NO RETREAT - Michel Drapeau Law Office

Transcription

EXCLUSIVE POLITICAL COVERAGE: NEWS, FEATURES, AND ANALYSIS INSIDE
LATIN AMERICA
FUNDRAISING
OIL SANDS
F-35 PROCUREMENT CONSULTATIONS
PM visit
Conservative juggernaut
Ethical oil
Suspended
Finance Committee
NDP MP Paul Dewar says PM
Harper’s trip to Latin America
was a ‘rescue mission.’ p.13
Tories’ stable majority and strong
party means bad news on the
fundraising front. p. 11
Alykhan Velshi’s rebuttal
against ‘vicious smears spread
about Canada’s oil sands.’ p. 14
Canada should review its
commitment to purchase fighter
jets, say experts. p. 16
Feds’ plan to eliminate deficit
ahead of schedule top priority for
House committee. p. 15.
TWENTY-SECOND YEAR, NO. 1101
CANADA’S POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT NEWSWEEKLY
Harper leading
Canada into era
where country
‘realizes its inner
conservative self’
Some 687 jobs
at PWGSC on
chopping block
Auditors, consultants and
translators among first to go.
By JESSICA BRUNO
Canadians won’t protest PM
Harper’s attempt to gradually
move country right, says
pollster Frank Graves.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
will be closer than he has ever been
to putting his stamp not only on the
federal government in its broadest sense when the 41st Parliament
begins in earnest this fall but also
on the nature of Canada itself, say
two of Ottawa’s leading pollsters.
Attrition won’t help many of
the 687 employees at Public Works
who were told in June that their
jobs will be cut over the next three
years, says Claude Poirier, president of the Canadian Association
of Professional Employees.
Mr. Poirier said that he is in
“almost daily” contact with union
representatives at Public Works,
and judging by the information
he’s seen on the affected workers,
most of their jobs will not be eliminated because public servants are
leaving of their own will.
Please see story on Page 7
By TIM NAUMETZ
Publications Mail Agreement #40068926
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2011 $4.00
Crime decreasing
but feds won’t
change ‘all stick,
no carrot’ law
and order bill
Tories prepare to introduce
omnibus crime bill this fall.
NO RETREAT
Global financial markets are still volatile, but Finance Minister Jim
Flaherty is sticking to his guns on eliminating Canada’s budget deficit
within three years. Critics say his fiscal policy should be more flexible.
Photograph by Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Canada not immune to another global recession
but Flaherty pushes ahead with deficit reduction
Flaherty calls rapid deficit reduction ‘responsible.’
By JESSICA BRUNO
Controversy over the accuracy
of Statistics Canada’s national
crime rate, which fell again this
year to its lowest since 1973, has
entered the debate about the Conservatives’ upcoming omnibus
crime bill, but opposition critics
aren’t hopeful the numbers will
spark any change to the laws.
By CHRIS PLECASH
Despite weekly global financial turmoil and a volatile start
to August for North American
markets, Finance Minister Jim
Flaherty has no intentions of
retreating from an aggressive
plan to eliminate the federal government’s $32.3-billion deficit
within three years.
While Mr. Flaherty (WhitbyOshawa, Ont.) conceded that
Canada was not immune from
another potential global recession,
he insisted that the government
would stick to its plan to rapidly
eliminate the deficit by cutting
spending by $4-billion a year over
the next three years. The 2011-2012
budget carried a $32.3-billion dollar deficit, which the Conservatives
promised to eliminate by 2015 in
Liberal polling numbers
up, but not because of
Rae, says Nanos
Interim leader Bob Rae’s
ranking at 25.6 per cent, PM
Stephen Harper at 88.5, NDP
Leader Jack Layton at 86.9.
By LAURA RYCKEWAERT
their election platform. However,
recent deficits were essential to
providing financial stimulus to
the Canadian economy in the last
global recession.
“This is a responsible approach,
one that is consistent with the careful fiscal management that has
been the hallmark of this government’s approach to public finances,”
Mr. Flaherty told media at a press
conference kicking off his annual
policy retreat in Wakefield, Que.
The Liberal Party’s polling
numbers have increased, but “this
is not a Bob Rae phenomenon,”
says leading pollster Nik Nanos.
“Liberal support is generally,
incrementally up across the country, including the West. I think a
lot of that has to do with what’s
happening with the New Democrats and the Conservatives, and
that it’s not necessarily a vote
for the Liberals,” said Mr. Nanos.
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2011
2
FEATURE: BUZZ
INSIDE POLITICS: ECONOMY
HEARD
B Y
B
E A
V
ON
THE
Canadians can’t share
HILL economy lessons with U.S.
O N G D O U A N G C H A N H
QP: The Musical ‘NAC worthy,’ its Hill staffer
author looking to take it to new heights
Cullen completes fourth Ironman
Former Ottawa city councilor and current NDP Hill staffer Alex Cullen has just
completed his fourth Ironman competition.
Tim Harper
T
C
oming off a successful run at the Ottawa
Fringe Festival, Question Period: The
Musical author Ed Gillis is looking for an
aspiring or professional composer and producer to take the musical to new heights.
Mr. Gillis, a legislative assistant in NDP
MP Denise Savoie’s office, spent a year
and a half writing the musical that pokes
fun of the “cynical” and the “hopeful” sides
of federal political life in Ottawa. It made
its debut at the Ottawa Fringe Festival in
June to rave reviews: “The
script is superb. The plot,
the wit and the ideas
are all phenomenal.
In and of itself the
whole idea is NAC
worthy,” said one
reviewer. Another
said, “For a first-time
writer/director to come
out swinging for the
fences like this—
I think he hit a
home run.”
Mr. Gillis told
HOH last week
that when QP: The
Ain’t seen nothing yet:
Musical
ended,
NDP staffer Ed Gillis.
it had attracted
record audiences
for the festival and won the “Fan Favourite” Award. That’s when almost everyone
told him he should take it further.
“Someone said it was very commercially viable in Ottawa, so I think there’s
definitely something, which is why we’re
looking for a producer,” Mr. Gillis said.
“I’ve been talking with the NAC and
folks at a bunch of theatre companies
and most of them say, ‘find an independent producer and they’ll know how to
find the right cast, the right music, the
right venue and the right marketing, all
of that, to put on a more professional
production of the same script.’ It’s kind of
what I always wanted. … It’s just a matter of having people who were more professional than we were to get out there.”
QP: The Musical is about an MP who
comes to Ottawa with a plan to raise
taxes on the wealthy in order to pay for a
poverty plan. “But he’s kind of ridiculed,
and everybody says, ‘No, no you’ve got to
go for a scandal, that’s how things work
here,’’” Mr. Gillis told HOH in February.
QP: The Musical is a multi-genre
musical, with songs to the tunes of the
Broadway hit, Rent, as well as Bon Jovi’s
Always (in the musical, it’s a love song
to the GST), and House of Pain’s Jump
Around (delivered when the Finance Minister gives his budget speech).
Mr. Gillis said he’s contacted other
fringe festivals in other cities, and there’s
interest from Winnipeg. He’s also hoping
to have another run in Ottawa in a professional theatre for 10 to 14 days.“I want to
get it out to have more audiences be able to
see it,” he said, adding the first time around
was everything he dreamed it would be.
Anyone wanting to try out for the composer or producer position can email Mr.
Gillis at ewgillis@yahoo.com.
BY
Ironmen: NDP staffers Theresa Kavangh, Alex Cullen
pictured with former Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien.
He was in Lake Placid, NewYork on July 24
where he finished a 3.8 kilometre swim, a 180
kilometre bike ride and a 42.2 kilometre run.
He told HOH in an email that he was
catching up to his wife, fellow Hill staffer
Theresa Kavanagh who has finished five
Ironmans. “She is a good sport—she was
there to cheer me on,” he said.
Mr. Cullen, a former Liberal Ontario
MPP who later sat as an independent
before joining the NDP caucus, was
defeated in the Oct. 25 municipal election.
He now works for York South-Weston
NDP MP Mike Sullivan.
Raj joins Huffington Post
When the Huffington Post started its
Washington bureau,
it was a bureau of
one. Now there are
22 people covering
national politics
there. It’s what the
news website’s new
Ottawa bureau chief
Althia Raj said could
also happen here.
“Huffington Post is
an outfit that’s really
committed to building
a presence in Ottawa
and takes politics
seriously,” Ms. Raj
Moving on: Althia Raj told HOH by email.
leaves Postmedia.
“More and more
Canadians are using
the web as a first source for news and I’m
looking forward to telling stories in perhaps more interactive ways and taking full
advantage of what the internet has to offer.”
Ms. Raj, who starts her new job Aug.
15, previously worked at Postmedia and
QMI Agency. An Ottawa native, she started reporting on the Hill in 2004 when she
worked for CBC. She left the Hill briefly
in 2007 to work at Canada’s Permanent
Mission to the United Nations in New
York. In 2008, she came back to work for
CTV’s Mike Duffy Live.
She said she will miss “working with
some fabulous colleagues” and pointed to
her Postmedia boss, Christina Spencer
who “was incredibly supportive and let
me travel and poke around pretty much
anywhere for stories.” Ms. Raj, a graduate
of McGill’s political science and Canadian
studies program, said Postmedia was “a
great team to be a part of.”
Ms. Raj will be in Toronto this week for
training, but said although she’s a oneperson bureau, she is “looking forward to
breaking more stories while still watching
what’s going on in the Senate.”
bvongdou@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
urmoil in the stock market seems to
transform Stephen Harper.
In 2008, he went from Prime Minister
to tipster, dispensing gratuitous economic
guidance.
In 2011, he all but slipped on his old
sweater, shook his head in bemused wonderment and admonished Canadians for
worrying.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, Uncle Stephen
said, even if that small stuff is in the trillions.
“We put too much emphasis on this
stuff,” Harper said from Brazil on the
morning that millions of Canadians
awoke to the sound of their retirement
savings being flushed down the toilet.
“It’s way too easy to focus on the trillions
that seem to be lost in moves on the markets.”
Three years earlier, Harper infamously
told Peter Mansbridge that the stock market plunge was a great chance to make
some money, even when the stunned CBC
anchor gave him a do-over.
“I think there are some great buying
opportunities out there,” Harper said.
Taken at face value, Harper seems a
little short on compassion for worried
investors when he blithely tosses trillions
around like nickels.
But maybe the Prime Minister has a
point, even if his economic training doesn’t
always leave him economically eloquent.
He did acknowledge that this week’s
volatility is causing pain.
He knows that panic begets panic.
His calls for calm were accompanied by
calls for a look at the bigger picture, a picture in which Canada has a place of pride.
This week’s sell-off was really a repudiation of political leadership south of the
border and the suddenly feckless Barack
Obama’s inability to take control.
The historic Standard & Poor’s credit
downgrade was blunt in its assessment of
what happens when political brinksmanship and partisanship override consensus
and compromise.
“The political brinksmanship of
recent months highlights what we see as
America’s governance and policy-making
becoming less stable, less effective, and
less predictable than what we previously
believed,” the S&P report said.
For Harper and his finance minister,
Jim Flaherty, the circus in Washington
must be demoralizing.
They can claim to have their economic
fundamentals in place, but the performance in Congress is a little like having
your drunken uncle sleep over: you can
tolerate him until he knocks over a priceless vase. Then it costs you.
The most honest assessment of the
global situation and repercussions for
Canada came from Flaherty, who in a
CBC interview acknowledged U.S. political “factionalism” and wondered whether
there was enough political will in Europe
to continue the positive actions to deal
with the sovereign debt of nations there.
“We’re a trading country, and we will
get buffeted by what happens elsewhere,
in the E.U. and the U.S.,” he said.
While Americans bicker, Canada is
now basking in international praise for
the way the Liberals wiped out the deficit
in the 1990s and reclaimed this country’s
AAA credit rating. We are being lauded
for our stable banking system (a Liberal
achievement), our lower unemployment
PMO photo by Jason Ransom
Don’t worry, be happy: Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, pictured in São Paulo, Brazil, last week.
‘Harper seems a little short on compassion for
worried investors when he blithely tosses trillions around like nickels,’ says Tim Harper.
rate and our quick recovery from the
2008 debacle.
But let’s put the brakes on the suggestions
that we have advice the Americans can use.
The 1990s are not 2011.
When the Canadian finance minister
of the day, Paul Martin, went to work, he
toiled in a simpler time, unworried about
cascading European debt crises that are
the real catalyst for today’s tumult.
The Liberals had the luxury of a
majority government. Martin’s fiscal overhaul faced no serious opposition.
In the U.S., the election cycle never ends
and re-election is constantly on the minds
of every member of the House of Representatives. The member of the House who will
put his or her political future in doubt for
the greater good is an extreme rarity.
A bicameral system in which one party
controls the White House and the Senate
and the other controls the House—with
an unyielding Tea Party faction further
slowing the machinery of government—
invites gridlock.
Instead of cooperation for the larger
goal, Republican presidential candidates
such as Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann are attacking a wounded president.
Martin raised taxes. The U.S. is allergic
to taxes and the debt ceiling deal was vilified by those on the left because it did not
tax corporations or the rich.
The Liberals in Canada also made cuts
to defence spending that would not be tolerated in the U.S.
In short, as Harper might say, don’t
sweat the details. There is little parallel
between Canada’s credit shave of the mid1990s and the U.S. embarrassment of 2011.
Tim Harper is a national affairs writer
with The Toronto Star. This column was
released Aug. 10.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
Correction
Last week’s Heard on the Hill item
“Mulroney-era speechwriter writes on
insanity and the public service,” (The Hill
Times, Aug. 8) incorrectly stated that The
Most Strategic, Integrated and Aligned
Servant of the Public Don Quincy de la
Management author Dick BourgeoisDoyle was a former speechwriter and
chief of staff to former prime minister
Brian Mulroney. He performed those jobs
for the minister of Science and Technology and the minister of Fisheries and
Oceans during the Mulroney era. The Hill
Times apologizes for this error.
4
NEWS: LAW & ORDER
Opposition MPs ‘not
optimistic’ Tories will
change omnibus crime bill
‘They’ve convinced a lot of people that we’ve
got to get tougher on crime in spite of all the
evidence to the contrary,’ says Comartin.
Continued from Page 1
NDP MP Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh, Ont), his party’s justice critic, said that while StatsCan’s
crime statistics regime is not perfect, it’s still the best in the world.
“It’s not perfect: we’ve got
small police forces who don’t feed
in all the information they should
be; we’ve got busy police forces
in metropolitan areas that sometimes slip up and reports don’t
come in,” he explained.
Mr. Comartin, vice-chair of the
House Justice and Human Rights
Committee, said that he’s “not optimistic at all” that the government
will be open to amending the legislation to take in expert analysis.
Statistics Canada’s latest report,
released July 21, show that the volume of crimes, as reported by police
forces nation-wide, has declined
five per cent in 2010, from 2009
levels. There were decreases in the
number of homicides, attempted
murders, serious assaults and robberies that took place last year as
well. There were also increases in
some kinds of crime, including the
number of sexual assaults, child
pornography and drug offences
reported, the agency found.
The report comes as the Conservative government prepares to
introduce an omnibus crime bill
which packages ‘law and order’
legislation not passed in the last
Parliament. The Conservatives
campaigned on introducing and
passing bill “within 100 sitting
days of the new Parliament.”
Michael Aubie, a spokesperson
for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson
(Niagara Falls, Ont.), said details
about just what laws will be in
the bill “will be announced in due
course.” The government has until
early March to introduce and pass
the bill if it is to remain within the
100 sitting day timeframe.
The crime bills which died on the
order paper when the spring election was called include: C-60, the
Citizen’s Arrest and Self-Defence
Act; C-54, Protecting Children from
Sexual Predators; C-51, Investigative Powers for the 21st Century;
C-50, Improving Access to Investigate Tools for Serious Crimes; C-39,
ending Early Release for Criminal
and Increasing Offender Accountability; C-23b, Eliminating Pardons for Serious Crimes; C-17 An
Act to amend the Criminal Code
(investigative hearings and recognizance with conditions); C-16 Ending House Arrest for Property and
Other Serious Crimes by Serious
and Violent Offenders; C-5 Keeping Canadians Safe (International
Transfer of Offenders; C-4 Sébas-
tien’s Law (Protecting the Public
from Violent Young Offenders) and
S-10, Penalties for Organized Drug
Crime, which has had its first reading in the House of Commons after
being passed by the Senate.
Anywhere from eight to 12 bills
are expected to be in the omnibus
bills. Parliamentary Budget Officer
Kevin Page has said that assuming
the prison population, which has
already begun to climb, stays level,
the crime bills could cost $1-billion a year over the next five years,
when it comes to building facilities
to house new inmates. He’s also
stated that the government has not
been transparent enough about the
costs of the crime bills.
David MacDonald, a researcher and economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said he thinks the government’s crime agenda is divorced
from statistical reality.
“The problem with some of
the ideological programs that
the Conservatives are putting
through is that they’re just completely disconnected from the
facts. This is certainly the case
with the crime statistics,” he said.
But Scott Newark, a researcher
with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said Statistics Canada’s numbers aren’t so straightforward and
lack some important details.
“What StatsCan reports is
police-reported crime, not actual crime,” said Mr. Newark, who
also served as a special adviser
to Stockwell Day in 2006 when he
was public safety minister.
“In fairness, it has to be this way
because you can’t with any statistical accuracy report what the people themselves aren’t reporting to
the police, that’s logical. But, we’ve
got to pay attention to the fact that
essentially people are increasingly
not reporting crime. It’s not helpful
to blend everything together and go
‘Don’t worry, be happy. The overall
crime rate is down,’” he said.
He pointed to Statistics Canada’s
general social survey on victimization, which asks Canadians older
than 15 to report whether she or he
was a victim of a crime in the last 12
months. Statistics Canada intends
the research to be taken into consideration with the official crime rate.
The last survey, which was
done in 2009, found that only 31
per cent of all criminal incidents
were reported to police, which was
down from 34 per cent in 2004.
Mr. MacDonald said that even if
it were possible to statistically factor
in the country’s unreported crimes,
he doesn’t think it would change the
20-year decline in crime.
“I think that the overall trend is
clear, irrespective of how you measure it: crime is going down,”he said.
Both he and Mr. Newark noted
that as the population ages, there
are few people in the demographic that commits the most crimes.
“That’s a result as much of
demographics as anything else.
As the population ages that key
men from 15 to 25 demographic
that are the ones perpetrating the
most crimes, there are fewer of
them,” said Mr. MacDonald.
Mr. Newark would like to see
this information factored into
crime data. He said that police
collect the information, and they
should be passing that data on to
StatsCan if they aren’t already.
He said that his proposed
changes to the way StatsCan measures crime aren’t meant to affect
policy but to contribute to the discussion about the effectiveness of
Canada’s judicial system.
“We really don’t need to be ‘tough
on crime’ whatever that means, but
we do need to be honest about it, so
we can be smart about it,”he said.
Mr. Comartin said that during
the minority Parliament, the government resisted amendments the
NDP proposed in committee to
Bill C-4, Protecting the Public from
Violent Young Offenders, and he
doesn’t see the situation improving
now that it’s a majority.
Bill C-4 amends the Youth Criminal Justice Act to treat young offenders more like their adult counterparts, and requires prosecutors to
consider trying for adult sentences
for teenagers between 14 and 17
who have been convicted of murder,
manslaughter or aggravated sexual
assault, among other changes.
Mr. Comartin said he thinks
the bill is overreaching.
“The idea behind it was to target
the young offenders out of control.
In fact what it does it is, again by
overreaching and taking too broad
of an approach, is it’s mostly missing those hardcore young offenders
and catching the ones who would
benefit by the normal approach we
take to youth crime,” he said.
Another bill causing the NDP
concern is S-10, Penalties for
Organized Drug Crime. Among
other amendments, the bill would
impose mandatory minimum
prison sentences for drug trafficking. The bill was introduced in the
Senate last December, marking
the third time the Conservatives
have tried to pass the bill.
“Any place in the world that you
look where they’ve tried to combat
a drug problem with that kind of
legislation shows that it just doesn’t
work,” said Mr. Comartin.
Speaking in the Senate Dec.
14, New Brunswick Conservative
Senator John Wallace said it was
“important to realize that Bill S-10
is not about applying mandatory
minimum penalties for all drug
crimes. It introduces targeted mandatory minimum penalties for seri-
Just the facts: Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, pictured going into a recent
Cabinet Committee meeting. The federal government is set to introduce its
omnibus crime legislation this fall, which the opposition doesn’t support.
ous drug crimes and ensures those
who carry out these crimes will be
appropriately penalized.”
Liberal justice critic and former
justice minister Irwin Cotler (Mont
Royal, Que.) said that the crime
policies are “all stick, no carrot.”
Mr. Cotler said that the mandatory
minimums won’t serve as a deterrent and will only end up “clogging
up the criminal justice system.”The
omnibus bill will be a “test case” for
government’s willingness to work
with the opposition, he said.
“They’ve got a majority and I
think they could put that majority
to effective use by cooperating with
the opposition to produce the best
type of legislation we can come up
with, rather than seeking to ram
the legislation through regardless
of the evidence, regardless of the
expertise, regardless of the opposition that is evidence-based,” he said.
Mr. Comartin said however that
the Conservatives will continue to
instill fear in the Canadian public to ram the legislation through.
“They’ve built so much on this.
They’ve done well by it politically,
they’ve convinced a lot of people
in this country that we’ve got to get
tougher on crime in spite of all the
evidence to the contrary.”
jbruno@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
5
NEWS: LIBERAL PARTY
NEWS: YOGA ON THE HILL
Summer tours ‘overated,’
but Liberals showing
signs of life, says Flanagan
‘At least Rae is in the news. He’s not saying anything
particularly earth shattering but he’s visible,’ says
University of Calgary professor Tom Flanagan.
on week two of this story about
Nycole Turmel’s background. That
“Its the Liberals benefiting from doesn’t sound to me like a well
being a bit of a parking spot for thought out choice. That’s something that the Liberal Party had no
voters.”
Mr. Nanos referred to the control over, but there is a benefit,
problems the NDP are facing with absolutely,” he said.
Mr. Rae’s tour, which began
their own interim leader, HullAylmer, Que., MP Nycole Turmel with a strawberry social in P.E.I. on
who was a card-carrying member July 5, will come to a close at the
of the Bloc Québécois and Quebec end of this month. Liberals have
largely touted Mr. Rae’s LeaderSolidaire.
