Blog Central

  • Econowatch

    Economists Stephen Gordon (ULaval), Mike Moffatt (Western) and Kevin Milligan (UBC), as well as Macleans.ca’s Erica Alini and guest bloggers write about the economy and economic policy in Canada, the U.S. and the world. We like charts. On Twitter, follow Stephen: @stephenfgordon; Mike: @mikepmoffatt; Kevin: @kevinmilligan and Erica: @ealini.

  • From the Late Shift

    Aaron Hutchins scours the Internet for memes, evening highlights, and whatever people are talking about at the online water cooler. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @hutchins_aaron

  • Inkless Wells

    Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW He also offers his thoughtful perspective of Stephen Harper's last 10 years in his recent eBook, The Harper Decade.

  • Savage Washington

    Luiza Ch. Savage covers political life south of the border. Follow Luiza on Twitter: @luizachsavage

  • Science-ish

    Julia Belluz checks the latest health headlines against the evidence—and holds politicians, opinion leaders, and journalists to account. Follow Julia on Twitter: @juliaoftoronto

  • Show and Tell

    Amanda Shendruk does the math, crunches the numbers and illustrates her findings in a way that adds a new layer of understanding to the stories of the day.

More Blogs

The Senate’s investigation of Mike Duffy is like a game of Clue

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 0 Comments

While the Canadian Press and the Globe compare how the Senate report on Mike Duffy was edited—the Citizen posted the original report this afternoon—Global says it was Conservative Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen, Stephen Harper’s former press secretary, who moved the motion at the internal economy committee to make the revisions. CTV and the CBC say Stewart Olsen and Senator David Tkachuk, the chair of the committee, were involved.

Liberal Senate leader James Cowan, meanwhile, has written to the internal economy committee to ask that its meetings on Mike Duffy be held in public.

Yesterday, the Senate referred back to your Committee your twenty-second report (Examination of Senator Duffy’s Primary and Secondary Residence Status) so that it can be reconsidered in view of recent public allegations of double-billing and other questionable living expense claims by Senator Duffy.

In view of the widespread media stories questioning whether the proceedings of the committee on the original report were conducted in an impartial and independent manner, I request that you proceed with the reconsideration of the report in public.

In order to regain the public’s trust, Canadians need to be reassured that this crisis will be dealt with fairly, impartially and comprehensively, and that can only be achieved by ensuring that all future meetings on this matter are held in public.

In other news, the Star reports that Mr. Duffy seems to have claimed Senate expenses during a week when the Senate wasn’t sitting.

  • Richard Dreyfuss owes ‘Jaws’ to Duddy Kravitz

    By Brian D. Johnson - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 8:48 PM - 0 Comments

    Richard Dreyfuss in Cannes / photo by Brian D. Johnson

    In Cannes, jury president Steven Spielberg’s idea of a hotel is his own private mega-yacht, a $200-million, 284-foot vessel named Seven Seas, which is moored offshore. But he’s going to need a bigger boat if he wants to make room for Richard Dreyfuss, who is visiting Cannes for the first time since he was eight years old.

    “I asked him if we could stay on the yacht,”  Dreyfuss told me yesterday, at the Canadian pavilion on the beach. “At that moment I didn’t have hotel. He said he’s bringing the whole family so I can’t.”

    “Maybe he just doesn’t want to be on a boat with you?” I ventured, only half-joking. “Did that ever occur to you?”

    “No. He’s got a big family—seven kids. He was filling up all of the staterooms.”

    Dreyfuss, 65, was a guest of the festival, along with Canadian director Ted Kotcheff, for last night’s Cannes Classics screening of a restored version of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz —Kotcheff’s 1974 film of the Mordecai Richler novel that gave Dreyfuss his first lead role. The brash young actor went on to star in three Spielberg movies: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Always. Continue…

  • The Commons: The Conservatives run out of answers

    By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 6:10 PM - 0 Comments

    The afternoon was not without new clarification. Or at least an attempt at such.

    Picking up where yesterday had left off, Thomas Mulcair endeavoured to sort out the precise value of John Baird’s assurance that the matter of Nigel Wright and Mike Duffy had been referred to two independent authorities.

