'Hold to clarify my amended response is the one I want used no figures'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 29, 2010 at 1:37 PM - 7 Comments

Ministerial aide Ryan Sparrow helpfully suggests a new slogan for the next Conservative re-election campaign.

Bureaucrats calculated the value of the advertising campaign and prepared an answer the same day. Before making it public, however, they consulted Mr. Sparrow and other political officials on the proposed response. “The ad appeared on national networks, aboriginal and ethnic networks. The total TV media buy was approx $4,536,000. The Olympics package had a net cost of $1,849,829.00,” the chief of media relations, Patricia Valladao, said in an e-mail to Mr. Sparrow and two other ministerial aides, Michelle Bakos and Ana Curic.

Mr. Sparrow answered by telling the bureaucrats to “amend the response,” to simply say: “One 30-second TV ad was created in support of Canada’s Economic Action Plan. The ad started running the week of January 18th and will end with the Olympics. The ad highlights key government programs available to Canadians who have been affected by the economic downturn: extended EI benefits, retraining opportunities, apprenticeship grants and self employed EI benefits.”

Former Parliamentarians gather with future former Parliamentarians

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, November 20, 2009 at 6:54 PM - 14 Comments

The Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians held a dinner in the Fairmont Château Laurier ballroom. Below, former Reform MP Deb Grey.

Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent (right) and NDP MP Yvon Godin.

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Fancy footwear as The Hill Times turns 20

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 1:29 PM - 16 Comments

The Hill Times celebrated its 20^th anniversary at the Library and Archives Canada on Wellington Street in Ottawa. NDP MP Niki Ashton addresses the crowd below.

Montreal Liberal MP Justin Trudeau in Fluevogs.

Maclean’s columnist Paul Wells with a shoeless Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt.

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'We have a responsibility'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 10, 2009 at 10:39 AM - 46 Comments

Jim Flaherty, November 27. We cannot ask Canadians to tighten their belts during tougher times without looking in the mirror. Canadians have a right to look to government as an example. We have a responsibility to show restraint and respect for their money. Canadians’ tax dollars are precious. They must not be spent frivolously or without regard to where they came from. Canadians pay taxes so governments can provide essential services. They trust the people they elect to serve society with that money, not serve themselves …  Canadians pay their own bills and for some Canadians that is getting harder to do. Political parties should pay their own bills, too, and not with excessive tax dollars. Even during the best of economic times, parties should count primarily on the financial support of their own members and their own donors. Today our government is eliminating the $1.75 per vote taxpayer subsidy for politicians and their parties effective April 1, 2009. There will be no free ride for political parties. There never was. The freight was being paid by the taxpayers. This is the last stop on the route. There will be no free ride for anyone else in government either.

Stephen Fletcher, August 10. Mr. Fletcher also defended the Ten Percenter program, saying that people might not like the content of the flyers but they contribute to the “public discourse.”

You know what we do to people like that

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 2:03 PM - 10 Comments

Doug Finley wants to know who might’ve whispered sometthing to the Telegraph-Journal.

Presumably so that person can be given a high-ranking job in government.

A new roost for the Sparrow

By kadyomalley - Monday, July 6, 2009 at 1:48 PM - 5 Comments

As most of you are likely already aware, having either read it on the Globe’s boffo Bureau Blog or in the midst of ITQ’s liveblogging of the O’Brien trial, the Conservative Party of Canada has lost its chief spokesperson and reigning champion 500 metre hotel backstair sprinter. Yes, the rumours were true: the one and only Ryan Sparrow has started a new gig as communications director for HRDC minister — and blue ribbon panelist — Diane Finley. ITQ wishes him the best of luck in his new gig — yes, of course she’s serious; don’t give her that look — and looks forward to telling him so in person when she shows up to liveblog the first public meeting on employment insurance reform. It’ll be just like Camp In and Out, but with (presumably) less hostile witnesses!

So why is that the first thing mentioned in each ad?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 7:31 PM - 42 Comments

Ryan Sparrow explains the Conservative attack ads.

“The issue is not that Ignatieff worked outside the country.”

