Persichilli le non-Québécois

By Paul Wells - Friday, September 2, 2011 at 9:15 AM - 63 Comments

Rémi Carreiro/Flickr

Our confrères in Quebec are noting with great care and no particular delight the writings of Angelo Persichilli, veteran journalist in Italian and English, and newly-named communications director for Stephen Harper. In one column about 18 months ago Persichilli discerned the presence of “the over-representation of francophones in our bureaucracy,” and complained about the “annoying lament” from Quebec.

Persichilli, whose journalism I have not often lauded to the skies, is a gentle fellow and as soon as this became trouble he promised to be super-nice to the French types. The PMO clearly has no interest in being overtly antagonistic toward francophones. Persichilli (like John Williamson, one of several unilingual predecessors in the post) will apparently spend little time talking to Ottawa reporters in any language. That task will fall, on most days, to Andrew MacDougall, a well-liked and very bilingual PMO staffer. And yet my colleagues from Quebec worry.

They are right to worry. Persichilli’s appointment is significant, not for whom it snubs, but for what it represents: a significant reallocation of Conservative attention and energy toward another target, the great big ethnic stew pot of Persichilli’s Toronto stomping ground.  Continue…

The lurking, unspecific danger

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 4:31 PM - 78 Comments

While we’re on the subject of vaguely foreboding warnings from our Prime Minister, Mr. Harper’s communications director, Dimitri Soudas, has recently added this bit to his email signature.

“In such a world, strength is not an option; It is a vital necessity. Moral ambiguity, moral equivalence are not options, they are dangerous illusions.”

In context, from the Prime Minister’s speech to the Conservative convention last month, this bit sets up Mr. Harper’s suggestion that Canada might not make it to see 2067. Continue…

Soudas steps down

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 4:52 PM - 1 Comment

Dimitri Soudas announced at a Conservative caucus meeting on Wednesday that he is stepping down from his position as Stephen Harper’s chief spokesman and leaving the PMO. A Montreal native, Soudas advised Harper on most issues related to Quebec and communications—including the controversial list of journalists pre-approved to interview the Prime Minister. Soudas is known to favour the more right wing factions of the Quebec Conservatives, such as the Action Démocratique du Québec. Party insiders predict his departure will benefit the Conservatives in Quebec. Soudas began his nine-year career in Montreal municipal politics and joined the PM’s side in Ottawa in 2002, when Harper was still leader of the Canadian Alliance. Soudas will officially retire in early September, when he and his family will make the move from Ottawa to Toronto.

The Globe and Mail

PMO spokesman denies corruption allegations

By Philippe Gohier - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 3:50 PM - 19 Comments

Dimitri Soudas, a longtime aide and chief spokesperson to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, denied on Thursday he’d received kickbacks in exchange for his alleged lobbying of Montreal’s Port Authority in 2007, in a bid to to have the agency name Robert Abdallah as its chief executive. Several audio recordings—purportedly conversations between Tony Accurso and Bernard Poulin, both prominent players in Quebec’s construction industry—were posted to YouTube on Thursday morning.

The voice, alleged to be that of Poulin, says he intended to ask Conservative Senator Leo Housakos to bring Soudas onboard with their plans to have Abdallah, a former executive director of the city and employee of Accurso’s, named CEO of the port. They discuss “compensation” for Soudas if he can “deliver something” for them on the appointment process. “What do you see him being able to do, Soudas?” the voice identified as Accurso says. “He’s the boss of Quebec, the real boss of Quebec,” explains the voice identified as Poulin.

Soudas flatly denied the allegations, saying he’d “never” spoken to Acccurso or Poulin about the appointment and was never paid for lobbying on Abdallah’s behalf.

The Toronto Star

Youtube (1)

Youtube (2)

Youtube (3)

Ministers intervened in Harper spokesman's lobbying

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 1:18 PM - 16 Comments

The Globe and Mail has revealed that foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon and public works minister Michael Fortier both intervened to stop Dimitri Soudas, Stephen Harper’s spokesman, from lobbying the Montreal Port Authority to appoint engineer Robert Abdallah as its president. A former staffer of Fortier’s said the intervention resulted in a tense call from Soudas, who claims he did nothing wrong and simply indicated the Prime Minister’s preference for the next president. But Soudas also told the Commons Operations Committee in 2008 that he had not met with board members on the issue, and that he “did not remember” contacting them. While the federal government does directly appoint the heads of many agencies, the Montreal Port Authority has the sole authority to select its president as outlined in the Canada Marine Act.