    “Mr. Speaker, yesterday afternoon, 11 times the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the Duffy affair was going to be investigated by independent authorities, independent bodies, independent officers. When my colleague, the House Leader of the Official Opposition asked him what those were, he could not give an answer,” Mr. Mulcair recounted. “Twice during the afternoon the Prime Minister’s Office said that they were referring to the Senate’s Ethics Officer. Later it corrected that to say that it is the Senate committee, the same one that whitewashed Mike Duffy the first time, that is carrying out the investigation.”

    “Ahh!” sighed the New Democrats.

    Along the government’s front row, Vic Toews grumbled in Mr. Mulcair’s direction about a “bribe” (seemingly a reference to the matter of Mr. Mulcair and the mayor of Laval).

    “Does the minister not realize,” Mr. Mulcair asked, “that is about as credible as Paul Martin asking Jean Chrétien to investigate the sponsorship scandal?”

    The New Democrats enjoyed this reference and stood to applaud their man.

    Mr. Baird now stood to quote himself. “What I did say yesterday was, and I quote: ‘Furthermore, this matter has been referred to two independent bodies for review,’ which is nothing like what he just said,” Mr. Baird explained, seeming to stress the word referred.

    So… there?

    It is not actually clear what this should clarify, although, as it turns out, it now seems the Senate Ethics Officer is indeed reviewing the matter. So there’s that. Unfortunately, there is not much else on offer. Or, rather, not much else that the government seems either willing or able to offer. Continue…

  • Harper: ‘I’m frustrated and sorry and angry about all of this’

    By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 4:28 PM - 0 Comments

    Courtesy of the Canadian Press, the full transcript of the Prime Minister’s comments to reporters this afternoon about Nigel Wright and Mike Duffy.

    Reporter: My question is about the resignation statement of your former chief of staff, which indicated that he merely did not tell you the means by which Sen. Mike Duffy got his money and, to date, neither he nor you have denied that you did know there was a deal. My question first is, what exactly did you know about the deal? Second, what were the terms of that deal? And third, what does it say about your leadership that your senior staff could even imagine this was ethical?

    Stephen Harper: Just to correct that, I think we’ve been very clear that I did not know, but let me be very specific about this. I learned of this after stories appeared in the media last week speculating on the source of Mr. Duffy’s repayments.

    Immediately upon learning that the source was indeed my chief of staff, Nigel Wright, I immediately asked that that information be released publicly. That is what I knew.

    I think what’s more important about this is that, not simply that I did not know, but that I was not consulted. I was not asked to sign off on any such thing and had I obviously been consulted or known, I would not have agreed with it.

    And it is obviously for those reasons that I accepted Mr. Wright’s resignation.

    My belief, I should mention, my belief, of course, prior to all this was that Mr. Duffy had repaid. When I heard that Mr. Duffy had repaid, my assumption was that Mr. Duffy had repaid from his own resources and that’s how it should have been, in my judgment.

    Reporter: You’re known for running a very tight ship in government. How do you expect Canadians to believe that you knew nothing about the cheque that was written to Sen. Duffy? And what in particular do you plan to do? What actions in particular do you plan to take to address this scandal? Could there be further resignations?

    Stephen Harper: Look, I think my belief here was reasonable, what, I think, anybody would have expected, that when it was said that Mr. Duffy had repaid his expenses, that indeed he, and not someone else, had repaid his expenses. I know Mr. Wright assisted him or did this for him, because he wanted to see the taxpayers reimbursed. That’s the right motive, but nevertheless it was obviously not correct for that decision to be made and executed without my knowledge or without public transparency.

    That is why, as I say, I have accepted the resignation of my chief of staff. As you know we’ve had a couple of senators also leave our caucus. My point is on this that there is accountability when things like this happen. We’ve also put in place the various authorities and mechanisms that will further look into these matters to see if any additional action has to be taken on any particular individuals.

    I can assure you that we will certainly look at our systems, see what we have to do to better manage or, better yet, prevent any of these kinds of things in the future. Obviously, I am very sorry that this has occurred. I am not only sorry, I’ve been through the range of emotions. I’m sorry, I’m frustrated, I’m extremely angry about it. But that is the reality and I think we’ve dealt with it promptly.

