Welcome to the infomercial

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 12:19 PM - 0 Comments

Canadian Press reports that a few weeks before citizenship week celebrations last fall, Jason Kenney’s office asked his department to organize a ceremony at the Sun News studio in Toronto.

The goal was to find people who had recently taken the real oath. ”I have also just confirmed … that all the clients that are calling back are declining the request as they have to attend work and are not able to take the time off to participate in this reaffirmation ceremony,” wrote one civil servant.

Four days before the ceremony, a bureaucrat in downtown Toronto again pleaded whether Sun News could instead go to an already planned event. ”Please advise if the alternative would be acceptable since we do not have the resources to call over 3,000 clients to hopefully get 10 clients for this proposed event.”

In the end, only three of the 10 people the department had lined up to appear at the Sun’s studios actually showed up. But the show went on — featuring at least six federal bureaucrats. Three of those who took the oath wore identical T-shirts with a citizenship logo on it.

CP has video here. Justin Trudeau deems this “incredibly stupid.” An official in Mr. Kenney’s office was busy this morning assuring one and all that this was a “well intentioned mistake” made by a civil servant. And Mr. Kenney’s spokeswoman has now apologized to Sun News.

Liberal Biennial Convention 2012 Ottawa

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 8:12 PM - 0 Comments

Martha Hall Findlay (left), Michael Igntieff.

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Justin Trudeau talks leadership

By Adam Goldenberg - Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 2:44 PM - 0 Comments

AG: I imagine you’re being asked pretty frequently this weekend about whether or not you’d consider a run for the party leadership.

JT: Only by media, but yeah.

AG: What do you think it says about the Liberal party or the culture of Canadian politics that you keep getting asked that question? Continue…

Lover/fighter

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 19, 2011 at 12:50 PM - 0 Comments

Susan Delacourt profiles Justin Trudeau at 40.

To mark his 40th birthday, he got another tattoo: a Haida raven on his left shoulder. And in the coming few months, he intends to put a check mark beside a big item on his lifetime to-do list — going three rounds in the boxing ring. His opponent will be Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau, a fit, 36-year-old who holds a second-degree black belt in karate and who reportedly told Trudeau he’d jump at the chance to clobber him in public.

“He’s a tough character. I’ve got my work cut out for me . . . I expect to get knocked down a few times,” Trudeau said. “But you know what? If there’s one thing I’ve shown over the course of my career and my life, I can take a punch.” Trudeau knows that Brazeau isn’t the only Conservative who would like to smack him around, and he gets some delight from this. “There’s something about me that makes them nutty,” he says, laughing.

Better democracy through swearing

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 19, 2011 at 10:30 AM - 0 Comments

Stephen Maher finds reason for optimism.

I found Trudeau’s outburst tremendously encouraging, because it showed that opposition MPs are finding new ways to draw public attention to this government’s willingness to smear its opponents and stifle debate… 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government often looks authoritarian and mendacious, and he’s often accused of failing to respect Parliament, but when you look at all the stories about Trudeau cursing, you see that Parliament will continue to matter if MPs find ways to make it matter, and they will do that, because their careers depend on it.

Trudeau apologizes to Kent

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 11:25 AM - 0 Comments

Justin Trudeau, the Liberal MP most famous for being his father’s son, made headlines Wednesday when he channeled the ire of the green world and called Conservative Environment Minister Peter Kent a “piece of s–t.” The outburst came during Question Period. After Kent chided the NDP’s Megan Leslie for not attending a climate summit in Durban, Trudeau shot back “Oh, you piece of shit.” (Kent’s Conservatives explicitly prevented opposition MPs from joining the Canadian delegation.) Trudeau unreservedly apologized for the profanity after QP was done.

CBC

‘An honest reaction’

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Megan Leslie, asked yesterday about Mr. Trudeau’s shouted profanities.

I think it was an honest reaction from him in some ways. I certainly have bit my tongue so hard sometimes it bleeds in that House. I think he recognized that it wasn’t Parliamentary. Sometimes though the Conservatives and their games do get the better of us and we react. I think it was an honest reaction. He apologized for it. I just wish that the Conservatives would actually talk about issues and stop with the name calling and these kinds of dirty tricks. It’s really shameful.

Conservative MPs Kyle Seeback, Laurie Hawn, Blake Richards, Mike Allen, Rick Dykstra and Bob Zimmer were all profoundly saddened.

‘I tend to react a little strongly’

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

Justin Trudeau, asked after QP yesterday what his father would say about his outburst.

He would say that he was disappointed that I had to stoop to language that was unparliamentary, but I know that he would have probably been pleased that I was sticking up for someone else, it wasn’t something that I was attacked on myself. It was something that I can take an awful lot directed at myself. When someone attacks someone else in a way that is decidedly unfair and disrespectful, I tend to react a little strongly.

