Sunday 14 June 2009 MONTREAL: LIBERALS PONDER WHETHER TO PROVOKE SUMMER ELECTION
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canadians do not want elections during a recession but do want his Conservative government to continue to fight it. The leader of Canada's main opposition Liberal party, Michael Ignatieff, says he'll decide next week whether to try to bring down the minority Conservative Party government. His office says the decision will in fact be announced on Monday. On Thursday, Mr. Harper delivered his economic progress report. The Liberal Party has threatened to take down the government if the report did not show progress in spending nearly $23 billion set aside to stimulate the economy. Mr. Harper said that 80 per cent of money has been distributed. A general election was held only last October. The Liberals would need the votes of the two other opposition parties represented in the House of Commons to bring down the government.
Thursday 14 May 2009 VANCOUVER: LIBERALS WIN THIRD TERM
The Liberals have won a majority in Tuesday's provincial election and the New Democratic Party is vowing to keep up the fight in opposition. It was the third straight electoral win for the Liberals led by Premier Gordon Campbell. Elections B.C. lists the unofficial standings at 49 seats for the Liberals and 36 for the New Democrats. As well, the referendum to change the province's voting system was soundly defeated.
See also Canada after 2008 election and Canada’s political showdown and Liberal Party Convention 2009
CONGRATULATIONS to Wednesday Nighter Brigitte Garceau, elected Vice-president (francophone) of the LPC Executive!
Sunday 03 May 2009 VANCOUVER: LIBERAL PARTY CONVENTION HEARS ATTACK ON PRIME MINISTER
Former prime minister Jean Chretien launched an attack against Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Liberal Party leadership convention in Vancouver on Friday. Mr. Chretien said that Mr. Harper has squandered the economic gains that the Liberal Party made while in power during most of the past 20 years. Another former Liberal Party prime minister, Paul Martin, also criticized Mr. Harper's Conservative Party government, accusing it of withdrawing programs for less-privileged citizens. The convention has only one candidate for the party leadership---Michael Ignatieff. He became interim leader after former leader Stephane Dion made a weak showing at the latest federal election. On Saturday, convention delegates passed motions on several policy initiatives including reducing poverty by 30 per cent and child poverty by 50 per cent within five years.
April 30, 2009 The Temptation of the Liberals
The poll numbers look promising. The new leader is popular. Money's flowing in. Will the Liberals be tempted to force an election?
Monday 13 April 2009 Liberals launch Jobs tour science and technology OTTAWA – Liberal Critic for Industry, Science and Technology Marc Garneau will be traveling across Canada beginning Tuesday to consult Canadians on how to revitalize Canada’s scientific industries and discuss the importance of research and innovation in creating the jobs of tomorrow.
<>PSaturday 07 March 2009 OTTAWA: LIBERAL BACK AWAY FROM ELECTION CONFRONTATION
The opposition Liberal Party seems to have backed off from a confrontation with the Conservative Party government that could have caused another national election. The two sides have been at odds over the government's proposed $3-billion emergency stimulus fund, money from which would start being spent as early as April 1. The Liberals have demanded an account of how the money would be spent. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the fund is a measure of confidence in the House of Commons and that if the opposition defeats it there would be another election. On Friday, Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale said his party is in discussion with the Conservatives to find a compromise that would get the money flowing and that this is not the time for a parliamentary showdown. The Liberals are to table a motion on Monday requiring information from the government about which departments and programs would receive funding. But Mr. Goodale says the Liberals won't debate the motion or force a vote on it until late March, giving them and the government time to work out a compromise.
Monday 02 March 2009 HALIFAX: LIBERAL PARTY LEADER EMPHASIZING DAYCARE CENTRES
The leader of the federal opposition Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, says that building a national network of early learning and child care centres would be the most important social project in Canada in 40 years. Mr. Ignatieff spoke in Halifax, where he attended a provincial party meeting on Sunday. He said that a Liberal Party government would work with the provinces to build the national daycare network. He made a commitment that if his party forms the next government, it would build more daycare spaces and help with operating costs
Thursday 29 January 2009 Canada’s Conservative minority government announced an expansionary federal budget involving the first fiscal deficit since 1996, together with a bigger buy-up of mortgage-backed securities, in an effort to offset the economic slowdown. Opposition parties criticised some of the details of the budget, but seemed unlikely to try to bring the government down. See article
Monday 19 January 2009 OTTAWA: IGNATIEFF ADDRESSES LIBERAL CAUCUS
For the first time since he was chosen as Liberal Party leader last year, Michael Ignatieff on Sunday addressed the party caucus. He briefly described three conditions that are necessary to secure his party's support for the Conservative Party federal budget on January 27. The budget will have to protect the most vulnerable citizens, to save jobs and to create jobs in the future. Mr. Ignatieff was reluctant to speak about a possible opposition coalition that could combine enough parliamentary votes to defeat the budget.
