David Akin's On the Hill

PM's message at Gandhi memorial

2009-11-18T08:27:00-05:00

Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Raj Ghat, Gandhi's memorial, in New Delhi Tuesday. On the way out, he signed the visitors book:

India puts nuclear facilities on alert over suspected terror threat

2009-11-17T01:42:00-05:00

--No Content--

MP Bob Dechert explains why Harper is in India

2009-11-17T00:11:00-05:00

Our government has been working to repair this long-term damage to our relationship. That is why the Prime Minister is in India this week, rebuilding relationships and deepening our economic ties with an emerging economic power.

APEC Leaders dinner: The Menu

2009-11-14T22:09:00-05:00

The leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries and their spouses, including Prime Minister and Mrs. Harper, gathered for a formal dinner Saturday evening here with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as host. Here is the menu

The Harpers make the papers, thanks to Laureen

2009-11-14T20:53:00-05:00

At the annual leaders summits of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, it's mostly all work with leaders sitting around a conference room talking about trade treaties, economics, tax policy and, increasingly, climate change. But the program also includes a social event -- an evening of entertainment aimed at showcasing the host country which, this weekend, is Singapore.

Mr. Harper goes to Amritsar: The PM's Asia itinerary

2009-11-11T19:34:00-05:00

I will be off on a very long plane ride beginning at 11 a.m. Thursday morning to cover Prime Minister Harper's visit to Singapore, Mumbai, New Delhi and Amritsar. If you'd like to play along -- and I hope to be tweeting (follow @davidakin or click here to get my Twitter RSS feed ) , blogging, and writing as often as I can -- here's our rough itinerary.

Thatcher has died. No, not that Thatcher.

2009-11-10T23:08:00-05:00

With lightning speed, it spread from Blackberry to Blackberry among the 2,000 or so Conservatives in black-tie this evening at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the first ever True Patriot Love Tribute Dinner: Thatcher has died.

Leduc on byelection results: BQ slippage and where the heck were the Greens?

2009-11-10T22:53:00-05:00

" I am a bit surprised that other parties didn't seem to make any impact in these elections. By-elections are a natural stalking ground for Green parties, for example. But they seemed to be almost invisible this time. Wonder why. Didn't look like they even made an effort. Where was Elizabeth May over the past few weeks?"

Political twits react to byelection wins

2009-11-10T01:11:00-05:00

A sampling of the reaction on Twitter to tonight's byelection wins. Your new MPs are Conservatives Scott Armstrong in Nova Scotia and Bernard Genereux in Quebec; New Democrat Finn Donnelly in New Westminster, B.C., and Pequiste Daniel Paille in Hochelaga.

Liberal lines on H1N1

2009-11-05T17:10:00-05:00

The federal Liberal Party was distributing the following this afternoon: "Both the Auditor General and the Chief Public Health Officer have said that pandemic planning falls under general emergency preparedness. The Conservatives have failed to plan and this is a national disgrace."

Ontario not seeing co-operation from feds on H1N1

2009-11-05T16:39:00-05:00

"I've stressed to her how important it is that we at the provincial level know how much vaccine we're getting and when we're going to get it, so we can plan. So far we're not seeing that cooperation that we need. I hope that it will be better as time goes on." Mathews said.

Tory MP gets what I'm pretty sure is the wrong answer from constitutents

2009-11-05T13:07:00-05:00

James Bezan, the Conservative MP for the Manitoba riding of Selkirk Interlake, put up an online poll at his Web site.

He wanted his Web site visitors to sound off on the record of his government, asking them: "Do you think Stephen Harper and the Conservative Government should be commended for doing a great job at managing our economy through the current fiscal crisis?"

Nanos ends CPAC relationship, turns to "free agency"

2009-11-05T13:01:00-05:00

For the last little while, Nanos Research has been the pollster for CPAC, the public affairs channel. This relationship had evolved to the point where the affable Nik Nanos was hosting a 30 minute weekly television show on CPAC. That relationship -- and the TV show -- has now ended and Nanos is a "free agent" so far as media partners go.

Facebook follies: Canadian diplomat leaves Facebook wall wide open - and he ain't so diplomatic

2009-11-05T08:49:00-05:00

Steven Rheault-Kihara is a 46-year-old veteran diplomat and Canada's public relations attache in Bangkok who may soon be an ex-veteran diplomat. As my friend Greg Weston reports in this morning's Sun papes, Rheault-Kihara did not put up any privacy fences on his Facebook account. Weston had a flip through the 36 pages of musings and exchanges posted there over the last 18 months.

Where's the cash? Doctors tell Flaherty to cough up promised $500 million

2009-11-05T08:18:00-05:00

Health-care professionals called on the federal government Wednesday to proceed with shelved plans to give $500 million to Canada Health Infoway, a federal agency that this week, received a clean bill of managerial health from Auditor General Sheila Fraser.

Feds insist on a separate sign - that cities must pay for - promoting its stimulus plan

2009-11-05T08:16:00-05:00

Municipalities are being told if they want federal infrastructure cash, they have to pay for and install additional signs at each project promoting the federal government's economic action plan.

