Errata, observations and working notes
from Parliament Hill reporter David Akin
View Article  NY Times: "Canada's Move to Restore Rights"

The New York Times opines on the recent decision of Canada’s Supreme Court to declare security certificates unconstitutional. :

“The United States was not the only country to respond to the horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with policies that went much too far in curtailing basic rights and ...   more »

View Article  A look at Ottawa's cultural spending

Spending on federal government cultural programs is often seen as the litmus test between liberals and conservatives. Conservatives often view such spending with a sceptical eye; liberals, particularly in Canada, tend to place a higher priority on such spending. Or at least that’s the theory.

In the Main Estimates for ...   more »

View Article  Federal government spending by sector

Spending on social programs, including major transfer programs like EI and Old Age Security, will continue to be Ottawa's single biggest program expense, according to the government's Main Estimates for fiscal 2008.
The federal government is asking Parliamentary approval to spend $97.4-billion on social programs, an increase of 7.7 ...   more »

View Article  Main Estimates: Where Ottawa's money goes, Part 1

The federal government tabled 2007-2008 Main Estimates this morning. The Estimates, as they’re known, are pages and pages and pages of tables that detail where Ottawa plans to spend its billions of dollars. The Estimates are produced as support documents for the legislation that will be tabled in the House of Commons that MPs will vote ...   more »

View Article  No one leaked name of Liberal MP's father-in-law: reporter

So here’s the story: Earlier this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attempted to read into House of Commons record a story written by Kim Bolan of the Vancouver Sun in which Bolan noted that the father-in-law of Liberal MP Navdeep Bains may be on a list of witnesses (let’s emphasize ...   more »

View Article  What a week on the Hill

The week in Parliament ended with the Liberals accusing the Conservatives of trying to obliterate the Liberals from the history books.

“I have no doubt in my mind that they would try to eradicate everything that has been good by the Liberal party and by great Liberals in this country ...   more »

View Article  If an election were held today ...

One of the first things the veterans here in the CTV Parliamentary Bureau — guys with names like Fife, Oliver and Duffy — said when I embarked on my first election campaign was that any pollster who tries to foist seat projections on you should be avoided at all costs. “Voodoo polling!”, ...   more »

View Article  Finley vs the Liberals

Diane FinleyThe Liberals believe that Immigration Minister Diane Finley’s limo expenses are out of line. Here’s the Question Period exchange between Liberal Todd Russell and Finley (left). (Finley was the Human Resources Minister when these expenses were incurred.)

Mr. Todd Russell (Labrador, Lib.) :
Mr. Speaker, here is another example ...   more »

View Article  Liberals aim at Finley for limo expenses

Earlier this month, Liberal MP Mike Savage unearthed the thousands of dollars Heritage Minister Bev Oda spent renting limousines while she attended the Juno Awards in Halifax. Today, the Liberals jumped on Immigration Minister Diane Finley for thousands she spent on limousines to attend what the Liberals say were essentially ...   more »

View Article  Kyoto bill passes

Bill C-288, An Act to ensure Canada meets its global climate change obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, passed third reading in the House of Commons last night.

The vote was along party lines — with Conservatives voting nay and every other party voting yea. Prime Minister Harper was absent ...   more »


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