OTTAWA - For a generation, Senate reform has been a political touchstone for Conservatives, old-time Reform party types and disgruntled westerners. The Triple-E Senate — equal, elected and effective — was both a political dogma and a rallying cry. It helped spur the rise of Reform and the Harper Conservatives who followed. It was the mantra of the right, the path to real equality for the regions. Not so much anymore. The fire has gone out of the argument and dyed-in-the-wool supporters are questioning the whole idea. Even the departing head of a Western Canadian think tank that preached the Senate reform gospel for decades has had a sudden conversion on the road to Damascus. Roger Gibbins, who steps down later this month as president ... Continue reading →

The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION Opposition accuses Tories of stooping to new low to muzzle dissent By: Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press Posted: 4:50 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) OTTAWA - Opposition parties accuse the Harper government of stooping to a petty, new low in the muzzling of dissent. They say the government is using its power to minimize the impact of opposition days — the rare occasions when Liberals and New Democrats get to set the parliamentary agenda, debating motions on any subject of their choosing. They maintain the government is punishing parties that offend the ruling Conservatives by scheduling opposition days for times when they're least likely to be noticed. A case in point: the Liberals' next opposition day has been ... Continue reading →

Susan Delacourt Ottawa Bureau OTTAWA—Warren Beatty had a great idea for a movie back in the late 1990s: what if a politician with a death wish spoke the unvarnished truth? And so he made Bullworth, the story of a disillusioned liberal politician who decides he would rather be dead than give another speech filled with meaningless bromides. “We stand at the doorstep of a new millennium” is the line that makes Senator Jay Bulworth snap. So, after arranging his own assassination, Bulworth spends the rest of the movie speaking the awkward truth on the campaign trail, mainly in rap. “You can call it single-payer or Canadian way; only socialized medicine will ever save the day! Come on now, let me hear that dirty word — ... Continue reading →

OTTAWA - Opposition MPs, and even some Conservatives, agree Canada's parliamentary committee system is broken. They just don't agree on what's gone wrong or who's to blame. New Democrats and Liberals say the fault lies with the ruling Tories who are using their majority muscle to turn committees into compliant cheerleaders of government policies and legislation. Tories maintain the problem is not hyper-partisanship on their side but the fact that there are simply too few government backbenchers stretched too thinly across too many committees to do effective work. Parliamentary procedures expert Ned Franks says there's some truth in both sides of the argument. What's not in dispute, however, is that members of House of Commons standing committees aren't doing the kind of in-depth studies of ... Continue reading →

Enlarge Image NDP MP Bruce Hyer votes on Bill C-19, a bill to scrap the long-gun registry, in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, February 15, 2012. Hyer has quit the NDP caucus to sit as an independent. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA - Just one month after assuming the helm of the NDP, Tom Mulcair is facing his first crisis: the acrimonious departure of one of his MPs. Bruce Hyer quit the NDP caucus Monday to sit as an independent, miffed that he was left out of the new leader's shadow cabinet and fed up with what he described as stifling party discipline. Hyer's messy split came just three hours after Mulcair's new House leader, Nathan Cullen, pronounced a ... Continue reading →