Members Statements has become a daily partisan battleground as Conservatives and Liberals throw verbal snowballs back and forth at each other across the aisle. Here's today's snowball fight

   more »

Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz says he is happy to let his legislation to kill the controversial long-gun registry die a quiet death as he gets behind the bill of another Conservative MP who he believes has a better shot at abolishing the rule that would force rifle owners to be certified. Breitkreuz had introduced a private member's bill in February that would have forced only owners of restricted and prohibited weapons to obtain a gun registry certificate. But his bill went further than that, with, for example, changes to restrictions on the transportation of weapons and a call that the auditor general periodically review the operation of the gun registry.

   more »

Canwest News Service has learned that some current and former nuclear engineers are quietly pushing a plan to reactivate a backup project for the NRU, a project shelved last year by AECL with the backing of Raitt's predecessor Gary Lunn.

   more »

It seems clear that Liberals (I assume they are Liberals) are having a certain amount of fun riffing off of the Conservative "Just Visiting" attack ads. Here's one from the Libs that accuses Mahatma Gandhi of being a mere arriviste for Indian independence.    more »

After aiming frequently and often over the last year at the impuissance of Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois when speaking to Quebec voters, Prime MInister Stephen Harper this evening warns Quebeckers against Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals, La Presse reports. In fact, La Presse says Harper hardly talked about the BQ and accused Ignatieff of being the most -- and forgive my French here -- centralizing leader the Liberals have ever had, a contrast to Harper and his (often vague and undefined but sometimes popular) open federalism:

   more »

Liberal attack ads strike back. First, leader Michael Ignatieff speaks to camera for 1:40, sounding reasonable and so on (left). Then, in some others, Liberals turn the Conservative attack ad grahics back at Harper. Instead of the Conservative's "Just Visiting" tag, they tag Harper with "Just Leaving", noting how he's the first PM in history to avoid a confidence vote by proroguing Parliament.

   more »

I know, I know,: I'm a cynical, "Liberal", "Taliban-loving" member of the mainstream media. Not only that, but I'm part of a particularly loathsome MSM sub-group: The Parliamentary Press Gallery, which, as everyone knows, you cannot be a member of unless you are a hard-core avowed Harper-hater and Liberal-lover. Which is why, of course, I was hardly surprised to hear this morning that Prime Minister Harper had popped up unannounced in Afghanistan ...

   more »

A few minutes before Question Period got underway in the House of Commons today, as MPs were arriving and settling into their seats, Prime Minister Stephen Harper walked across the green-carpeted aisle that divides the House of Commons and, warmly smiling, reached out to shake Michael Ignatieff's hand, presumably to congratulate him on the results of the Liberal convention over the weekend in Vancouver at which Iggy officially became the Leader of the Opposition. BQ Leader Gilles Duceppe and Transport Minister John Baird also walked over to shake Iggy's hand. And then, it was game on. Here's the play-by-play:

   more »

The Small Craft Harbours Program is a $100-million-a-year fund the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans manages to " to accelerate harbour repair and maintenance, as well as undertake dredging projects." But, as with just about every penny the federal government spends nowadays, any expenditures out of this fund are sold as "Canada's Economic Action Plan." Fair enough. To the fishers and others who use these harbours, it most likely doesn't matter what you call it, so long as the work gets done. On the weekend, two regional ministers announced more than $50 million worth of projects for PEI and Nova Scotia.

   more »