A reader writes (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, May 15, 2009 at 11:18 AM - 77 Comments

Susan Delacourt links to yesterday’s clarification and receives a similarly worded letter of outrage. Citing her father’s birth in Glasgow, she has declined to clarify her views on whether time spent outside this country can be used to judge one’s commitment to it.

Pointing to the above precedent, I again asked my reader if his letter could be posted here. And Mr. Sparrow, communications director for the Conservative Party of Canada, has now agreed. Full text after the jump. Continue…

Conservative Party “never thought there was any financial wrongdoing involving Mr. Casey.”

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 10:04 AM - 46 Comments

I’ve updated my original post to add the latest reports on the alleged smear campaign against Bill Casey, the most detailed and interesting of which, not surprisingly. comes from Casey’s local paper, the Halifax Chronicle Herald. Along with considerable background information on how the allegations against Casey were floated to at least two journalists during the last election, it also includes multiple on-the-record denials from various national party officials of any involvement by the federal party in filing the complaint with the RCMP.

Conservative Party president Don Plett, who was involved in putting together the campaign team for the parachute candidate that his party ran against Casey after the local riding association sided with the now-independent incumbent, claims that the first he heard of the RCMP complaint was when Casey went public with his allegations on Tuesday.

The party’s national communications director Ryan Sparrow says that the party had “looked into the financial dealings” and found nothing amiss. “The Conservative Party of Canada never thought there was any financial wrongdoing involving Mr. Casey, his local riding association or the election campaign,” he told the Herald.

Finally, PMO director of communication Kory Teneycke is adamant that the government “didn’t have anything to do with the complaint”, adding that “we don’t have a political axe to grind with Mr. Casey.”

ITQ has to confess to being a bit rushed at the moment and don’t have time to add much in the way of original musings, but will do so later today. To tide you over in the interim, here’s a timeline – ITQ does love her timelines, doesn’t she? – of events related to the accusations that unnamed party volunteers were apparently trying to push to the media during the campaign, and the complaint to the RCMP. I’ll update this, too, as we learn more.

September 7, 2008

The federal election begins.

September 19, 2008

Unnamed “Conservative party members … report the embezzlement of funds by a member of Parliament” to the Bible Hill detachment of the RCMP.

September/October 2008

According to the Halifax Chronicle Herald, “a party volunteer who was working for Conservative candidate Joel Bernard in Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley approached Nova Scotia journalists pitching a story about the $30,000 but no media outlet reported on the allegation.”

October 10, 2008

Conservative blogger Stephen Taylor receives an email from an unnamed source that appears to repeat the allegation that Casey “and his cohorts stole and embezzled a large amount of money.” The source also faxes a copy of the cheque. After looking into the claim, Taylor determines that the allegations were unfounded.

January 29, 2009

La Presse reporter Hugo de Grandpre contacts Casey’s office to ask if “there is any update on the charges against [him] on the accusation of embezzlement”.

February 3, 2009

Casey goes public with the allegations against him by raising a point of privilege in the House of Commons.

CPC ConventionWatch 2008 – Social and democratic policy resolutions want to be free too.

By kadyomalley - Friday, November 7, 2008 at 11:14 AM - 21 Comments

Fear not, intrepid ITQ readers who are sticking it out through the turbulent – but temporary – format tweaking that is currently underway: this post will be updated just as soon as I’ve had time to think of some smart and/or witty things to say about the policy resolutions that are up for debate at next week’s convention in Winnipeg. Which, incidentally, still have yet to be officially released, as far as I know, but are slowly but surely leaking out, despite the best efforts of the Conservative Party to keep the package under wraps until the very last possible moment. (For ITQ’s money, that likely almost nothing to do with the content, which is pretty tame by like, oldschool Reform standards, but is just another example of the control freakiness of the national office.)

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BTC: Predictable

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 4:44 PM - 20 Comments

Today’s story about Ryan Sparrow and the errant email is many things. But it is not, by any means, a surprise. Nor is it merely testament to a war room gone wrong. Even to call it a gaffe probably puts it too nicely.