    I’m frustrated and sorry and angry about all of this. I don’t think there’s any better way to put it. In terms of my own office, it was Mr. Wright’s money, it was his personal money that he was repaying to the taxpayers on behalf of Mr. Duffy, it was his personal decision and he did this is his capacity as chief of staff, so he is solely responsible and that is why he has resigned.

  • Duffy: ‘My actions regarding expenses do not merit criticism’

    By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 3:52 PM - 0 Comments

    A Liberal member of the Senate’s internal economy committee alleges political interference in the investigation of Mike Duffy and the Ottawa Citizen has a copy of the pre-edited report on Mr. Duffy’s expenses.

    Stephen Harper says he’s “sorry” and “upset” and “extremely angry,” but, in a written statement, Mr. Duffy seems relatively at peace with things.

    Yesterday, the Senate referred the issue of my expenses to the Senate Board of Internal Economy.

    I welcome this development. Canadians deserve to know all of the facts. I am confident that when they do they will conclude, as Deloitte has already concluded, that my actions regarding expenses do not merit criticism.

    I intend to co-operate fully with the Board and with all other authorities. and will have no further public comments until those processes are complete.

    The Senate’s conflict of interest committee, meanwhile, releases a statement that suggests the Senate Ethics Officer is now engaged with “matters currently of public interest.”

    The Standing Committee on Conflict of Interest for Senators met last evening.

    The Committee is exercising its oversight role of the process under the Conflict of Interest Code for Senators. As part of its work, the Committee met with the Senate Ethics Officer. The Committee is satisfied, at this stage, that the Senate Ethics Officer is reviewing matters currently of public interest.

    The Committee will await the next steps from the Senate Ethics Officer and will act accordingly as provided by the Code.

  • Thomas Mulcair announces catchy phrase for abolishing the Senate

    By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 12:06 PM - 0 Comments

    Thomas Mulcair has just announced that the New Democrats are embarking on a cross-country campaign—”Roll up the red carpet”—to abolish the Senate.

    Standing in front of the Senate chamber, Mr. Mulcair was asked whether he didn’t see the value of sober second thought.

    We’re going to stop trying to find excuses for keeping a bunch of party hacks, bagmen, political operatives and defeated candidates sitting in appeal of the decisions of the duly elected mmebers of the House of Commons. That’s a game of the past. That’s a mug’s game. Where you try to find an individual in the Senate who’s not so bad. Where you try to find something that they’ve done in the past that wasn’t horrible. The real question is, in 2013, how can you possibly continue to argue to keep an institution of unelected people who have the power to reverse the decisions of duly elected members of Parliament. That’s the fundamental discussion that we’re having today.

    But how to go about abolishing the Senate?

    One of the things that you have to do if you actually want to make this happen is you’ve got, one, to get the public on side because once you have public support, there’s nothing more important in a democracy than having the public on side, that’s what this program is about. The other thing that you have to do is you have to talk to the provinces and territories. Because whether you’re in Newfoundland and Labrador or in Quebec or in other areas, everyone’s going to have a word to say about this. But Stephen Harper doesn’t talk to the provinces and territories, so he can’t talk seriously about reforming the Senate either. So that’s one of the things that I’m going to be doing. As I continue to travel across Canada in the coming months, every time I do I’m going to be meeting with government leaders and I’m going to be meeting with opposition leaders, we’re going to be talking about this, they’ll share their opinions as well. We want to hear from all Canadians on this. But we are convinced, from having worked on this for a long time, that the vast majority of Canadians, the quasi-totality of Canadians, realize that in a free and democratic society, having a group of people who can sit in appeal of the decisions of elected members, who have never been elected and, indeed, are more often than not defeated candidates, is a scandal that it’s about time to…

    His answer trailed off there.