The latest Nanos poll, which was ship Tour 2011 as being a tour to
conducted between July 25 and Aug. talk to Canadians, find out what
2 and was published on Aug. 8, have they want to see, and rebuild the
the Liberals and the NDP virtually Liberal Party, which was reduced to
tied at 27 and 26.8 points respec- 34 seats from 77 in the last election.
But Summa Strategies govtively, while the Conservatives
have dropped down to 36.2 points. ernment relations consultant
The poll was conducted with 1,203 Robin MacLachlan said he’s not
respondents and is accurate to 2.8 so sure Mr. Rae’s tour is about
percentage points.This latest polling talking to Canadians so much as
it is about talking to
result is a 4.7 percentLiberals.
age point increase for
“It’s about stavthe Liberal Party, but
ing off the exodus of
Mr. Nanos pointed out
Liberals more than
that those numbers
anything and perhaps
held up against their
that’s been somewhat
election numbers—
successful in keepwhich had the party at
ing the morale of the
19 points—the Liberal
Liberal Party up but
increase can be seen
it certainly isn’t about
as even greater.
talking to everyday
Marlene Floyd,
Canadians,” said Mr.
a principal at EarnMacLachlan, a former
scliffe and long-time
NDP Hill staffer.
Liberal supporter,
Tom Flanagan, a
agreed. “I don’t ever
political science prolike to talk about
fessor at the Univerpolls but this most
recent Nanos poll Follow the leader: Liberal sity of Calgary who
ran the Conservative
tells us something,” interim leader Bob Rae.
war room, agreed
she said.“We’re up 10
points … and we’ll build on that. that tours like Mr. Rae’s are generWe’re not saying that’s the end ally “overrated” in their ability to
game but we’re saying, we’re out reach voters and make a difference in a party’s standing. But Mr.
here, we’re listening,” she said.
Though the Liberal Party as a Flanagan said he thinks the Libwhole experienced an increase in eral Party has experienced some
this latest Nanos poll, its interim gains as a result of Mr. Rae’s sumleader, Mr. Rae (Toronto Centre, mer tour.
“What it is doing is it is showOnt.), who is currently on a crosscountry tour to help rebuild the ing signs of life. At least Rae is in
party, did not fare as well. With less the news. He’s not saying anything
than spectacular polling numbers particularly earth shattering but
for their leader, Mr. Nanos said he’s visible,” said Prof. Flanagan.
Attracting media attention
Liberal fortunes can most likely
is something Mr. Nanos said he
not be attributed to the leader.
Overall, Mr. Rae is ranked the thinks the Liberals are going
lowest of the top three leaders, trail- to have to work to gain in the
ing far behind Mr. Layton and Prime upcoming fall House session.
Mr. MacLachlan, said he’s not
Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary
Southwest, Alta.). Mr. Rae’s person- so sure the Nanos polling results
al number decreased from 27.3 per- are representative of the latest
centage points to 25.6 points in the blows to the NDP.
“It may not have captured
latest Nanos poll. This is compared
to Mr. Harper’s personal rating of any reaction to Nycole Turmel as
leader and I think you just have
88.5 and Mr. Layton’s 86.9.
Environics vice-president to look at the fact that there is
of government relations Greg another poll out there [last week]
MacEachern, a Liberal strategist, that has things very different
told The Hill Times that Mr. Rae than that,” said Mr. MacLachlan.
On Aug. 10, an Angus Reid public
(Toronto Centre, Ont.) is handling
himself well as interim leader. That opinion poll placed the party standcoupled with the NDP’s struggles ings to be just about the same as they
means the Liberals are higher in were at the time of the May election,
the polls, he said. “I mean we’re with the Conservatives holding 39
per cent, the NDP with 31 per cent
and the Liberals still trailing with
only 19 per cent. The poll was conducted with 1,005 Canadians and
has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent.
Robin Sears, a senior partner
with communications firm Navigator and former chief of staff to
Mr. Rae when he was the NDP
Ontario leader, was less optimistic about the degree to which
these summer polls indicate the
standing of the Liberal Party.
“Nik is a great pollster, I put
enormous store by his research,
but even he would concede that
an August poll after an election is
useful for wrapping French fries,
I expect,” said Mr. Sears.
Prof. Flanagan said while he
thinks the Liberals remain a viable
option for Canadians, this ‘orange
crush’ has put the Liberals virtually out of the game in Quebec. The
‘orange crush’ saw the NDP going
from one seat, held by NDP deputy
leader Thomas Mulcair (Outremont, Que.) to an historic 59.
Mr. MacEachern said he doesn’t
agree that Quebec is beyond Liberal reach. He said many of the new
NDP Quebec MPs are young and
politically inexperienced and will
have to work hard to prevent being
“one-term wonders.”
Meanwhile, both Mr. MacEachern and Ms. Floyd said their party
is growing, pointing to the approximately 2,000 participants in the
party’s extraordinary convention
held on June 18. Moreover, Ms.
Floyd said, there were 7,000 new
members who signed up to the
party since the election.
Mr. Sears said, however, that
membership is the least of the party’s worries. The Liberals need to
focus on fundraising, he said.
“Money is the mother’s milk
of politics,” he said. “Both the Liberals and the NDP, if they want to
be genuinely competitive for government, they better figure out a
way to raise as much money as
the Tories do,” said Mr. Sears.
With donation limits capped
and per-vote subsidies being
eliminated, the Liberal Party has
had difficulty in this area. But
Ms. Floyd said she has no doubt
the Liberals will be able to raise
the funds they need.
Mr. Sears said he thinks the
upcoming provincial elections are
going to be an important indicator
of the Liberal Party’s standing in
Canada. In October Ontario, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and
Newfoundland and Labrador will
all head to provincial polls. The
Northwest Territory will also head
to the polls in October. In November, Saskatchewan is set to hold
their own provincial election.
“The Liberal Party is in power
in the three largest and most
important provinces in Canada
right now. A year from now it’s
conceivable they’ll be in power in
none of them. That will have an
impact federally,” said Mr. Sears.
lryckewaert@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
Photographs by Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Just call me Yogi: The Hill community gathers on the front lawn of Parliament
every Wednesday at noon to do yoga for an hour, hosted by LuluLemon. Namaste.
Hundreds storm Hill for
lunchtime yoga sessions
‘It’s great that Canadians use a public space as
significant as Parliament Hill to stay healthy. On
some days, it may even be the best use of the
space,’ says Green Leader Elizabeth May.
By D’ARCY MCDONELL
It’s a level of tranquility rarely observed around Parliament.
Every Wednesday, anywhere
between 300 and 500 people can
be seen stretched out across the
front lawn of the Hill, meditating
and relocating their inner zen.
Starting at noon, LuluLemon ambassadors and local
yoga teachers, “Yogis” as they are
referred to within the industry,
head up a free, hour-long yoga
session on the front lawn of Parliament Hill. It’s been running since
2007, and turnouts have increased
steadily since the program’s debut.
“We strive to raise the level of
health and fitness in every community we touch,” says LuluLemon Athletica spokesperson
Erin Hochstein. “Hosting these
events, we have the opportunity
to bring the gift of yoga to Ottawa and help support the community’s goals in health and fitness.”
Tania Fréchette is a local Ottawa
yoga teacher at both Rama Lotus
and Upward Dog yoga centres
and a former LuluLemon ambassador to the community who leads
some of the Hill classes. She says
the Wednesday session is a “great
opportunity to take a break from
work and do some yoga.”
One week’s class saw 462
eager participants throw down
mats across the lawn.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands,
B.C.) told The Hill Times she likes
that public activities like this can
be done on the seat of political
power in Canada. “I think it’s
great that Canadians use a public
space as significant as Parliament
Hill to stay healthy,” she says, adding, “On some days, it may even
be the best use of the space.”
Ms. May says that once her
hip replacement is complete,
she’d love to join in.
LuluLemon stores across the
city offer weekly yoga classes,
all of which are free and open to
the public. “The goal of the program is to bring the gift of yoga
to the Ottawa community. Holding these classes keeps us connected to the community and to
our guests,” says Ms. Hochstein.
While LuluLemon takes the
reigns in organizing the ‘bigger
picture’ program, local teachers
coordinate the finer details of the
sessions on the Hill. “It’s mostly
grassroots,” says Ms. Fréchette,
adding that LuluLemon also promotes it widely on Facebook.
LuluLemon hopes that the
program will continue to grow.
On Aug. 20, representatives from
Lulu’s Vancouver headquarters
will be coming to the capital to
oversee a special Hill yoga session.
The goal, says Ms. Hochstein,
is to get 1,000 people out, promoting yoga by staking a claim
on Parliament. The class runs for
60 minutes and people of all ages
are welcome.
“We can all use a good sun
salutation to improve Parliamentary harmony,” says Ms. May.
dmcdonell@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
6
NEWS: ECONOMY
Photographs by Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Let’s talk: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, above and pictured with Macdonald-Laurier Institute managing director Brian Lee Crowley, held his fifth annual economic policy retreat on Aug. 10 at the
Wakefield Mill Inn in Wakefield, Ont., to discuss ‘challenges and opportunities facing Canadians’ and what governments and the private sector could do to help. ‘While we should not understate the
risks, Canadians can be confident that our country is well positioned to face global economic challenges as we have done successfully in the recent past,’ Mr. Flaherty said.
Flexibility needed in spending cuts, says Nash
It may take months before feds certain it can proceed with its three-year plan to eliminate deficit.
When media pressed him on
the government’s ambitious plan
to slash spending at a time of great
economic uncertainty, he responded, “When we announced the Economic Action Plan, we were clear
that we would run deficits for a time
in order to protect employment and
protect the Canadian economy, but
we would then move back to balanced budgets. In order to get there
by 2014-2015, we have to have some
expenditure reductions. We will stay
on course, we will stay on track, we
will continue with the plan.”
Mr. Flaherty urged the public
to remain confident in Canada’s
ability to succeed in the global
economy. He predicted continued
economic growth in Canada, while
acknowledging that the country
was not immune from persistent
economic problems in Europe and
the United States. The Finance
Minister cited the Canadian economy’s seven straight quarters of
growth, post-recession labor market recovery, and sterling international reputation as bellwethers
for future prosperity.
“Beyond the current uncertainty, we have longer term issues that
must be addressed,” Mr. Flaherty
said. “These include, among others, Canada’s rapidly aging workforce, improving our productivity
performance, and the continued
weakness in the economies of our
major trading partners.”
Mr. Flaherty was in Wakefield
to meet with a select few policy
analysts and a number of presidents and CEOs from the manufacturing, transportation, and financial services sectors. It is the fifth
consecutive year that Mr. Flaherty
has held a summer conference to
address challenges and opportunities for Canada’s economy.
The Minister also made a point
of mentioning the previous week’s
renewal of Canada’s AAA rating
by Moody’s credit rating agency.
That same week was capped off
by a downgrade of U.S. credit from
AAA to AA+ by Standard and
Poor’s, who based their decision
on a weakening of the “effectiveness, stability, and predictability of
American policymaking and political institutions” in dealing with
their own national debt.
A weekend without trading did
little to stop continued market volatility in the past week, with the
TSX dropping 491.75 points—4.04
per cent—on the first day of trading after the S&P downgrade. U.S.
markets were hit especially hard,
with the S&P 500, Dow Jones
Industrial Average, and Nasdaq
stock exchanges losing between
5.5 and 7 per cent on last week’s
opening day. By mid-day Friday
the markets had for the most
part rebounded from their early
August losses, but they remain
significantly below July levels. The
TSX has dropped by 7.4 per cent
in the last three weeks.
RBC assistant chief economist
Paul Ferley described the oscillating markets as “a debate” on
the real strength of the economy. “I think you’ve got a bit of
a dynamic going on here, with
various market participants battling in terms of what is the most
reasonable profile for growth and
earnings,” Mr. Ferley explained.
“You’re getting more of a pessimistic sentiment setting in and
driving down equities, and the
response is that it’s suggesting to
others that those are good opportunities to buy, because they’re
less pessimistic on growth.”
The opposition has been highly
critical of the government’s unwavering stated commitment to cutting
$12-billion in federal funding over
three years. Last week Liberal MP
Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.),
his party’s finance critic, called on
Mr. Flaherty to appear before the
House Finance Committee to “level
with Canadians” on the impact that
the cuts will have on the Canadian
economy.
NDP finance critic Peggy
Nash (Parkdale-High Park, Ont.)
expressed concern at the lack of
flexibility in Minister Flaherty’s
position on spending cuts. “I’d like
to have heard from Mr. Flaherty
some flexibility in saying that if
circumstances do change, and we
find that we’re being impacted,
that there are some measures we
can take,” Ms. Nash said, stressing
the need for long-term improvements to infrastructure an education in sustaining Canada’s economic growth and maintaining
future economic competitiveness.
Longtime Chrétien finance minister and former prime minister
Paul Martin echoed Ms. Nash’s sentiments on CBC’s The Current last
week. “This is not the time for rigid
ideology of any kind,” said Mr. Martin, who is credited with regaining
Canada’s AAA rating by eliminating federal deficits and laying the
groundwork for today’s economy
in the mid-90s. “You’ve got to be
very pragmatic and you’ve got to
say, ‘Yes, we’re going to eliminate
our deficit over time, not tomorrow.’ You’ve got to say, ‘Yes, we’re
going to get our debt ratio down
and we recognize that the best way
to get your debt ratio down is to get
growth up and [create jobs].’”
It may take months before the
government is certain that it can
proceed with its three-year plan
for eliminating the deficit. Despite
the Bank of Canada’s forecast of
2.8 per cent growth in Canada’s
2011 GDP, monthly GDP growth
ranged from 0 to 0.3 per cent
between March and May of this
year, after 3.9 per cent growth in
the first quarter of 2011.
Whether the federal government
is able to stick to its plan depends
on “how the data plays” out, said Mr.
Ferley. “If we do get indications that
we’re not going to get a rebound in
the second half of this year, there
could potentially be a need for some
stimulus, both in terms of initially
slowing the pace of fiscal tightening, and in the extreme additional
fiscal stimulus,” he said.
cplecash@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
NEWS: PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS
7
NEWS: HARPER’S LEGACY
PWGSC to save $24.1-million
through strategic review
request for information on the cuts or the
auditing agency in time for publication.
In total, 300 employees will be laid off
In its report on plans and priorities,
this year across Public Works.
released in March, the department writes,
When news broke of the layoffs June “public servants with an indepth knowl20, an internal memo obtained by the edge of the priorities and administrative
Globe and Mail stated that “as people leave policies of government … contribute to a
and retire, the positions, along with the more effectively managed public service.”
salary dollars, will be abolished.”
Queen’s University public sector financial
CAPE represents 103 workers at Gov- management expert Andrew Graham said that
ernment Consulting Services in Ottawa the good news is it won’t greatly affect governwho will be laid off this year. Mr. Poirier ment accountability or financial monitoring.
said that the government is effectively
“As far as Audit Services Canada goes,
closing the operation, which gives eco- it’s something that you can pick up and
nomic and policy advice to departments.
use, or not, as a department. I don’t think
“Most of them are not old enough to go it’s going to have a big impact on the
on retirement, so attrition doesn’t apply to accountability side of things,” he said.
them,” Mr. Poirier said. CAPE represents
Mr. Graham said that the Conservative
14,000 federal workers including econo- government has spent “a lot more money”
mists, statisticians at Statistics Canada on auditing than the previous government.
and policy advisers.
In the auditor general’s spring report, the
Treasury Board president Tony Clement office also praised departments’ progress on
(Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) has previously strengthening their internal auditing capacity.
said that 11,000 people make the choice to
“This is the kind of thing that may have
leave the public service every year. Parlia- outlived its usefulness. By that, I mean that
mentary Budget Officer Kevin Page disputes having a little central company inside the
this number. He estimates that net attrition organization may be something that was a
will be 1,100 over the next three years.
great idea when there wasn’t a lot of audit
The union is trying to take advantage of expertise around, but there is a lot of govdepartures in other areas of government by ernment audit expertise around now,” he
arranging for willing affected
added.
workers to get training and
Along with strengthening
move into jobs left vacant by
internal audit, the government
retirees, said Mr. Poirier.
has also made deputy ministers
But two months after the
in charge of their department’s
layoff news, he estimates only
accounting, upped the qualificaabout 30 per cent of his affected
tions for internal auditors, and
members know where they’ll be
established external auditing
working in the near future.
committees to provide advice,
The job cuts are a result of
something Mr. Graham said has
Public Works’ 2010 strategic
been extremely successful and a
review. As a part of a strategic
“Canada-first”innovation.
review, departments are asked
“Audit Services Canada
to identify their worst-performwas created well before these
ing programs for the chopping
initiatives,” he said. “I don’t
block, to a total of five per cent of
see it as necessarily the end
program spending. That money It’s all in the numbers: of audit, but of something that
is then re-allocated to higher pri- Public Works Minister Rona made sense 20 years ago but
Ambrose. The department doesn’t make sense today.”
orities inside the department.
Because of the strategic recently cut its consulting
But Mr. Graham is conreview, Public Works will save and auditing services.
cerned about the upcoming
$24.1-million in 2011-2012,
spending review. “Often when
$49.5-million in 2012-2013, and $98.6-million you cut your budget, you cut training and you
in 2013-2014, according to the 2011 budget.
cut audit, so we’ve got to watch it,” he said.
While the department told CAPE that
The Strategic Operating Review will
the strategic review was the reason for the look at the public service’s annual $80-biljob cuts, Mr. Poirier said this doesn’t make lion in direct program spending and
sense, as consulting services is a special operating costs and look to cut $4-biloperating agency that runs on contracts lion. Departments are currently coming
for work from other departments.
up with proposals for five or 10 per cent
“It’s not really to save money that cuts. A special Cabinet committee led by
they’ve been dismantled. I’d say it’s more Mr. Clement will approve the plans, with
of a principle for this government. They results to be released in the 2012 budget.
see a better government as being a smaller
“It’s probably going to be a rocky year
government so less government is better in 2012,” said Mr. Poirier.
government to them,” said Mr. Poirier.
On top of the changes in Public Works’
The work will now be contracted out to consulting and auditing agencies, Mr.
the private sector, though Mr. Poirier noted Poirier said the department has also been
that there should be limitations to what sort of letting go of translators. CAPE represents
information is disclosed to outside contractors. 1,000 translators in the department.
“If you were to provide advice on
“It’s strange because translators are
strategic decisions for the government, in huge demand in Canada and there is
you don’t want those decisions, and that plenty of work to keep them busy at the
advice being provided by outside people, it federal level,” he said. He added that many
doesn’t make sense,” he said.
of them will be reaching retirement age in
Government Consulting Services’ sister the next few years.
agency Audit Services Canada provides
Public Works’ translation bureau does
departments with contract cost and trans- the translation and interpretation for more
fer payment auditing on a fee-for service than 1,700 Parliamentary sessions a year and
basis. The two organizations, formerly translates 1.7 million pages of documents for
Consulting and Audit Canada, have been federal departments, according to the departaround in one form or another for 50 years. ment’s report on plans and priorities.
As a part of the layoffs, 92 auditors will
Mr. Poirier said that while there has
be let go over the next three years. Audit been pain this year, “This is just the tip of
Services Canada has 200 staff in eight cit- the iceberg compared to what we’re going
ies, including 20 in both Toronto and Mon- to see next year.”
treal, 13 in Winnipeg and 10 in Vancouver.
Public Works did not respond to a
The Hill Times
Legacy: Prime Minister Stephen Harper will begin drawing out his legacy when Parliament returns.
Harper ‘looking to reshape
political landscape’ in
Canada, says Nanos
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will
steer the country to the point it is
the Conservative Party and not the
Liberals that voters will more broadly
lean toward, says pollster Nik Nanos.
Ekos pollster Franks Graves told The
Hill Times that from the comments Mr.
Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) has
made since the May election and earlier,
he is set to lead Canada into an era where,
as Mr. Graves put it, he wants the country
to “realize its inner conservative self, to let
that flower grow if you like.”
Mr. Harper has an unprecedented
opportunity to reshape one of the most
fundamental aspects of Canada’s overall
government and legal institutions—the
Supreme Court of Canada—when he fills
two vacancies that are being created by the
announced retirements earlier this year of
Justices Louise Charron and Ian Binnie.
While Cabinet recently took the required
measure of proclaiming Justice Charron’s
retirement effective Aug. 30, along with her
$223,000 annual lifetime annuity, Justice Binnie may stay in his seat until it is certain both
vacancies will be filled before the court’s fall
sittings begin. Mr. Harper will have appointed
four of the nine judges on the court to date,
and more to come in the next four years.
But—despite the judicial and Parliamentary agenda facing Mr. Harper—
Nanos Research pollster Nik Nanos
agreed to some degree with his Ekos polling competitor and says other things may
be on the Prime Minister’s mind.
Mr. Harper will likely draw on “traditionalist” views as he goes through the next four
years, Mr. Nanos said, adding he will also
steer the country to the point it is the Conservative Party and not the Liberals that voters
will more broadly lean toward. Mr. Harper
will also begin drawing out a legacy that has
more to do with the political nature of the
country than broad policies such as free trade
was for Brian Mulroney and the “just society”
was for Pierre Trudeau, Mr. Nanos said.
“He’s looking at reshaping the political
landscape,” Mr. Nanos said. “For Stephen
Harper, looking at how he’s been operating
as Prime Minister and his priorities, there
has really been a broader, strategic political
agenda. I think he would be very pleased if his
legacy was to create an environment where
the Conservatives, regardless of who their
leader was, had a natural advantage nationally [against the Liberals]. I think it’s pretty
clear, in this particular Prime Minister, he is
more of a traditionalist. For Stephen Harper
there is such a thing as the good old days.“
The good old days include more national patriotism and a better sense of identity,
said Mr. Nanos. It also includes “a strong
military, Canada being pro-active on the
world stage and being a place of opportunity, business and economic opportunity.”
As Mr. Harper reshapes Canada, Mr.
Graves said it is likely the Canadian public,
which protested loudly less than two years
ago when Mr. Harper simply shut down
Parliament to avoid a heated confrontation with the opposition, will likely watch
it pass by, keeping an eye on their jobs and
other troubles instead. As for the crime bill,
the gun registry, even nomination of conservative-leaning judges to the Supreme
Court, Mr. Graves said: “You can debate it,
but it’s going to happen, and if the public
were very upset about it, they wouldn’t
have given him a majority,” he said. “In
most of these things, they’ve got a mandate
to do these things from the public.”