2008
Friday 12 December 2008 OTTAWA: HIGH COURT CONDEMNS ILLEGAL FEDERAL TAX
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the former Liberal Party federal government in 2002, 2003 and 2005 broke the law by transforming the premiums paid by workers and employers to fund employment insurance into a covert, illegal tax. The high court found that the government behaved illegally by setting the EI rates directly without authorization from Parliament. According to the court, only Parliament can impose a tax. However, the court rejected the contention by a Quebec labour federation that the government had deliberately run up huge EI surpluses to balance its budget. The CSN demanded that the government restore $52 billion to the EI fund. The legal impact of the ruling is uncertain. The court suspended it for one year to afford the government time to react.
Tuesday 25 November 2008 OTTAWA: LIBERALS LAMBASTE CONSERVATIVE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Opposition Liberal leader Stéphane Dion unleashed a full-scale verbal assault on the Conservatives' economic record since they were elected in January 2006, aiming in particular at the government's apparent equanimity about returning to a budget deficit. Mr. Dion accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of misleading voters during the Oct. 14 election campaign by insisting the Conservatives would never run a deficit and that speculation about such an eventuality was ridiculous. The Liberal leader also denounced the government for claiming in Wednesday's Speech From the Throne that the current problems are due to the global financial crisis rather than the government's own policies. Mr. Dion noted that federal spending has risen 25 per cent in the past three years, a situation worsened by the lowering of the Goods and Services Tax. Mr. Harper retorted that during the election campaign the Liberals claimed they could find $12 billion in federal savings, inviting the opposition to make him some suggestions. The prime minister added that he won't try to balance the budget by raising taxes or cutting essential services, "...a cure worse than the disease." Mr. Harper as well promised short-term stimulus for the economy.
Friday 14 November 2008 OTTAWA: THIRD CANDIDATE FOR LIBERAL LEADERSHIP
Canadian politician Michael Ignatieff has formally announced his candidacy for the leadership of the federal opposition Liberal party. The Toronto Member of Parliament and former Harvard University professor enters the race to succeed Stéphane Dion, who resigned from the post after the Liberals' disastrous performance in the Oct. 14 election. Mr. Ignatieff lost to Mr. Dion in the 2006 leadership convention. Mr. Ignatieff says he is running because the Conservative government is not telling Canadians what they need to know: There are two other candidates in the race so far, MPs Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc. The new leader of the Liberal Party will be chosen next May at a convention in Vancouver, BC.
Sunday 09 November 2008 OTTAWA: LIBERALS ON GUARD AGAINST CRIME LEGISLATION
Opposition Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion says his party won't sit by passively during the coming session of Parliament if the Conservative government reintroduces harsh crime legislation. For much of last year, the Liberals abstained from voting or failed to show up in the House for votes on the controversial legislation to avoid defeating the minority government and thus provoking an election. The Conservatives won a stronger minority in the Oct. 14 election and have indicated they will bring back the proposed legislation regardless of the consequences. The Liberals would face a new election at a time when they still have to choose a new leader, Mr. Dion having resigned after his party's disastrous performance on Oct. 14. The crime measures include life sentences for youths convicted of murder and fewer sentences that allow criminals to serve their time at home.
Sunday 09 November 2008 OTTAWA: LIBERAL PARTY CONSIDERING CHANGE TO LEADERSHIP RACE
Quebec members of the federal Liberal Party have made a controversial proposal to the national executive meeting in Ottawa. The proposal would change the leadership rules to prohibit anyone with an outstanding debt from the 2006 leadership race from seeking the leadership post. Opponents of the proposal contend that it erects barriers to potential candidates. The federal Liberal Party leader, Stephane Dion, announced his resignation after the party finished weakly in the federal election last month. He will stay on as leader until a successor is elected at a leadership convention in Vancouver in May. The site and date were announced on Saturday. Candidates will have to pay an entry fee of CDN$90,000, almost double the fee required in the 2006 leadership race. They will each be able to spend only CDN$1.5 million, or less than half the former spending limit imposed.
Wednesday 05 November 2008 VANCOUVER: LIBERAL MP WINS SEAT IN RECOUNT
Former B.C. Premier and federal Liberal Party cabinet minister Ujjal Dosanjh retained his Vancouver South riding by just 22 votes. Mr. Dosanjh was accounted to have won his seat by 33 votes over Conservative candidate Wai Young in the Oct. 14 national election, a result so close as to trigger an automatic recount. The winner says he'll turn his energies to helping the Liberal Party choose a new leader, current leader Stéphane Dion having announced his resignation after his party's defeat at the hands of the governing Conservatives.