    As I’ve written before, the argument here has to be between an elected Senate (including what would be necessary to accomplish that and all of the complications that would come with having such an upper house) and abolishing the Senate (including what would be necessary to accomplish that and whatever considerations should be made in regards to no longer having an upper house). I agree wholeheartedly with the Prime Minister that the status quo is not acceptable. But I believe abolishing the Senate is much more preferable to an elected Senate.

    All previous coverage of Senate reform is here.

  • QP Live: Few answers emerge on the Senate crisis

    By Nick Taylor-Vaisey - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 9:54 AM - 0 Comments

    Maclean’s is your home for the daily political theatre that is Question Period, when opposition and government MPs trade barbs and take names for 45 minutes every day. Today, QP runs from 2 p.m. until just past 3 p.m. We tell you who to watch, we stream it live, and we liveblog all the action. Once a week, we’ll feature a guest blogger to sort through the madness. The whole thing only matters if you participate. Read our morning tease to catch up on the issues of the day, and then chime in on Twitter with #QP.

    HOT SEAT

    Prime Minister Stephen Harper might be out of town, but questions remain about who knew what, and when, with respect to Senator Mike Duffy’s arrangement with former PMO chief Nigel Wright that saw Wright cover over $90,000 of Duffy’s improperly claimed expenses. Expect the PM’s designated spokesman—yesterday, that was Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird—to be on their feet quite a bit.
    HOT TOPICS

    Continue…

  • Is this any way to treat a scandal?

    By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 9:37 AM - 0 Comments

    The Senate voted last night to send the matter of Mike Duffy’s expenses back to the internal economy committee—the same committee whose original investigation of Mr. Duffy’s expenses is now being questioned in light of Nigel Wright’s cheque to Mr. Duffy.

    Liberal Senate leader James Cowan also rose on a question of privilege that could, if the Speaker agrees, create a second inquiry process in the Senate.

    In our case, actual words are being used and, in the present circumstances, who would argue that “odium, contempt or ridicule” do not accurately reflect what the feelings of ordinary Canadians are about the Senate today? I will not read into the record the language Canadians have been using publicly to express what they think of the Senate and of us as senators. We have all heard them, through the media and personally. We cannot ignore them.

    It is critically important to re-establish the confidence of Canadians in their public institutions. The public allegation of outside interference in the proceedings of the Senate needs to be thoroughly investigated, with all parties involved being given an opportunity to explain their respective roles.

    Meanwhile, as noted yesterday, the Liberals want the House ethics committee to take up a study of the matter, but Conservative MPs represent a majority on the committee and so at least some of them will have to agree for any kind of study to go forward. Of course, should the committee decline to launch an investigation, Conservatives will (or at least should) have to explain why not. That the House of Commons would not take this matter up for investigation would seem to me to be a rather gross abdication, but for now I’ll merely pose the question: is there any particular reason the House of Commons ethics committee shouldn’t be investigating this?

  • Ottawa hurries up and waits for Senate crisis answers

    By Nick Taylor-Vaisey - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 7:57 AM - 0 Comments

    The prime minister is in South America, on a trade mission. The foreign minister is in the House of Commons, engaging in damage control. The Senate’s internal economy committee is down the hall, investigating Senator Mike Duffy‘s improperly claimed expenses. The federal ethics commissioner is in her office, investigating the conduct of Nigel Wright, who was Harper’s chief of staff until last Sunday.

    So, while Harper shakes hands and Baird deflects and Senators re-open books and the ethics commissioner pores over the rules, everyone else waits. The slow-moving train that is the ongoing Senate expenses scandal, where only the reporting of CTV’s Robert Fife shovels coal into the engine, lumbers on.

    John Ibbitson, writing in The Globe and Mail, explains this hurry-up-and-wait approach to crisis management. The government, as it has done before, can “punt the issue to a neutral third party and then refuse to answer any further questions, claiming officials must be allowed to do their jobs.” The thing that the government must remember, and it’s something Toronto Mayor Rob Ford knows all too well, is that when a scandal is too big to just disappear, the harshest of critics are willing to wait. And wait. And wait for answers.