Mr. Graves said Mr. Harper has always
been uncomfortable with some of Canada’s institutional fabric being “hostile” to
a conservative Canada, for example, the
media, the public service and courts.
“Well, you know, now he’s in a position
to gradually and incrementally reshape
those institutions, to make them less hostile
or obstructionist to the goal of achieving a
more conservative Canada,”Mr. Graves said.
One of Mr. Harper’s mentors during his
graduate years at the University of Calgary, however, disagreed that Mr. Harper
has a grand plan to lay out a legacy over
the next four years—at least one based on
political ideology.
Political science professor Barry Cooper told The Hill Times Mr. Harper, unlike
the ideologue opponents like to refer to—
has so far led the country from a pragmatic point of view, citing the Prime Minister’s well-timed economy mission to South
America and Central America last week.
“Ideology doesn’t happen to be important in politics very often and when it is
it tends to really screw things up,” Prof.
Cooper said. “I think this is something
that Jack Layton is going to find out, or
whoever succeeds him. I think this is what
happened with Trudeau.”
tnaumetz@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
8
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AUDITED
2010 Better
Newspaper
Winner
EDITORIAL: ABORIGINALS
Photograph by Bea Vongdouangchanh, The Hill Times
Conservatives should make bold
move to tackle aboriginal issues
T
he Health Council of Canada released
its report on aboriginal maternal and
child health last week.
The report, Understanding and Improving Aboriginal Maternal and Child Health
in Canada: Regional Sessions about
Promising Practices across Canada, stated
that compared to the rest of Canadians,
aboriginals “are much more likely to live in
poor health and die prematurely,” “have a
burden of chronic conditions and of infectious disease,” and “are more likely to live
in poverty, which has a domino effect on
other aspects of their lives.” In addition,
“aboriginal children are more likely to die
in the first year of life.”
Sadly, these statistics are not new. It’s
why the Assembly of First Nations has said
for years that the plight of aboriginals is
“the single greatest social justice issue in
Canada today.” They’re right, and it’s time
for the federal government to step up.
As the report states, Prime Minister Stephen Harper co-chairs the UN commission
on maternal and child health in the developing world, and while efforts to tackle
problems in these areas globally are important, there is an immediate and pressing
need to start addressing them at home.
The Health Council of Canada spoke
with First Nations, Inuit and Métis across the
country, and they’re calling for the federal
government to look at maternal and child
health issues more seriously in Canada.“Participants said they hoped this work would
help to turn the spotlight onto Canadian
issues, focusing the federal government’s
attention on aboriginal mothers, their children, families and communities,” the report
said.“Though we did not start out with this
in mind, it is fair to say that the Health Council endorses their perspective.” This should
also be the government’s perspective.
The Conservative government has
moved on some issues affecting aboriginals, not least of which is the 2008 apology to residential school survivors. It was
a bold move, and now it’s time to make
another one: seriously tackling the poverty,
educational, housing, water and nutrition
problems that aboriginals face everyday
which lead to their deplorable health conditions, especially when it comes to maternal and child health, in a holistic manner.
The government needs to do this in consultation and in concert with aboriginal communities and develop concrete solutions to
these issues.
The Health Council of Canada recommended one “concrete way” of closing the
disparity between aboriginal and nonaboriginal Canadians—“expand programs
that work and provide stable, multi-year
funding.” It seems small, but it’s an important start. And it’s “one meaningful way to
… provide more aboriginal children a better
start in life.” Canada is a rich nation, even as
it fights a global recession. And in the 21st
century where the federal government can
rack up a $46-billion deficit to stimulate the
economy, surely it can invest in the future
of aboriginals too. It’s the right thing to do.
Not fair: The media have not been fair in covering NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel, says a letter-writer.
Criticism of interim NDP leader Turmel
rooted in ‘politics of fear and division’
O
ver the past few weeks, copious
amounts of media outlets have been
perpetuating an unoriginal criticism
of NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel
(“NDP has no plans to drop interim leader Turmel,” The Hill Times, Aug. 8).
I would have expected such a conversation from lesser newspapers, however,
many of you added to the sensationalist
political witch hunt. A product of a consolidated media, perhaps?
Since background checks are so
important, I will openly acknowledge
that I myself am a card carrying member
of the NDP. I must disclose that when I
was a teenager, my father brought home
some membership applications to the
Liberal Party. We never signed up.
A free and democratic country
requires a heated, yet peaceful exchange
of ideas, visions, and directions for our
society. Although it ruffles many peoples’
feathers, it is a testament of our free and
democratic system, that we allow a separatist party to exist within our federal
Parliament. In other places on Earth, these
fellow human beings would be jailed, or
executed. In Canada, we stand for dialogue, and a peaceful exchange of ideas. I
do not agree with the Bloc Québécois, but
I respect their right to say it.
Ms. Turmel has been an active and
engaged Canadian for a very long time.
Her website shares that Nycole has:
worked 27 years for local and regional
unions, and was the first woman to
become president of Public Service Alliance of Canada. She’s a member of two
boards on affordable housing, and has
been awarded a research academic chair
at Université du Québec à Montréal.
As a representative of her constituents, and the interim leader of the official
opposition, Ms. Turmel will bring the same
work ethic and commitment to improving the lot of Canadians, as she has been
doing for greater than 27 years. Despite
this, many in the media, have taken a
woman’s time, effort, and life’s work, and
everything the NDP has done for Canadians, and rendered both as incompetent.
I am certain that if many of you had
actually taken a balanced approach to
writing your articles, you would have
spoken to dozens of Canadian families,
whose lives are that much better as a
result of Ms. Turmel’s hard work, compassion, and level of commitment.
The conversation surrounding Ms.
Turmel exists in the politics of fear and
division. An authentic concern towards
national unity would not inherently divide
the country as English-French Canada, as
per many of the articles written.
I therefore challenge you to bring a
balanced approach, and write a second
article on why Ms. Turmel will bring a
positive, competent, and healthy energy
to Ottawa, on behalf of Canadians. Former NDP leader Tommy Douglas once
said, “Out of the ferment of discussion,
out of the conflict of ideas, out of the
exchanges of points of view, we emerge
as a better society, not a poorer one.”
Marcus Rochefort
Brampton, Ont.
Conservatives don’t have a real
majority, says Fair Vote Canada
C
onservative Party communications
director Fred DeLorey says “Canadians gave Stephen Harper and his Conservative government a strong mandate
to protect and complete Canada’s economic recovery,” (The Spin Doctors, The
Hill Times, Aug. 8). Every time this nonsense is repeated, it must be pointed out
that the current “majority” government
was endorsed by fewer than 40 per cent
of the 60 per cent of voters who even
bothered to vote, making this one of the
least legitimate majority governments
in Canadian history. Not the least legitimate, mind you—former prime minister
Jean Chrétien, and Bob Rae as premier
of Ontario, won “majority” governments
with even smaller vote percentages. But
until we have a fair, modern, proportional voting system, this government and
all phony majorities must be reminded
constantly that they have a duty to govern for all Canadians, that most Canadians do not approve of them or their
policies, and that their “strong mandate”
comes from the voting system itself, not
from the voters.
Wayne Smith
Executive director, Fair Vote Canada
Toronto, Ont.
9
LETTERS: TO THE EDITOR
OPINION: WHISTLEBLOWING
Reform meaningless if Senate
remains partisan Chamber
Whistleblowers not
safe in public service
G
erry Nichols is right when
he says: “Why would he [PM]
rush to have elected Senators
when having the power to appoint
people to the Senate gives him
a great way to reward his loyal
supporters?” (“Here’s why Senate
reform isn’t going to happen,” The
Hill Times, July 25) In fact, Prime
Minister Stephen Harper’s longstanding promise to have elected
Senators is about playing political
games while trying to look democratic. However, an elected Senate
will not resolve the issue of providing checks and balances to the
governing majority if Senators
are elected on partisan lines.
If Senators are elected on
partisan lines, they are likely to
follow their parties in the House
of Commons and if the majority
of Senators belonged to the same
party forming the majority government, they are likely to rubber stamp the decisions taken by
their own party in the House of
Commons. If, on the other hand,
the majority of Senators belong
to the opposition parties, there
might be a legislative gridlock as
happens often in the highly partisan U.S. Senate.
The only way to avert such a
stalemate is to have a non-partisan
Canadian whistleblowers have been successfully persecuted as an example set to deter any potential
ethical dissenters, says Ian Bron. On Aug. 8, the PSLRB upheld the dismissal of Health Canada
scientists Shiv Chopra and Margaret Haydon who were fired in 2004 for insubordination after they
refused to approve drugs for livestock that they determined to be potentially harmful to human health.
BY
Over to you: The Senate chamber.
Senate which should be appointed
by an all-party committee or an
elected Senate on non-partisan
basis in the same way municipal
councillors are being elected without any party affiliations. Unless
politicians can get out of their partisan minds, we will have to put up
with a patronage-driven Senate.
Mahmood Elahi
Ottawa, Ont.
Federal government needs to
combat contraband tobacco
M
ichael Qaqish is right in identifying stronger government
action against contraband tobacco
as an essential component of
larger tobacco enforcement efforts
(“Feds, provinces need to take
leadership against tobacco,” The
Hill Times, Aug. 8). As he points
out, governments lose $2.4-billion
in potential tax revenues each year
to the illegal market. But the damage is more than lost revenue. The
widespread easy availability of
cheap illegal cigarettes (as much
as $70 less than a legal carton,
delivered to your schoolyard) seriously undercuts efforts to reduce
youth tobacco access. Contraband
tobacco is also a cash cow for
organized crime. At the RCMP’s
last count, there were more than
175 criminal gangs using illicit
cigarette profits to finance gunrunning, illegal drugs, and human
trafficking.
Three years ago, the government of Canada committed to a
contraband enforcement strategy
to address this problem. Sadly,
there has been very little progress to date. There are now more
illegal manufacturing sites, more
regulation-ignoring smokeshacks
and more illegal smokes.
In order to change this situation, the fight against contraband
tobacco must become a central
part of Health Canada’s tobacco
control strategy. Government
must then engage the battle
actively, putting the strategy into
action quickly and continuously.
Illegal cigarettes are the
enemy of tobacco control. It is
time to act now.
Gary Grant
Spokesperson, National
Coalition Against Contraband
Tobacco
Toronto, Ont.
Environment Canada job
losses a ‘national calamity’
T
he Harper government’s
slashing of 776 positions at
Environment Canada is a national
calamity (“Environment Canada
in ‘complete and utter turmoil’ as
feds prepare to slash 776 jobs,”
The Hill Times, Aug. 8). There’s
never been a time in history when
a focus on the environment has
been more critical, and Canada’s
response is disgraceful and continues to grow worse. A report
from the Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives points out that
under the Kyoto Protocol, Canada
pledged to reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions six per cent by 2012.
Now, under the Conservative government’s new targets, by 2020
we might achieve a 33 per cent
increase. Given government inaction they will probably soar by 44
per cent. Any Canadian commitment to reducing greenhouse gas
emissions has gone up in smoke.
We’ve squandered every vestige of
the good environmental reputation
Canada once had.
Christopher Majka
Halifax, N.S.
Ian Bron
W
hy does Canada treat its
whistleblowers so badly?
Even though it has been just a
few years since the sponsorship
scandal, which Allan Cutler and
another anonymous whistleblower exposed, it’s a question
that needs to be asked.
Why? Because, yet again,
Canadian whistleblowers have
been successfully persecuted
as an example set to deter any
potential ethical dissenters.
On Aug. 8, the Public Service
Labour Relations Board (PSLRB)
upheld the dismissal of Shiv Chopra and Margaret Haydon. Chopra,
Haydon and a third Health Canada
scientist (Gerald Lambert, who
was reinstated) were fired in 2004
for insubordination after they
defied industry pressure and management orders to approve drugs
for livestock that they determined
to be potentially harmful to human
health. The axe fell after they testified at a Senate committee. The
Senators who heard from them did
nothing to stop the reprisal.
This abuse of power has been
sustained and has undoubtedly
cost millions of dollars. Exact
figures are impossible to obtain,
because such expenses are considered subject to solicitor-client
privilege. (And if you, the real client, are wondering why you don’t
have a right to know how much
is being spent defending the indefensible, you’re in good company.)
The union representing
Chopra, Haydon and Lambert
called the decision “a bad day for
whistleblowers.” It was that and
more, but it certainly wasn’t the
first attack on whistleblowers in
the last 10 years.
After all, with this action now
spanning three governments,
it’s clear that the orders must
come with approval from the
top—probably the Privy Council
Office. It’s much the same with
other attacks on whistleblowers.
A major attack on accountability was the passage of flawed
legislation to protect federal
whistleblowers in early 2006. Senior
bureaucrats and government lawyers during the Paul Martin government drafted the Public Servants
Disclosure Protection Act with the
intent not to protect whistleblowers
but rather themselves. Although
changed somewhat when passed
under the Accountability Act, it
remains excessively complicated
and riddled with loopholes.
The fact that it’s a bad law was
compounded by the appointment
of a classic Ottawa bureaucrat,
Christiane Ouimet. Ouimet spent
To serve and protect: Former Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet’s mandate was to protect public service whistleblowers, but found no wrongdoing in
three years at the helm of the whistleblower office.
three years as the integrity commissioner. With an annual budget
of $6.5-million and more than 20
full-time staff, her office received
208 inquiries but did not uncover
a single case of wrongdoing.
Even the process of making a
complaint or asking for help was
painful. Legalistic forms had to be
filled and the level of proof required
was ridiculous. Some complainants
were actually threatened.
And not one whistleblower
was protected.
Worse than that, the auditor
general reported in late 2010 that
Ouimet had abused staff and had,
in effect, obstructed justice by
illegitimately dismissing cases.
For this, she was rewarded with
early retirement and a pension of
more than $534,000. This again
was approved by PCO despite the
fact that she was a Parliamentary
appointee and not an employee in
the normal public service.
But the assault on accountability
and whistleblowers hasn’t been limited to the PSDPA. In 2005, changes
to the Public Service Labour Relations Act came into force. One of
the changes was to section 236. It
took away the avenue of last resort
for public servants—the right to sue
their bosses.
This change, it was argued, was
made because harassment and
grievance procedures—backed
up by the quasi-judicial PSLRB—
provide a comprehensive means
of redress. This ignores several
important facts: that grievance
processes are controlled by management, that the PSLRB is part of
the bureaucracy and has its members appointed by the government,
and that the PSLRB is adjudicated
by semi-qualified individuals of
uneven competency. Indeed, they
don’t even need to be lawyers.
The decision reached on Monday
proves that it cannot be trusted.
Section 236 was upheld by the
Ontario Superior Court of Appeal
in my own case in early 2010. The
decision confirmed that I was
probably a whistleblower, but
said that the law was the law. Too
bad for me—and all other whistleblowers or ethical dissenters in
the Canadian government.
The lack of accountability for
bureaucrats was underscored by
revelations last October that Veterans Affairs officials had conspired
against a disabled veteran who was
a prominent critic of their work and
policies. Retired captain Sean Bruyea, who wasn’t even a public servant, was targeted using tactics that
would have made a Soviet bureaucrat proud. He had his medical
files widely circulated—even up to
PCO—in an effort to discredit him.
When this was exposed, the government was forced to apologize
and settle a lawsuit out of court.
The worst punishment received by
a bureaucrat for these actions was
three days suspension—with pay.
These persecutions of dissenters on one hand and failure
to act against the persecutors on
the other exposes the system of
rewards and punishments which
is poisoning the public service and
causing accumulating damage to
the public interest. If that weren’t
enough, harassment is so epidemic that the government stopped
tracking it in 2008 to avoid further
embarrassment. Mental health
disability claims are skyrocketing.
The fact that this abusive, conformist and secretive government
culture has now been backed up by
laws and legal precedents makes
it clear that it is unsafe for whistleblowers and dissenters to speak
out. It will remain so until fundamental changes are made.
Ian Bron is the managing director of Canadians for
Accountability.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
10
COPPS’S CORNER: BLOGOSPHERE
Been there, done that:
Liberal Party’s not dead
‘Back in the Orwellian election of 1984, political enemies and
various newshounds predicted our party was dead, kaput,
finished, gone, interred. But an ex-politician turned party president
by the name of Iona Campagnolo would not give up. She reformed,
renewed and rejuvenated the party,’ says Sheila Copps.
BY
sheila copps
C
yberspace can be such
an ugly place.
Just last week I was happily
Facebooking my way through the
day, when in the flash of an iTune,
I received three separate tweets.
They all appended a blog written
by esteemed journalist Don Martin,
formerly of Kleintown fame, and
now the host of CTV’s Power Play.
There is a reason why blog is
a four-letter word. An editorial
stream of consciousness must
exit somewhere.
Minus the rigour of a sharpened editor’s pen, a blog can sometimes be more a reflection on the
writer than the subject matter.
Case in point. I knew Martin did
not care for me but I had no idea
how much he hated the Liberal
Party. The piece was entitled“My
blog on why Sheila Copps shouldn’t
be Liberal Party pres.”Subhead:
“Wanted: motivated individual, thick
skin essential. Apply to Liberals.”
Sounded like the perfect job for me.
It was posted at 1:36 p.m. and
forwarded by friends, some 13
minutes later.
I dove into the piece, seeking
those nuggets of journalistic factdigging for which Martin has
built a national reputation.
Would Martin’s analysis provide any insight into my pending
decision on whether to seek the
presidency of my party of choice?
Instead, I simply read the old
peccadillo that somehow I am
too old for the job. And, according to Martin, anyone who has
actually been elected to the
House of Commons is automatically unsuitable.
Well, I should have known
it. My mother always said that
politics is the only job where the
more experience you get, the
more they want to get rid of you.
Before I left politics seven
years ago, Martin undoubtedly
would have added the descriptor
“fat” to any reference he might
make to me. But if he were looking in the mirror, his own reflection would be deemed cherubic.
Methinks the pot is calling
the kettle black. Oh, I forgot. Don
Martin is a journalist and I am
an (ex) politician. Somehow, the
standards of excellence he applies
for himself are simply that—inapplicable to the political class.
How else to explain the CTV
website trumpeting Martin’s experience? And I quote, “He has spent
the last 30 years covering politics,
starting with Calgary City Hall and
moving to the provincial legislature
before heading to the nation’s capital in 2000. He authored the bestseller King Ralph in 2002, a biography on the life and times of Alberta
premier Ralph Klein and in 2006
published Belinda on the private and
political life of Belinda Stronach.”
By Martin’s own pen, three
decades should disqualify him
from having anything relevant to
contribute to the world of politics.
Like him, I have published two
books, including a bestseller and
an autobiography translated into
three languages. I spent half my
political time in opposition, half
in government, and during that
period developed a decent reputation as an honest, hard worker
who actually got things done.
But I should warn poor Don.
There is a reason we are called old
farts. With age comes wisdom and
possible air pockets. In reflecting on
my political career, the only thing
Martin can remember is the work
of the Rat Pack, where a small band
managed to keep the Conservatives
on their toes after we were reduced
to a rump in the 1984 election.
Hey Don, get over it.
That election was supposed
to signal the death of the Liberal
Party. Other esteemed journal-
Rebuttal: CTV Power Play host Don Martin blogged that former Liberal MP and
deputy prime minister Sheila Copps should not be the party’s new president.
‘The last thing the Liberals need are controversial figures from its past to become
the fresh face of its future,’ he said. Ms. Copps responds in this week’s column.
ists were writing us off then.
Last week’s blog was a blast
from the same past: “Wanted
motivated individual to head
cash strapped organization left
for dead in the ballot box.”
Back in the Orwellian election
of 1984, similar obits were written
about the demise of Liberalism.
Political enemies and various
newshounds predicted our party
was dead, kaput, finished, gone,
interred.
But an ex-politician turned
party president by the name of
Iona Campagnolo would not
give up. She reformed, renewed
and rejuvenated the party, even
though she was elected to the
post at the ripe old age of 50.
Iona managed to renew the
democratic roots of the party and
enlist energized young people to
help in the rebuilding process.
Her party work helped set the
stage for a future Liberal landslide which saw the mighty Tories
reduced to a mere two seats.
More than once, the Liberal
Party has emerged from the ashes
of hastily written obituaries by
journalists like Martin who have a
length and depth of experience that
politicians can only dream about.
Blog on, Don.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean
Chrétien-era Cabinet minister and
a former deputy prime minister.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
ton’s health problems and all the
question marks on their interim
leader Nycole Turmel, the New
Democratic Party’s role is foggier than ever. Many Canadians
are now more concerned about
the NDP’s capacity to become a
federalist party capable of representing all Canadians and not
just a recycled Bloc Québécois in
a federalist container.
I don’t know if Jack Layton
was aware of Turmel’s political
history, but that is not important. If he was aware he has
shown poor political judgment;
if he instead was not aware, it
confirms the confusion reigning
inside the NDP and it will be difficult for Canadians to consider
them the best bet to replace the
Conservative government.
On the other end there is the
Liberal Party led by Bob Rae, a
very experienced politician with a
lot of supporters but also enemies,
even inside the Liberal Party.
His job is very difficult
because he has to prove to his
fellow Liberals that he is the only
one who can put them on the
political map again, then he has
to convince the electorate that it
is his party and not the NDP that
is the political organization capable of providing an alternative to
Harper’s government. Once he
has done that, there is the most
difficult job to face—in four years
he has to convince Canadians
that the Liberal Party is ready to
govern the country.
To make things worse, in the
middle of all of this political positioning, the Liberal Party has to
face a leadership convention in
two years that will be particularly
difficult. There is no doubt that
Rae, and many other people in the
Liberal Party who support him,
would like him to run for the permanent position, despite the commitment not to do it when being
appointed to the interim role. Rae
himself made the commitment in
a letter to the Liberal executive
stating that he always will respect
the statute of the Liberal Party.
But the statute can always be
changed. As we can see the Liberals have a difficult job.
The only party that can look
forward to the opening of the new
legislature with confidence and
excitement is the Conservative
Party. The Prime Minister can count
on a healthy majority in the House
and, in four years, he can build a
legacy for himself, the party and
the country. Serious problems can
only come from within.
Angelo Persichilli is a political
contributor to The Hill Times and
The Toronto Star.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
BACKROOMS: RETURN OF PARLIAMENT
Tories only party
to return to House
with confidence
and excitement
When Parliament resumes, the NDP and
Liberals will be fighting each other, while the
Conservatives have a healthy majority.
