I've just fired up Political Twits, an index to Political Twitter on Ottawa. Check it out and let me know who else and what else ought to be there. I'll need Twitternames, links, etc.

Parliamentarians, political staffers, and journalists were frozen out of the parliamentary computer network for about two hours this afternoon. No, it was not one of super-sized cyber-viruses, says Heather Bradley, the media relations person for the House of Commons. It was just a good, old-fashioned "hardware" problem. Bradley didn't have more details on the server or other piece of computer equipment that blew up.

In any event, the House of Commons IT staff fixed things up and systems were by and large back online as of about 1700.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said today that "other provinces" are kicking the tires on the idea of blending the PST with the GST ... "I've already heard from other provinces, now that Ontario has done this, that are not harmonized, saying let's talk, we want to move in the same direction. Why? Because they know that that's where the job creation will be and they don't want to be left out."..

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While in New York City today, where he gave interviews to the Financial Times and CNN, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a telephone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama. The photo of Harper talking to Obama (left) was taken by the PM's Official Photographer Jason Ransom and distributed to members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
Dimitri Soudas, the prime minister's press secretary, sent the following 'read-out' to reporters:
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REPORT Magazine is proud to bill itself as "Western Canada's Conservative Voice" and today, Canada's government, on behalf of all taxpayers, were pleased to give "Canada's Conservative Voice" a grant of $27,124. This, of course, was the day after CBC announced about 800 layoffs. For better or worse, CBC is not "Western Canada's Conservative Voice."...

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>For the entire year now, there have been 37 press releases about the NHSP and 36 have been about funding in Conservative-held ridings. It was similar story in 2008 . . .   more »

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will spend two days in the U.S. selling Canada's solution to the global fiscal crisis — fix broken banks and maintain free trade — ahead of crucial meetings with world leaders in London next week. Beginning Sunday, Harper will travel to Washington, New York, London and Strasbourg, France, squeezing in several international media interviews, a meeting with Queen Elizabeth and a celebration of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's 60th anniversary.

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A selection of links and commentary by experts reacting to Ontario's 2009-2010 Budget. So far, The Conference Board of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, BMO Nesbitt Burns, TD Bank, CIBC World Markets, Scotia Economics ...   more »

Now if the governnment could apply accrual accounting, then taxpayers today could acquire the trucks, the trucks show up as a government asset on the books, and taxpayers this year get "charged" $200,000" for their use. Taxpayers next year, who are also enjoying the benefit of the trucks, also get charged $200,000, which must come from their taxes, and so on until the trucks have no asset value left. That, many think, is a more fair way for governments to acquire and pay for public goods which benefit many generations of taxpayers. So why don't we change the way Parliament accounts for things? You'll love this answer: Because that would require changing the Constitution...

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Parliament's independent budget watchdog says the economy is in much worse shape [pdf] than Finance Minister Jim Flaherty predicted just weeks ago when he tabled the 2009 federal budget. Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page told the House of Commons finance committee that the current recession will be "sharper" [pdf] than the one Flaherty spoke of when he tabled the budget on Jan. 27 and that means deficits that will be deeper and thousands more Canadians are likely to lose their jobs.

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