View From the Hill by Keith Beardsley – Revised Appointment Requirments – May 20, 2012
CFN -Was it really shocking to learn that Heritage minister James Moore has revised the candidate requirements for future appointments under his department to include a stipulation that they develop and maintain and effective relationship with him and his staff? Actually what was shocking was that someone put that requirement in writing, but at least [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View from the Hill – Is There a Harper Killer Among Them – Liberal Leadership Question
CFN – As we approach the month of June, the Liberal Party will soon be making a decision on when to hold their next leadership convention. Attached to that decision will be another key one as they must also decide if interim leader Bob Rae can run for the leadership position. With roughly a month [...]
View From the Hill by Keith Beardsley – OT Payments to Ministers Drivers – Time for Review – May 2, 2012
CFN – It was interesting to see that departments IE the taxpayer paid out some $600,000 in overtime payments to ministerial drivers. This covered the one year period from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011. I am not about to defend these expenses, all government expenses deserve scrutiny and some of these do seem excessive, [...]
View From the Hill by Keith Beardsley – Real Battle Begins in House of Commons – April 23, 2012
CFN -With the House of Commons returning today, Canadians can expect to see the NDP refocused, re-energized and on the attack. The real battle begins today with Mulcair’s chosen team in place. Mulcair has had time now to sort out his team, reward caucus colleagues for their support and performance during the leadership race and [...]
Keith Beardsley : View From the Hill – NDP Launch Thomas Mulcair Ad Campaign – April 12, 2012
CFN – Wisely the NDP have launched their own ad campaign to introduce their new leader to Canadian voters. While expensive, it will help to define him before the Conservatives launch their own series of attacks. This ad campaign is important as it signals that the NDP is becoming much more professional in how it [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – AG Report on F-35 Whose head should roll?
CFN - The Auditor–General has released his report on the Defence Department’s handling of the F-35 procurement process. It is not a pretty report and both DND and Public Works get slammed for how they have conducted the process. Needless to say the headlines are all about how the Tories mishandled things with Bob Rae [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – Rae Attack Ads Miss the Mark – March 20, 2012
CFN – As we enter the last week of the NDP leadership race, the Conservatives have released another attack ad aimed not at the NDP, but at Liberal Leader Bob Rae. That is somewhat curious timing. One would think that they would have held their fire until the new NDP leader was chosen and then [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – A Softer and Kinder Ignatieff Moment – March 15, 2012
CFN- Earlier this week, former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff gave a presentation to some law students and much of what he said about present day Canadian politics rings true. Anyone who has been involved in or reported on Canadian politics for a decade or so should be able to relate to his comments. There is [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – NDP Leadership Race – March 12, 2012
CFN – In the latest NDP leadership debate serious divides were evident and some of the internal tensions between candidates started to show. Thomas Mulcair as the perceived front-runner was the target of a number of barbs thrown his way, all of which imply he isn’t a true believer in the NDP. The question now [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – Political Attack Rhetoric Today and Yesterday – Feb 24, 2012
CFN – Talk about over the top rhetoric. Bob Rae’s latest harangue really doesn’t suit a man of his intelligence. It is pure political BS in its finest form. Rae said the real blame for any election trickery rests with the political culture Harper has created in the party. ”The prime minister has created a Nixonian [...]
View From the Hill by Keith Beardsley – Contrasting Stephen Harper to John Diefenbaker – February 10, 2012
CFN – Like many Conservatives, I am an admirer of John Diefenbaker, our thirteenth Prime Minister. Dief was a great politician and an impressive orator. Watching the present Conservative government’s use of time allocation to stifle debate in the House of Commons I was reminded of one of Diefenbaker’s quotes. “Parliament is more than procedure [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – OAS – It’s all Trust – February 7, 2012
CFN – I see that the NDP’s Irene Mathyssen, Wayne Marston and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe have launched a cross country tour to save the Old Age Security (OAS) program. What they are saving it from we don’t know as of now. It might be a bit early in the game for the NDP to adopt that [...]
View From the Hill by Keith Beardsley – They’re Back! MP’s return to Parliament Hill – January 30, 2012
CFN – With the House of Commons returning today we can expect a raucous session. Already the battle lines are forming as the opposition party’s line up to take shots at the Prime Minister over pension reform. Not since 1985 when Brian Mulroney stated that he would de-index Old Age Security (OAS) have we seen [...]
View From the Hill by Keith Beardsley – Inching Forward on Native Issues in Canada – January 25, 2012
CFN – Most reports indicate some progress was made at the Crown-First Nations Gathering yesterday. This is positive news and a sign that both sides are inching forward and making progress. While there was speculation that Harper would only attend for a few minutes, he surprised observers by committing much of his day to the [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – Keystone XL Project – January 19, 2012
CFN – Mounting opposition to the Keystone XL project shouldn’t have come as a surprise. In this day and age of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other forms of social media, any government (both politicians and bureaucrats) is at a disadvantage when they promote a policy or back a decision. Every government decision (not just environmental [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – The Americanization of Canadian politics delayed. – January 15, 2012
CFN – The Liberals held their biennial convention this past weekend in Ottawa. For the most part a good show and I am sure the delegates went home with a warm and fuzzy feeling. While it was billed as the convention to reinvent the Liberal Party, I didn’t see much of that. In fact it [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – Fixing a Dysfunctional Parliament (Part 2) January 6, 2012
CFN – In my previous post I looked at some steps that could be implemented to improve Question Period and at the same time help to fix our dysfunctional parliament. These included allowing the Speaker to skip over disruptive MPs whose names are on his list of questioners for that day and extending Question Period [...]
Keith Beardsley’s View From the Hill – Fixing a Dysfunctional Parliament (Part one) – January 4, 2012
CFN – Unfortunately our parliament often reflects what we would expect to see in a school yard. We have the bullies, the name callers, those that shout and disrupt and some pretty decent kids who work hard and who for the most part don’t get the same attention or recognition as the others. Part of [...]