BY Angelo Persichilli
T
ORONTO—Politicians are
slowly wrapping up their summer holiday trying hard to understand what they can expect when
Parliament resumes its activity
next month. Their concerns are this
year more justified than ever. To
find a situation similar to the one
we are going to see in September,
we have to go back to the 1993 elections, with Jean Chrétien’s Liberal
Party firmly in charge and with an
opposition nowhere to be seen.
The next legislature offers
the best political scenario that a
government can hope for. Prime
Minister Stephen Harper can
count on a healthy majority in
the House while the opposition is
dealing with serious difficulties
that will make it hard for them to
have an impact on opposing the
government.
In fact, it is much better for
the government and more difficult for the opposition parties
than in 1993.
There is no doubt that both the
Liberals and the NDP will focus
their attention on the government
agenda, but it is also clear that
their real target is at each other to
establish who is the real opposition to the Conservatives.
While in the past the first aspiration of the official opposition
party was to create the base to
replace the government, this time
both the NDP and the Liberal
Party must first establish themselves as the party that is the most
qualified to lead the opposition to
the government, then try to propose themselves as an alternative
for the government itself. We can
expect a lot of bickering between
the Liberals and the NDP—as
much as against the government.
Of course, considering the
number of MPs in the House, the
NDP is the party with the institutional role of the official opposition; nonetheless, the peculiarity of the May 2 results of the
national vote, is suggesting some
prudence in assessing the capacity of the NDP to handle the new
duty. With NDP leader Jack Lay-
11
POST-PARTISAN PUNDIT: FUNDRAISING
The Tory fundraising
juggernaut could soon
come to a screeching halt
The governing Conservatives have a majority and the
party is strong. It’s bad news for them when it comes
to asking supporters for money. ‘Nothing hurts political
fundraising more than success,’ says Gerry Nicholls.
BY
A
Gerry Nicholls
fter having vanquished its foes in the
last federal election, the Conservative
Party of Canada looms over Ottawa like a
political colossus.
The government is stable; the party
strong; its enemies relatively weak.
It’s good news all around—which
ironically is bad news for Conservative
fundraisers.
After all, nothing hurts political fundraising more than success.
That might sound strange, but it’s true.
To raise money from political donors,
you need to make an emotional pitch; you
need to create a sense of crisis, you need
to employ scare tactics.
That means using phrases along the
lines of: “Send us as much money as possible and do it right away, or the country
is doomed!”
The Conservatives always understood
this dynamic.
For the past couple of years, they
would churn out regular direct mail fundraising appeals designed to strike fear
into the heart of their donor base.
And since they led a minority government, they had plenty of effective
ammunition, since the inherent unstable
political situation made it easy to create a
sense of urgency.
Donors had to give money “right away”
because a federal election was “imminent”
or “just around the corner” and the Conservatives had to be prepared.
Plus, they had a great enemy to target: the infamous Liberal-Socialist-Separatist Coalition.
The idea that such a coalition could
ever topple the Harper Tories and possibly form a government was enough to
give any self-respecting Conservative
donor nightmares.
So when the Tories asked for money,
donors were ready, willing and eager to
open up their wallets and fork over the
cash. After all, the “Reckless Coalition”
had to be stopped. This in a nutshell is
why the Conservatives were able to create what the media liked to call a “fundraising juggernaut.”
Indeed, last year the Conservatives
raised a whopping $17-million in contributions and donations. In contrast, the
Liberals collected slightly more than
$7-million. It’s this massive edge in fundraising which gave the Conservatives an
advantage over the other parties, when it
came to buying advertising time.
But now the political dynamics are
different. For one thing, the Conservatives have a majority and a fixed election date. That means we know the next
federal election won’t take place until
October 2015. So the Tories can’t whip
up hysteria among their base about an
election that “could happen any day.” But
more seriously, the threat of the Coalition is now gone. The Bloc has been
effectively obliterated, the Liberals are
in disarray and the NDP faces possible
leadership problems. In short, there is no
real political threat on the horizon. This
is why fundraising will be more difficult
for the Tories.
Sending out a letter that says something like, “Everything is just fine and
dandy, but please send us money” won’t
have much impact.
The other danger the Tories face is
disillusionment. There are probably
many hard-core Conservative donors
who were not happy with the Tory government’s fiscal record of increased
spending and deficits. Yet, they were
willing to cut the party some slack
because it led a minority government.
However, that excuse is now gone. If the
Tories don’t start providing more conservative style government, many donors
might stop giving money.
Then add in the uncertain economic
times and general donor fatigue, and it all
adds up to one thing: the Tory fundraising
juggernaut could soon come to a screeching halt. To make sure that doesn’t happen, Conservative fundraisers will need
to create both a renewed sense of urgency and a common enemy. In short, they
must figure out how to frighten donors
out of their money.
Can they accomplish this? Absolutely,
they can.
In fact, the Tories are lucky because
a new enemy has emerged which could
keep their base mobilized and giving
money.
I am talking about public sector
unions.
Recently the Public Service Alliance
of Canada announced it was going to
wage a major PR offensive to oppose
any Conservative efforts to reduce government services in the name of deficit
reduction. Apparently to get its message
out, PSAC will use social media, email
blitzes and will organize its community
from coast to coast. The Tories should
pounce on this news for fundraising
purposes.
They could pitch it like this: “The big
union bosses are mounting a propaganda
campaign to mislead Canadians. We must
make sure Canadians know the truth.
That’s why we need your most generous
donation today… blah, blah, blah.”
The Conservatives could milk that
angle for years, or at least until the next
“crisis.”
Gerry Nicholls is a communications
consultant.
www.gerrynicholls.com
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
Juggernaut: Prime Minister Stephen Harper pictured at the recent Conservative Party convention with
supporters. Columnist Gerry Nicholls says the party needs to find new issues to fundraise around.
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12
POLITICAL REPORTING: LICENSE PLATES & POLITICS
License plates
most enduring
political statement
Canadians have
Postwar license plate motto phenomenon reflects
a search for identity, but sloganeering is also an
uncertain science and often invites ridicule.
BY
Tom Korski
S
potted: 11 different license plates
in one parking lot. There were
11 scripted mottos contrived by
legislatures to inspire the people.
The results were uneven, from banal
(“Yours To Discover”—Ontario) to
poetic (“Land Of Living Skies”—
Saskatchewan). Each was stamped
in aluminum plate that’ll survive a
century in landfill. License plates
may be the most enduring political
statements we have.
Alberta MLA Ted Morton has
vowed if elected premier at a Conservative leadership convention
next month he will change the provincial“Wild Rose Country”plates to
read“Strong and Free.”The slogan
resonates with a certain crowd.
Morton’s former University of
Calgary colleague, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, titled his 2008 campaign platform“Strong and Free.”
When the province first proposed
the plate switch three years ago,
supporters bristled at criticism the
new motto had aYankee taint to it.
“‘Strong and Free’ is too American, they say,” wrote Calgary
Sun columnist Rick Bell. “It’s in
the national anthem, stupid.” Bell
advised critics to “shut up.”
Alternative mottos suggested
by Albertans in one government
survey were more good-humoured:
“100% Rat Free”; “America’s Oil
Tank”; “36Years Of One-Party Rule.”
The original 1941 provincial plate
motto “Drive Safely” went unmentioned; Alberta has the secondhighest rate of traffic deaths of any
province, after Saskatchewan.
License plates typically provoke argument.
When Quebec adopted the
motto“Je me souviens”(I remember) in 1978, one Anglo legislator
denounced it as“rubbing salt in the
wound.” Then Transport minister
Lucien Lessard said the old motto,
la belle province, was“a slavish copy
of the kind of slogan they use on
license plates in the United States.”
True, Americans are manic for
mottos and cultural symbols.
Massachusetts (“Spirit of America”) has an official state doughnut,
official soil, official state shell and
state beverage, a state muffin, state
dessert, state cookie, state polka
and official state march. New
Mexico (“Land of Enchantment”)
has four official songs. In 2006 the
state assembly voted to recognize a
fifth. It goes like this:
“A land where the cowboys
and Indians still roam,
“A land where the Spanish
and Anglos call home,
“Where missiles are flying,
Spanish mission bells toll,
“Making a picture of the new
and the old” (see Las Cruces SunNews, Feb. 11, 2006, “Cowboy
Song Rides Into Capitol”).
License plate mottos are a
postwar phenomenon, though
Prince Edward Island is credited
with introducing the first coherent slogan in 1929, “Garden of the
Gulf.” Those plates today are a
collectors’ item. P.E.I. at the time
had fewer than 5,000 registered
vehicles and no paved highways.
Mottos reflect a kind of search
for identity.
British Columbia has proclaimed itself “Beautiful” since 1964,
though many portions of the province are demonstrably unattractive.
I am thinking here of Kitimat. The
plate was the creation of thenpremier W.A.C. Bennett. He drove
a Rambler and had “the bustling
salesman’s assurance,” wrote newspaperman Bruce Hutchison. When
Time put Bennett on its cover in
1966 it lauded the province as “big
sky country, where Canada’s frontier spirit is most exciting.” Grace
McCarthy, a member of Bennett’s
Social Credit Cabinet, later told a
reporter: “He gave them a sense of
pride in this province. We had never
been lifted up with that sense of
pride, that we can do anything.”
Through license plates the world
was introduced to“Canada’s Happy
Province”(Newfoundland and
Labrador 1968),“Canada’s Picture
Province”(New Brunswick 1958)
and“Canada’s Ocean Playground”
(Nova Scotia since 1972). Manitoba
has put a noble bison on its plates
since 1912, though a certain something was lost when they went from
the land of“100,000 lakes”to being
merely“Friendly”in 1976.
Sloganeering is an uncertain
science. It often invites ridicule.
When the City of Moose Jaw,
Sask., unveiled a new $30,000
motto in 2009, “Surprisingly Unexpected,” reaction at a Moose Jaw
Times Herald website was unsurprising and pretty much expected.
“Why do we continue to embarrass ourselves?” wrote one reader.
“Awful,” wrote another. Others
called it “un-flipping-believable”;
“Not only is it hard to say, the two
words have the same meaning.”
Perhaps the most famous motto
on a license plate is New Hampshire’s“Live Free Or Die,”introduced
in 1971 by three-term governor Meldrim Thomson. Opponents noted
the plates were manufactured by
convict labour. The old state plate
motto was“Scenic,”but Thomson
was so fond of the bloodcurdling
alternative he titled his 1979 autobiography Live Free Or Die and went
all the way to the Supreme Court to
prohibit Jehovah’s Witnesses from
taping over their plates.
“I have fought the holy cause
of liberty,” wrote Thomson. I can
find no evidence he ever served
in uniform.
On second thought, “Yours To
Discover” is sounding better all
the time.
FEATURE: SPIN
The Spin Doctors
By Laura
Ryckewaert
“Since her appointment as NDP interim leader was announced, Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel’s name has been plastered
across news headlines. Less than a month into the job, Ms. Turmel’s appointment has largely been painted in the media as
being a misstep on the part of the newly enlarged NDP caucus—is the media being too hard on Ms. Turmel?”
Fred DeLorey
Conservative strategist
“The Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal
Opposition is a member of the radical leftwing sovereigntist party known as Quebec
Solidaire, and was up until recently a cardcarrying member of the Bloc Québécois.
She even went as far as to donate money to
the Bloc Québécois, and on an annual basis
for five years. Even more disappointing
is the fact that Ms. Turmel went out of her
way not to renounce the Bloc Québécois’
policies when she gave up her long-held
party membership a few short months ago,
saying, ‘I wish to state that my request has
nothing to do with the party’s policies, I am
doing this for personal reasons.’ Canadians
should know that she is a member of a
party that wishes to break-up Canada. In no
way have the media been too hard on Ms.
Turmel for exposing her ties to the sovereigntists—Canadians have a right to know.
“I’m sure my Liberal and NDP friends
here will try to compare her very recent
involvement with the Bloc Québécois and
her current membership in Quebec Solidaire with Transport Minister Denis Lebel’s
membership with the BQ over a decade
ago, but to put it simply there is no comparison. Unlike Ms. Turmel, Minister Lebel has
been open and transparent with his constituents regarding his past membership,
which he gave up nearly a decade ago.”
Ian Wayne
NDP strategist
Greg MacEachern
Liberal strategist
Camille Labchuck
Green strategist
“During the slow summer news cycle, the media
need to feed the beast—we understand that. And the
appointment of an interim leader, as New Democrats
had, is a sure fire newsmaker in the dog days of summer.
“That said, beyond a few sensational headlines,
nothing is sticking—despite the shameful attempts
by other parties to try and use this to question
New Democrats’ commitment to building a better Canada. Canadians I talk to are sick of these
old-style political attacks and can see through our
opponents’ self-interested criticisms.
“NDP support has held firm, and the rest of
Canada is quickly discovering what Quebecers have
known for years—Ms. Turmel is a strong and dynamic leader with years of experience under her belt.
“As for Ms. Turmel’s appointment, our leader
and caucus knew she had strong leadership skills,
already tested under fire. Like Jack Layton when he
became leader, Ms. Turmel has proven herself at the
head of a major pan-Canadian organization, as the
first woman to lead the Public Service Alliance of
Canada. And she knows the New Democratic Party
inside out—having played a leadership role within
the party for over two decades.
“To our caucus, she was the natural, unanimous
choice for interim leader. She can handle the media’s
initial curiosity—and their testing, poking and prodding.
“We’re confident that like us, Canadians will be
excited about the new voice and fresh perspective
she, alongside our dynamic caucus, will be bringing
to Canadian politics in the weeks to come.”
“A few years ago I worked for a
newly minted provincial party leader. The first poll numbers had come
in, and the media wanted a comment. The numbers were good, so the
leader really wanted to comment. I
reminded him that if he responded to
these numbers, he’d have to respond
to polls that weren’t so rosy. So we
didn’t set that precedent (good thing
too, but that’s another story). The
NDP has set precedents in the past
that as the third party may have been
politically convenient, but as the official opposition may not be so.
“You could also argue that they
may not have been ready for the level
of scrutiny that has followed their
election success in May. Watching the
NDP spin doctors at work during the
campaign, you saw unrelenting criticism, as they believed (or so they said)
there was no room whatsoever for a
party to have not properly vetted a
candidate. So judge the NDP by their
own standard and you can’t help but
wonder why they seemed to be so
unaware of Ms.Turmel’s membership
with the Quebec Solidaire.
“Being too hard on the NDP?
Welcome to the NFL.”
“The attacks on Nycole Turmel for her
past Bloc membership are unwarranted. She
has clearly been a longtime member and
supporter of the NDP, and I doubt anyone
outside of the Ottawa bubble cares that Turmel was also briefly a member of the Bloc.
“It reflects poorly on the NDP machinery,
of course, that the leadership was caught
unaware of her former Bloc membership
until it came out in the media. They should
have known in advance, and she should
have told them. But the very fact of her past
affiliation does not reflect poorly on Turmel.
“Canadian politicians are often involved
with multiple political parties over the course
of their careers, and this reality is generally
of little or no concern to Canadians. Stephen
Harper, for instance, has worked with no fewer
than five different parties, and Liberal leader
Bob Rae was an NDP premier in decades past.
“What is troubling about the attacks on
Turmel is that they have focused on the fact
that she was a member of a sovereigntist party.
Like it or not, the Bloc Québécois is a legitimate political party, and many Quebecers hold
sovereigntist views. Demonizing sovereigntists
in this way contributes to the historical antagonism between Quebec and the rest of Canada,
and further alienates a large part of the country. An inclusive approach to Quebec is preferable to a divisive one.”
13
NEWS: LATIN AMERICA
Harper’s trip to Brazil, Costa Rica a
‘rescue mission’ to save government’s
Americas strategy, says Dewar
‘I think random is a good word to use here. It doesn’t
seem to be a coherent strategy. It just seems like,
let’s go find people we can sign trade deals with and
declare success,’ says NDP MP Paul Dewar.
By LAURA RYCKEWAERT
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent trip to Brazil, Costa Rica
and Honduras was a “rescue mission” to save and revive the Conservative government’s Americas
strategy, says NDP MP Paul Dewar.
Mr. Dewar (Ottawa Centre,
Ont.) pointed to the Conservative
government’s 2007 throne speech,
in which the government indicated it would be moving away from
aid and development in Africa
and towards trade in places such
as Latin America.
“It was announced with this great
fan fare a couple of years back, there
was this notion that this was going
to be the main focus of Canada’s foreign policy,” Mr. Dewar said. “Today
though all they’ve had to show for
it really is a couple of pithy bilateral
trade agreements, some controversial in the case of Colombia, but not
many other major initiatives and I
think that it doesn’t speak well to
what they had planned.”
Currently, the Canadian government has free trade agreements with a handful of countries
in the Americas. The Canada-Chile
free trade agreement entered into
force in 1997, followed five years
later by a Canada-Costa Rica
free trade agreement. In 2009, the
Canada-Peru free trade agreement
came into force, and most recently, the Canada-Colombia free
trade agreement is set to come
into force this year. A free trade
deal between Canada and Panama is currently pending domestic
approval in both countries.
“We’re just going for these
one-off bilateral agreements, and
I think random is a good word to
use here. It doesn’t seem to be a
coherent strategy, it just seems
like, let’s go find people we can
sign trade deals with and declare
success,” said Mr. Dewar.
When asked about the Conservative government’s Americas
strategy, Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque, P.E.I.) replied “Do
they have one?”
“I don’t know if there’s a strategy here or not,” Mr. Easter said.“Yes
he’s going to Brazil but it feels like it
almost came up out of the blue.”
Mr. Easter said however that he
felt that the visit was the right move.
With trade agreements with
Costa Rica and Chile already under
Canada’s belt, Mr. Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) visit seemed
to be focusing on potential trade
deals with Brazil and Honduras.
In a period of global economic
uncertainty, Brazil has emerged
with a flourishing trillion-dollar
economy. With an estimated 400
Canadian companies already operating in the country, Brazil is currently Canada’s 10th largest trading
partner. Last year, bilateral trade
between the two countries was valued at approximately $5.9-billion.
Relations between Canada and
Brazil have been marred over the
years because of tensions in the
aerospace industry between Canada’s Bombardier Inc. and Brazil’s
Embraer; a decade ago, Canada
imposed a ban on Brazilian beef due
to concerns over mad cow disease, a
decision which angered Brazil.
During his time in Brazil, Canada signed a series of agreements
with the country, which Mr. Harper said will boost business ties
and increase trade and immigration between the two countries.
Among the agreements signed
on Aug. 5 was a “memoranda
of understanding” under which
Canada will help prepare Brazil
for the 2016 Olympic Games and
an agreement to provide $5-million over five years in funding
for an international science and
technology partnership program.
Canada also made agreements
to ease air travel between the
two countries and to establish
a new CEO forum to give input
on strengthening Canada-Brazil
trade and investment ties.
In addition to meeting with
business leaders, Mr. Harper made
a speech in Sao Paulo, the country’s financial centre, in which he
said, “it is time for increased ambition” between the two countries.
“Total merchandise trade is still
little more than one-tenth of one
per cent of our joint gross domestic product,” Mr. Harper said. “For
two friendly countries, I think we
could be friendlier than that.”
But just how friendly Brazil
wants relations between the two
countries to get seems to be up
for debate.
Jean Daudelin, a professor in
Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs
who specializes in Latin America,
said he doesn’t think access to Canadian markets is a priority for Brazil.
“These countries are doing very
well, Brazil in particular, but also
Argentina these days, without more
free trade. That’s why they are not
that keen,” said Prof. Daudelin.
On Aug. 2, at the start of Mr.
Harper’s Latin America trip, the
Brazilian government announced
a “buy Brazil” policy, which will
affect a handful of industries such
as footwear and textiles.
Prof. Daudelin said Canada’s
chances of attaining a free trade
agreement with Brazil are further
lessoned as a result of the countries
membership in the Mercosur trading bloc.
Brazil’s membership in Mercosur means the country would
have to negotiate a free trade
agreement as part of a bloc, with
all of its partners holding veto
power over any agreements.
Currently, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay are members of
the Mercosur bloc and soon Venezu-
Photograph by Jason Ransom, PMO
Nice to meet you: Prime Minister Stephen Harper pictured with Brazil President
Dilma Rousseff at Planalto Palace in Brasilia. Mr. Harper and other Cabinet
ministers were touring Latin America last week to increase bilateral relations.
ela may also join their ranks. Venezuela formally requested to join the
Mercosur ranks back in 2006 and
has already been approved for incorporation by Argentina, Uruguay
and Brazil. All that currently stands
between Venezuela and full membership is a vote to be taken at the
Paraguay senate, said Mr. Daudelin.
Mr. Daudelin said if Venezuela joined the Mercosur bloc, “a
free trade agreement with Brazil would be conditional on the
approval of Hugo Chavez...it
makes it quite unlikely that we
would have free trade with that.”
Mr. Daudelin said he thinks Canada’s future in the region lies much
less with Brazil and much more with
Andean countries such as Columbia,
Chile and Peru with which Canada
already has free trade agreements.
However, Mr. Easter was more
optimistic about Canada’s chances at future trade agreements.
“The world’s changed a lot. Brazil knows too that they have to
depend on trade,” he said. “I would
just put it this way, nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Mr. Easter said overall, more
W
hat is the federal government doing
to improve Canada’s transportation
and infrastructure systems? What’s it doing
to ensure Canada’s transportation network
is efficiently and seamlessly integrated into
global value chains, as Transport Canada
puts it, so Canada remains competitive in
the world? We find out.
POLICY BRIEFING
TRANSPORTATION
Publication Date: Aug. 22, 2011 // Booking Deadline: Aug. 17, 2011
(noon Ottawa time)
We take a look at the feds’
commitment to develop a new long-term
infrastructure plan and its commitment
to enshrine the permanent Gas Tax Fund
in legislation. What’s the latest?
Transport Canada says in the
next 30 years, truck traffic is expected
to triple and passenger vehicles are
needs to be done when it comes
to Canada’s trading relationship
with Brazil.
Mr. Dewar said he thinks
Canada needs to have a multipronged strategy when it comes
to the Americas, one that focuses
more on diplomacy and engages
common interests, such as climate change, in the case of Brazil.
