Those Liberal elites and their media lickspittles!

- May 23rd, 2013
london 008

I snapped this pic of Senator Marjory LeBreton during the 2006 general election. Senator LeBreton’s task was to ride on the media bus – a task she has had in subsequent elections — where she has never been shy to let reporters know her opinions about coverage of her party and her leader.

Conservative partisans are angry about this Senate expense scandal. They are angry at Senators Duffy and Wallin for getting them in this mess and they are angry at many others — mostly in the media — who aren’t giving them the benefit of the doubt on all this stuff. On Parliament Hill, that sentiment is largely voiced by Conservative MPs and senators who wish to remain anonymous. But on Wednesday in the Senate, Senator Marjory LeBreton, the leader of the government in the Senate, gave a remarkable speech which, though I thought many parts of it wrong-headed, seems to capture the mood among many Conservative partisans. Read more…

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Categories: Politics, Politics/Conservatives | 2 comments

NYT reports: U.S. Tracked Foreigners Leaving for Canada

- May 22nd, 2013

Interesting …

The pilot project with Canada, conducted from September to January, involved about a third of the traffic across the northern American border, tracking the departure of 413,222 foreigners from the United States. Starting this year, according to Congressional officials who have been briefed on the plan, the information collected at the Canadian border will be used to prevent certain foreigners who have stayed too long in the United States from returning again by revoking tourist visas or taking other steps.The effort relies on an ingenious solution: as foreigners leave the United States to enter Canada — and their passports are checked by the border authorities there — the information is sent back to the United States and recorded as the official “exit” record. By the end of next month, the project is scheduled to be expanded to almost all land border traffic between Canada and the United States.

via U.S. Tracked Foreigners Leaving for Canada – NYTimes.com.

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Categories: Immigration | No comments

After Harper’s speech this morning, we still have questions

- May 21st, 2013

I’m not normally a fan of going about my Parliamentary news gathering in this fashion but there are some days when there doesn’t seem to be much choice… (see the raw video posted by CBC News above)

Meanwhile, here is the text of what Prime Minister Stephen Harper had to say to his caucus this morning: Read more…

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Categories: Politics | 5 comments

NDP MP Brian Masse makes the New York Times

- May 18th, 2013

Ian Austen, who reports for the New York Times about Canada,  only quotes opposition MP, New Democrat Brian Masse, in a piece that takes a look at one of the side effects of Alberta oil.

“Here’s a little bit of Alberta,” said Brian Masse, one of Windsor’s Parliament members. “For those that thought they were immune from the oil sands and the consequences of them, we’re now seeing up front and center that we’re not.”

Mr. Masse wants the International Joint Commission, the bilateral agency that governs the Great Lakes, to investigate the pile. Michigan’s state environmental regulatory agency has submitted a formal request to Detroit Bulk Storage, the company holding the material for Koch Carbon, to change its storage methods. Michigan politicians and environmental groups have also joined cause with Windsor residents. Paul Baltzer, a spokesman for Koch’s parent company, Koch Companies Public Sector, did not respond to questions about its storage or the ultimate destination of the petroleum coke.

Coke, which is mainly carbon, is an essential ingredient in steelmaking as well as producing the electrical anodes used to make aluminum.

via Mountain of Petroleum Coke From Oil Sands Rises in Detroit – NYTimes.com.

Categories: Energy, Environment, Politics/NDP | 2 comments

Front page faceoff: Rob Ford vs The Senate

- May 18th, 2013

Toronto Sun Front Page - Rob Ford

It is rare, believe it or not, for news about federal politics to make the front pages of the country’s newspapers. It is also rare for newspaper editors to give prominent front-page play to stories about another city’s mayor. Not today. The Senate Scandals and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford can be found on front pages all across the country  – but not necessarily coast-to-coast . Read more…

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Categories: Journalism, Politics | 2 comments

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