In its response to the report from the Government Operations committee, the government has opted not to make certain changes that would make the estimates process more transparent. Currently the estimates reflect the previous year’s budget, and MPs wanted to change that so they have a better idea of what they’re voting on – by Tony Clement has said no. Because you know, it’s not like the estimates process is the backbone of why we have a parliament in the first place or anything. Not unexpectedly, they also rejected the call for a more independent Parliamentary Budget Officer as part of this report.
The government announced that three by-elections – Victoria, Durham, and Calgary Centre – will be held on November 26th. This precludes the possibility of Etobicoke Centre being included in that because a Thursday decision from the Supreme Court will be outside of the minimum time frame. The Conservative Party spokesperson then inexplicably stated that majority governments don’t win by-elections, which Kady O’Malley thoroughly debunked. (Also, the wouldn’t win Calgary Centre? Really? Unless he’s foreshadowing how unpopular Joan Crockatt really is…) Thomas Mulcair, meanwhile, calls these by-elections a warm-up for 2015.
It’s official – the Parliamentary Budget Officer will be taking non-compliant departments to court to get the information he’s requested.
Thomas Mulcair slammed the Petronas decision – not because he doesn’t agree with it (though he’s “remaining neutral”), but because of the lack of transparency surrounding it.
It seems that ethics rules don’t require that the spouses of cabinet ministers disclose their public holdings – and that several of them, including Laureen Harper, currently have portfolios with publicly traded securities.
Here is a look at Canadian history, full of sex, greed and blood, and why we constantly make it as bland as possible so it’s as uninteresting to people as we can make it.
On the Liberal Leadership trail, Justin Trudeau told a Winnipeg audience that there needs to be an end to cynicism (and I say good luck to that), while Marc Garneau was in Calgary, where he continues to “do his homework” about his potential leadership bid.
Here is your recap of the Sunday morning political shows.
And Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney writes about the legacy of James Coyne, not only on the Bank of Canada but on central banks around the world.