“They [the Conservatives] have
a one dimensional policy. It’s all
about trade agreements. Their problem is going to be what happens if
you aren’t able to achieve one, or
if you achieve one that’s not really
meaningful? So I think that perhaps
they’re going to have to sharpen
their pencils and go back to what
their policy is in the Americas, and
if they’re smart they’ll look at other
facets,” he said, adding he hopes the
visit was a learning experience for
Canada and something the Conservative government will continue to
focus on.
“The proof will be in the pudding, and we’ll keep an eye on
that,” said Mr. Dewar.
The Hill Times
expected to double. We find out the
latest on the government’s Gateways
and Corridors Strategy, the WindsorEssex Parkway, and its commitment to
build a new crossing and a dedicated
expressway linking the crossing directly
to the 401.
We also take an in-depth look
into the Federation of Canadian
Municipalities “Cut My Commute”
national campaign to fight gridlock and
reduce commute times. The FCM says
long daily commutes hurt the economy,
the environment, and quality of life and
cost more than $5-billion a year. The
FCM is urging the federal government
Communicate with those most responsible
for Canada’s public policy decisions.
For more information or to reserve your government relations and public affairs advertising
space, contact The Hill Times display advertising department at 613-232-5952 ext. 213
to establish a national strategy and
wants the federal and provincial
governments to reinvest more tax
dollars into new roads, buses, light rail
and subways. We look into this.
The Hill Times also looks at the
infrastructure and transportation systems
in major cities across the country
and how they want to improve those
systems.
Finally, we’ll look at the federal
government’s studies on the links
between public health and sustainable
and active transportation.
Top political players to take part.
14
OPINION: ETHICAL OIL
OPINION: REGULATIONS
Alberta’s oil sands ‘ethical
alternative’ to ‘conflict oil’
from Middle East
Conflict oil is produced in regimes
where women are oppressed,
minorities persecuted, workers
exploited, and democrats and
dissidents who dare complain are
jailed, tortured, or even murdered.
BY
E
Alykhan Velshi
very Canadian government in the last
two decades has been a champion
of Canada’s oil sands. It was the federal
Liberals who, in government, first saw the
commercial promise of the immense bitumen deposit—their regulatory and political support was critical in transforming
the oil sands industry from a curiosity to
the powerhouse it is today. Since then,
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have
aggressively promoted the oil sands to
international markets, and investors. The
political wrangling around the oil sands
isn’t a product of federal, or even provincial partisanship; it’s coming primarily
from non-governmental organizations—
many of them funded by foreign dollars.
Fair criticism of the oil sands is one thing.
Reckless, mendacious attacks are quite
another. But that, unfortunately, is what
Canadians face: activist groups smearing our
national reputation, calling for tourist boycotts, attempting to frustrate trade deals—frequently, by using outright lies. That’s where
EthicalOil.org comes in. By refusing all funding from foreign corporations, EthicalOil.
org can be a voice for regular Canadians, not
foreign-paid activists. Our goal is to rebut
the vicious smears and caricatures that are
spread about Canada’s oil sands.
In these tough economic times, the oil
sands industry is supporting tens of thousands of Canadian jobs, while billions of dollars of taxes and royalties collected from the
oil sands help pay for our social supports,
schools and hospitals. The oil and gas industry is the largest employer of aboriginals in
the country. Those who visit the oil sands
in Fort McMurray, Alta., will see jobs being
created not just for Albertans, but for all
Canadians—engineers and geologists from
Quebec and British Columbia, pump crane
operators from Toronto, and welders and
pipefitters from Newfoundland (so many
of the latter, in fact, that there is a daily
St. John’s-Toronto-Fort McMurray flight).
The proposed Keystone XL and Northern
Gateway pipelines, which will help Canada
export more crude oil, promise even greater
economic opportunities, and will also give
Canada valuable foreign policy leverage
with the United States and Asia.
The fact is, Canada has two qualities that
rarely exist together: a standard of ethics no
country can beat and a colossal amount of oil.
As eager as we all may be for a world where
we no longer need carbon-based fuels to
power our economy, it’s not going to happen
anytime soon. Non-combustible renewables
still comprise less than one per cent of the
world’s energy supply mix. We have a long
way to go before non-combustible renewables alone can meet the world’s energy
More than just oil: There’s more to Alberta’s oil sands than just producing oil, says Scott Thurlow.
Evidence-based approach to
oil sands regulation needed
In defence: Environment Minister Peter Kent
continues to defend the Alberta oil sands.
needs. This means that, for the foreseeable
future, the world will continue to need oil.
Fortunately, people, businesses, and governments do have a choice in the kinds of oil
production we want to encourage, and the
kinds we want to discourage. For generations, major western economies have relied
on oil from the world’s most brutal regimes,
so-called ‘conflict oil.’ Any student of politics
knows that the riches amassed by the dictators of petro-states such as Saudi Arabia,
Libya, Iraq, Iran, and Sudan, are used to
fund their human rights abuses, genocides,
terror-sponsorship, and wars. Conflict oil
is produced in regimes where women are
oppressed, minorities persecuted, workers
exploited, and democrats and dissidents
who dare complain are jailed, tortured, or
even murdered. Unfortunately, it isn’t just
Americans and Europeans empowering
these conflict oil regimes—even in Canada,
flush as we are with oil, we nevertheless
import 54 per cent of our supply from
immoral, conflict oil regimes, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Angola and Algeria.
Canada’s oil sands are an ethical oil
alternative, produced in a country that cares
about peace and one where women and
minorities are not just protected by equal
rights, but are actively recruited by firms
eager to increase their diversity. It’s true that
oil sands producers still have work to do in
mitigating oil sands CO2 emissions—though
intensity levels are already down nearly a
third since 1990. But as the world uses up
more readily accessible reserves, unconventional oil is making up increasingly more of
the world mix: the Obama administration’s
National Energy Technology Laboratory in
the U.S. already calculates that Canada’s oil
sands offer lower carbon emissions per barrel than many types of conflict oil, such as
Venezuela’s heavy crude.
Canadians have reason to be proud of
the ethical way we do business, particularly
when compared to our global competitors.
Canada’s oil sands industry may not be perfect, but nobody’s is—and Canadian workers
and businesses absolutely do act far more
responsibly than those in conflict oil regimes.
As long as the world continues using oil, ethical Canadian oil production—not conflict oil
production—is the kind people, businesses,
and government should all want to encourage. It’s time Canada fought back against the
vicious slurs about our oil sands. It’s time we
reminded the world that ethical oil or conflict
oil is a choice they have to make.
Alykhan Velshi, a former Conservative
staffer, is executive director of EthicalOil.org.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
‘As we contemplate the regulation of the oil sands and the
byproducts created by the extraction process, we should be
mindful of the unintended consequences that regulatory policy
can have on the possibility of investment,’ says Scott Thurlow.
BY
T
Scott Thurlow
here are few issues which cause greater
division and consternation amongst
Canadians than the vast energy stores
which are found in the Alberta oil sands.
Like any other natural resource, the petroleum products which are stored in those
sands evoke strong opinions from local residents and global consumers of petroleum
products alike. The images, when delivered
in certain ways, can be quite powerful in
generating an emotive response by those
who see them. The profits, when delivered
in certain ways, can be equally compelling.
What comes out of the ground of Alberta has significant importance to the global
energy market, and is seen by the United
States as a more politically palatable source
of energy that can help quench their seemingly insatiable thirst for energy. The proponents of so-called ethical oil are often challenged by saying that the products borne of
the oil sands carry additional social costs
which could outweigh the political benefits
identified by our customers to the south.
This debate will rage long after we ourselves become potential carbon fuels.
The emotive response of these critics
are (pardon the pun) fueled by the visible
effects of the extraction process and the
energy intensive methods required to convert that raw material into a form of energy
ready for export or consumption. The spent
catalysts created by the extraction process
are also lamented by critics of the oil sands,
as they are seen as a potential hazard that
can have a deleterious impact on the environment into which they are disposed, particularly if they are not handled properly.
As a result, those spent catalysts are recycled and disposed of in the most ecologically friendly manner possible. In many cases,
those catalysts are exported in a raw form
to the United States for a process known as
reclamation, as that “waste” is a rich source
of other valuable materials.
Reclaimers, as they are known, can supply products for use in specialty chemical and
catalyst applications. The strategic metals are
recovered from spent catalysts and made into
a variety of high-purity specialty products,
being matched to very precise products to
meet tailored client specifications in steel,
foundry and superalloying processes. Metals
found in this byproduct have the potential to
be the future of lightweight steels, and are
part of the energy mix of the future. All of this
from the“waste”of the oil sands.
In Canada, the oil sands provide an
extremely valuable source of vanadium
metal by separating the spent catalysts
from the oil refining process. The spent
catalyst is processed by several companies
in the United States that, in turn, supply
vanadium alloying stock to our domestic
steel producers to add strength, toughness
and heat resistance to their final product.
It is usually added in the form of ferrovanadium, a vanadium-iron alloy.
For a very brief period in the 1990s, this
reclamation was done domestically, but for
now this value added metal extraction only
takes place south of the border. A significant
deterrent to this value-added industry returning to Canada is the regulatory environment.
How the federal and provincial governments
treat businesses that literally strip out these
metals for profit, and how they classify and
treat the object of that reclamation process,
will affect investment decisions.
The greatest irony is that these metals
can actually help reduce our need for fossil fuels. The almost limitless technological
applications of vanadium based metals, all
of which can be considered the fruit of the
oil sands, includes the development of vanadium redox-batteries. These new technologies will ultimately lead to improving the
effectiveness of renewable power development, transmission and storage in Canada.
Perhaps paradoxically, that reclamation
actually assists in reducing the environmental impact of the exploration of energy, but
the labels that are affixed to these substances
add significant paper burden domestically—
they can be (pardon the pun) quite toxic to
would be international investors. As we contemplate the regulation of the oil sands and
the byproducts created by the extraction process, we should be mindful of the unintended
consequences that regulatory policy can have
on the possibility of investment in this valuable area. A weight of evidence approach to
regulation would protect against the possibility of having value-added processes like reclamation being shipped offshore; especially
when what is perceived to be an environmental problem may actually be the lynchpin to
environmental sustainability.
Scott Thurlow is vice-president of
Temple Scott Associates Inc. in Ottawa.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
15
NEWS: FINANCE COMMITTEE
Fast-tracking deficit elimination key
issue for pre-budget consultations
The Finance Committee received 330 requests for witnesses to
appear before committee and 49 written recommendations. A
report will be given to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in December.
By CHRIS PLECASH
The federal government’s plan
to eliminate the deficit ahead of
schedule is shaping up to be the
central focus of the House Finance
Committee’s pre-budget consultations for 2012-2013, and policy
insiders say it will take a longterm strategy for participants to
get their recommendations onto
the Finance minister’s desk.
The government has maintained
its ambitious campaign promise to
eliminate budgetary deficits by 2015
through $4-billion in cuts in each
of the next three years—a point
reflected in the committee’s request
for public recommendations on
how to reduce federal spending, not
only increase it.
“It’s not a letter to Santa,” said
Capital Hill Group senior consultant Joe Jordan, who served two
terms as an MP in the Chrétien
government. Mr. Jordan said that
the consultation process serves
as a genuine avenue for members
of the public to influence policy,
provided they deliver their recommendations strategically.
“I think ideologically this government, as opposed to previous governments that were left of them on
the political spectrum, would generally default to retracting government
as opposed to increasing the size of
government. If you know that, whatever you’re suggesting to the government has to be put through those filters,” he advised.“What you’ve got to
do is talk about how you can make
government more effective in the
areas that it’s in, for less money. If
you’re simply going there and asking for big expensive new programming, you’re wasting your time.”
Mr. Jordan added that anyone seeking to influence policy
should be prepared to make a
“long term commitment to making your case year over year,” a
point Ensight Canada director
Jacquie LaRocque echoed. She
added that advising government
also involved a high degree of
pre-planning. Ms. LaRocque said
that the consultations are an
effective avenue for influencing
policy as long as an individual or
group is prepared to make a sustained effort to get the attention
of government decision makers.
“If you put in a submission, but
you don’t communicate with the
public policy decision makers in
the weeks and months leading up
to it, or in the months and years
after it, you simply can’t succeed,” she said. Ms. LaRocque also
advised that to be effective, participants need to strive to be seen as “a
public policy leader” that government wants to hear from—something that isn’t achieved in a day.
In June, the House of Commons
Standing Committee on Finance
announced plans to hold prebudget consultations throughout
the fall, with hearings planned for
Whitehorse, Prince Rupert, Saskatoon, Windsor, Toronto, Montreal,
St. John’s and Moncton. A spokesperson for the committee said
that the consultations will begin
in Ottawa in late September, with
traveling hearings held in October.
Groups and individuals interested in participating in the hearings had until last Friday to submit
written briefs outlining up to three
recommendations on spending
priorities and reductions. Prior to
last week’s deadline for submissions, the committee clerk’s office
confirmed that it had received 330
requests to appear before the committee, along with 49 recommendation briefs. The consultations, which
have been held annually since 1994,
have received between 400 and
800 appearance requests in recent
years. The recommendations will be
summarized in a report to Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty (WhitbyOshawa, Ont.) in December.
The committee’s invitation was
prefaced by a warning of postrecessionary “economic stagna-
The money man: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, last week at a financial policy retreat. Pre-budget consultations are underway.
tion,” citing slow economic growth
and high sovereign debt in the U.S.
and Europe, declining stimulus
spending, and the high value of the
Canadian dollar as headwinds to
Canada’s own economic recovery.
Chaired by Conservative MP
James Rajotte (Edmonton-Leduc,
Alta.) and vice-chaired by Liberal
finance and national revenue critic
Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.) and
NDP national revenue critic Hoang
Mai (Brossard-La Prairie, Que.), the
committee has solicited the public’s input on maintaining economic
recovery, job creation, limited taxes,
and a balanced budget.
“ Th e Fi n a n c e C o m m i t t e e
is tasked to do a cross country
checkup in a sense of priorities for
Canadians,” explained C.D. Howe
policy analyst Philippe Bergevin,
who assisted in drafting reports
and providing background information to the Finance Committee during his tenure with the
Parliamentary Information and
Research Service from 2005 until
2009. “This is a useful process. It
perhaps doesn’t have the impact
one would hope in terms of steering the direction of public policy,
but it’s a useful exercise to get a
sense of the will of Canadians.”
Last year’s recommendations
were reflected to varying degrees
in the 2011-2012 budget. The accelerated capital cost allowance,
which allows businesses to write
POLICY BRIEFING
off equipment costs against taxable income, was extended to 2013
in the last budget, and infrastructure investment has been a key
component of the government’s
Economic Action Plan in dealing
with the most recent recession.
Other recommendations, such
as a greater effort to develop clean
technology and an improved strategy to address the quality of life for
aboriginal Canadians were less evident in the last budget. The government did allocate $97-million over
two years for clean energy research
and development, and $8-million for clean energy initiatives in
aboriginal and northern communities, as well as $22-million over two
years in reserve infrastructure.
This year’s consultations are
likely to be particularly contentious
in light of the government’s plans to
eliminate the deficit by 2015. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
research associate David MacDonald, who coordinates the centre’s
annual alternative federal budget,
called the government’s plans a
major challenge to the consultation
process, and called the urgency of
cutting federal services to balance
the budget “a complete myth.”
“As we look forward further, I
think what we need to do is have
more government involvement in
the economy,” he said.
Mr. MacDonald, who has not
participated in pre-budget consul-
Publication Date: Sept. 12, 2011 // Booking Deadline: Sept. 7, 2011
(noon Ottawa time)
C
anada’s bioeconomy is worth $86.5-billion. It supports
more than one million jobs.
Health, medicine, and pharmaceutical manufacturing account
for 64.4 per cent of the bioeconomy.
But biotechnology investments have plunged,
entrepreneurs can’t find the capital they need, and
venture capital has dropped 75 per cent since 2007. What
happened? The feds, meanwhile, say they want to bridge
the gap between Canada’s strong research base and the
commercialization of discoveries. Are they? The Hill Times
digs into the biotechnology public policy issue.
Biotechnology
tations, but has collaborated with
participants in developing the alternative federal budget, criticized the
government’s early end to the federal stimulus package and its reliance
on the private sector to deal with the
7.2 per cent unemployment rate.
Asked what advice he would
provide to the House Finance Committee, Fraser Institute senior economist Niels Veldhuis cited the high
debt levels of other countries as
proof that Canada should eliminate the deficit even more quickly
than the government has proposed.
“They’ve got to do more to balance the budget faster than the current five year period,” Mr. Veldhuis
told The Hill Times. “What they’re
doing is constraining the growth
rate of that spending. … If you look
at why we’re actually out of a recession in Canada, it has absolutely
nothing to do with government
spending, it has to do with the fact
that the private sector has picked up
and our net exports have picked up.”
Both Mr. Veldhuis and Mr. MacDonald identified corporate subsidies as a key area where the government could reduce expenditures.
Mr.Veldhuis said the government
should undergo a program review
similar to what the Liberals did in
1995. “There are lots of areas where
the government can significantly
reduce spending and actually have a
positive outcome,”he said.
The Hill Times
We’ll look at BIOTECanada’s efforts to build a biotechnology sector. We’ll explore the federal government’s leadership at all levels which is key to the success of Canada’s
knowledge-intensive industry.
We’ll examine the Canadian Biotechnology Strategy,
the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee, biotechnology in human health, agriculture and food processing,
the environment and intellectual property. We’ll also look
at what the federal government is doing to stimulate and
encourage investment to enable discovery and to get
biotechnology products and processes to market.
Communicate with those most responsible
for Canada’s public policy decisions.
For more information or to reserve your government relations and public affairs advertising
space, contact The Hill Times display advertising department at 613-232-5952 ext. 213
16
NEWS: F-35 PROCUREMENT
OPINION: HEALTH CARE
Making patients pay won’t
Critics say Canada should
review F-35 procurement, but make Canadian healthcare
system
more
affordable
government still not budging
‘Why commit to buying now? Nothing has happened except that
the landscape has gotten even murkier,’ says Allan Williams.
By D’ARCY MCDONELL
Critics have renewed calls
for the Canadian government to
review its commitment to purchase F-35 fighter jets after the
entire program was suspended
again last week because of a failure in the aircraft’s integrated
power package during testing.
“Everyone is reassessing. The
Americans are reassessing. Turkey,
Australia, the U.K. are all reducing,” Alan Williams, a former ADM
at DND during the 1990s, told The
Hill Times. “The point is, why commit to buying now? Nothing has
happened except that the landscape has gotten even murkier.
… Survey the marketplace, get a
statement of requirements together to allow a competition.”
Bill Sweetman, editor in chief
of defence technology international for Avation Week, agreed,
but said that time will eventually
run out for considering alternatives. “I think Canada needs to
look back and say, ‘When we got
into this, we were expecting it to
cost this much, we were expecting
it to deliver these capabilities at
this date,’ and none of that applies
anymore. We need to take a formal look at alternatives,” he said.
The Joint Strike Fighter program is already five years behind
schedule in development and,
according to a recent report by the
United States Navy, 40 per cent over
budget. These two factors have participating nations suspicious about
the project’s long-term viability.
In July, Australia announced
that, due to delays, it had opted to
acquire a number of the alternative Boeing Super Hornets to begin
replacing their ageing fleet of
fighters. Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the country
would consider buying more from
Boeing should Lockheed’s delivery date slip any further past 2014,
according to a Reuters report,
a date almost guaranteed to be
missed. Turkey is concerned about
price increases and said it will only
buy six jets instead of 120. Similarly, the U.K. may cancel its purchase
and in the United States where
the government is going through
economic turmoil and Congress is
slated to cut defence budgets, the
purchase is up in the air.
Further, Lockheed is requesting that Congress approve another
$264-million in funding to assist
the ailing aircraft. Should Congress refuse the request, Secretary
of Defence Robert Gates admitted that the number of jets the U.S.
buys would have to also be reduced,
according to DefenseNews, leading
to overall increases in per-unit costs.
In Canada, however, the government seems unwilling to initiate a
review of the procurement process.
Time for a second look: U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and Defence
Minister Peter MacKay. The U.S.’s plans to buy F-35s is up in the air, and
Canada should re-evaluate its own commitment, say critics.
The Canadian government signed a
memorandum of understanding in
2001 and 2006 that it would continue in the program. At the time, the
estimated cost was $9-billion for
65 fighter jets—that’s $70-million
per jet—and $16-billion total over
20 years. In the United States, the
price per unit is now $155-million
and Parliamentary Budget Officer
Kevin Page has estimated that the
Canadian cost could be between
$129-million and $148-million.
In an emailed statement to The
Hill Times, Department of National
Defence senior communications
adviser Krista Hannivan said that
the procurement process started
in the late 1990s and “the government of Canada determined that
the F-35 is the best—and only—aircraft that meets Canada’s needs.”
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary
Southwest, Alta.) said that he
wouldn’t get into “a lengthy
debate on the numbers” and did
not indicate if the government
would reassess its purchase.
“This is the only fighter available
that serves the purposes that our air
force needs,”Mr. Harper said.
The F-35s are intended to
replace Canada’s CF-18s which
are supposed to come to the end
of their lifespan in 2020.
Mr. Williams—the individual
who personally initiated Canada’s participation in the program—said DND’s reasoning on
the F-35s is “totally flawed.”
“We got into this program
because, if you didn’t join, your
industry would not have an
opportunity to participate,” Mr.
Williams said.
Replacement of the CF-18s was
more than two decades away, he
said, noting that finding a successor to the aircraft was not even on
the radar. This, instead, was about
benefits to industry, and never once
required a commitment—verbal
or signed—that Canada had any
intention to purchase the aircraft.
Further, the suggestion that
any competitive process was held
is flat out wrong, he said. “In this
case, in 2006, bureaucrats went to
the ministers and said, ‘Buy the
F-35s,’ and then four years later, in
2010, the Air Force completed their
statement of requirements. Are we
really shocked to see the F-35 is
the only one to meet our requirements? Of course not,” Mr. Williams said, noting the statement of
requirement is still not public. “It’s
absurd to suggest that the requirements are done in an open, fair
and transparent kind of way.”
Mr. Sweetman said there is a
clear reason why the government’s
SOR has not been made public.
“Even though that statement is not
classified the reason they haven’t
released it is in fact because all the
requirements except for two can be
met by any aircraft,”he told The Hill
Times.“The two that can’t are worded so specifically that they are put
in there to exclude anything else.”