Here, for the record, is his explanation (and apology) for what happened. Continue…

The Commons: That’s enough

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 6:32 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. It has been a long year. (Granted, no longer than any other year, but still, 365 days—or however many we’re at now—is an awful lot.) So you’ll forgive the Prime Minister if he didn’t seem all that interested this afternoon.

As Nycole Turmel hectored him about the latest problems to afflict the fabled F-35s, Mr. Harper fiddled with his mail, a particularly well-sealed envelope seeming to resist his attempts to open it. Apparently figuring he couldn’t get it open in the time allotted to Ms. Turmel to state her question, he put it aside long enough to get the gist of her complaint. He then stood and repeated his platitudes from memory.

“Mr. Speaker, I know very well that every time the government provides our men and women in uniform with the equipment they need, the NDP loudly opposes that and votes against it,” he sighed. “We are working on the best advice of the Canadian industry, including the Quebec industry, including our men and women in uniform in the air force, and we will continue to move forward and make sure that they have the best aircraft that are available when we have to replace the current fleet.”

So Support the Troops, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. Continue…

Someone said a bad word

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 3:37 PM - 0 Comments

During QP, Justin Trudeau shouted the phrase “you piece of shit” in the general direction of Peter Kent. Afterwards, he stood and apologized. And then Peter Kent stood and demanded that he apologize. And then the Speaker stood and informed Mr. Kent that Mr. Trudeau had done just that.

More later.

The Commons: The tiny, perfect Conservative

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 8:42 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. She is a pair of dimples in a room full of jowls.

Meet Michelle Rempel, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of the Environment. She is short and smiley and perfectly patronizing. She speaks without holding a script, gestures with confidence and seems even to listen to what her counterparts are saying (even if only in search of a turn of phrase she can turn back on her opponent). Only 31 and barely six months into her first term in Parliament, she is already feigning indignation like she was born here. And so the government side is surely thankful that Peter Kent has been out of town this last little while. Continue…

Movember madness

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 11:37 PM - 0 Comments

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau said last year he went for a three musketeers stache but this year it was more pirate. “It’s more roguish,” he quipped.

Three quarters of the way through the month Conservative MP Ed Holder has a beard and is still deciding what moustache to go for. Please leave any suggestions.

The Commons: Grumpy old men

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 6:02 PM - 0 Comments

Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press

The Scene. Whatever Joe Oliver and Peter Kent are actually accomplishing in their capacity as ministers of the crown, these two children of the 1940s have at least the basis of a promising buddy comedy.

If memory serves, Mr. Oliver’s first forays were mostly unmemorable. Then, at some point, the Natural Resources Minister started shouting.

Recent weeks have been spent metaphorically shaking his fist at the official opposition and imploring them to get off his metaphorical lawn. He has linked them to Hugo Chavez and “European socialists” and “jet-setting Hollywood stars” and, worst of all, “European bureaucrats.” He has said that their only priority is to protect the interests of “their foreign socialist comrades and billionaire U.S. limousine liberals.” He has accused them of standing in the way of social services for children and health care for the elderly. He has ventured, in the course of a single sentence, that “NDP members have never met a job creating private sector policy or project that they do not want to kill, a tax they do not want to raise, a regulation they do not want to impose, a freedom they do not want to curtail, an issue they do not try to use to divide Canadians, and a fictitious problem they do not want the government to solve at great cost.” One day he concluded his remarks with a cry of “send in the clowns!”

All of this, apparently, because the New Democrats have some reservations about the Keystone pipeline project. And all of it committed to the record in the sort of tone—grumbly and impatient—that is generally employed to advise hippies that they might cut their hair and get a job. Continue…

Pop quiz

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 21, 2011 at 4:58 PM - 0 Comments

The Environment Minister was asked this afternoon to explain the contradiction reported in this story about government cuts to ozone monitoring. Twice, Peter Kent claimed the report had taken comments out of context. And then Justin Trudeau stood and declared that he was ditching his prepared question on the topic to make a more straightforward appeal.

Can the minister explain to the House what “ozone” is and what is the difference between its impact at low altitude and high altitude? I just need to know that he understands the issues.

Mr. Kent responded as follows (with a brief interruption due to heckling from the Liberal side).

Mr. Speaker, if there are any shortcomings in this House it is in the quality of the questions from the Liberal opposition. This government would gladly compare our record on the environment, in all its dimensions to … Mr. Speaker, to complete my question, again the opposition is using a questionable media source quotation of one of my staff that has been taken out of context.

Speaking with reporters after QP, Mr. Trudeau explained himself. Continue…

This is the week that was

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 3:42 PM - 0 Comments

Pat Martin tweeted a bad word. But refused to apologize. And claimed a kind of victory.