Saturday 01 November 2008 OTTAWA: RAE SAYS HE'LL RUN FOR LIBERAL LEADERSHIP
Bob Rae, foreign affairs critic for Canada's Liberal Party, has effectively declared his candidacy for the federal Liberal leadership, dismissing persistent rumours that he won't run. Rae said Friday he's asked outgoing Liberal leader Stephane Dion to leave him out of the Liberal shadow cabinet so that he can devote his time to the leadership quest. Rae hadn't intended to announce he was running until after Nov. 8, when the Liberal party's national executive is scheduled to announce the date for the convention that will choose Dion's successor. But he was forced to tip his hand Friday in a bid to quell rumours suggesting he's having second thoughts about taking another stab at the party's top job. The rumours have been circulating for more than a week, and Rae said he felt compelled to set the record straight after the gossip surfaced Friday in a front-page Globe and Mail story.
Saturday 25 October 2008 MONTREAL: LIBERALS WON EXTRA COMMONS SEAT
A vote recount by Quebec Superior Court has reversed the official result declared by Elections Canada in the Oct. 14 national election. Marcel Lussier of the Bloc Québécois had been declared the winner by 102 votes, but the court found that Alexandra Mendes of the Liberal was in fact the victor by 62 votes. The Liberals now have 77 seats in the House of Commons and the Bloc 49. Several recounts were ordered across the country after Oct. 14.
Wednesday 22 October 2008 OTTAWA: POSSIBLE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES CONCLUDE PACT
Federal Liberal Party Member of Parliament Bob Rae has told the Canadian Press that he and deputy House leader Michael Ignatieff have struck an informal accord to keep the forthcoming leadership campaign civilized and respectful. Mr. Rae's revelation comes a day after party leader Stéphane Dion resigned in the wake of the Liberals' disastrous performance in last week's national election. Mr. Rae and Mr. Ignatieff are considered likely to compete to replace Mr. Dion, although neither is a declared candidate. Mr. Rae has told CP that it is in the best interest of their party to avoid rancour and that they have met often specifically to discuss ways to avoid such an eventuality. In 2006, their two camps felt such an intense enmity toward each other that neither could win the leadership, enabling Mr. Dion to capture the post. The Liberal Party national executive will meet on Nov. 8 to set a date and location for the leadership convention, as well as set spending limits for the candidates.
Friday 17 October 2008 OTTAWA: LIBERAL MP CALLS FOR DION'S HIDE
Less than two days after Tuesday's electoral disaster for the federal Liberal Party, a Liberal Member of Parliament has called for the resignation of party leader Stéphane Dion. Joe Volpe, a Toronto MP and a former leadership rival of Mr. Dion's, says it would be best both for the leader and his party to depart in dignity as soon as possible. Mr. Volpe told the CTV television network that the party needs rebuilding and "...since nobody's going to give him a chance to do that rebuilding...". he should depart. Mr. Dion spent Thursday in seclusion at the residence of official opposition leader in Ottawa on Thursday. He hasn't been seen in public since his concession speech on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency reports that some top officials of the party also want Mr. Dion to leave. The party won only 76 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, a loss of 21 from the 2006 election, and only 26.1 per cent of the popular vote. It was the party's worst performance since 1867. Reuters cites an unnamed senior Liberal as saying that the party leadership will give Mr. Dion a week to reflect upon his fate and then send a delegation to him led by party co-chairman David Smith. The source said the delegation wouldn't have the power to force Mr. Dion out of his position but added: "He's got to go." Other party sources told the agency that potential successors are being sounded out. If Mr. Dion refuses to leave, the party would have to hold a review convention in May to decide whether to launch a leadership race.
Sunday 12 October 2008 TORONTO: LIBERAL PARTY LEADER FORESEES POSSIBLE SLOWDOWN
Campaigning on Saturday in Ontario for the federal election, the Liberal Party leader, Stephane Dion, said that the global economic crisis could delay implementation of his party's promises if he's elected prime minister on Tuesday. He said that programs to boost child and health care could be delayed into the third and fourth years. But he insisted that a major plank in his platform, the carbon-taxation plan, would not be delayed. He explained that the plan's income-tax cuts would act as an economic stimulant.
Wednesday 01 October 2008 HALIFAX: LIBERAL LAUNCH PLAN FOR EAST
The Liberals have presented a regional policy manifesto for Atlantic Canada. Some of its promises were contained in the party platform made public last week, but a group of local Liberals also focussed on regional issues, such as a pledge to renew funding for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities agency, the main federal economic agency in the region. The Liberals also promise to add five more weeks of unemployment benefits to tide over workers during the period between the end of the payments and the beginning of seasonal work. The party also calls for a moratorium on fare increase on ferries between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador as well as between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The ferries have been losing money as fuel costs have risen and ridership dwindled.