    Continue…

  • Abercrombie & Fat

    By Aaron Hutchins - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 6:08 AM - 0 Comments

    Continue…

  • Markets look to Ben Bernanke for news on stimulus efforts

    By The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 5:53 AM - 0 Comments

    WASHINGTON – When Ben Bernanke testifies about the U.S. economy Wednesday, the Federal Reserve chairman’s words will be examined for any clues that the Fed might soon taper — or increase — its support for the economy.

    The Fed is pursuing an aggressive program of bond purchases to try to keep long-term interest rates down and encourage borrowing and spending. The Fed has said it plans to continue its $85 billion-a-month in Treasury and mortgage bond purchases until the job market improves substantially.

    The timing of any policy shift remains hazy.

    Continue…

  • Lessons from Amy’s Baking Co.: ‘I AM NOT STUPID ALL OF YOU ARE’

    By The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 5:51 AM - 0 Comments

    PHOENIX – It was the customer service disaster heard around the Internet.

    An Arizona restaurateur, fed up after years of negative online reviews and an embarrassing appearance on a reality television show, posted a social media rant laced with salty language and angry, uppercase letters that quickly went viral last week, to the delight of people who love a good Internet meltdown.

    “I AM NOT STUPID ALL OF YOU ARE,” read the posting on the Facebook wall of Amy’s Baking Co. in suburban Phoenix. “YOU JUST DO NOT KNOW GOOD FOOD.”

    It was, to put it kindly, not a best business practice. Add to that an appearance earlier this month on the Fox reality television show “Kitchen Nightmares” — where celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay gave up on trying to save the restaurant after he was insulted — and you have a recipe for disaster.

    Continue…

  • The Commons: John Baird tries to explain what he understands to be true

    By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 5:54 PM - 0 Comments

    Thomas Mulcair stood to a hearty cheer from his caucus and, when the applause had quieted, he attempted a joke.

    “Mr. Speaker, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, to Peru apparently,” he quipped.

    There were grumbles and complaints from the government side—it being unparliamentary to refer to the presence, or at least the lack thereof, of anyone in the House of Commons. Mr. Mulcair hadn’t quite done that here, but the Speaker was compelled to intervene here anyway and call for order.

    The floor was returned to Mr. Mulcair and the NDP leader now proceeded to recap the story so far, a mix of the acknowledged, the alleged and the reported. Continue…

  • Benjamin Perrin: ‘I was not consulted on, and did not participate in, Nigel Wright’s decision’

    By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 5:11 PM - 0 Comments

    A statement from Benjamin Perrin, former legal advisor to the Prime Minister, in regards to last night’s story from CTV.

    Last night’s CTV story in relation to me, which is based on unattributed sources, is false.

    I was not consulted on, and did not participate in, Nigel Wright’s decision to write a personal cheque to reimburse Senator Duffy’s expenses.

    I have never communicated with the Prime Minister on this matter.

    In all my work, I have been committed to making our country a better place and I hope my record of service speaks for itself.

  • Liberals want Prime Minister, PMO staff and Mike Duffy to appear before ethics committee

    By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 5:04 PM - 0 Comments

    A statement from Liberal MP Scott Andrews.

    “The revelations about ethical misconduct in the Prime Minister’s Office are truly outrageous to Canadians. That is why today I gave notice of motion at the House of Commons Ethics committee calling for a thorough investigation into this matter.

    The Liberal Party will be calling on the Ethics committee to invite as witnesses the Prime Minister, former and current senior PMO staffers, as well as Conservative Senate leaders and Senator Mike Duffy.

    It is of paramount importance that Canadians be assured of transparency and full disclosure by this government, and thus far, Mr. Harper has failed to answer Canadians’ very valid questions.

    We trust we will receive the support of all parties – including Conservative MPs – in order to get to the bottom of this troubling scandal. While Mr. Harper may call it a ‘distraction’, Canadians expect real answers and the truth, and Liberals will continue to work on their behalf.”

  • A breakdown in the boreal game-changer

    By Chris Sorensen - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 3:28 PM - 0 Comments

    The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement was billed as a game-changer when it was signed in 2010. After years of battling each other in the media and on logging roads throughout the country, 21 forestry companies and nine environmental groups vowed to try a different approach by working side by side to create a healthy, sustainable industry that everyone could be proud of.