Mr. Williams, speaking to the
specificity of the two conditions,
said requirements are never set
in stone because an SOR is subjective and can be changed. “You
don’t have to make it black or
white, necessarily. You do, however, if it’s part of your agenda to
explicitly exclude competition.”
Liberal MP John McKay (Scarborough-Guildwood, Ont.), his party’s defence critic, said this type of
maneuvering is becoming regular.
“There is a pattern of amateur procurement decisions by this government and it will leave Canadians
stuck with the bill,”he said.“Canada
should put the project on hold; open
up an open procurement process.”
Both Mr. Williams and Mr.
Sweetman agreed that Canada
should re-evaluate its purchase
commitments.
“At the moment it looks like
Canada is running blinkered into
this without taking a serious look
at what their other options should
be. If you persist much longer,
you don’t have many options left,”
Mr. Sweetman said.
dmcdonell@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
By NORALOU ROOS
AND RAISA DEBER
H
ere it comes again—an idea
that surfaces regularly in
Canadian healthcare debates
and seems to hold sway with
those who advocate common
sense principles: user fees.
Some people think that charging patients when they use the
health system would help control
healthcare costs, ensure that people are getting the care they need
and are not overusing the system.
Others believe that user fees would
bring in much-needed revenue.
Unfortunately the evidence
doesn’t support the aspirations.
Research to date suggests two
good reasons why patient financed
healthcare doesn’t make sense.
First, user fees discourage
patients from seeking both necessary and unnecessary care. This is
often penny wise and pound foolish.
Some claim that user fees are
benign because they discourage
only frivolous use.That assumes
that most people have the expert
knowledge to know what care
is needed. A host of studies have
found the opposite. One U.S. study
published in the New England
Journal of Medicine involving fairly
healthy adults showed that user fees
led to a 20 per cent increase in risk
of death for people with high blood
pressure because people were less
likely to see a doctor and get their
blood pressure under control.
The same thing happened in
Canada in 1996, when Quebec
began requiring patients to pay
part of the cost of all drugs purchased. As a result, according
to a study in the Journal of the
American Medical Association,
patients reduced their use of
less essential drugs and essential drugs, with negative effects
on their health including serious
adverse events and increased
emergency department visits.
Faced with user-fees, the evidence shows that people often
do without preventative care and
chronic disease management.
User fees mean we have to decide
whether symptoms warrant medical attention. For example, when
a child has a fever, most parents
don’t know whether it’s the flu or
the onset of meningitis. Do we really want parents to make the decision about whether to take their
child to the doctor on the basis
of whether the user fee will leave
enough money to pay the rent?
Which leads to the second
finding.
Health care financed by
patients does not save money. It
may transfer costs from third-party payers to patients, but the total
cost is often higher. Indeed, this
helps explain the contradictory
beliefs noted above—if user fees
bring in new revenue, they cannot
simultaneously control costs.
One reason relates to what
happens to resources not used by
those discouraged from seeking
care. While user fees sometimes
discourage sick people from filling
hospital beds or booking doctors
appointments, research shows
that these freed up resources are
not closed down. Instead, they
often end up providing people
who can more easily afford the
user fees care they may not need.
That is, user fees may—ironically—encourage unnecessary or
marginally useful care in order to
make sure the physicians and hospital beds available stay busy.
Individual patients also have
less ability to negotiate prices,
particularly when they are very
ill. In other words, it may cost
more to buy the same.
Let’s face it: most people don’t
want a heart transplant or a hip
replaced just because they’re free.
Doctors, not patients, determine
who gets access to most healthcare
treatments. So what do user fees
really discourage? They discourage
the frugal and the poor from getting the care they really need.
When the patient pays, buying
insurance is typically part of the
package—unfortunately, that package can change rapidly. A recent
report from the U.S. based Commonwealth Fund describes sharp
rises in premiums for employersponsored family plans over the
period 2003 to 2009 with premiums
increasing more than three times
faster than median incomes.
Deductibles have also risen nearly
80 per cent over this period. And it
is precisely the sickest—who need
the most care—who have the greatest trouble in finding an insurance
company willing to cover them.
One type of user fee that
might make sense was recently
proposed in Europe: add user fees
to low value services and eliminate them from high value services. But that takes a lot of work
up front to figure out what medical care works and what doesn’t
and for whom, and to convince
patients and providers that these
decisions are accurate. No one
has yet tried this approach.
The scientific evidence supporting publicly financed care is
long and strong. So why do discredited ideas such as user fees
keep coming back?
Dr. Bob Evans and his colleagues have examined this issue
and refer to user fees and related
ideas as “zombies.”That’s because
they have been killed off repeatedly by the scientific evidence,
but, just like zombies, they keep
bouncing back to life to wreak
havoc with our public policy.
Noralou Roos is professor of
the faculty of medicine at the
University of Manitoba and the
cofounder of EvidenceNetwork.
ca, a comprehensive and nonpartisan online resource designed
to help journalists covering health
policy issues in Canada. Raisa
Deber is a professor of health policy, management and evaluation at
the faculty of medicine, University
of Toronto, and an expert adviser
with EvidenceNetwork.ca.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
17
OPINION: VETERANS
Can Veteran Affairs Canada
deal with a possible tsunami
of mental health problems?
Over the past few months most of our Afghan veterans have been repatriated. Regrettably,
it’s expected that many of them will join the growing ranks of disabled veterans, many
suffering from serious emotional disabilities as a result of combat exposure.
BY
Michel W. Drapeau
C
aring for one’s veterans is
indicia of a mature, sophisticated nation which is willing
to fight for its ideals, virtues and
rights internationally because
soldiers who go to war to defend
Queen and country place firm
reliance and confidence on the
ability and commitment of the
country to look after them, and
their families, should they be
injured (or worse) in the service
of their nation.
Historically, the Canadian government, through Veterans Affairs
Canada (VAC), has done a magnificent job caring for its veterans,
particularly those who were injured
in the line of duty during the two
World Wars or the Korean conflict,
by helping them with a range of
services and benefits including
facilitated access to lands and property, education, loans, comprehensive health care services and independence programs (housekeeping
and grounds maintenance). This
care continued through to old
age where these ageing veterans
receive geriatric care.
It is the mandate of VAC to care
for qualified veterans and their
changing needs—on behalf of
Canadians—and not the mandate
of the Department of National
Defence. This apparent and obvious statement is often misunderstood by both the media and the
general population. The mandate
of DND is to maintain forces
which are fit for service; which can
be sent immediately on operations
and which are deployable. This is
a huge task. And yet, DND, to its
credit and merit, is actively working with VAC to provide a comprehensive approach to care.
In its wisdom, the government
created VAC as a support organization to DND. It is not because
DND is heartless that it does not
care for veterans, it is because that
cannot be its mandate if it is to
succeed with the primary mission.
Legions of veterans
In Canada, a veteran is anyone
who served in uniform in Canada’s military. Of the surviving
150,000 Second World War veterans, about 2,000 are passing away
each month. There also are more
than half a million veterans and
current members of the Canadian
Forces who never served in the
Second World War or the Korean
War but served in the Balkans,
Afghanistan and elsewhere, of
whom almost 10 per cent are disabled. All together they represent
the approximately 220,000 ‘clients’
of Veterans Affairs Canada.
Veterans Affairs Canada has just
more than 2,700 full-time employees
working in veterans’ programs, benefits, and health care consuming an
annual budget of $3-billion. By way
of comparison, Australia with a population of 22 million (in comparison
to 34 million for Canada) spends
four times as much; $12.3-billion a
year to look after veterans and war
widows as well as eligible members
of the Australian Federal Police who
have served overseas. It begs the
question: are we spending enough
for our veterans?
It should be obvious to any
casual observer that Canada is
facing a new challenge with a new
generation of veterans who served
in conflicts such as in Rwanda,
Bosnia and more recently, Afghanistan. Possibly, a wave of veterans,
who in the prime of their lives,
are returning from battle with a
redefined signature wound requiring life-long medical care: posttraumatic stress disorder.
There are approximately 11,000
veterans currently receiving disability benefits for psychological
conditions, including PTSD. A
recent U.S. study titled: “PTSD,
Brain injuries, the Troops and the
Courts: the Rising Tsunami” by Dr.
Glasser, published on Aug. 3, 2011
in the New England Journal of
Medicine reports that only 50 per
cent of the soldiers suffering PTSD
seek care and only 40 per cent
experience recovery. The study also
concludes that current effective
treatment will only reach 10 to 20
per cent of those who need PTSD
treatment. This psychological toll of
war can also lead to further health
problems, and even an elevated
rate of suicide. A November 2010
study found that between 1999 and
2006, a total of 7,684 U.S. veterans
died by suicide. The study concluded that the risk of suicide doubles
for men with psychological conditions. For women, the risk is five
times as high.
Problem areas
In my experience of more than
three decades of military service
and 10 years of legal practice, I
see a light over the horizon in
terms of veterans issues; however
there are still some powerful and
menacing clouds looming.
• A need for leadership, vision
and entrepreneurship at VAC
Can VAC cope with this
increased volume of demands that
is now being placed on their services and is likely to grow ever further? Can VAC refocus and retrain
their considerable bureaucratic
resources to meet this challenge of
increasing needs, further horizons
and more complex behaviours by
these new clients? A charitable
survey of Parliamentary and media
reports reveals few who speak
favourably about the current VAC
organizational effectiveness. Fewer
recognize it as possessing the leadership, vision and entrepreneurship
required to put in place a program
capable of handling a diminishing
number of octogenarians while
gearing up to service a swelling
number of young veterans suffering from a variety of both physical
and mental injuries.
Despite calls for urgent reforms
by various retired military and
many other concerned and caring
Canadians; to date the VAC bureaucracy has reacted with a rather nonchalant, facile and underwhelming
response. Time will tell if the new
Minister of Veterans Affairs, Steven
Blaney, is as committed as was his
predecessor at activating reforms.
In the meanwhile, perhaps the
time has come for Prime Minister
Stephen Harper to nominate a new
VAC deputy minister capable of
re-engineering a cultural transformation and realignment of the organization and its processes to achieve
a quantum leap in performance by
the VAC to regain the trust of veterans and families.
• Is the VAC bureaucracy currently isolated and unable to draw
on the talents and resources of the
entire federal public service?
VAC is the only government
department with its head office
located outside Ottawa in a relatively isolated setting which exemplifies
the ‘niche’ that VAC appears to have
become. Also, more than 66 per
cent of those positions are located
in various tranquil headquarters,
far away from veterans and their
families. Perhaps this is a symbolic
detachment by the mandarinate and
the political classes in Ottawa from
the concerns, burdens and bothers
associated with the care of veterans.
The message to ailing veterans who
address their claims and complaints
to Ottawa is clear: go away!
From an emblematic and business perspective, this is a far cry
from what is required to provide
instant beneficial care to a generation of young veterans.
• Do we need an ombudsman?
In 2007, the VAC created the
Office of the Ombudsman with the
responsibility to assist veterans to
pursue their concerns and advance
their issues. In a perfect world,
such an office would be redundant
because the administrators would
deal with veteran’s needs and
complaints under the legislation.
However, the inability of VAC to
deal effectively and timely with
the generic shift to young veterans
has made this role necessary.
Incoming tsunami: New Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney. Changes are
desperately needed when it comes to caring for veterans, says Michel Drapeau.
Unfortunately, the Ombudsman at VAC has gone from being
a relatively active and passionate
advocate of veterans’ rights to
becoming an invisible and rather
mute representative. And, worse,
when, for example, in 2010, over
six hundred VAC employees got
caught inappropriately accessing,
sharing or disclosing confidential client health information, the
Ombudsman remained on the
sidelines relying instead on the
offices of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to examine both the
factual and systemic issues at play.
Pity. Where is the ombudsman?
• The Bureau of Pension Advocates must be rejuvenated
In its wisdom, a past government
established the Bureau of Pension
Advocates (BPA), a specialty Bureau
designed to provide particularized
legal support and advocacy to veterans to ensure that they can effectively exercise the full panoply of
their rights and entitlements at little
cost to the veteran. This type of legal
service is a rare thing and speaks
volumes to the government’s intention to not shortchange veterans. In
my experience, the BPA comprises
a skilled and specialized group of
lawyers committed to fulfilling their
mandate who can be relied upon to
advocate for veterans requiring government assistance. The BPA, however, needs to be expanded and perhaps re-energized, if not mobilized,
in anticipation of a surge in claims
from young disabled veterans.
Advice to able serving members
One cannot predict what ailments will develop as a result of
military service. For example, loss of
hearing may develop early as a consequence of weapons training. Similarly, arthritis and joint pain may
develop as a consequence of routinely carrying 80 kilogram packs or
riding in armoured vehicles.
To make a claim through Veterans Affairs, a member must show
that the injury is attributable to military service. Members owe a duty
to themselves and to their families
to ensure that all incidents that may
result in lasting injury are recorded
in their CF medical file. In my experience, failure to report injury is
especially prevalent during recruit
training. This may be a result of
either the member not being aware
of the CF medical system or a lack
of awareness by the leadership of
the affect that peer pressure can
have on a recruit’s unwillingness
to disclose or report a legitimate
injury and seek medical attention.
If a member is injured while
serving, they should report this
injury immediately and, if required,
consult legal advice early, and not
wait until other symptoms occur.
If a member suffers an injury
that leads to disability, unless its
source is properly documented in
their medical file, there can be no
claim, no recompense, and Veterans
Affairs will be unable to provide
any form of disability pension.
Only injuries that are proven as
attributable to service qualify for
disability pension entitlements.
Conclusion
Over the past few months most
of our Afghan veterans have been
repatriated. Regrettably, we expect
that over the near future many of
them will join the growing ranks
of disabled veterans, many suffering from serious emotional disabilities as a result of combat exposure. Clearly, the burden presented
by this new group of veterans is
potentially staggering. However,
because of the sacred trust, these
veterans will rely on VAC to look
at their claims in a non-adversarial, compassionate and efficient
manner. Meanwhile, VAC, and its
political masters, must make full
use of the little time left to re-engineer the VAC organization to provide it with inspired, intuitive and
capable leadership to enable them
to provide programs and services
customized to meet the needs of
the 21st century veteran.
Michel Drapeau is an adjunct
professor at the University of
Ottawa.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
18
STANBURY’S VIEW: PUBLIC POLICY
Facts don’t have power to change minds all the time
It has long been an article of faith that if people
are ignorant, facts will enlighten them. If they are
mistaken, facts will set them straight. However, recent
research suggests that the truth will not will out.
BY
T
W. T. Stanbury
his is the first of two columns
drawing almost entirely on
the work of others focusing on the
limited role of facts (and analysis)
in shaping citizens’ beliefs related
to public policy issues.
This column consists of edited
excerpts from an article by Joe
Keohone in the July 11, 2010
issue of the Boston Globe. My
words are in square brackets; all
the others are Keohane’s. Omissions are noted by elipses.
It’s one of the great assumptions underlying modern democracy that an informed citizenry is
preferable to an uninformed one.
“Whenever the people are wellinformed, they can be trusted with
their own government,”Thomas
Jefferson wrote in 1789. This
notion, carried down through the
years, underlies everything from
humble political pamphlets to
presidential debates to the very
notion of a free press. Mankind
may be crooked timber … but it’s
an article of faith that knowledge
is the best remedy. If people are
furnished with the facts, they will
be clearer thinkers and better citizens. If they are ignorant, facts will
enlighten them. If they are mistaken, facts will set them straight.
In the end, truth will out.
Won’t it?
Maybe not. Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in
the power of information. It’s this:
Facts don’t necessarily have the
power to change our minds. In fact,
quite the opposite. … Researchers
at the University of Michigan found
that when misinformed people,
particularly political partisans,
were exposed to corrected facts in
news stories, they rarely changed
their minds. In fact, they often
became even more strongly set in
their beliefs. Facts, they found, were
not curing misinformation. Like
an underpowered antibiotic, facts
could actually make misinformation even stronger.
This bodes ill for a democracy,
because most voters—the people
making decisions about how
the country runs—aren’t blank
slates. They already have beliefs,
and a set of facts lodged in their
minds. The problem is that sometimes the things they think they
know are objectively, provably
false. And in the presence of the
correct information, such people
react very, very differently than
the merely uninformed. Instead
of changing their minds to reflect
the correct information, they can
entrench themselves even deeper.
“The general idea is that it’s
absolutely threatening to admit
you’re wrong,” says political
scientist Brendan Nyhan, the
lead researcher on the Michigan
study. The phenomenon—known
as “backfire”—is “a natural
defense mechanism to avoid that
cognitive dissonance.”
These findings open a longrunning argument about …[the]
broader questions about the interplay between the nature of human
intelligence and our democratic
ideals. Most of us like to believe
that our opinions have been formed
over time by careful, rational consideration of facts and ideas, and
that the decisions based on those
opinions, therefore, have the ring
of soundness and intelligence. In
reality, we often base our opinions
on our beliefs, which can have an
uneasy relationship with facts. And
rather than facts driving beliefs,
our beliefs can dictate the facts we
choose to accept. They can cause us
to twist facts so they fit better with
our preconceived notions. Worst
of all, they can lead us to uncritically accept bad information just
because it reinforces our beliefs.
This reinforcement makes us more
confident we’re right, and even less
likely to listen to any new information. And then we vote.
This effect is only heightened
by the information glut, which
offers—alongside an unprecedented amount of good information—
endless rumours, misinformation,
and questionable variations on
the truth. In other words, it’s never
been easier for people to be wrong,
and at the same time feel more
certain that they’re right. …
The last five decades of
political science have definitively
established that most modernday Americans [and Canadians]
lack even a basic understanding
of how their country works.
On its own, this might not be
a problem: People ignorant of the
facts could simply choose not to
vote. But instead, it appears that
misinformed people often have
some of the strongest political
opinions. A striking recent example
was a study done in … 2000, led by
James Kuklinski. … He [conducted]
an influential experiment in which
more than 1,000 Illinois residents
were asked questions about welfare—the percentage of the federal budget spent on welfare, the
number of people enrolled in the
program, the percentage of enrollees who are black, and the average
payout. More than half indicated
that they were confident that their
answers were correct—but in fact
only three per cent of the people
got more than half of the questions
right. Perhaps more disturbingly,
the ones who were the most confident they were right were by and
large the ones who knew the least
about the topic. (Most of these participants expressed views that suggested a strong antiwelfare bias.)
Studies by other researchers
have observed similar phenomena
when addressing education, health
care reform, immigration, affirmative action, gun control, and other
issues that tend to attract strong
partisan opinion. Kuklinski calls
Fact or fiction: ‘Facts could actually make misinformation even stronger. This
bodes ill for a democracy’ because voters aren’t blank slates argues W.T. Stanbury.
this sort of response the “I know I’m
right” syndrome, and considers it a
“potentially formidable problem”
in a democratic system.“It implies
not only that most people will resist
correcting their factual beliefs,” he
wrote,“but also that the very people
who most need to correct them will
be least likely to do so.”
What’s going on? How can we
have things so wrong, and be so
sure that we’re right? Part of the
answer lies in the way our brains
are wired. Generally, people tend
to seek consistency [and avoid
cognitive dissonance]. There is a
substantial body of psychological
research showing that people tend
to interpret information with an eye
toward reinforcing their preexisting views. If we believe something
about the world, we are more
likely to passively accept as truth
any information that confirms our
beliefs, and actively dismiss information that doesn’t. This is known
as “motivated reasoning.”Whether
or not the consistent information
is accurate, we might accept it as
fact, as confirmation of our beliefs.
This makes us more confident in
said beliefs, and even less likely to
entertain facts that contradict them.
New research, published in the
journal Political Behavior [in June
2010], suggests that once those
facts—or“facts”—are internalized,
they are very difficult to budge. In
2005, … Michigan’s Nyhan and a
colleague devised an experiment
in which participants were given
mock news stories, each of which
contained a provably false, though
nonetheless widespread, claim
made by a political figure. … Nyhan
inserted a clear, direct correction
after each piece of misinformation,
and then measured the study participants to see if the correction took.
For the most part, it didn’t. The
participants who self-identified
as conservative believed the misinformation on WMD and taxes
even more strongly after being
given the correction. With those
two issues, the more strongly the
participant cared about the topic—
a factor known as salience—the
stronger the backfire. The effect
was slightly different on self-identified liberals: When they read corrected stories about stem cells, the
corrections didn’t backfire, but the
readers did still ignore the inconvenient fact that the Bush administration’s restrictions weren’t total.
It’s unclear what is driving the
behaviour … but as Nyhan dryly
put it, “It’s hard to be optimistic
about the effectiveness of factchecking.”
… The persistence of political
misperceptions remains a young
field of inquiry. … But researchers
are working on it. One avenue may
involve self-esteem. Nyhan worked
on one study in which he showed
that people who were given a selfaffirmation exercise were more
likely to consider new information
than people who had not. In other
words, if you feel good about yourself, you’ll listen—and if you feel
insecure or threatened, you won’t.
This would also explain why demagogues benefit from keeping people agitated. The more threatened
people feel, the less likely they are
to listen to dissenting opinions,
and the more easily controlled
they are. [No wonder the Harper
government has been promoting
fear to sell its anti-crime policies
which experts argue will be ineffective and very expensive.]
There are also some cases
where directness works. Kuklinski’s welfare study suggested that
people will actually update their
beliefs if you hit them “between
the eyes” with bluntly presented,
objective facts that contradict
their preconceived ideas.
Kuklinski’s study, however,
involved people getting information directly from researchers in
a highly interactive way. When
Nyhan attempted to deliver the
correction in a more real-world
fashion, via a news article, it backfired. Even if people do accept the
new information, it might not stick
over the long term, or it may just
have no effect on their opinions.
In 2007 John Sides … and Jack
Citrin … studied whether providing misled people with correct
information about the proportion
of immigrants in the U.S. population would affect their views on
immigration. It did not.
And if you harbour the
notion—popular on both sides
of the aisle—that the solution is
more education and a higher level
of political sophistication in voters overall, well, that’s a start, but
not the solution. A 2006 study by
Charles Taber and Milton Lodge …
showed that politically sophisticated thinkers were even less open to
new information than less sophisticated types. These people may be
factually right about 90 per cent of
things, but their confidence makes
it nearly impossible to correct the
10 per cent on which they’re totally wrong. Taber and Lodge found
this alarming, because engaged,
sophisticated thinkers are “the very
folks on whom democratic theory
relies most heavily.”