Tuesday 30 September 2008 TORONTO: LIBERALS RIP TORIES' ECONOMIC POLICIES
Deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says that if the Conservatives are able to carry out their economic program, the country will become unrecognizable. He told the Economic Club of Canada on Monday morning that the Conservatives are obsessed with shrinking the government's economic role while pushing Canada to "the brink of deficit." The deputy leader says that Canadians are vulnerable at a time of crisis that entails a "looming deficit, a credit crunch, an American economy in recession, surging energy prices, rising inflation and falling productivity." Mr. Ignatieff predicts that the Conservatives will cut health care, pensions and other areas that would devastate the middle class. Mr. Ignatieff also accused the NDP of being stuck in a outmoded socialist ideology of the early 20th century.
Monday 29 September 2008 TORONTO: NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY UNVEILS CAMPAIGN PLATFORM
The New Democratic Party on Sunday unveiled a campaign platform that party leader Jack Layton hopes will entice voters on election day, October 14. The plan promises a new baby bonus, better health care and help for aboriginals and students. The NDP proposes to replace three existing child benefits with a new monthly cheque of up to CDN$400. A large part of the plan would be funded by higher corporate taxes. Federal spending would increase by CDN$8 billion in the first year, and to CDN$18 billion within four years. The latest opinion polls give the NDP the support of 19 per cent of the electorate, an increase of five points since the start of the election campaign three weeks ago.
Sunday 28 September 2008 OTTAWA: LIBERAL PARTY LEADER WARNS VOTERS OF U.S. POLICY
The leader of the opposition Liberal Party, Stephane Dion, is urging Canadians to reject what he calls the right-wing ideology of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration. Mr. Dion predicts that tough times are coming in the United States as a result of what he calls the administration's right-wing ideology of laissez-faire I-don't-care. Mr. Dion has often accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper's policies of resembling those of Mr. Bush. Campaigning on Saturday for the federal election on October 14, Mr. Dion pledged to create jobs by means of an infrastructure program that would cost CDN$70 billion over ten years. As the election campaign was poised to begin its third week, opinion polls continue to show Canadians prefer Mr. Harper over Mr. Dion as prime minister, and the Conservative Party over the Liberals.
Saturday 20 September 2008 22:02 HEADLINGLEY: LIBERAL CHAMPIONS COUNTRYSIDE
Liberal leader Stéphane Dion has told farmers in the Western Canadian province that his party's environmental program would be generous to them if it's elected. Manitoba's farm country has so far been cool to the Liberals' "Green Shift." Mr. Dion says a Liberal government would spend $1.2 billion over four years to support agricultural areas. The measures include a $400-million tax credit for farms that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a $250-million Green Farms Fund for farmers to invest in energy-efficient technology. One of the most important sources of greenhouse gas is cattle excrement.
Tuesday 16 September 2008OTTAWA: LIBERAL LEADER ATTACK TORY ECONOMIC STEWARDSHIP
Stéphane Dion says that while the U.S. economy is in a downturn, Canada's is worse and the blame is the Conservatives.' Mr. Dion accuses the Tories of doing little to prepare the country for the slowdown, to improve productivity and have spent so much money that the federal budget could incur a deficit for the first time in more than a decade. The Liberal leader added that Canada's gross domestic product is lower than that of the Americans. Mr. Dion says his own "Green Plan," the centrepiece of which is a carbon tax, would stimulate the economy by taking money from polluters and returning to Canadians in the form of tax cuts. Mr. Harper has described the plan as "wild experiments" for which the country isn't ready.
Sunday 14 September 2008 Trudeau Tomfoolery
Justin Trudeau, son of former PM Pierre, is taking on all comers in the Montreal riding of Papineau. And, like his father, he has a gift for the gab. So good that a Quebec communications firm couldn't resist a parody of Trudeau's welcome video from his website.
Thursday 29 May 2008 OTTAWA: OPPOSITION WANTS POLICE INVESTIGATION OF FORMER MINISTER
The opposition Liberal Party has demanded that federal police investigate a national security breach committed by former Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier, a demand that the Conservative government has ignored. The minister resigned on Monday after it became known that he had left a classified document at the residence of a former lady friend. The resignation was announced by the prime minister, Mr. Harper, at an extraordinary news conference. The prime minister said that the document has been returned and that no security breach occurred. The Liberal Member of Parliament Ujjal Dosanjh says that both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and an independent, non-partisan third party should examine the matter. The MP says that the process of how the government handles classified documents needs to be investigated. Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn sought to play down the importance of Mr. Bernier's lapse, saying that many briefing documents are "super-boring."