Not when the Prime Minister once accused the opposition leader of sympathizing with the Taliban. Not when the Defence Minister has, at various points, questioned the patriotism of Canadians who disagree with the war effort in Afghanistan, accused Stephane Dion of endangering the lives of Canadian troops and dismissed his opposition critics as enemies of the state.

Not when the Prime Minister once casually suggested various opposition MPs were bigots. Not when he once implied there were anti-Semites on the opposition benches. Not when, just a night earlier, he was linking his opponents to Hezbollah.

Not after the nation’s doctors were chastised as unethical. Not after the Premier of Ontario was dismissed as the “small man of confederation.” Not after the Finance Minister deemed the nation’s most populace province to be the last place he’d invest. Not, for that matter, on a day when the Prime Minister was suggesting a carbon tax would break-up the country.

And not, ultimately, when the Tories themselves have drawn a straight line from the PMO to Mr. Sparrow. Continue…

BTC: 'Looks like the sweater has come off'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 2:56 PM - 0 Comments

Jack Layton on today’s turn for the worse in the Conservative campaign.

(There is some suggestion on the NDP bus that he’s used the line before. But nice line all the same.)

Things the Conservatives have recently decided are wrong: One suspects this will become an occasional series

By Paul Wells - Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 1:54 PM - 9 Comments

Questioning the partisan motives of a citizen who criticizes the government. Big no-no. Don’t even think about it, or you will find your eye on the Sparrow when the going gets narrow.

And yet. While one wonders where Ryan Sparrow would ever have come up with the idea that “He’s a Liberal” is a pertinent comeback to any policy critique (cough), one must entertain the possibility that he has simply learned his lessons well. Why, just as a f’rinstance, here’s one of Sparrow’s colleagues dismissing a constitutional criticism on the grounds that the critic had donated to the Liberals (while preferring the testimony of a scholar who had received money from the Harper government).

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Possibly the last time I'll ever get to use the Ryan Sparrow tag …

By kadyomalley - Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 12:27 PM - 26 Comments

… since he has reportedly been suspended from the Conservative war room for — oh, the exquisite irony — sending out an email to reporters. I guess I’ll never get on that list now, huh?

Anyway, godspeed, little spokesbird. We’ll always have our memories.

Liveblogging the Liberals' Ottawa South campaign kickoff: It's almost like being on a leaders' tour (but not quite)

By kadyomalley - Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 3:51 PM - 12 Comments

Okay, so I’ll tell y’all upfront that I have no idea what to expect from this event, but since it’s local, involves a party leader, and it’s not like I have anything else on my election coverage schedule tonight, I’ll be liveblogging it starting at around — 4:30ish? Does that work for everyone?

In the meantime, check out Wells doing the liveblog thing from Quebec City. I hope I’m not giving away any ultra-super-extra-duper-secret inside information, but I’ve been told by senior party sources that Quebec is going to play an important role in the upcoming election. You heard it here first!

Check back later this afternoon for even more insight.

4:32:31 PM
We’re here! And that isn’t even a royal “we’ this time — I hitched a ride with the Ottawa Citizen’s Glen McGregor, which meant saving the $30 or so it would’ve cost to cab it here. Also, we were technically a carpool, so go us – carbon footprint a delicate size 6.

Interestingly, we passed what has to be the very first protest of the campaign – well, other than those anti-war demonstrators who were out in front of 24 Sussex this morning. Remember that guy who Warren Kinsella was obsessed with during the last election? Who was involved with that “rural rights” group, “Back Off Government”? Well, they’re here, brandishing signs and presumably opposing the Green Shift (Soylen Green Shift is also farmers, I guess.) I say “presumably” because the signs I’ve seen so far don’t actually *say* anything about the Green Shift, but why else would they be here?

UPDATE/AFTERNOTE: I was thinking of Rick Randy Hillier (NOTE: That’s what happens when you liveblog two events in one day (with the first one involving a 5am wakeup time), who won a seat in the last provincial election, and is now a proud Ontario PC MPP, and the group in question is the Ontario Landowners’ Association.

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So when do we start the official countdown?

