While some of my colleagues like Glen McGregor -- who, along with Parliament Hill freelancer Tim Naumetz, first reported on what we now know as the in-and-out scheme -- dug into the details of the nearly 700 pages of documentation that the Elections Commissioner put in front of a judge last week in order to obtain a search warrant, Elizabeth Thompson, a few desks over from mine, remembered what Tom Flanagan had said about the concept of moving money in from the national campaign to the local campaign and then back out again from the local campaign to the national campaign.... And, keeping in mind that one of the defences mounted by Conservative MPs in the House of Commons in the wake of the RCMP raids was that it just wasn't fair, that every party engages in the advertising financing schemes that they did.

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The Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics reports today that lobbyists who are trying to get Congress to do their bidding spent a whopping $2.8-billion (US) last year, a jump of 7.7 per cent over the amount lobbyists are believed to have spent in 2006.... As the CRP explains: The Center for Responsive Politics calculated spending on lobbying as narrowly defined under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, because that is what is disclosed to the Senate Office of Public Records (SOPR) and House Legislative Resource Center.

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Some MPs and Liberal insiders are bitterly upset with their leader Stephane Dion and there is broad disagreement within the caucus over strategy and timing to force an election.... But at a short campaign-style rally/party the Liberals held in a bar on Elgin Street in Ottawa tonight to welcome their new MPs, Dion looks so much more comfortable.

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Ok, so you're a Tory strategist and you've been trying ever since taking office to bust the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly but, what with one pesky court ruling after another, you just can’t seem crack that nut. But now Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has a legislative package ready to go to break the Wheat Board up. All you have to do is to get the Prime Minister to declare it a confidence matter and, presto, there’s no waaay the Liberals can let this one slide . . .   more »

"..it is my view that there are things to talk about here. Canadians I think have said this for weeks. They don't want an election on Afghanistan. We don't either because I feel, as a patriotic Canadian, very uneasy about going to the country while we've got troops in the field. And I implore the government to reflect and understand that."   more »

I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news for Republicans, but pollster Zogby International says Republican John McCain could beat either Democratic frontrunner, Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama: McCain only Republican who beats Dem Front Runners UTICA, New York – Arizona Sen. John McCain is the only Republican candidate who could beat both of the Democratic frontrunners in the general election, a new Reuters/Zogby poll shows. If the general election were held right now, McCain would beat New York Sen. Hillary Clinton 47% to 42% and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama 45% to 43%, the survey revealed.

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If you really wanted to give yourself a challenge you could a) solve global warming b) bring peace to the Middle East c) figure out how to beat the New England Patriots or d) try to rebuild the federal Liberal Party in Quebec.  So let’s applaud Louis-Philippe Angers, who has ...   more »

In December, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn sent a letter to nuclear safety regulator chief Linda Keen saying, essentially, tell me why we shouldn't fire you. Today, Keen fires back with a blistering response accusing Lunn of interfering with the "administration of justice."   more »

Climate change activists who publish the DeSmogBlog just named Barrack Obama their Smogmaker of the Year, saying he deserves it for sowing confusion and delay on climate change but other green activists says DeSmogBlog hasn't done its homework ...   more »

It’s now more than five hours since Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has already done a live televised statement calling for calm in his country. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who was meeting with Bhutto hours before she was killed, did a televised press conference, to express his ...   more »