Wednesday 19 March 2008
BY-ELECTION TEA LEAVES The
Post fronts, while The
National, CTV
News, the
Globe, the
Star, La
Presse and the
Citizen go inside with scattershot comment on the recent by-elections
from a whole host of Wednesday-morning quarterbacks. Your view of who won
or lost the contests—other than the three Liberals and one
Conservative who actually got elected—depends largely on the
particular axe you’re interested in grinding. If you’re among
those who never see anything but gloom and doom for Dion, you will join
the Post’s John Ivison in noting that “the Conservatives
increased their share of the vote in three of four contests,” and
the Star’s Chantal Hébert in fretting that “a majority
Conservative government could be around the corner of a spring
campaign.” If you like giving credence to the mad political skills
supposedly
exhibited by Elizabeth May, whose seatless Green Party is showered
with encouragement every time they place a distant second or third in a
by-election, you will use the boost in Green support seen in Monday’s
low-turnout vote as a stick with which to beat
the NDP. If you understand the Liberal Party as an ongoing leadership
race that occasionally encounters some boring slack periods, you will cheer the return
of Bob Rae and the arrival of Martha Hall Findlay in the House, and pay
scant attention to Rae’s flatly exasperated expressions of
support for Dion. If you want to find out what actually happened in four
by-elections in three markedly different parts of the country where local
and provincial dynamics had a heavy bearing on the outcome, you’re
largely out of luck. The Globe comes closest to breaking it down for us,
joining the broadcasts in considering
the effects of a Liberal fracas over the Saskatchewan seat in which the
national party had to fend off a nomination bid by party-hopping gadfly
David Orchard, and gingerly
attempting to parse the Vancouver-Quadra results for insight into the
mood of the often-baffling British Columbia electorate.
_______________________________
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GRIT DREAM TEAM, OR DION'S NIGHTMARE? by Jordan
Himelfarb March 18, 2008
If someone had claimed in 1995, as then-Ontario Premier Bob Rae
prepared to leave office, that the New Democrat would re-emerge thirteen
years later as a possible future Liberal prime minister, MediaScout would
have laughed the notion straight out of town. After all, besides the
unlikely political apostasy, Rae’s premiership, widely regarded as a
disaster, left the province in financial ruin and his political stock in
the basement. It’s a good thing for MediaScout’s reputation,
then, that no one had the gall or the foresight to make such a prediction.
Rae, who narrowly lost the Liberal leadership race to Stéphane Dion in
2006, easily won a
by-election yesterday in the riding of Toronto Centre, which will
allow him to join
his new party as an MP in Ottawa. Rae’s win and his imminent
arrival in the Liberal shadow cabinet—probably in a continuation of
his role as foreign affairs critic—are interpreted in two, possibly
contradictory, ways in today’s sources: As a boon for the party or
as the next step in the man’s ongoing hunt for the keys to 24 Sussex
Drive.
Meanwhile, in three
other by-elections held yesterday, the Liberals retained two seats
(Willowdale in Toronto and Vancouver Quadra) and lost one
(Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan). Despite
the best efforts of Robert Fife on CTV
News to interpret each riding’s results as a bellwether of the
Liberal party’s vitality, the significance of the victories in the
three Grit stronghold ridings and the narrow defeat in the swing
Saskatchewan seat remains murky. What is clear is that with the addition
to the House of Rae and former rival leadership candidate Martha Hall
Findlay, who handily won in Willowdale, the already star-studded Liberal
benches will now boast an even more formidable line-up of political
powerhouses. This is in contrast to the Conservative government, described
by Don
Martin in the Post as a one-man show and “a wasteland of rival
ambition.” According to the
Globe, Dion plans to use the strength of his team as a selling point,
declaring, “I am a team player and a team builder and tonight
it’s clearer than ever that I have a much better team than Stephen
Harper.” However, Dion likely sees that the perceived
competence of his right-hand men and women is as much a curse as it is
a blessing; the embattled leader’s failure
to convert the government’s
political mistakes into gains in the polls only reinforces the
impression of Rae and his former roommate, deputy Liberal leader Michael
Ignatieff, as “leaders-in-waiting,” as Don Martin describes
them. Though Dion’s team may be better than Harper’s, the
Liberal leader might find that they’re a bit too good for his own
good.