The Globe and Mail

Everyone wants to be friends with Awish Aslam

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 5:44 PM - 122 Comments

Stephen Harper’s press secretary is offering to set up a meeting between Mr. Harper and the young woman ejected from a Conservative event this week. The NDP meanwhile has sent out the following picture and note.

Stephen Harper didn’t want Awish Aslam at his London rally this week. Awish Aslam, a second-year political science student at the University of Western Ontario, told reporters she and a friend were trying to attend a Sunday rally with Harper when they were asked to leave by an RCMP officer.

Jack Layton had no such problem at his rally in London. That’s Canadian Leadership.

The list of acceptable topics for discussion

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 4:17 PM - 70 Comments

The reporters travelling with Stephen Harper have one less subject to consider asking him about each day.

Conservative officials later announced the national Harper tour would no longer take questions on local campaigns. ”There are 308 local campaigns and local campaigns can speak to what they are doing locally,” Conservative campaign spokesman Dimitri Soudas said.

The Conservative-NDP coalition

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 18, 2011 at 4:22 PM - 35 Comments

A note just sent out from the NDP press office.

New Democrat leader Jack Layton is currently meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss our expectations for the federal budget. The meeting is at the request of the Prime Minister.

… And now the post-meeting statement from Mr. Layton. Continue…

Connect the dots

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 11:44 AM - 14 Comments

Jennifer Ditchburn lays out a web of political coincidence.

Both Housakos and Pentefountas worked within the Action Democratique du Quebec — Pentefountas was party president while Housakos oversaw the financing wing … Another ADQ associate, former St-Eustache, Que. mayor Claude Carignan, was named to the Senate less than a year after Housakos reached the red chamber himself … former Montreal city councillor Marcel Tremblay was named a citizenship judge in 2010. Housakos delivered the farewell speech when Tremblay left municipal office last summer. Housakos and Soudas were advisers to Tremblay’s brother, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay, a decade ago …

Housakos’ former business partner Nicholas Katalifos, a Montreal-area school principal, was named a chairperson on the Employment Insurance Board of Referees in 2009 …  friend and business associate, Montreal lawyer Jean-Martin Masse, was appointed to the board of Via Rail after Housakos left the same post and was named to the Senate in late 2008 … Former Mulroney-era cabinet minister Gerry Weiner, for whom Housakos worked as a young political staffer, was named by the government to the board of the Old Port of Montreal Corp. last summer.

In memoriam

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 2:27 PM - 24 Comments

The concept of ministerial accountability was born on the morning of May 25, 2010, invoked so as to protect ministerial staff from having to testify before parliamentary committees. It lived a short, but fitful life.

The concept was injured slightly in October when a member of Christian Paradis’ staff resigned after meddling in access to information requests, but Minister Paradis himself went unpunished. It was wounded again days later when Mr. Paradis did not answer questions on the matter in the House. The concept was emboldened somewhat when the official opposition declined a confrontation on the matter, but, sadly, it sustained serious injuries weeks later when Rona Ambrose, rising to answer about events involving Mr. Paradis, explicitly directed questions to the public service. Continue…

Never let a crisis go to waste

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 29, 2010 at 10:28 PM - 0 Comments

In the aftermath of an international terror scare that is presently topping the news in the United States and Britain, one that necessitated the scrambling of Canadian fighter jets, the Prime Minister’s Office identifies the most important takeaway.

The Prime Minister’s Office pointed to the incident to support their decision to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets. “Whether it is the CF-18s or the F-35s, Canada’s air force needs the right equipment to protect Canadian airspace,” said Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas. “Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals and their coalition partners would cancel the deal to buy the F-35s. They would rather use kites to defend Canada than fighter jets.”

Here, then, a loophole

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 13, 2010 at 3:45 PM - 0 Comments

Keeping in mind that the Transport Minister’s spokesman has said the government is “very interested” in the possibility of a hockey arena being built in Quebec City and another cabinet minister has said the government “cannot ignore the wishes of the population” and a half-dozen Conservative MPs have donned Nordiques jerseys for the cameras and the Prime Minister’s spokesman has talked of the larger benefits of sports venues and the Prime Minister himself has both spoken hopefully of a professional hockey team for Quebec City and mused openly of funding sports venues across the country, here today the Prime Minister raises the small matter of a certain adjective in discussing the proposed hockey arena for Quebec City.

“If there is to be any role for the federal government, first of all, that role would have to be equitable across the country, treat everybody the same, and it also has to be affordable, recognizing that this country is going to be moving into a period of fiscal restraint,” Harper said.

