Political Bytes

First Reading (10/26/09)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:44 -0500

Today's essential political reads:

Ka-Cheque!!!

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:19:20 -0500

The "Welcome to the Cheque Republic" buttons were popular at last weekend's Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner.

And now there's a website.

Today, the Liberals launched www.chequerepublic.ca. It seems the oversized novelty cheque story has had an entirely unanticipated stimulus effect -- making the Liberals get all artsy-crafty.

Just a Small Detail

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:11:59 -0500

What a curious omission.

Yesterday, CBC contacted the office of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt to ask about the lobbyist who helped organize a fundraiser on her behalf on Sept. 24.

Michael B. McSweeney is vice-president of the Cement Association of Canada.

Both he and the association are registered with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada. And a search of the registry shows that on Sept. 24, the Cement Association reported having lobbied Raitt directly.

The Hon. Member for Pottymouth

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:22:09 -0500

(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Having blogged earlier about the merits of watching the House of Commons live, or at least watching the videotape later, I must confess that sometimes Hansard can be better than the real thing.

The official transcribers of the proceedings sit in the middle of the room, and hear things that aren't that clear on the audio and video recording.

A case in point:

Yesterday, an MP Twitter'ed that Government House Leader Jay Hill said a naughty word in the House at around 1530.

The tale of the tape - Bill C-311 version

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:04:00 -0500

The ultimate record of who votes yay and nay on every House of Commons Bill and Motion is contained in the official Hansard lists.

But sometimes, it's interesting to attend in person, or at least watch the videotape, for a sense of the mood and body language as a House vote unfolds.

Great -- now how do we privacy filter our brains?

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:33:04 -0500

Louise Elliott, CBC News.

The bright minds at 3M may be on to something -- something that MPs and journalists on the Hill could really use.

In the mail this week I received my very own sample "privacy filter." It's a piece of transparent grey plastic from the famous makers of Post-It notes and just about anything sticky.

Once peeled, said plastic will adhere to any Blackberry screen (after you haul out the scissors and cut it to size - something I haven't yet mustered the energy to do.)

The pitch? The plastic contains microscopic Venetian blinds built right in, so that the person sitting next to you on the Parliamentary bus, on the Prime Minister's plane or even your seat-mate in Question Period can't read the treatise you are frantically banging out with your thumbs.

Hey Libs: Pick one and go with it!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:53:56 -0500

Running communications for a political party is a trying task at the best of times.

Even more so when you're competing with...yourself.

Twoops!

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:36:34 -0500

A twitter gaffe, and apology. Both firsts, we think, by a Member of Parliament.

Ujjal Dosanjh rose on a point of order after question period today to apologize ''for tweeting about matters that ought not to have been tweeted about.''

Seems the Liberal MP from Vancouver South let his fingers do the talking about what was taking place at an in-camera, closed-door, for MPs-ears-and-eyes-only session of the Commons Defence Committee:

White-Collar Redux (x2)

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:05:52 -0500

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson held his fourth media event on the government's proposed white-collar crime law today in Ottawa.

Again, he was unable to flesh out many of the details because the legislation still hasn't been tabled. That will happen tomorrow.

But Nicholson did release a few details, including a two-year mandatory jail term for fraud over $1 million.

Just as he did at last month's "announcement on white-collar crime legislation," Nicholson surrounded himself with what he called "victims of fraud." One of the women present at today's announcement is a member of the Earl Jones Organizing Committee.

What do you mean the word "ethics" doesn't appear in the Conflict of Interest Act? - (Sort of) Liveblogging the Ethics Committee

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:22:18 -0500

Kady O'Malley, CBC News

8:36:32 AM Greetings, fans of slightly time-delayed semi-livebloggish reporting! As noted yesterday, at the moment, I'm not yet able to post just-this-side-of-realtime dispatches from the parliamentary front, but the girl who sat through a seven-hour filibuster over the in-and-out affair isn't going to let a niggling detail like that stop her from covering what could turn out to be a surprisingly lively Ethics meeting. Yes, I'm back at Ethics -- oh, how I've missed it -- and on the agenda today is an appearance by the commissioner herself, Mary Dawson (last seen -- or at least liveblogged -- before the finale Oliphant policy forum over at the University of Ottawa.

This morning, she'll be discussing her annual report on the Code of Conduct for Public Office Holders, which I confess to not actually having re-read before scrambling my way here to the Hill this morning, so the contents will be just as much of a surprise to me as to any committee members who failed to do their homework last night.

Flyer Fight

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:13:43 -0500

Making accusations of excessive partisanship is a dangerous game.

First of all, you have to find issues that average Canadians will care about.

Second, you have to make sure you can't be accused of doing the same thing.

A Message from Kady

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:24:51 -0500

Kady O'Malley, CBC News.

Greetings from the CBC Hill bureau newbie!

Okay, so the original plan was to have me lay comparatively low for the first week, since the new blog won't be up and running until next Monday, but due to my visible wilting from the enforced temporary withdrawal from my beloved political interwebs, the Powers That Be have agreed to let me to file the occasional dispatch to Political Bytes.

Due to boring technical limitations, there won't be any liveblogging until I'm happily ensconced in my new corner of the universe, but until then, I'll do my best to keep y'all posted on the latest happenings in and around the parliamentary precinct. (Hey, it was either that, or come up with increasingly sneaky ways to get around that capricious 140 character limit over on Twitter.)

Oh, and feel free to drop me a line at my new address: kady.omalley@cbc.ca.

Welcome Back, Coderre!

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:19:59 -0500

What do you know? Denis Coderre is back in the House of Commons.

You may remember that little bit of trouble he stirred up when he quit his job as the Liberal Quebec lieutenant and then proceeded to diss his leader for running things "out of Toronto."

Well, after laying low for a couple of weeks...he's back.

Do You Know What AECL Stands For?

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:28:14 -0500

Susan Lunn, CBC News.

Do you know what AECL stands for?

If you can't answer that, don't worry. You're not alone.

An Ipsos Reid poll done last February and March show that nearly 70 per cent of respondents admitted they didn't know much about the Crown corporation.

The union representing the engineers and scientists who work at AECL held a news conference today, in part to spread the word about what it is they actually do.

Novelty Cheques, Novel Portrait?

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:02:22 -0500

The giant novelty cheque story appears to have inspired the the Liberal party's artsy side.

Today at a news conference, Liberal MPs David McGuinty and Marcel Proulx announced the party is launching 47 complaints with Canada's ethics commissioner, saying that they've found 181 examples where Conservative MPs have taken credit for taxpayer-funded Government of Canada funding announcements through the use of "personalized partisan cheques" since 2007.

Why 47 complaints? One for each Tory MP the Liberals say handed out the cheques.

Today's news conference also featured a crafty multi-media presentation, which included an image of Prime Minister Stephen Harper made up of a collage of those oversized cheques.