2007
Thursday 18 October 2007 OTTAWA: LIBERALS WON'T PROVOKE FALL ELECTION
The opposition Liberal Party has decided not to force a fall election by voting to defeat Tuesday's Speech From the Throne by the governing minority Conservative Party. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion told the House of Commons on Wednesday that his party would present an amendment before next week's confidence vote on the speech and then abstain from voting on the main motion on the address. The Liberal amendment criticizes the government for having abandoned the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change and demands that the government inform NATO that Canada will withdraw militarily from Afghanistan in February 2009, as mandated by the House. However, the amendment doesn't stipulate a complete military pullout. Liberal sources have told the Canadian Press that the strategy is for the amendment to fail because the NDP won't vote for it, given that party's insistence on immediate military withdrawal, leaving the Liberals with a clean conscience to abstain on the main motion. It merely thanks the governor general for having delivered the speech, a motion which the Liberal consider not to be a measure of confidence. Mr. Dion told the House that he is actuated by the realization that Canadians don't want a third election in less than four years. If all three opposition parties vote against the speech, the House would be dissolved and an election would ensue.
Wednesday 10 October 2007 OTTAWA: LIBERALS AREN'T ITCHING FOR FALL ELECTION
Opposition Liberal leader Stéphane Dion says he doesn't want a fall election but is prepared to fight one if next week's Speech from the Throne from the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper forces one. Mr. Dion says his party wants Parliament to work and that he'll assess the speech in terms of the interests of the Canadian people. The Speech outlining the government's legislative priorities will be a question of confidence on which legislators will vote. If the three opposition unite against it, the government would fall and a new election ensue. The Liberal leader repeated that his party expects a statement in the speech promising respect of Parliament's mandated end to the military mission in Afghanistan. But at his news conference, Mr. Dion didn't mention the February 2009 deadline. Last week, Mr. Harper said that not only is the Speech a question of confidence, so to will be all the proposed legislation flowing from it, which seemed to open up a perspective of a series of confidence votes.
MARTIN C. BARRY Federal Liberal leader Stéphane Dion is being asked to reconsider his choice of Jocelyn Coulon ? an international affairs expert selected by the Liberals to run in a coming byelection in Outremont. B'nai Brith Canada claims Coulon is biased against Israel.
"At a time when Canada's foreign policy is headed in the wrong direction because of the current Conservative government's Republican-style approach, I am confident that the people of Outremont will be proud to elect...
Monday 05 March 2007
Liberals try to get their groove back Stephane Dion is taking advantage of a two-week parliamentary break to criss-cross the country, trying to restore some lustre to his fledgling leadership.
Friday 12 January 2007 OTTAWA: PROMINENT LIBERAL QUITS
A member of Canada's opposition Liberal party has resigned. Jean Lapierre, who represents the Montreal-area riding of Outremont, was a cabinet minister in the former government of prime minister Jean Chrétien. Mr. Lapierre stepped down to begin a new job hosting a radio and television program in Montreal. The resignation, coming on the heels of last week's defection to the government by Liberal Wajid Khan, reduces the Liberal Opposition to 100 members and gives the Conservative minority a two-seat cushion, provided Prime Minister Stephen Harper can strike a deal with NDP Leader Jack Layton to pass key legislation in the House of Commons.
Friday 05 January 2007 OTTAWA: CABINET SHUFFLE
With a general election widely expected in 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper put a new face on his government Thursday by shuffling and expanding his cabinet. Some existing ministers traded places, while some new faces were brought in to bring the cabinet to 32-members. One change long expected was the removal of Rona Ambrose from the environment portfolio. She is now responsible for relations between the federal government and the provinces. Ms. Ambrose is replaced in environment by John Baird, who relinquishes control of the Treasury Board. Rob Nicholson moves from Government House leader to Justice Minister. Monte Solberg gives up the immigration portfolio to become Human Resources Minister. Vic Toews moves from Justice to Treasury Board. (SEE FULL LIST BELOW)
OTTAWA: NEW FEDERAL CABINET
Friday 05 January 2007
New minister looks to make impact Canada’s latest environmental steward is a man with a reputation that is equal parts aggressive policy maker and partisan brawler.
Prime Minister - Stephen Harper. Minister of Justice; Attorney General of Canada - Robert Nicholson. Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics - David Emerson. Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec - Jean-Pierre Blackburn. Minister of Veterans Affairs - Gregory Thompson. Leader of the Government in the Senate; Secretary of State for Seniors - Marjory LeBreton. Minister of Human Resources and Social Development - Monte Solberg. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board - Chuck Strahl. Minister of Natural Resources - Gary Lunn. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency - Peter MacKay. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans - Loyola Hearn. Minister of Public Safety - Stockwell Day. Minister of National Revenue - Carol Skelton. President of Treasury Board - Vic Toews. President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Western Economic Diversification - Rona Ambrose. Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform - Peter Van Loan. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration - Diane Finley. Minister of Defence - Gordon O'Connor. Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women - Bev Oda. Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians - Jim Prentice. Minister of the Environment - John Baird. Minister of Industry - Maxime Bernier. Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities - Lawrence Canon. Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario - Tony Clement. Minister of Finance - James Flaherty. Minister of International Co-operation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages - Josée Verner. Minister of Public Works and Government Services - Michael Fortier. Chief Government Whip and Secretary of State - Jay Hill. Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity - Jason Kenney. Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism - Gerry Ritz. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Secretary of State for Sport - Helena Guergis. Secretary of State for Agriculture - Christian Paradis.
