a column she wrote: This story was sent to me with the comment — Enjoy!... One little boy stood up and offered: “If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him, that would be a tragedy.”... A little girl raised her hand: “If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy.”

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One of the House Cards, prepared by Treasury Board Senior Communications Strategist Fanny Lemieux (and approved by TBS Chief Information Officer Ken Cochrane), addresses the the complaint that, because complaints about the Access to Information system have doubled, the government must be restricting access.... meeting of the [Access to Information] communty in February 2008, Ms. Andrew Neill, Assistant Commissioner, stated that 60 per cent of complaints are made by 10 complainants. For example, the CBC refers to an article in which a frequent requester stated that since September 2007, he made 448 requests to the CBC and since he was not satisfied with the responses, he filed 524 complaints with the Information Commissioner concerning those requests.

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My colleague John Ivison has all the intrigue involved with the calling of byelections but the word on the Hill right now is that byelections in Guelph, Westmount, and Saint Lambert will be called on July 20 with a vote set for Monday, September 8. Liberals are the incumbents and favourites in Guelph and Westmount; the Bloc Quebecois holds Saint Lambert and it is theirs to lose.

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If you're from the States or somewhere else, though, watch of one of Rob Corddry's finest moments] while he was the exec director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association -- opened up his second day in the Langevin Block as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new Director of Communications by meeting with the chiefs of the big news bureaus here in Ottawa -- Canwest, Canadian Press, the Globe, CBC, CTV and so on. Teneycke is succeeding Sandra Buckler, a communications director who placed less value on winning the hearts and minds of the Parliamentary Press Gallery and more on serving the strategic goals of her boss.... Whatever your view, there's no getting around the fact that the Brodie-Buckler version of the PMO (former Chief of Staff Ian Brodie resigned about the same time) finished up with their boss at almost exactly the same point in the polls as he did when he arrived in January, 2006.... So far as we've been able to determine, the mission for Giorno will be largely a political one: Get Harper ready for the next election, which will certainly come by the fall of 2009 and, in my view, has a slim chance of happening this fall.

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I don't know why they're here or where they're coming from, but ever since I posted a picture (right) I took at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show of a Mercedes SmartCar, it has consistently been among the top 20 posts every month around here. And, sure enough, among the 76,000-plus individuals who dropped by this blog at least once last month, the SmartCar was the top pick. Here are the other most popular posts here for last month   more »