Author: Dale Smith

As we make cuts to CIDA, Foreign Affairs, disband Rights & Democracy, eliminate Elections Canada’s ability to help with elections abroad, and compound our loss of a seat on the UN Security Council, it needs to be asked if we’re threatening our international reputation. The answer would seem to be a resounding

And that was the Auditor General’s report. Issues with border inspections, airline safety, and oh yeah – the F-35 procurement process, which was understandably scathing. DND didn’t run a proper procurement process and wasn’t upfront about escalating costs. As well, there are concerns about the regional industrial benefits from the purchase, and the lack of a

The Auditor General’s report comes out today, and it’s expected to be exceptionally scathing to the F-35 procurement process. And rightfully so. Word has it that following the release, the government will turn over the process to Public Works, like they did the shipbuilding contracting process. You know, the one that was

If you work in the public service, brace yourselves – the government is expected to start releasing details about job cuts today. Because some people care about this, Justin Trudeau beat Senator Patrick Brazeau with a TKO at Saturday’s charity boxing match. (Video here). John Geddes of Maclean’s writes quite eloquently about it here. The government

Among other budget fallout, the Conservatives have signalled that they will reform EI to try to cut down on its “reliance” by those in seasonal industries, which makes some people on the East Coast nervous that it could mean a mass migration westward. Legislation on MP pensions will likely come in

So, that was the federal budget. What can we say? Some 19000 federal jobs to be cut over three years, two thirds of which will likely be by attrition, while also tightening public sector pensions. (Note: the total public service still will remain larger than when Harper took office). Raising the eligibility for OAS

It’s budget day! To send the signal this year, Jim Flaherty took reporters out to the Aldo in Rideau Centre for a new pair of shoes, apparently to say that it’s a “prosperity budget” and not an “austerity budget.” Um, okay then. One thing this budget could bring is changes

The Council of Canadians is backing court challenges of the electoral results in seven ridings based on evidence of misleading robocalls and other voter suppression techniques. It’s not enough to overturn the majority, and it seems to be jumping the gun since Elections Canada hasn’t completed their investigation, and I have to

And that was Mulcair’s first day as leader in the House. As one of the changes the NDP will be making under the Mulcair Era is to immediately start advertising to define Mulcair in the public eye, and to try their own hand at defining Harper. Among the changes to the party Mulcair wants to make,

In the wake of Thomas Mulcair’s victory, here is his first interview as leader with Peter Mansbridge, and some commentary from the other party’s observers at the convention, like Scott Brison and James Moore. And since it’s all anyone can talk about, here are some thoughts from Paul Wells, Chantal Hébert, John Ivison (twice!), Tim Harper, John Ibbitson, Andrew Coyne, Stephen

And so, after interminable delays, Thomas Mulcair is the new leader of the NDP. In case you missed the rundowns, here they are: 1st Ballot: Ashton: 3,737, Singh 3,821, Dewar 4,883, Nash 8,353, Cullen 10,671, Topp 13,915, Mulcair 19,728 2nd Ballot: Nash 10,519, Cullen 12,449, Topp 15,624, Mulcair 23,902 3rd

And those were the final NDP leadership candidate presentations. And how very…underwhelming they were. Nathan Cullen’s was spare and he had lots of personal anecdotes about fighting the Northern Gateway pipeline, but he shied away from spelling out his plan to run joint nominations with Liberals (and presumably Green) candidates.

Christian Paradis has been a very naught boy, the Ethics Commissioner has reported, and he broke conflict of interest rules when dealing with Rahim Jaffer. Paradis’ response is that these rules are educational tools and he’ll “take further precautions” in the future. There is no actual punishment for his breach or the rules

NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel gave her farewell press conference yesterday and declared victory. Um, okay – except you know that getting the government to vote on a bunch of feel-good symbolic, non-binding motions isn’t holding them to account and not really something to crow about, right? Just checking. In advance

Holy cripes! Yesterday marked ten years since Stephen Harper became leader of the Canadian Alliance Party, and the slow march to 24 Sussex. Over at Maclean’s, Paul Wells marks the occasion with an e-book of columns over those ten years, and talks about the man and his rise to power. As we

In the Toronto Danforth by-election last night, the NDP’s Craig Scott won handily with nearly 60 percent of the vote. This now brings the queer contingent of the caucus to five MPs, and six out MPs to the House in total. Oh, and Toronto Danforth. 43 percent voter turnout? *slow clap* The Conservatives have

It the by-election in Toronto Danforth today, and it’s been a pretty queer-heavy race so far. NDP candidate Craig Scott is a gay law professor, and while Liberal candidate Gordon Grant is straight, this is the first campaign that the nascent Queer Liberals group has been organising with. Results to come

Julian Fantino is now musing that they could put off the F-35 purchase for a few more years to save some money, given the production costs, and so on. Err, except of course that the CF-18s may not be usable past 2020, let alone 2023, given that engines and fuel tanks haven’t

Ides of March drama happened in the NDP leadership yesterday as Ed Broadbent pretty much came out and knifed Thomas Mulcair in the gut yesterday, warning about his centrism and ability to keep the party together, and claiming that Mulcair was falsely claiming too much credit for the victory in Quebec (though his own

The NDP benches applauded extra vigorously today for what looks like Nycole Turmel’s last QP as interim leader, and she stood up to ask about the planned cuts to services, to which Harper told her to wait for the budget. When Turmel demanded a jobs plan, Harper took out a