Public Safety, Immigration dept get failing Auditor General failing grades

2009-11-03T14:01:00-05:00

Here's my bottom line take on the Auditor General's report just tabled in the House of Commons.

Tories continue to dominate political financing

2009-10-30T20:19:00-04:00

Canadians are putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to political preferences. Data published late Friday by Elections Canada show the Conservative Party of Canada continues to dominate its political rivals when it comes to fundraising, just as the party dominates its rivals in opinion polls. For the three-month period ending September 30 — a period when it appeared the country was headed for yet another general election — nearly 40,000 Canadians wrote a cheque for the Tories. The total value of their contributions was about $3.8 million.

Mike Weir, Buzz, Mansbridge and yer full list of Order of Canada recipients, ceremony next week

2009-10-30T10:53:00-04:00

Governor General Michaelle Jean announced the list this morning of those who will receive next Thursday Canada's highest civilian honour, the Order of Canada. The order was created in 1967 and, since then more than 5,000 noteworthy Canadians have received it. This time around, Jean is lifting three exceptional types from the Officer class up to the top spot -- the Companion. The ceremony honouring the 3 new companions, 11 new officers, and 21 new members will be held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa next Thursday morning.

Jack Layton decries "sexist" heckling from Conservatives in the Commons

2009-10-28T16:47:00-04:00

As a parliamentarian, as a man, a father, a grandfather, I call on the government's leadership to really get a grip on its members and set a higher standard.

Integrity of lobbying watchdog threatened by PMO: Opposition

2009-10-28T07:32:00-04:00

Opposition politicians accused officials in the Prime Minister's Office of threatening the integrity of the independent Commissioner of Lobbying, in the wake of revelations that the watchdog was investigating a lobbyist firm with close connections to senior Ottawa Conservatives.

Pandemic planning gap: Can the Internet handle everyone working from home?

2009-10-26T19:53:00-04:00

The Government Accountability Office -- Washington's rough equivalent to Canada's Office of the Auditor General -- gave itself what you might think is an esoteric question: If a global pandemic like the H1N1 flu forces a whole pile of to stay home and telecommute using our home Internet services, could the Internet handle the extra traffic and, more importantly, could financial markets continue to function given their dependency on the availability of plenty of bandwidth?

More on KIP grants: Addressing the issue of university money skewing results

2009-10-26T10:59:00-04:00

Three universities are in CPC ridings; three are in Liberal ridings; two are in NDP ridings, one is a BQ riding and 1 -- the University of Toronto, received money for three campuses, in NDP, Liberal, and CPC territories. Based on that sample, I'm not so sure excluding universities would show a much different trend.

Knowledge Infrastructure Program: Libs and NDP getting more and I get attacked for saying so

2009-10-25T21:10:00-04:00

I should also note that last week, there were perfectly appropriate and defensible analyses of other infrastructure programs that did not look at "qualifying institutions". I've adopted some of the basic methodologies and assumptions of some of my colleagues who did those analsyses and I plan to continue with the same "rules" as I look at other programs or -- if Prime Minister Stephen Harper ever keeps his word and releases the entire list of infrastructure spending -- as I look at the thousands of projects funded by the entire $62 billion economic stimulus plan.

Gasp! The Atlas of Canada has made a grievous error!

2009-10-23T12:46:00-04:00

But the Atlas of Canada, normally as an authoritative reference work as you can get, has Lebel's riding of Roberval-Lac Saint Jean coloured Bloc Quebecois-blue.

What a (Liberal) Woman Wants: The Pink Books

2009-10-20T21:27:00-04:00

The Liberals will release Pink Book III tomorrow at 1145 at an event on Parliament Hill. The Pink Book is the policy ideas developed and advanced by the Liberal Women's Caucus and forms part of the party's platform during a federal election.

Here's a look back at the first two ...

The coming era of fiscal restraint

2009-10-20T15:43:00-04:00

TD Bank's chief economist Don Drummond and his director of ecnomic analysis Derek Burleton take a look today at the books of federal and provincial governments [PDF] and, though they've been among the gloomiest of forecasters during this recession, their latest report, while grim, is not the most dire in the world. They conclude that, if federal and provincial governments want to get back in the black by fiscal 2016 -- which they believe to be an ambitious target -- it can be done but governments will have to slow growth in government spending to 2 per cent year. Of course, as they point out, no government in office has demonstrated anything close to that kind of discipline.

Can we go off the record? No. Here's the ground rules

2009-10-19T17:52:00-04:00

I've tried to be up-front and clear with all my sources on one crucial point: If you are a politician, a political staffer or a political appointee, you should always consider yourself on-the-record at all times if you're talking to me. That said, I tell my sources when I meet them for the first time, there is still a way for us to have a frank, candid conversation where you could have a reasonable expectation your name and the things you say won't be all over the paper (or Twitter or this blog) shortly after.

Coming soon? Five bucks just ain't what it used to be...

2009-10-17T08:48:00-04:00

Yer editorial cartoon in this morning's Regina Leader-Post