2006
Thursday 04 January 2007
New poll suggests parties in political dead heat A new poll suggests the federal Liberals are rebuilding their strength in Quebec and at year-end may have been in a dead heat with the Conservatives in support across the country.
Liberal popularity surging Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has received a dramatic boost in public support in the wake of the recent leadership convention and would defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives if a general election was held today, a major new poll has found.
Saturday 09 December 2006
Liberal popularity surging Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has received a dramatic boost in public support in the wake of the recent leadership convention and would defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives if a general election was held today, a major new poll has found.
Dion surges to victory, defeating Ignatieff MONTREAL — Stephane Dion has won the Liberal leadership in an upset win over Michael Ignatieff, who had been the front runner coming into this convention.
The final battle between the two former professors was not decided until the fourth ballot.
Mr. Dion had surged into the lead on the third ballot and went on from there, winning a clear majority of 54.7 per cent of the final vote.
Saturday 02 December 2006 Canada's opposition Liberal Party has opened a four-day leadership convention in the city of Montreal. This weekend, an estimated 5,000 delegates will choose a new leader from among eight candidates. Meanwhile, the Liberal party has adopted a major shift in policy. The Liberals have acknowledged a fiscal imbalance between the federal government and Canada's provinces. The provinces have long complained that the federal government takes more money from them in taxes than it gives back in services. The provinces maintain that this forces them to increase local taxes to pay for such services. Canada's Conservative Party prime minister, Stephen Harper, pledged to eliminate the fiscal imbalance during the last federal election campaign.
Wednesday 29 November 2006 MONTREAL: LIBERALS PULL DIVISIVE LEADERSHIP ISSUE
Canada's opposition Liberal Party has decided to withdraw a potentially contentious and divisive resolution that was to have been debated at its leadership convention, which begins on Wednesday in Montreal. Delegates would have debated a resolution to recognize "the Quebec nation within Canada." A debate could have torn open divisions on the question within the party. Two of the eight leadership candidates, Ken Dryden and Joe Volpe, were among MPs who vote against the House motion. Fifteen of the 16 "no" votes were cast by Liberal MPs. A third candidate, Gerard Kennedy, isn't an MP but opposes the notion that the largely French-speaking province is a "nation." The Liberal Party governed Canada in the 12 years preceding its election defeat to the governing Conservatives in January. The party will elect a successor to former Prime Minister Paul Martin, who resigned the leadership after the vote.
Monday 20 November 2006 TORONTO: BOB RAE FAVOURED AS LIBERAL PARTY CANDIDATE
A new opinion poll suggests that Canada's opposition Liberal Party would have a better chance of victory in the next general election if Bob Rae is elected party leader. The survey says that 37 per cent of Canadians would vote Liberal or at least consider doing so if the former Ontario premier were the leader. That compares with 34 per cent for Stephane Dion, 33 per cent for Michael Ignatieff, and 31 per cent for Gerard Kennedy, the other main contenders. The Liberal leadership convention opens in Montreal in early December.
Monday Nov 13, 2006 Wed1289 .. We were somewhat surprised to learn that Canada's Liberals have invited Howard Dean to be the keynote speaker. Was there really no-one else? But then we learned that Canada's Liberals are not alone: Britain's Labor Party has also enlisted his help in boosting that party's flagging fortunes before the local elections in May.
We heard friend Beryl Wajsman tonight on this subject with Raymond Heard - both sniping at the decision to invite Dean, with Ray Heard hissing the "S word" - socialists -and wondering aloud why John Turner had not been the invited keynoter. It seems to us the answer is obvious: Howard Dean, for all his perceived faults, was the Chairman of the winning party.
This may be the swan song for leadership conventions as we have known them - from here on even the Liberals will join the electronic age - but we confess to a bit of nostalgia for the drama of the (no longer) smoke filled rooms crowded with deal makers. Nonetheless, it looks like this Liberal Leadership Convention won't be dull.
Nov Policy Options is Canada's premier public policy magazine. Its goal is to encourage an informed debate on the important public policy issues of today, and of tomorrow. In each edition, short articles on the immediate issues that dominate the headlines are combined with in-depth analyses of longer-term issues that are certain to emerge on the policy horizon. Policy Options is published ten times per year.