The government’s investments weren’t as advertised, but the future looks expensive. Supply management was put on the table and duly debated. The Royal Society asked us to think about euthanasia, but no one wanted to talk about it. The Conservative party has some reimbursements it might return. The NDP got set to debate itself as the contenders peddled their thoughts. The Liberals offered to realign the House at no extra expense. And a multi-party committee came together to consider matters of life and death. Continue…

And finally

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 18, 2011 at 5:42 PM - 0 Comments

Here, courtesy of Althia Raj, is Justin Trudeau stripping down to his undershirt for charity.

Faith police

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

In addition to being a part-time pollster, Dean Del Mastro is also an amateur bishop.

Dean Del Mastro, the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, said on Facebook last month that it was “outrageous” the Catholic school board in Peterborough, Ont. had invited Trudeau to speak for a second time in three years. “If they are looking for a truly great speaker, who also happens to be Catholic, perhaps they might invite [Immigration] Minister Jason Kenney,” Mr. Del Mastro wrote on Oct. 12. “Are there any tenets of the Catholic faith that Justin supports?”

Here is video coverage of Mr. Trudeau’s appearance in Peterborough, including testimonials from obviously traumatized young people. Continue…

Rogers Communications turns 50

By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 9:05 AM - 3 Comments

Rogers Communications  celebrated their 50th anniversary in Ottawa at the Metropolitain Brasserie.

(Left to right) Rogers president and CEO Nadir Mohamed and Rogers Vice Chairman Phil Lind.

(Left to right) U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau.

Loretta Rogers.

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No Trudeau

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 11:24 AM - 6 Comments

Justin Trudeau confirms he won’t seek the Liberal leadership in 2013.

“My kids are two and four years old and I barely see them enough as it is,” the eldest son of the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau told a group of about 50 students at Wilfrid Laurier University Wednesday. “I’m not going to run for the leadership this time around.”

Orange ribbons for Jack

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, September 26, 2011 at 10:26 PM - 4 Comments

Last week MPs sported orange ribbons to remember Jack Layton.

Liberal leader Bob Rae.

Liberal MP Mark Eyking (left) and NDP MP Megan Leslie.

Something, something, merger

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 79 Comments

In the presence of reporters, Justin Trudeau says something about the possibility of a Liberal merger with the NDP that might be considered interesting.

“If we’re serious about getting this country on the right track and reflecting the will of the vast majority of Canadians who didn’t vote for Mr. Harper, I think we have to be open to looking at different possibilities,” he said. ”I’m certainly not going to take anything off the table but I’m certainly not convinced that a merger is the right thing or the way to go. I’m open to being convinced, but I’m not there.”

In a separate interview, he says the only people talking about a merger are reporters. The Globe, in turn, cites Denis Coderre to explain its interest.

Meanwhile, in a cryptic Facebook note, former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff makes an observation from Jack Layton’s funeral that could apply to Liberals and New Democrats (or Liberals and Conservatives or Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats or humanity in general). Continue…

Trudeau and the ScrumMaster

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 10:13 AM - 7 Comments

Montreal Liberal MP Justin Trudeau was in Toronto to lend his support to Rugby Canada, who held a fundraiser and awareness campaign for Prostate Cancer Canada. In the middle of Toronto’s Dundas Square they set up a ScrumMaster machine.

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Trudeau, feathers and beads

By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 7:05 PM - 1 Comment

Montreal Liberal MP Justin Trudeau at Scotiabank’s Caribbean Carnival held at CTV’s downtown studio parking lot.

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Trudeau muscle and why Elizabeth May is feeling guilty

By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 9:14 AM - 2 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

How tough is Justin Trudeau?

When Montreal Liberal MP Justin Trudeau was in Toronto recently he attended a Scotia­bank Caribbean Carnival event, which was held at CTV’s downtown studio parking lot. He was introduced by CTV anchor Andria Case, who noted that the MP’s late father, Pierre Trudeau, had been instrumental in opening the doors to immigrants from the Caribbean. Justin Trudeau also lent his support the same day to Rugby Canada, which was holding a fundraiser and awareness campaign for Prostate Cancer Canada. In the middle of Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square under a scorching sun, organizers had set up a ScrumMaster machine with several cushioned pads so people could simulate a scrum and measure the force they delivered when they ran into it. When Trudeau took a stab at it (in bare feet, after removing his sandals), organizers moved two of the cushions closer together. “Sure, emphasize my small frame,” joked the MP, who ultimately scored 1,095. Even one of the beefy rugby players only got a score of 1,105. Steve Jones, president and CEO of Prostate Cancer Canada, was on hand. He noted that Jack Layton was the person who really helped propel the issue of prostate cancer into the political spotlight. Prostate Cancer had MPs wear striped blue ties and scarves after Layton first announced he had the disease. (Layton recently took a leave of absence as leader of the NDP to battle a new cancer.) “Jack’s situation made it a real issue,” says Jones. Since then, Jones says, his organization has been able to take the blue tie and scarf awareness campaign across the country; several provincial legislatures have adopted it for a day. Layton also appeared in a print awareness campaign dubbed “It’s our time,” which encouraged people to get tested.

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