    Perhaps not surprisingly, it didn’t work.

    Continue…

  • ‘Is that really the best we can do? Yes.’

    By Erica Alini - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 2:52 PM - 0 Comments

    Outgoing Bank of Canada Mark Carney had said before that, as he leaves Canada to head the U.K.’s central bank on July 1, the economic picture he’s leaving behind in his home country is that of a glass that is “more than half full.” Today, in his last public remarks as a Canadian central bank official, he reiterated that point.

    What awaits the next BoC chief is a delicate transition from a growth model based on household consumption, real estate investment and government stimulus to one propelled by exports and business investment, Carney said at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.

    “We cannot grow indefinitely by relying on Canadian households increasing their borrowing relative to income.”

    Continue…

  • Senators Smith and Greene Raine on expenses and the last election

    By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 1:15 PM - 0 Comments

    In his letter to the elections commissioner last Friday about whether Mike Duffy had claimed Senate expenses while campaigning for the Conservatives in the last election, NDP MP Craig Scott named several other senators whose expenses might be scrutinized.

    As noted, Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell told me on Friday that he claimed no expenses during the writ period. Today, Liberal Senator David Smith called me to say he had not claimed expenses during the last election and the office of Conservative Senator Nancy Greene Raine emailed me with a statement from the senator.

    “I was very careful during the writ period not to claim any expenses connected with campaigning on my Senate budget.”

  • Full text of Mark Carney’s last public speech as BoC governor

    By Econowatch - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 1:14 PM - 0 Comments

    The governor is speaking at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal today. Here are his prepared remarks:

    Continue…

  • QP Live: Amidst a crisis in the Senate

    By Nick Taylor-Vaisey - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 12:44 PM - 0 Comments

    Maclean’s is your home for the daily political theatre that is Question Period, when opposition and government MPs trade barbs and take names for 45 minutes every day. Today, QP runs from 2 p.m. until just past 3 p.m. We tell you who to watch, we stream it live, and we liveblog all the action. Once a week, we’ll feature a guest blogger to sort through the madness. The whole thing only matters if you participate. Read our morning tease to catch up on the issues of the day, and then chime in on Twitter with #QP.

    HOT SEAT

    Questions abound about the personal cheque former PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright handed to Senator Mike Duffy, since resigned from the Conservative caucus, to cover over $90,000 in improperly claimed expenses. Also, Senator Pamela Wallin resigned from the Tory caucus, and a number of Senators are speaking up about the need for consequences for colleagues who break the rules. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who addressed his caucus this morning, won’t field questions in the House. He’s flying to Peru, but his designated point person will surely have their hands full.
    HOT TOPICS

    Continue…

  • Rest assured, Mr. Harper is very upset about all of this

    By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 11:30 AM - 0 Comments

    The Prime Minister arrived to the stage with a slight smile, an acknowledgement perhaps of his caucus’ willingness to stand and applaud his presence at this particular moment. He quickly turned serious.

    “Good morning, everyone. Colleagues, obviously the reason I’m speaking to you this morning is I want to talk about some events that have transpired recently. And I don’t think any of you are going to be very surprised to hear that I’m not happy,” he said. “I’m very upset…”

    So upset that he would commit here and now to release any and all relevant documents and correspondence in the possession of his office? So upset that he would submit to a news conference today to address the allegations concerning his former top aide? So upset that he would detail precisely what he knows about the arrangement between Nigel Wright and Mike Duffy? So upset that he would offer any kind of explanation here now with all these cameras summoned to transmit his remarks to the nation?

    No, no, not that upset. Just upset enough to feel it necessary to tell everyone that he was indeed upset. A revelation that even he conceded was not much of a surprise.

    “… about some conduct we have witnessed, the conduct of some parliamentarians and the conduct of my own office.”

    In fact, we have not witnessed anything except the spectacle of a government attempting to slowly explain how one of the Prime Minister’s appointees in the Senate had come to pay back some unfortunately claimed expenses and how the Prime Minister’s chief of staff had come to be involved in the return of those funds. The actual events in question occurred entirely in secret.