Monday, October 30, 2006 One party, one Canada Trudeau is dead. "Trudeau federalism", whatever that really means when you separate mythmaking from reality, died in 1995-1997 when, at the hands of the the Liberal Party, the Government of Canada recognized Québec as a distinct society and negotiated provincial deals that reduced the heavy handed strong central government of "Trudeau Liberalism".
Wed1287 We had hoped to introduce Martha Hall Findlay to you this Wednesday Night, however, we should have known better than to trust politicians, or their eager organizers. She writes: "I was so looking forward to joining the Salon this coming week, but I'm afraid we're going to have to cancel (or at least postpone?). With now only a month until the Convention the demands here are piling up---particularly in the fundraising department, which as you can understand is key right now. I am really sorry, I hope that this doesn't cause a problem. I understand that you meet regularly regardless, so this time you can all agree on how undependable politicians can be!" As we greatly admire her and her perseverance in the campaign, we do hope that she will join us on another occasion.
Honestly, Bob Rae wanting to be Liberal leader seemed so bizarre I figured it was just a matter of time before Bob would be on the TV revealing the tragic results of the CAT scan.
Tuesday Oct 17, 2006 Liberal blood sport in Toronto
Bob Rae let slip the mantle of statesmanship - and just when he was doing so well - while Michael Ignatieff's performance suggests he may not be an acquired taste after all. As for Stephane Dion, he delivered an impassioned, spontaneous and heart-felt defence of the Liberal record that will win him praise for his loyalty, if not for his political judgment.
Monday 16 October 2006
Candidates train sights on winning the next election
Leadership rivals no longer resigned to opposition roles ...Ignatieff lashed out at Harper's "politics of gimmicks," for instance, and continually evoked the Prime Minister's name as his chief opponent. More subtly, he tried to telegraph to Liberals that his relative newness on the scene might persuade voters that they weren't re-electing the band they ejected from power less than a year ago.
Monday 16 October 2006 globe 'This is not a tea party' The debate capped a week in which the eight-way race had already turned nastier, as front-runner Michael Ignatieff was pushed onto the defensive over his statement that Israel committed war crimes in Lebanon and three of the campaigns asked the Liberal Party to disqualify Bob Rae's B.C. delegates for “fraudulent” tactics.
Saturday Jan 14, 2006 ts Messy campaign reflects Martin as PM
What's wrong with a Liberal campaign now free-falling toward a jolting landing is what's wrong with Paul Martin as prime minister, writes James Travers.
Higher learning Mr. Harper, meanwhile, has accused the Liberals of expending their energies in "damage control" to lessen the impact of their many political scandals, while recklessly squandering the taxpayers' money. He promises that a Conservative government would clean up government, cut taxes and crack down on crime. Mr. Harper also accuses the Liberals of trying to disparage his party through scare tactics. Regarding the issue of separatism in Quebec, the Tory leader says what's needed isn't a fight against separatists but rather to show Quebecers a clean federal government. Mr. Harper touched on a potentially sensitive issue by promising that he would allow a free vote in the House of Commons if Parliament decides to revert to the traditional definition of marriage as a union between men and women.
NDP leader Jack Layton launched his campaign by recalling the concessions which his party had wrested from the Liberals in the last session of the House. He recalled that the former minority governing party had withdrawn planned corporate tax cuts, and agreed to spend more for health care, lower tuition fees, low-cost housing and improved public transit. Mr. Layton says Canadians must realize they have a progressive choice between "Liberal broken promises and Conservative wrongheadedness."
Bloc Québécois chief Gilles Duceppe, meanwhile, emphasized the "sponsorship" scandal involving federal public relations contracts that were designed to improve the federal image in Quebec. Mr. Duceppe accuses the Liberals of having learned nothing from the scandal because Mr. Martin continues to practice "patronage and camouflage."
Friday Nov 19, 2004 EX-LIBERAL SAYS SHE HAS NO REGRETS OVER FIRING
Carolyn Parrish deserved to be fired and her ouster from the Liberal party should have been a long time ago. She is so embarrassing to our couintry that his site has moved all references to this idiot to a separt fools page. "She makes me cringe," says Michael Ignatieff, cringing. "That attitude is so embarrassing."
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.Liberal Leadership Convention 2003 Hello,
Paul Martin. Adieu, Jean Chrétien. At the Liberal Leadership Convention
held this past November in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre, Maclean's
Chief Photographer Peter Bregg captured the Liberal fellowship and
Canadian and international celebrities, including U2 front man Bono,
who came out to fête the new party leader.
.
.The Year in Cartoons As
2003 draws to a close, we present the year that was in political
cartoons. See how our team of artists represented events like Hurricane
Juan and easy targets like "Santa" Paul Martin. Plus,
Andy Nulman 
Martha Hall Findlay
INDEPTH: PAUL MARTIN July 20th 2004