In an ideal world, citizens would
be able to maintain constant vigilance, monitoring both the information they receive and the way their
brains are processing it. But keeping atop the news takes time and
effort. And relentless self-questioning, as centuries of philosophers
have shown, can be exhausting.
Our brains are designed to create
cognitive shortcuts—inference,
intuition, and so forth—to avoid
precisely that sort of discomfort
while coping with the rush of information we receive on a daily basis.
Without those shortcuts, few things
would ever get done. Unfortunately,
with them, we’re easily suckered by
political falsehoods.
Nyhan ultimately recommends
a supply-side approach. Instead of
focusing on citizens and consumers
of misinformation, he suggests looking at the sources. If you increase
the“reputational costs”of peddling
bad info, he suggests, you might
discourage people from doing it so
often. … Unfortunately, this shamebased solution may be as implausible as it is sensible. [What do we
do when government is the largest
supplier of misinformation, and
seeks to suppress sources of timely
and authoritative information?]
[Glimmer of good news: An
EKOS poll of almost 1,000 Canadians conducted in March 2011
found that 69 per cent agree with
the statement: “It really bothers me
that hard scientific evidence isn’t
shaping public policy to the degree
that it should.”And 55 per cent
think the situation is self-correcting. The poll found that 60 per cent
believe policy decisions should
be based on reasoned debate, but
only 17 per cent think they are.]
The next column will focus
on the difference among political
partisans on the extent to which
they revise their beliefs in the
face of new facts.
W.T. Stanbury is professor emeritus, University of British Columbia.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
19
CIVIL CIRCLES: DEPUTY MINISTERS
Harper’s changes to senior
bureaucrats not ideologically
motivated, say experts
There’s no pattern to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s mandarin
appointments, most driven by
retirements, says David Zussman.
BY
B
Jessica Bruno
y the time Prime Minister Stephen
Harper’s first term as the leader of a
majority is over in 2015, he will have very
likely appointed a new deputy minister or
senior executive to every one of the government’s more than 60 departments and
agencies, but that doesn’t mean the civil
service will have become a Conservative
machine, say public service experts.
“In the last year, the Prime Minister
would have made almost 70 deputy minister and associate deputy minister appointments. He’s already had a huge impact on
the public service in that sense,” said David
Zussman, a part-time commissioner of the
Public Service Commission who teaches at
the University of Ottawa’s graduate school
of public and international affairs.
“This is the way it is, it’s natural,”he added.
Mr. Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.)
appointments and staff shuffles to fill gaps
in the upper echelons of departmental
hierarchies, far from being ideologically
motivated, appear to be logical choices so
far, said Mr. Zussman.
“I don’t think you can see any particular pattern one way or the other at this
point. A lot of the appointments that have
been made at this point have been driven
by retirements,” he said.
The average tenure of a deputy minister at a particular department is currently
2.7 years, according to the Public Policy
Forum. That ongoing churning in the
ranks is coupled with an aging population
of deputy ministers and associate deputy
ministers who are reaching retirement.
Together, these trends mean Mr. Harper
will have the opportunity to put a new face
in almost every department’s corner office
in the coming years.
“A lot of the changes … are pretty logical
in the sense that they’re senior public servants
moving into new senior jobs. In my view,
there’s no change in the way the public service
is being managed,”explained Mr. Zussman.
Appointments are made by the Prime
Minister but candidates are chosen by the
Clerk of the Privy Council, Wayne Wouters. While the PM could indicate a preference for someone, or for the qualities
he’d like a senior bureaucrat to possess,
ultimately Mr. Wouters plays matchmaker,
says Parliamentary expert Ned Franks.
“I don’t think any prime minister would
be very happy if his deputy ministers were
actively antagonistic to his goals.You’ve got
to remember that by and large, the deputy
ministers are there to serve the ministers
and not themselves,” said Mr. Franks.
In deciding where a deputy minister
candidate gets placed, the Clerk considers
if an individual would be a good fit with
that department’s minister.
“This gets pretty complicated … in the
sense that a weak minister needs a strong
deputy, and so on,” said Mr. Franks.
The Clerk would also consider the career
path of whomever he put up for appointment.
“They want individual employees to have
appropriate experience so that potential highflyers can get”to the top, said Mr. Franks.
So for example, while the PM may want
a fresh face paired with a new minister at a
certain department, the Clerk could respectfully intervene and suggest a candidate with
more experience, Mr. Franks explained.
For that reason, the turnover rate for a
department’s deputy minister mimics that of
its minister, said Mr. Franks. Ministries with
a higher ministerial turnover rate, such as
Labour and Human Resources, which have
had 17 different ministers since 1990, also
have had a lot of deputy ministers: nine.
Mr. Franks said that this reveals how much
of a priority a ministry is to the government.
“The higher the turnover I think indicates the less important the continuity …
it’s just a place to park somebody,” he said,
noting that Finance and Justice have had
just seven and four new DMs over the past
20 years, respectively.
The faster turnover in departments has also
made deputy ministers more connected with
the Prime Ministers’s Office and the PCO.
This started under clerk Michael Pittfield in the Trudeau era, he said.
“What they wanted to do was make the
deputy minister community more sensitive
to the demands of the centre, the Prime
Minister’s Office, the Privy Council, and the
government as a whole, and less the champions of their departments,” he explained.
It’s a management style that has persisted to this day, he said.
The churn also potentially limits a
deputy minister’s capacity to influence her
or his department’s policy, as they’re not
always around long enough to learn those
ropes, Mr. Franks added.
When appointing a new deputy minister or associate deputy minister, the Prime
Minister could decide to bring in someone
from outside the public service, though it’s
rare, said Mr. Zussman.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed
David Marshall deputy minister of Public
Works, even though he had no background
in the civil service, said Mr. Zussman.
An outsider could also be the first sign
that Mr. Harper is trying to remake the
public service in his own image, according
to Mr. Zussman.
“He has the right to do that under our
current system, but there’s no evidence
he’s doing it. The day that he appoints a
deputy minister from the outside will be
the first indication of that,” he said.
That first sign may be at the National
Research Council, where the Prime Minister appointed John McDougall president
in April 2010. Mr. McDougall doesn’t have
federal management experience, though
for the 12 years prior to his appointment
he was CEO of the Alberta Research
Council. Before that, Mr. McDougall was a
petroleum engineer and owned an international engineering consulting firm.
Since his appointment, he has prioritized NRC research that has the potential to
boost Canada’s economy over more abstract
research, in-line with the government’s science and technology innovation agenda.
Departments have become inured to
getting a new deputy minister or ADM
every few years, and that’s made it difficult to affect a department’s working
culture, said Mr. Franks.
“Getting people working towards goals
is part of being a good leader. With deputy
ministers being there for such a short time,
forget about the ministers, the departments
tend to say, ‘Oh ho hum,’” he explained.
There have been at least a dozen changes in the public service since the election
May 2. The average length of time each
bureaucrat had spent in their previous position ranged from one to three years, with
most coming in at just under two.
As of Aug. 4, Lysanne Forand, became
president of newly-created Shared Services Canada. She was previously senior
associate deputy minister of Human
Resources and Skills Development, and
the chief operating officer for Service
Canada, a post she held for 22 months.
Filling her former role at HRSDC is
Karen Jackson, who was the department’s
associate deputy minister since September
2009. Replacing her is Ronald Parker, who
was HRSDC’s assistant deputy minister
since September 2009. Taking Ms. Jackson’s
former post is Ronald Parker, who was at
Industry Canada as their senior assistant
deputy minister for just over two years.
By October 2015, when Canada will go
to the polls again, Mr. Franks said he predicts some departments will be on deputy
minister number four.
Mr. Zussman said the wave of high-level
retirements is less than halfway through.
“There’s been a wholesale change at
the senior levels of the public service, and
it continues,” he said.
Number of departmental
deputy ministers, 1990-2010
19902010
7
20002010
5
(Harper)
20062010
3
Department
Agriculture
Communications/
Heritage/Citizenship
8
4
2
Environment
10
5
3
External/
Foreign Affairs
7
4
2
Finance
7
5
3
Fisheries and Oceans
8
5
3
Health
6
3
1
Indian Affairs
8
5
1
Industry Trade
and Commerce
7
5
1
Justice
4
2
1
Labour/
Human Resources
9
5
3
National Defence
6
5
2
Natural Resources
5
4
2
Privy Council
7
4
2
Public Safety
6
3
1
Public Works
7
4
2
Transport
7
6
2
Treasury Board
7
5
2
Veterans Affairs
6
3
2
Average
7
4
2
—Compiled by Ned Franks, Queen’s University
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Spacious, beautiful 2 bedroom downtown condo with city view! 2.5 bathrooms, 2 balconies, gym, pool, sauna,
hot-tub. Furnished or unfurnished.
Available Sept 1st. Must see! Grant 416.910.3401
Newly renovated 1&2 bedroom suites.
5 appliances. 24hr Guest Services,
fitness & media rooms, sundeck, and
more! Available unfurnished or with
turn key furniture package no additional
cost. Walk to Parliament Hill. From
$1700.00. 613-788-2798 or www.
mintocarlisle.com.
BANK & LAURIER (MONDRIAN)
Upscale Downtown core 2Bed condo.
3 blocks from Parliament Hill. H/W
Floor,Pool, Gym, BBQ terrace.$1690.
(613)686-5001
BAY & LAURIER
Stunning view from Penthouse unit.
Excellent central location. Two bedroom.
1.5 baths. Five appliances. Parking.
August 1. $1695.00. www.homes-forrent.com. 613-288-1500.
CENTRETOWN
Stunning and bright 1 bedroom + den 1
bathroom condo apartment in the heart
of downtown Ottawa. Steps from bank
street promenade for shopping, dining
and in walking distance of Parliament
Hill and DFAIT. Home features hardwood
throughout, as well as a gas fireplace
in the living room; 6 appliances, central
air conditioning and outdoor parking.
Available Aug. 15, $1995, 613-2881500 www.homes-for-rent.com
Condominium, 200 Besserer Street
Steps from Ottawa’s Byward Market,
close to Parliament Hill, Ottawa
University and NAC. The Galleria has a
large Pool and workout area. Hardwood
floors and granite throughout. Includes
washer/dryer, storage and 1 parking
space. $1950 monthly plus utilities.
(613)884-6649 or neeminator@hotmail.com
EXECUTIVE CONDO DOWNTOWN – 1
BED @ BANK AND LAURIER
Open concept fully furnished condo.
Stunning views on 21st floor. Pictures
and details avail on FACEBOOK. Search
mondrian@live.ca $1750
LUXURY 1 BDRM DOWNTOWN CONDO
Beautifully Fully Furnished - Washer/
Dryer, Swimming Pool, Balcony, hardwood floor, Parking, 10 minute walk to
Parliament $2150/Month - 613 866
2661 - luxuryottawacondo@gmail.com
MUST SEE RENTAL!
Stunning 1650 sqft riverside condo
overlooking Parliament. New construction. Ideal for diplomats/MPs. $2200/
month. 202-674-7480 / aquaviva81@
hotmail.com
QET- 530 LAURIER AVE
Newly decorated, 2 bedroom, balcony,
all utilities, central air, 24hr security,
pool, gym, 5 appliances, ensuite laundry,
beautiful view, walk to parliament. 613523-6253
SANDY HILL
2-storey loft in historic bldg. 1 BR w/
den. 2 baths. Sept. 1 or sooner,
$1700.00 + utilities, 613-727-1400,
www.house-rent.com
WALK TO PARLIAMENT HILL - LUXURY
CONDO IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE
Open concept 1 bedroom condo.
$1750/month plus hydro, includes
parking and storage locker. 613-6911111, www.SoundPM.ca
0032 TOWNHOUSE FOR RENT
LOWERTOWN
Lovely, well-maintained 2 bedroom townhome right in the heart of the city. 2.5
bathrooms, 6 appliances, fireplace, C/A,
front and rear balconies, patio with deck
and fenced in yard. Available Aug. 21
$1795, 613-288-1500 www.homesfor-rent.com
Bright, contemporary home, 3 Bedroom,
2 bathroom (master w/ skylit tub),
Open concept, Hardwood, Central air/
Forced air gas, Snow removal/common property maintenance included,
KitchenAid and Dacor appliances, Alarm
hardware, Single attached garage plus
covered surface parking (small car),
Convenient 2nd floor laundry, Terrace,
Available late October/November 2011
although flexible, $3,500/month. Call:
220-3383 or Email: rentahome3@
yahoo.ca
A-1 EXECUTIVE
HOME IN KANATA
5 bedroom house, 2 full baths, 5 appliances, central air, fireplace, double car
garage. Avail. Aug/Sept. $1895 off
queens way ramp. (613)823-1616.
AltaVista/Oak Park
New Executive, spiral staircase; 5
bedrooms, den, nannie suite, 3.5
bathrooms, bright kitchen, family room,
appliances, fireplace, recroom, 2 car
garage, near CHEO, Lycée $4000/mo.
Greentree & Co 613-746-2367
AVALON ORLEANS
EXECUTIVE 4 BEDROOMS A/C 9’
CEILING JACUZZI 6 APPLIANCES. Partially
finished basement 2 bedrooms washroom immediate $2000.00 + utilities.
613 742-5778
CENTRAL/RIVER PARKWAY
Modern New Executive, open, bright,
spacious reception areas, 3 bedrooms
plus loft, 4 bathrooms, fireplaces, granite
kitchen, sunset riverviews, balconies,
sauna, appliances, double garage, landscaped,$4500. Greentree & Co 613746-2367
CENTRETOWN
2 Bed/1 Bath Renovated House. Walk
to Parliament & Amenities. Includes
5 appliances and storage basement.
Hardwood Floors & Granite Countertops.
1450+utilities. Sept.1st. 613-276-5553
CHARMING HOME
IN SANDY HILL
Semi-furnished Victorian home w/3
bedrms, two baths. Hardwd + carpet.
Available from Sept 1st for 1 yr. All
appliances. Easy walk to Parliament
Hill. 237Daly.com $2,500. Call Myra
McKeen, Broker of Record, Milestone
Real Estate 613-567-2400
CIVIC HOSPITAL
Beautifully renovated, semi-detached
home, wall-to-wall sliding glass doors
onto yard with deck, 3 bedrooms plus
spacious loft, 2 bathrooms, C/A + Gas,
$2000 available September 1, 2881500 www.homes-for-rent.com
FURNISHED HOME FOR RENT, PRINCE
OF WALES DRIVE, CENTRAL
Large 3+ BR home with newly renovated
BRs, master and main baths. Large, pvt
fenced-in courtyard and yard. Double
garage. Call 613-695-3353. Photos
avail. Avail Sept/Oct ’11 $2500+util
1yr lease.
Luxury House for Rent/Sale in
Cantley
3,150 sq ft on large country lot. 20
minutes to market. $2,500/mth
negotiable. See Realtor.ca with MLS
#8562965. Call 613-697-4326.
Manor Park
Striking, well-maintained 3 bedroom +
den detached home on quiet, mature
street. 2 bathrooms, wood fireplace, 6
appliances, fenced in yard with deck.
Available Sept.1 $2600, 613-2881500 www.homes-for-rent.com
Luxurious home, gourmet kitchen, office
on main floor, 4 bedrooms with en suite
bathrooms plus one additional bedroom,
central air/heat, all appliances included,
alarm system, 4 season exterior Jacuzzi,
family room and home theatre in basement. Perfect for large family and for
entertaining. Can be partially furnished.
Available mid-August. $4500/month.
Call Wayne Wishart 613.235.9681.
ROTHWELL HEIGHTS
Beautiful five bedroom executive house
on large lot, steps from the Ottawa
River. Two and one half bathrooms,
media room, includes all appliances. Gas
heat. Available immediately. $3500.00.
www:homes-for-rent.com. 613-2881500.
SANDY HILL
Charming home with newly upgraded
kitchen and bathroom with ceramic
flooring and lovely hardwood flooring
throughout the home. 3 Bedrooms, 2
bathrooms, 4 appliances, fenced in back
yard with deck surrounded by mature
trees. $1800 613-288-1500 www.
home-for-rent.com
STATELY HOME IN ALTA VISTA
Approx. 3,200 sq.ft. of luxury, 4+1
bdrms, main flr fam rm + den, hardwood & granite, 2-car grg, rear
deck and inground pool. All appliances. 2047Delmar.com $4,600. Myra
McKeen, Broker of Record, Milestone
Real Estate 613-567-2400
Wkfld NEW
2BR,2Bth, laundry, gas FP, hardwood,
private patio. $1600 + util. http://
www.redmaplerentals.com/Properties.
php/Details/111 (613)371-1111
WYCHWOOD, AYLMER
3 Bedroom bungalo. Quiet neighbourhood on Ottawa River minutes from
downtown. Hardwood, 5 appliances.
Private yard, pool, deck, mature trees.
$1600 + utilities 613-866-6645
0050 FURNISHED RENTALS
FOR RENT
Two bedroom, two bath, fully furnished
apartment, in a well maintained building
in desirable Sandy Hill. In-suite laundry,
sun room, close to shopping services and
transportation, call 613-864-9032
FULLY FURNISHED
3 Bedroom apartment with parking.
Available immediately. $2000/MONTH
+ HYDRO. Call Richard 613-290-5846
or email Lobb@rogers.com
HULL $975 NEW CONSTRUCTION
900 sq. ft. 1 bedroom, 6 appliances, heat hydro, 2 t.v.’s, internet,
phone, cable. 8 minutes to Hill.
csee:UsedOttawa.com for photos ad id:
#14726664. (819)770-7103
LARGE 1+1 BED
Furnished incl utilities steps to Elgin and
Canal $1 750. Call 613 808-8474
0055 FURNISHED CONDOS FOR
RENT
EXECUTIVE CONDO
Sept. 1st, Walk to Parliament, 1
Bedroom+Office, 24 hour security, 2
balconies, includes 6 appliances, utilities,
parking. excellent recreation. $1800.
(613)299-3999
0055 FURNISHED CONDOS FOR
RENT
FURNISHED CONDO
1 bedroom, office, indoor parking.
Parkdale Market. Sept to May. $1,400
including hydro. 613-729-5695.
FURNISHED CONDO IN NEW
EDINBURGH
1100sq.ft. with 14ft. ceilings, large
windows, gas fireplace, cork floors,
walk-in shower, soaker tub, terrace,
and parking. Fully furnished including all
appliances, linens and housewares. Close
to DFAIT and Parliament Hill. Available
September 1st for $1,750. Contact
sutherlandkarenm@gmail.com. See Kijiji
Ad 298435572.
ON CANAL NEAR
PARLIAMENT HILL
Available September to April (term negotiable). Attractively & fully furnished,
2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, balcony,
hardwood, heat, light, cable incl. underground heated parking. Walk everywhere. 10 minutes to Ottawa U & DND,
Parliament buildings. $1650/month. No
pets or smoking. (613) 230-3350
0070 ROOMS FOR RENT
ROOM (OR 2)
Furnished, bright quiet Glebe townhome
for mature woman. Non-Smoker. Use of
kitchen, garden, wifi, own bath. 613230-1337
0132 TRAVEL
ALL INCLUSIVE
PACKAGES
Book Online at www.canadatravels.com
and save more on your vacations. Use
code NCA74327 for discount or call us
toll-free at 1-800-563-5722.
0211 ARTICLES FOR SALE
#1 HIGH SPEED INTERNET
$24.95 / Month. Absolutely no ports
are blocked. Unlimited Downloading.
Up to 5Mps Download and 800Kbps
Upload. ORDER TODAY AT www.acanac.
ca or CALL TOLL-FREE: 1-866-281-3538.
STEEL BUILDING SALE
SPECIALS from $5 to $12/sq. ft.
Great pricing on ABSOLUTELY every
model, width and length. Example:
30’Wx50’Lx16’H. NOW $10,500.00.
End walls included, doors optional.
Pioneer Steel Manufacturers 1-800-6685422.
DO-IT-YOURSELF STEEL BUILDINGS
PRICED TO CLEAR - Make an offer! Ask
about FREE DELIVERY, most areas! CALL
FOR QUICK QUOTE and FREE BROCHURE
- 1-800-668-5111 ext. 170.
For Sale Section
Westboro—4 bedroom
brick single, offering 2
full bathrooms, beautifully finished basement,
hardwood floors, private
fenced garden $599,900
Glebe/Centretown—
Penthouse Loft Studio
Argyle with garage parking
and oversized terrace, 2
bathrooms, all hardwood
floors, perfect for entertaining $529,900
Westboro—Stylish, 6 yr.
old semi-detached with 3
bedrooms & 3 1/2 baths,
all hardwood floors, garage
parking, fabulous kitchen
with granite & fully finished
basement $595,000
Manotick—Country
Estate on 65 acres (severable), outstanding 4+
bedroom home with separate guest suite, private
hangar + helicopter pad,
great opportunity for a variety of uses $1,175,000
NANCY
BENSON
Keller Williams Ottawa
613.788.2556
0401 COMING EVENTS
WWW.ONTARIOBERRIES.COM
Fresh Ontario Strawberries Are Here! Buy
Local, Buy Fresh, Buy Ontario. Strawberries,
Raspberries, Blueberries & more. For Berry
Farms in your community, recipes and
more, visit: www.ontarioberries.com.
0825 MOVING AND STORAGE
CITYPLUS MOVING AND STORAGE
Free estimates, new & used moving supplies, local & long distance. Reliable movers. Agent for NorthAmerican Van Lines.
613-723-6040. www.cityplusmoving.com
0217B COMPUTER SERVICES
0850 FINANCIAL SERVICES
WANTED: OLD TUBE AUDIO EQUIPMENT.
40 years or older. Amplifiers, Stereo,
Recording and Theatre Sound Equipment.
Hammond organs. Any condition, no
floor model consoles. Call Toll-Free
1-800-947-0393 / 519-853-2157.
$$$ 1st, 2nd, 3rd MORTGAGES
Tax Arrears, Renovations, Debt Consolidation,
no CMHC fees. $50K you pay $208.33/
month (OAC). No income, bad credit,
power of sale stopped!! BETTER OPTION
MORTGAGES, CALL 1-800-282-1169, www.
mortgageontario.com (LIC# 10969).
HILL TIMES
CLASSIFIED
CALL US
TO PLACE
YOUR AD
TODAY!