Better know a talking point

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, July 19, 2010 at 11:53 AM - 0 Comments

From the official government lines distributed over the weekend.

The Ignatieff Liberals promise to force all Canadians to answer personal and intrusive questions about their private lives under threat of jail, fine, or both.

Though the threat of imprisonment is included in the Statistics Act of 1970, no one has ever apparently been sent to prison for refusing to answer the census. The threat of a fine appears in both the Statistics Act and the Census Act of 1870. Until 1951, the census was conducted every 10 years, afterwards every five years.

The following prime ministers then—assuming the threat of a fine was not momentarily suspended between 1870 and 1970—would seem to have forced Canadians to answer personal and intrusive questions about their private lives under threat of jail or fine: John A. Macdonald (thrice), Wilfrid Laurier (twice), Arthur Meighen, RB Bennett, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent (twice), John Diefenbaker, Lester B. Pearson, Pierre Trudeau (thrice), Brian Mulroney (twice), Jean Chretien (twice) and Stephen Harper.

'So misinformed'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, June 7, 2010 at 1:24 PM - 38 Comments

In this new era of ministerial accountability, Senator James Cowan wrote to the Prime Minister last week to lament that Mr. Harper’s spokesman had publicly misstated the record of this Senate—and to explain exactly which pieces of legislation the upper chamber has passed this session. Mr. Cowan then pressed the matter at the Senate’s QP, eliciting the following from Senator Marjory LeBreton, government leader in the Senate.

I thank Senator Cowan for the question. I saw the article in La Presse yesterday and wondered how Mr. Soudas could be so misinformed about the work of the Senate. I raised the matter with colleagues in cabinet and in caucus. They acknowledged the great work done in the Senate and that more government bills have passed the Senate than the House of Commons. They are well aware of this effort. I have not had an opportunity to speak to Mr. Soudas and I regret that he was so misinformed. When I do speak to him directly, I intend to report that fact to him.

The courage of your convictions

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 3:34 PM - 65 Comments

Employment with the government apparently now requires that one is an able player of hide-and-seek.

MPs at the ethics committee are hearing how Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s director of communications, and another political aide, did not return repeated calls from the bailiff over two days. The bailiff also told the committee clerk that he had shown up at their government offices, but was barred entry and could not deliver the summons.

Here we go again

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 1:05 PM - 73 Comments

The ethics committee has issued a summons for Dimitri Soudas, the Prime Minister’s director of communications.

We shall see where this goes, but where it could go is a matter of some precedent.

The Commons: There but for the grace of God go us

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 7:45 PM - 160 Comments

Stephen Harper stood this afternoon before a room of past and present cabinet ministers, current and former members of parliament, power-brokers, diplomats, hangers-on and swells—the size of the crowd woefully overwhelming Parliament’s air conditioning system on a truly sweltering day in the capital—and toasted the career of Jean Chrétien, the man who once seemed to epitomize everything Mr. Harper campaigned to change, everything that was wrong with this place, everything that brought Mr. Harper to office four and a half years ago.

Mr. Harper spoke of a “great Parliamentarian” and a “great leader” and his “long and successful service to Canada.” “For this passion and dedication, Jean Chrétien deserves our admiration and our thanks,” Mr. Harper said. “And he deserves to look back on his record of service to our country with pride and satisfaction.”

And then Mr. Harper said this. “Partisan differences are a healthy and necessary part of our political culture and process. But on an occasion such as this, we remember that they are transcended by a deep, enduring consensus, a shared understanding that our freedom rests also on the limitations imposed on those partisan differences by our constitutional traditions and the rule of law.”

Perhaps it was just the heat, but these words seemed heavy. Continue…

For those about to flout

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 8:45 AM - 99 Comments

The government’s attempt to improvise a new limit on the Westminster system will have its first test this morning when the Prime Minister’s director of communications is scheduled to testify at the ethics committee. Once again, as in the matter of Parliament’s demand to see documents related to Afghan detainees, there is the small matter of the actual laws of this land.

If you should be so curious, the power of Parliament to “send for persons” is explained in chapter 20 of the second edition of House of Commons Procedure and Practice. A committee of Parliament can issue a summons to any individual, ordering their attendance at a specific time and place. Only the Queen, the Governor-General, provincial lieutenant-governors, members of Parliament, members of provincial legislatures and individuals not residing in Canada are, in practice, granted immunity from such a summons.

