Roundup: 50 officials, few answers

For his one-hour appearance at Finance Committee last night, Jim Flaherty brought along fifty – yes, fifty – department officials to help him answer questions on Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge. Because they were so concerned about the cost of answering Order Paper questions that this exercise was perfectly justified. What made it worse is that the sole hour seemed to be eaten up with either fulsome praise for Flaherty from the government side, and attempts to get him to talk about a future stimulus programme if the US goes off the “fiscal cliff” from the NDP. Nice to see that everyone is taking this seriously.

Here is everything you need to know about Harper’s trip to India, and why our trade deals are stalling.

Despite the strange firing of that local reporter in his riding, Conservative MP James Bezan stands behind his criticism of the CNOOC-Nexen deal. Good to know.

Continue reading

Roundup: Incoherent laws on political loans

The Chief Electoral Officer says that the current law around political loans is incoherent and unenforceable. You know, the one that the Conservatives and NDP rushed through in order to screw over the Liberals in the midst of a leadership contest at the time. And while the current bill to address political loans would fix some of those problems, well, it’s languishing on the Order Paper in order to keep those current Liberal debtors twisting a bit. Not mentioned? All of the Conservatives with outstanding political loans.

Canadian Special Forces have lost millions in secret or “black” assets, and because it’s secret, auditing becomes a tough process through all of the redaction. Meanwhile, the new commander of the RCAF thinks the F-35s are the best choice, but he’ll respect whatever decision the government makes.

Continue reading