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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In Guelph, the NDP brings in Jack Layton Friday for a full day of politicking while the Conservatives will soon bring in big guns like John Baird and Diane Finley to support their candidate for a yet-to-be announced by-election.

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In Ottawa today, many young people are out and about doing a little political work on behalf of the Conservative Party. They are wearing bright, yellow t-shirts and are handing out cards that suggest Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion will tax anything. A reader of this blog sent along some pics, one of which is reproduced here, that s/he snapped with the comment: "I wonder if they're junior tories or if this was the best they could do in the summer job department!"

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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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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 »

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 »

As the Charlottetown Guardian first reported, the former Conservative Premier of Prince Edward Island, Pat Binns, is Canada’s newest ambassador. Binns has just been named Canada’s Ambassador to Ireland — a job which, in diplomatic circles, is considered quite a plum.

Binns, 58, is also a former Conservative MP, ...   more »

Are you a conservative? Do you feel the current federal government is too left wing? Well, there may be a party forming up just for you:

“Socons and fiscal conservatives will be welcomed with open arms. Red tories...don't bother contacting me…”

My colleague Gloria Galloway has more on this ...   more »

Gerry Nicholls ends his 22–year relationship today with the conservative National Citizens Coaltion. The NCC is the group, of course, that the current Prime Minister led after he quit political life as a Reform MP. He would eventually quit the NCC to contest and win the leadership of the Canadian Alliance ...   more »

A few days ago I signed up at Facebook and wondered here how I might find it useful. Well, here’s one useful reason to be there: Many of the people I cover are there. Here’s Liberal MP Mark Holland, for example, writing on Facebook live from the C-30 (Clean Air Act) committee ...   more »