613-232-5952
THE HILL TIMES
CLASSIFIEDS
CLASSIFIEDS 21
HTwork.ca
Manager, Standards
CALL TO PLACE
YOUR AD
TODAY!
613-232-5952
The Canadian Electricity Association, (CEA) the voice of
the Canadian electricity industry since 1891 is currently
seeking applications for a Manager, Standards to join
its team in Ottawa, Ontario. In this role the incumbent
will work with CEA member companies as well as with
other outside agencies such as the Standards Council
of Canada (SCC), Canadian Standards Association
(CSA) and Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC)
to co-ordinate the development of technical standards
driving industry innovation as well as workplace safety,
performance, reliability and compatibility.
Job Posting – Advocacy Officer
The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO), the bargaining agent and professional association
representing the 1400 employees of the federal public service’s FS group, is looking for a dynamic and selfmotivated advocacy officer to join our team.
This is an exciting contract opportunity for someone with a background related to communications, advocacy, and/
or labour relations to gain substantial experience working with a dynamic professional association on issues facing
both the Foreign Service and the Canadian Public Service writ large.
Position type: a three-day per week contract for an initial period of three months starting 1 October 2011, possibility
for extension in one-year increments from 1 January 2012.
The ideal candidate will be a university graduate
with a minimum of one (1) to three (3) years in the
development of standards.
Salary: $44,000-55,000 per year commensurate with experience.
For a detailed description of this position, please visit
our Industry Careers section at www.electricity.ca.
PURPOSE OF THE JOB
The Advocacy Officer reports to and assists the Executive Director in designing, planning, and implementing the
advocacy and strategy activities of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers under the strategic
direction of the President, Directors of Communication, and the Executive Committee.
Real Estate
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Arrange external meetings with advocacy targets including Government of Canada officials, parliamentarians,
other bargaining agents, and others upon request of the Executive Committee through the Executive Director.
Research organizations and potential advocacy targets to assist the PAFSO Executive in developing relevant
networks in support of PAFSO operational needs.
Conduct research and prepare files on key issues or contexts in support of advocacy and networking activities as
needed.
Monitor and track specific issues as assigned to ensure adequate follow up.
Support the Executive Director and the Executive Committee in facilitating meetings and organizing events as
requested.
Draft formal correspondence, including meeting requests and follow up letters to external contacts.
Edit or draft reports, speaking points and other documents upon request.
Organize and maintain a calendar of external advocacy and press meetings in support of PAFSO advocacy efforts.
Set up and maintain a database of external and internal public advocacy and communications contacts.
Develop a social networking strategy in support of PAFSO advocacy activities and oversee development and
updating of the PAFSO website and other tools as necessary.
Serve as a resource person to the Executive Committee and subcommittees as required.
Represent PAFSO at external meetings and meet with stakeholders as required.
R
eaders turn to our real estate
classifieds because they are focused
and cater to the higher end of the market.
Because our readers are fully employed and
among the top earners in the city your ad will
reach potential customers who have the means to
consider purchasing high-end real estate.
Types of listings our readers turn to us for
94,172
combined hard copy
readers weekly
Finding a trusted real estate
agent to help them navigate
the high-end market
■
Houses for sale
■
Condos for sale
■
Office Space
■
Retirement properties
■
Furnished and unfurnished
rentals for professionals
QUALIFICATIONS
Three years’ related experience plus a Bachelor’s degree (BA) in a field relevant to Foreign Service, communications,
or advocacy.
Ability to synthesize complex and sensitive material and record information accurately and appropriately.
Ability to write complex correspondence, press releases, and briefing notes quickly.
Excellent communications skills including fluent written and spoken English; French a major advantage.
Knowledge of foreign service or labour relations issues.
Knowledge of the Canadian parliamentary and legislative system.
Strong computer literacy, including the ability to conduct internet research and use social media tools.
Outstanding proven time management and organizational skills.
Keen attention to detail with ability to track multiple projects at one time.
Excellent interpersonal skills, judgment, and diplomacy.
Agents, developers and individual sellers and
renters get results with The Hill Times and
Embassy because of the unparalleled access to the
highly mobile professionals who are our readers.
In
Special Pricing
for Real estate
Agents
■
30%
of our readers plan to
buy real estate within
the next 1-3 years.
23%
move every 3 years so
they can become
good repeat clients
HT
work.ca
hilltimes.com
embassymag.ca
Find the
perfect fit
for your
organization
in our
readership
community
37,950
Average weekly
web page views
Application Procedure: Email your application to: info@pafso-apase.com.
Deadline for applications is 12:00 on August 26.
SeniorConsultant,GovernmentRelationsPractice
Environics Communications is a great place to work. Reporting to the
Vice President of Government Relations, we are seeking a Senior
Consultant to join our government relations practice in Ottawa. The ideal
candidate is a self-starter with 5-8 years of experience who can work as a
team player to provide strategic government relations and stakeholder
relations counsel to our clients. We are looking for a person who has
worked in government and possibly government relations consulting, has
experience developing and implementing strategic plans, and in
conducting direct and indirect advocacy, stakeholder relations, coalition
building, policy development, and profile-raising strategies to support
GR objectives. We offer market level compensation and profit sharing
and our firm was ranked #1 on the list of the 75 Best Workplaces in
Canada for 2010.
Please forward your résumé in confidence by August 31, 2011 to:
cdevan@environicspr.com
22
FEATURE: EVENTS
Trade Minister Fast guest at Economic Club of Canada luncheon
THE PARLIAMENTARY
CALENDAR
MONDAY, AUG. 15
House Adjourned—The House of Commons
is adjourned. It is scheduled to return on
Monday, Sept. 19.
Governor General Travels to Nunavut—Governor General of Canada David Johnston and
Sharon Johnston will conduct an official
visit to Nunavut. They will travel to all
three regions of the territory: Qikiqtaaluk
(or Baffin), Kivalliq and Kitikmeot. They
will also travel to the communities of
Qikiqtarjuaq and Kugaaruk, two communities never before visited by a governor general. Aug. 15-21. For more information,
please contact Christelle Legault at 613998-7280 or christelle.legault@gg.ca
Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome—This
exhibition is being presented exclusively in
Ottawa and features a wide range of artists
who were inspired by one of Europe’s best
known painters, Michelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio. June 19-Sept. 11. National
Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Dr., Ottawa, Ont. 613-990-1985 or www.gallery.ca
TUESDAY, AUG. 16
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 31
part in a community skate from 4-5 p.m.
and then a Family Fun Fair from 5-7 p.m.
Stouffville Arena. www.paulcalandra.com
FRIDAY, AUG. 19
Parks Canada Salutes the Military—Parks
Canada is offering Canada’s military, veterans
and their families, a special welcome and free
admission to Canada’s national historic sites,
national parks and national marine conservation areas during its centennial “Fab Forts
Weekend”, Aug. 19-21. Call 819-997-1441.
Parliamentary Associations—The CanadaUnited States Inter-Parliamentary Group
travels to Asheville, N.C., for the 77th
meeting of the Southern Governors’ Association. Aug. 19-22. For more information,
please visit http://www2.parl.gc.ca/iia
SUNDAY, AUG. 21
Brain-freeze Ice Cream Social—Join fellow
Liberals at an ice cream social hosted
by the Vancouver East, B.C., riding
association. Everyone is welcome. Aug.
21, 2011. 2 p.m. For more information,
please contact Mark Elyas at 778-8636275 or info@emediadirect.ca
The Benefits of International Trade to
Canadians—Join Edward Fast, Minister of
International Trade and Minister for the
Asia-Pacific Gateway for a talk on “The
Benefits of International Trade to Canadians.” Presented by the Economic Club of
Canada. Aug. 16, 11:45 a.m. $79. The
Intercontinental Hotel, 255 Front St.,
Toronto, Ont. www.economicclub.ca
MONDAY, AUG. 22
Kadamb Kathak Group Concert—In celebration of the ‘Year of India 2011 in Canada,’
the High Commission of India and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations New Delhi
proudly present Kumudini Lakhia’s Kadamb
Kathak Group Concert, Aug. 16, 7:30 p.m.
Theatre, Canadian Museum of Civilization,
100 Laurier St., Gatineau, Que. For tickets,
call 819-776-7000. For the full Year of
India events, visit: http://www.hciottawa.ca
Red Tie Gala—The guest at this year’s
Red Tie Gala is former prime minister
John Turner. Aug. 24, 5:30 p.m. $200.
Hessenland Country Inn, Hwy. 21 , St.
Joseph, Ont. www.liberal.ca
THURSDAY, AUG. 18
Mayor’s Breakfast Series—The Mayor’s
Breakfast series is an important forum for
issues that are vital to Ottawa’s prosperity
and quality of life. 7:15 a.m. Ottawa City
Hall, 110 Laurier Ave. W. Ottawa, Ont.
613-744-4800 ext. 231.
Hockey Night in Stouffville—Conservative
MP Paul Calandra (Oak Ridges-Markham,
Ont.) invites you to Hockey Night in
Stouffville. Join celebrity coaches Keith
Acton and Joe Bowen. Proceeds from the
event go to the Markham Stouffville Hospital Foundation and the Stouffville Legion
Branch 459. The puck drops on the charity game at 7 p.m. Arrive early and take
Parliamentary Associations—The Canadian
Branch of the Assemblée parliamentaire
pour la Francophonie meets in Regina,
Sask. for the XXVI America Region Assembly. Aug. 22-26. For more information,
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 24
SATURDAY, AUG. 27
Book Launch: Verbatim: A Novel and The
Cube People—Octopus Books invites you
to an evening of politics without all the
politics. Authors Jeff Bursey and Christian
McPherson are well acquainted with the
unsung heroes in our city, the workers
who toil away on government campuses
out of the spotlight of Parliament Hill.
Wine and snacks will be served. Aug. 27,
7:30 p.m. Octopus Books, 116 Third
Ave., Ottawa, Ont. 613-233-2589.
Parliamentary Exchanges—Noel Kinsella,
Speaker of the Senate and a Parliamentary
Delegation will visit Ireland and Scotland.
Aug. 27-Sept. 2. For more information,
SUNDAY, AUG. 28
Liberal National Caucus Summer Meeting—
The Liberals will meet in Ottawa on Parliament Hill for a special summer caucus
Get the whole
meeting from Aug. 28-Aug.
31 before the House resumes
sitting on Sept. 19. For more
information, contact Daniel
Lauzon at 613-943-4995.
Parliamentary Associations—The
Canada-France Inter-Parliamentary Association travels to Paris,
Normandy and Sarthe, France
for the 38th annual meeting.
Aug. 31-Sept. 7. For more
information, please visit http://
www2.parl.gc.ca/iia
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 7
Canadian Commercial Corporation
Fourth annual public meeting—
Join us for the Canadian Commercial Corporation annual public
meeting being held along with
DEFSEC, the Canadian defense
GOING NORTH Governor General David Johnston and his wife Sharon Johnston travel to Nunavut Aug. 15-21. ‘As
and security exhibition in Atlantic
a vital part of our collective history, there is much we can learn from the Inuit culture,’ Mr. Johnston said. ‘My wife,
Canada. Sept. 7. Pier 21, Halifax,
Sharon, and I look forward to meeting with Nunavummiut families and community leaders, to hearing their stories about
N.S. Register online at
what Canada means to them, and to learning of the challenges they face in preserving their heritage. We are eager to
www.ccc.ca/apm
exchange ideas on their sense of community and the innovative ways to build a smarter, more caring Canadian North.’
Conservative National Caucus
Meeting—The Conservatives are
Their tour will take them to Qikiqtaaluk (or Baffin), Kivalliq, Kitikmeot, Qikiqtarjuaq and Kugaaruk.
scheduled to meet in Ottawa on
Sept. 7-8 for a two-day national
pora by developing and sustaining cultural
caucus meeting to set their
SATURDAY, SEPT. 10
heritage destinations. Sept. 22-24, Halifax,
fall strategy before the House resumes on
Okanagan Shuswap Federal Liberal AssociaN.S. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/
Sept. 19. For more information, call the
tion AGM—The Okanagan Shuswap Federal
Pages/IntlYearPeopleAfricanDescent.aspx
PMO Press Office at 613-957-5555.
Liberal Association presents its open house
SATURDAY, SEPT. 24
The 36th Cairns Group Ministerial Meetand AGM. Sept. 10, 10 a.m. Shubert Cening—Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz will
NAC ‘Hill Volunteers’ Gala—The NAC will celtre, 3505 30th Ave. Vernon, B.C. Contact:
host the 36th Cairns Group Ministerial
ebrate a few of its best “Hill Volunteers” who
Dianne Perrier at dianne53@telus.net
Meeting in Saskatoon, Sask. Some 150
help raise money for the biggest fundraiser of
TUESDAY, SEPT. 13
participants from more than 25 countries
the year: the NAC Gala. Both Laureen Harper
NDP National Caucus Meeting—The NDP
are expected to gather. Sept. 7-9. For
and Sandy Menzies are helping this year. The
meets in Québec City Sept. 13-14 for a
more information, call 613-773-7972.
gala is Sept. 24 featuring Sarah McLachlan
two-day special caucus meeting before
playing with the NAC Orchestra. For more
The Ontario Election 2011: What is Driving
the House returns on Sept. 19. For more
information, contact Rosemary Thompson,
the Electorate?—Join Greg Lyle of Innovative
information, please call senior press secNAC’s director of communications at 613Research and PAAC for a pre-election poll/
retary Karl Bélanger at 613-720-6463 or
947-7000 ext 260 or rthompson@nac-cna.ca
analysis of the upcoming Ontario election
Karl.Belanger@parl.gc.ca
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28
on Oct. 6. Sept. 7, 8 a.m. $73.45 memSATURDAY, SEPT. 17
ber; $84.75 non-members. Borden Ladner
Privacy Information Agency Workshop—The
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23
HILL CLIMBERS: POLITICAL STAFFERS
Photographs courtesy Robert Chisholm, Kennedy Stewart and Jamie Nicholls
Moving on up: NDP MPs Robert Chisholm, top left, being sworn in as an MP, Jamie Nicholls, above, and Kennedy Stewart
pictured with Peter Julian and constituents on Canada Day, are all moving into new constituency offices.
Lease negotiations, missing
furniture, unsafe structures:
MPs still setting up constit offices
New MPs are settled
into their Parliament Hill
offices, but moving into
their constituency offices
is a different story.
BY Laura Ryckewaert
W
hile all 111 new MPs elected
to the House recently are
all finally moved into their designated Hill offices, constituency
offices are another story entirely.
Unlike the predetermined
Hill offices, incoming MPs face
a number of decisions when it
comes to setting up constituency
offices.
While most MPs elect to have
their own independent constituency office, when choosing one
MPs have the one option to
share an office with a member
of their riding’s provincial legislature or with an elected municipal representative, according to
the Members’ Allowances and
Services rules.
Moreover, MPs can choose to
have multiple constituency offices,
depending on the needs of their
riding and the flexibility of the
member’s office budget, from
which the office lease is paid. The
basic budget for a member’s office
is $284,700—the total office budget
varies depending on the riding’s
geographic and population size.
New NDP MP Robert
Chisholm (Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, N.S.) chose to find a new
constituency office for two main
reasons: he didn’t like the location and the previous member,
former Liberal MP Michael Savage, was sharing space with a
member of the Nova Scotia provincial legislature.
But the search for a new office
wasn’t an easy one, said Mr.
Chisholm.
“There weren’t a lot of spaces
available in the area I was looking at. I wanted to locate an
office in the centre of the riding so it would be accessible to
people,” said Mr. Chisholm whose
priorities for the office’s location
were transit access and visibility
in the community.
Mr. Chisholm, who receives
the basic office budget, said it
took him a few weeks to find the
right office and then a few more
weeks to negotiate the lease. He
finally got the office in late-June.
It was around this same time that
Mr. Chisholm hired on his two
constituency staffers, Kelly Wilson, who will work on constituency casework, and Matthew Spurway, who will work on outreach.
Mr. Chisholm described Mr.
Spurway as a “local guy” who
was an external hire. Ms. Wilson was an internal hire, who
Mr. Chisholm said has previously worked in the offices of
prominent Nova Scotia NDP
MPs such as Wendy Lill, Alexa
McDonough and current NDP
MP Megan Leslie (Halifax, N.S.).
Working in Mr. Chisholm’s
Hill office as Parliamentary assistants are Brandon Stevens and
Kate Vogt.
“We’ve been busy for the past
few months but it’ll be nice to
have the office open,” said Mr.
Chisholm, who hopes to move
in by the end of this month after
renovations are done.
Heather Bradley, director of
communications in the Speaker’s
office, told Hill Climbers Members
of Parliament advise House of
Commons staff as per the date of
their constituency office move-in
and House staff have approximately 10 days of turnaround time to
get the office’s internet and phone
connection up and running.
New NDP MP Jamie Nicholls
(Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Que.) had
a different choice to make when
it came to his constituency office:
one office or two?
Mr. Nicholls said the riding s
former MP, Bloc Québécois Meili
Faille, had two constituency
offices, but following the advice of
NDP Deputy Leader Thomas Mulcair (Outremont, Que.), he decided
to have just one office in order to
keep a “responsible budget.”
Mr. Nicholls receives a total
member’s office budget of
$315,600. A member’s office budget is provided by the House of
Commons to cover all employee
salaries, Hill office operation
costs, office related service contracts, some travel expenses and
“most operating expenses, such
as leases, equipment and maintenance” for constituency offices.
The cost for moving to a new
constituency office location is
covered by House administration;
assistance and the co-ordination of
an office move is run by the material
and contract management department of the House’s administration.
Mr. Nicholls said he had his
new office selected since May
26 but didn’t move in until more
than a month later because of the
June House session was a busy
one. He said his constituency
office staffers, who were hired on
to his office in mid-July, are nicely representative of his riding.
“My riding is called VaudreuilSoulanges and I have actually
one of my staffers is from Vaudreuil and the other is from Soulanges,” said Mr. Nicholls.
Jasmine Sharma (from Vaudreuil) and Mejid Harji (from
Soulanges) are Mr. Nicholls’ two
constituency assistants. Mr. Nicholls has two Hill staffers, JeanFrancois Roy and Sarah Douglas.
New MPs received a “Guide
to Setting Up Members’ Offices”
as part of their initial orientation
package, said Ms. Bradley. The
guide outlines things to be considered in setting up a constituency office in addition to providing advice such as the fact that
leasing costs normally should
account for approximately 10 per
cent of the expenditures charged
to the member’s budget.
Rookie NDP MP Kennedy
Stewart (Burnaby-Douglas, B.C.),
a professor, compared running his
office to running a small business.
“In one of our training sessions it was explained to me that
really I’m now running a small
organization that has two branch
offices,” he said. “It has been quite
a learning process, but I think
one well worthwhile.”
Mr. Stewart has yet to open
his constituency office because
he didn’t have the luxury of
deciding whether he wanted to
find a new office. Former NDP
MP Bill Siksay’s constituency
office was found to be unsafe, Mr.
Stewart said. “There were some
structural problems so they had
to close it,” he said.
Faced with the task of finding a new office, Mr. Stewart ran
into his second road bump: high
rental prices.
“Our current budgets from the
House of Commons only allows
us about $2,500 a month rent,
so we had to spend quite a lot of
time investigating a place that
would be responsible to taxpayers,” said Mr. Stewart, whose total
office budget is $302,100.
Mr. Stewart said he first found
an office location in the middle of
July, but lease negotiations with
the landlord fell through due to the
extra legal requirements associated with drafting a lease for an MP
constituency office. He is now waiting for the office’s deposit check to
be cut and then everything will be
“hunky dory.”Mr. Stewart said he
hopes to have the office grand opening in September. In the meantime,
he’s been working out of nearby
NDP MP Peter Julian’s (Burnaby-
New Westminster, B.C.) office.
“I’m in the north half and Peter
Julian is in the south half and he
has a constituency office open with
full staff, and Peter has graciously
let me and my staff work out of his
office,” Mr. Stewart said.“My new
staff have been able to train while
they work in Peter’s office, so that
has been just fabulous.”
Working in Mr. Stewart’s
constituency office is Ryan
Sudds, who works on constituency outreach, and Lauren Reid,
who handles casework. Michelle
Silonagan and Jaclyn Moneypenny are Mr. Stewart’s two Parliamentary staffers.
“We’re excited to get the office
open in September but I think
we’ve, in some ways, turned lemons into lemonade,” he said.
New NDP MP Andrew Cash
(Davenport, Ont.) had his constituency office opening party on Aug.
11. But while he’s all moved in, his
office is still somewhat incomplete.
According to House practice,
new MPs receive the office furniture from defeated or departing
MPs as they are the property of
the riding, said Ms. Bradley. An
inventory list of the riding’s furniture and other office supplies is
provided to the incoming MP.
A number of new NDP MPs
have highlighted an absence
of constituency files. In a CBC
News story from July 24, NDP
MPs said they “inherited empty
file folders and at least one cluster of shredded paper.”
But Mr. Cash was missing
more than just constituency files.
“I got not a single file from my
former MP, not one single file. I
got no desks either. ... I’m not sure
what the deal is there,” said Mr.
Cash. “Maybe they had some kind
of feng shui thing that meant they
didn’t use desks in their office.”
Mr. Cash said that for the time
being he has one borrowed desk
in his constituency office and
that he plans to report the items
missing from his inventory list to
the House of Commons staff.
“[We got] a lot of toner for the
printer, and that was it,” said Mr.
Cash.
Ms. Bradley said sometimes
there are discrepancies in inventory lists and that any discrepancies
would be brought to the attention of
the material and contract management branch of the House of Commons who would then look into any
instances of missing furniture.
“I think you may expect at
some point down the road that
we have a discussion in Parliament about continuity and how
outgoing MPs hand off information to incoming MPs because
it really does a disservice to the
constituency to people that are
trying to get help,” said Mr. Cash.
Working in Mr. Cash’s constituency office is Stephanie Nakitsas, a
constituency assistant, and Melissa
Bruno, who is handling casework.
Mr. Cash said Ms. Bruno previously
did casework for NDP Leader Jack
Layton (Toronto-Danforth, Ont.),
who recently stepped down from
his position temporarily to fight a
new, undisclosed cancer.
Mr. Cash said he plans to hire
an additional staffer in his Hill
office. For the time being, Nathan
Jackson—who Mr. Cash said
previously worked in Trinity-Spadina NDP MP Olivia Chow’s Hill
office—is the Hill office’s sole
Parliamentary assistant.
The Hill Times
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