Those who are rightfully summoned, but fail to appear can be disciplined by the House—Parliament’s powers in this regard explained in chapter 3 of second edition of House of Commons Procedure and Practice. Chapter 3 includes a subsection entitled “taking individuals into custody and imprisonment,” which reads, rather seriously, as follows. Continue…

If only we could do away with Parliament entirely

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 2:42 PM - 161 Comments

The government is once more displeased with this democracy it must function within.

The Conservative cabinet has decided to ban its political staffers from appearing as witnesses before committees, setting up a new standoff between the government and opposition MPs just days after resolving the dispute over Afghan detainee documents … “Ministers are the ones who are accountable and answer to Parliament,” said Mr. Soudas, adding that a “government-wide” policy on the issue will be laid out on Tuesday.

As Kady O’Malley notes, this can only mean the Prime Minister will be showing up Tuesday to testify at the ethics committee in Mr. Soudas’ place. And once there, he might be asked when precisely between May 2004 and today did he decide it was not necessary for Parliament to hear from all requested witnesses, and whether senior ministers such as Jason Kenney and Peter MacKay agree with him now.

This just in: nothing has changed

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 10:42 AM - 4 Comments

At least since the Defence Minister and Prime Minister’s press secretary mused last October about some amount of soldiers remaining in Afghanistan, the government has been fairly steadfast in its stance that no soldiers will remain in Afghanistan after 2011.

Asked about the matter, a few days after his press secretary’s comments, the Prime Minister promised a “civilian, development, humanitarian mission.” In January, he said “we will not be undertaking any activities that require any kind of military presence, other than the odd guard guarding an embassy.” Last week, in regards to the military mission, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said “in 2011, we will no longer be there.”

Last night’s reaction to Ms. Clinton’s remarks and this morning’s official response should perhaps not come then as any surprise.

Oh well, whatever, never mind

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 9:30 PM - 67 Comments

Steven Fletcher, minister of state for democratic reform, Monday. “On the issue of the ten percenters, I do not know what the party opposite has against freedom of speech. I do not know what the party opposite has against the rights of Canadians for a public discourse. Canadians have the good sense to know what information they can find valuable. They do not need the Liberal Party of Canada to censor what they see. Canadians can judge for themselves what is relevant to their lives, to tell what information is valuable to them, and also it is an opportunity to see what other parties stand for. Everyone has equal privileges to these ten percenters. It is a way of ensuring that Canadians are informed. It improves public discourse and it is a way to improve our democracy. We live in the best country in the world and the best time in human history to be alive. The Conservative Party is the party that will ensure that Canada remains glorious and free.”

The Prime Minister’s Office, tonight. “We support getting rid of out-of-riding 10 percenters so long as the restriction applies to all parties.”

Er, never mind

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 5, 2010 at 4:08 PM - 48 Comments

Don Martin says you can stop worrying about the national anthem. Or, put another way, Don Martin says the government would prefer you stop worrying about what it might want to do to the national anthem.

After facing a blitzkrieg of backlash to a minor Throne Speech afterthought, which proposed a single line change to eliminate a gender reference in the anthem’s lyrics, a senior cabinet minister confides the notion will be quickly and quietly dusty-shelved, never to see the light of actual committee study … influential  officials are reassuring Conservative MPs that the kerfuffle will be allowed to fade away — and never to return to the agenda, even as a suggestion for further study.

And now the Prime Minister’s Office officially calls the whole thing off. The time expired between the Governor General committing this promise to the record and the arrival of this note from Mr. Harper’s press secretary would seem to be approximately 49 hours in total.

And now Senator Nancy Ruth, with whom this idea is said to have originated, says that ”if there’s been such backlash, then this is another example, for me, of hatred against women.”

As to the historical legacy of Louis Riel

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 19, 2010 at 5:39 PM - 61 Comments

Conservative MP Peter Goldring has managed today the rare feat of uniting the Liberal party and the Prime Minister’s Office in scorn.

“This document is absolutely not, in any way, an initiative of our government or our party,” said Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in an emailed statement. ”This is a personal initiative of MP Goldring which we strongly disapprove of. Louis Riel is a historical and controversial figure. But he played an important role in the development of Canada and in the protection of the rights and culture of the Metis and Francophones in Canada.”

Conservative Shelly Glover, a Metis, calls Mr. Goldring’s published views unjust, inaccurate and unfortunate. The newsletter in question is here.

Over to you, Supreme Court?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 12:28 PM - 102 Comments

While apparently still reviewing the court’s decision, the government apparently remains firm in its refusal to request Omar Khadr’s repatriation.