    Now though we would witness self-congratulation paraded for all to see. Continue…

  • The Cannes comeback kid: Michael Douglas as Liberace

    By Brian D. Johnson - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 10:53 AM - 0 Comments

    Michael Douglas as Liberace in 'Behind the Candelabra'

    Steven Soderbergh ignited his career in Cannes 24 years ago by winning the Palme D’or with his first feature, Sex, Lies and Videotape, a low-budget gem that set a new template for indie cinema. Today, with the premiere of Behind the Candelabra—which Soderbergh says may be his swan song—the Oscar-winning American director has framed a miraculous comeback performance by Michael Douglas after his recovery from stage IV throat cancer.

    As piano legend Liberace, the most flamboyant showbiz queen never to come out of the closet, Douglas sinks his teeth into a role rich in theatricality. But much of the movie unfolds as scenes from a marriage, Vegas-style. Based on a memoir by Scott Thorson, Liberace’s longtime lover (played with deadpan aplomb by spray-tanned, Brazilian-waxed Matt Damon), the film is the most explicit gay love story ever performed by A-list Hollywood actors, with ample smooching. Funny and tender, flashy and fascinating, it gives Douglas the opportunity to pull off the kind of bravura performance that wins Oscars. But that won’t happen. Behind the Candelabra, which is in competition for the Palme D’Or, was financed by HBO, after every Hollywood studio had rejected it as a risky proposition that wouldn’t get an audience beyond the gay community. Dumb. It will air May 26 without an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run.

    Continue…

  • Marjory LeBreton on the Senate investigation

    By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 10:03 AM - 0 Comments

    Last night, via email, I asked Senator Marjory LeBreton, the government’s leader in the Senate, about the Senate’s investigation of Mike Duffy. Specifically: Do you have any reason to believe the Senate investigation and audit of Mr. Duffy’s expenses were affected by the agreement between Mr. Duffy and Mr. Wright?

    Here is her response.

    The audits tabled are those received from Deloitte. The covering reports from Internal Economy used language for Harb and Brazeau to facilitate the recovery of the money. The language was not used in the Report on Duffy because the money had been paid back. These reports were written and approved by the Internal Economy Committee and no one else.

  • Stephen Harper and the knowledge economy: perfect strangers

    By Paul Wells - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

    This story will get buried by all the other news today. That’s understandable, but I wish it weren’t so. It’s about a long-term government failure.

    In 2007 Maxime Bernier created the Science, Technology and Innovation Council to measure Canada’s science and technology performance against that of comparable countries around the world. It’s produced reports every two years. The latest was released this morning while most of us were caught up in some other hilarity on the Hill.

    The STIC council, as it’s called, is a big-name panel of advisors both inside government and outside. Its current membership includes the deputy ministers of Industry, Trade and Health; the presidents of Western, Alberta and McGill Universities; and a brochette of CEOs, principally from the energy sector.

    Its third biennial report is devastating. Well, maybe I shouldn’t be throwing a word like that around in a week like this one, but it’s full of bad news anyway. Here’s some jargon, which I’ll translate:

    State of the Nation 2012 shows that Canada’s gross domestic expenditures on R&D (GERD) declined from their peak in 2008 and, when measured in relation to gross domestic product (GDP), since 2001. In contrast, the GERD and GERD intensity of most other countries have been increasing. Canada’s declining GERD intensity has pushed its rank down from 16th position in 2006 to 17th in 2008 and to 23rd in 2011 (among 41 economies).

    That means that by the broadest measure of expenditure on research and development, Canada has fallen from 16th out of 41 comparable countries in the year Stephen Harper became prime minister, to 23rd in 2011.  Continue…

  • Microsoft expected to reveal next-generation Xbox

    By The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 9:48 AM - 0 Comments

    REMOND, Wash. – Will Xbox mark the spot once again for Microsoft?

    The company is set to reveal the next generation of its Xbox entertainment console during a presentation Tuesday at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash.

    It’s been eight years since the launch of the Xbox 360. The original Xbox debuted in 2001, and its high-definition successor premiered in 2005.
    Continue…

From Macleans