Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber (Photo: Alberta Diary) Conservative MPs on the House of Commons’s ethics committee amended Brent Rathgeber’s private member’s bill seeking salary disclosures. He’d proposed forcing disclosures for public servants earning more than about $180,000. The committee upped the threshold to $444,000. Rathgeber, the Conservative MP for Edmonton-St. Albert,
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Leftist Jab: Canadian Olympic Committee To Start New Campaign Called "Own The Byelection"?
Because Dimitri Soudas has terrible judgment. Backbench Spring MP Brent Rathgeber has quit the Conservative caucus. While the Tories are mired in scandal after scandal, the watering down of Mr. Rathgeber’s transparency bill appears to have been the clincher for the Alberta MP. As he stepped down, reaction from Conservatives
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Did he jump or was he pushed? Outspoken Alberta Conservative MP goes over the side
Your blogger with Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber, who is a Tory no more, back in the day when he still was. TORONTO From Rob Ford to Brent Rathgeber in a single day – talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous! Or is that the other way around?
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: Conservative MP’s Bill C-461 threatens CBC journalistic integrity, protection of sources
By: Canadian Journalists for Free Expression | Press Release: TORONTO – One of Canada’s leading free speech groups is warning that a low-profile bill – coming up for second reading debate in the House of Commons today – could severely weaken the journalistic integrity of the CBC and cripple its ability to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the difference between genuine accountability and the rather more barbaric version on offer from the Cons and the Sask Party. While there are too many examples of the latter to list, I’ll point out a few of the most recent ones – including the federal Cons’ false denials
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On predetermination
Shorter Brent Rathgeber: What government backbencher would dare consider asking the Parliamentary Budget Officer for information if he can’t suppress any inconvenient findings? I’d rather stay ignorant, thank you very much.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: There is a God: Merit Contractors, advocates of Bill C-377, would be caught in its web
Tory MP wonders about Bill C-377: “Is anybody really interested in breaching Sally the Receptionist’s privacy because she earns 40k answering the phones at the Union Hiring Hall?” Below: Stephen Kushner. Surely it is one of life’s little ironies that among the groups certain to be caught in the web
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stephen Maher follows up on this week’s Supreme Court ruling on Etobicoke Centre by pointing out where we should be most worried about our electoral system: Fraudulent voting is far from the biggest problem facing our democracy. Disengagement is. Voting rates are declining
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Motion 312 and reproductive rights: pay attention to what Tories do, not to what they say
What? What? I’m pro-choice and pro-life, Edmonton St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber seems to say in this shot grabbed from his website. Below: Kitchener Centre MP Stephen Woodworth. In this era of routine political deceit, wise voters are advised to pay attention to what their elected representatives actually do, not
Continue readingAlberta Diary: If Alberta’s Tories loved Peter Lougheed so much, why do they have so little to say about him?
Linda Duncan at the Alberta NDP’s 50th annual convention over the weekend. Below: Ralph Goodale, Peter Lougheed. We have 28 federal electoral districts in Alberta of which 27 elected members of the Conservative Party of Canada. Of those 27 Conservative MPs, one has since been kicked out of caucus for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – pogge offers up the definitive response to the Cons’ attempt to encourage a sell-off of First Nations reserve land: When you look past the paternalistic argument that the only way First Nations communities can possibly thrive is to be more like us, this
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Pure milk or pure ideology? Alberta MP attacks supply management
Milking it for all that it’s worth – not how it’s done any more. Below: Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber. ST. ALBERT, Alberta Brent Rathgeber, Member of Parliament for Edmonton St. Albert, has launched a third “attack” on the policies of the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The coda to Oda was writ bright with orange juice
Bev Oda, foreground, enjoys a celebratory dinner at the Savoy, her orange juice just visible under her right arm. Departing Canadian politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Ms. Oda in happier times; Ms. Oda has a last cigarette before barking out the order to the firing squad. Bev
Continue readingLeftist Jab: Brent Rathgeber Denounces Cabinet Perks as Cover Against Allegation of Being "Asshole" Email Leaker
Rathgeber: attempting to avoid the wrath of Jason Kenney As backbenchers go, Brent Rathgeber certainly has political acumen. The current chatter in Canadian politics is that Brent Rathgeber is hurting his advancement chances by blogging about the opulence of cabinet ministers. Technically, that’s very true but he probably also saved
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tory Brent Rathgeber knocks cabinet perks? Maverick move or just maverick shtick?
Your favourite blogger, with Brent Rathgeber, the original blogging Tory. What’s up with Brent Rathgeber? Specifically, is he a maverick, or is he just doing the maverick shtick? Mr. Rathgeber, as is well known to readers of this blog, is the Member of Parliament for Edmonton-St. Albert, and he is
Continue readingLeftist Jab: Want To Know Who Leaked Jason Kenney’s "Asshole" Email?
Camouflage won’t help this man. Let’s work through the list of suspects, shall we? Here’s a copy of the email in question: .Part II So the suspects are obviously all Alberta Conservative caucus members. Let’s trim that down using the evidence in question. There were 27 Conservatives from Alberta elected
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Explaining the F-35 fiasco: the ‘Yes Minister Defence’
Yes Minister! Senior civil servants advise Defence Minister Peter MacKay, holding the Globe and Mail at right, on the F-35 purchase: “Confidentially Minister MacKay, everything you tell me about the F-35 is in complete confidence, so equally, and I am sure you appreciate this, and by appreciate I don’t actually
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