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 10:14 AM - 0 Comments

Is it when David Emerson finally - finally – kills off all those delicious rumours of being primed to parachute into some slightly-less-hostile riding by announcing that he won’t run again?  Okay, it’s not official yet — it’s still just sources saying — but as Wells pointed out earlier today, was there ever any real reason to believe that he was going to stick around?

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BREAKING – Another Liberal candidate flees in terror. . .

By kadyomalley - Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 1:14 PM - 0 Comments

. . . his senses apparently so deadened by the horrifying prospect of campaigning on the Green Shift that he’s running in the wrong direction! The calls are coming from inside the house!

Former police chief to carry Liberal banner in Palliser

REGINA – Former Regina City Police Chief Calvin Johnston will be the Liberal candidate for Palliser, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion announced today.

“I am proud that Calvin Johnston has decided to run as the Liberal candidate for the riding of Palliser,” said Mr. Dion at a press conference in Regina. “As former Chief of Police of Regina, Mr. Johnston understands that the most effective way to tackle crime is not simply through tougher prison sentences, but it is also about addressing the root causes of crime. This is why Mr. Johnston was so successful in making Regina a safer place.”

Hee. Sorry about that. I just can’t resist blowing up a good narrative, y’all.

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The Ten Percenter Solution: Don't have party officials comment on ostensibly parliamentary matters

By kadyomalley - Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 6:35 AM - 0 Comments

Otherwise, it looks – well, like you’re tacitly admitting to pretty much exactly the kind of partisan anticking that you’re attempting to deny:

The pamphlets have opposition MPs accusing the Tories of electioneering with public funds.

Each MP is allowed to send free mail to a number of households outside their riding that is equal to 10 per cent of their own riding.

Some of the drug pamphlets sent to Toronto homes came under the stamp of Alberta MP John Williams; others sent to Vancouver were marked from MPs from other parts of the country.

Vancouver Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh said the pamphlets are too partisan to be acceptable under the 10-per-cent mailing rule, which is supposed to cover an MP’s parliamentary duties.

“This message goes beyond what ought to be an acceptable 10 per center,” he said. “What’s questionable is the ethics of a government that would allow vulnerable people to die without getting help.”

A Conservative Party spokesman, Ryan Sparrow, rejected the suggestion that the pamphlet was too partisan.

“You’re debating a policy and you’re asking which political party or which political leader is on the right track,” he said.

According to senior Liberal strategist Ryan Sparrow …

By kadyomalley - Friday, August 8, 2008 at 9:06 AM - 0 Comments

Seriously, is there a scintilla of actual evidence – circumstantial or otherwise -  that now infamously former Liberal candidate Robert Morrissey bolted because of the Green Shift?

I mean, I’m not saying he didn’t – heck, anything is possible. But based on the coverage so far, it seems as though that particular claim originated with Conservative Party spokesbird (and erstwhile part-time House of Commons salary-drawer) Ryan Sparrow, who isn’t exactly what I’d call objective – and, I’m betting, is downright shocked by how easy it has been to push this story to the local PEI press despite a noticeable lack of independent corroboration.

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The curse of the Komagata Maru: More on that Unfortunate Event in Surrey

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 10:33 AM - 0 Comments

Well, huh. How about that? Apparently, my entirely uninformed theorizing on what might have gone so horribly wrong in Surrey last weekend was pretty darned close to what actually took place.

According to the Globe and Mail, at least, which has a fantastic behind-the-scenes piece on the frantic last-minute negotiations between the PM’s office and the organizers of the event — complete with excerpts from the increasingly combative email exchange:

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Icarus to the white courtesy taxpayer-funded phone …

By kadyomalley - Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 8:41 AM - 0 Comments

I guess this answers the lingering question of whether Ryan Sparrow still has a desk in the Conservative Research Group bunker (emphasis added):

Conservatives Launch Ad Campaign Ahead of Liberal Atlantic Caucus

‘When Canadians are worried about the cost of living, the last thing they need is a massive new permanent carbon tax that will drive up the cost of nearly everything’

(Halifax, Nova Scotia) – Today, the Conservative Party launched an advertising campaign to warn Nova Scotia taxpayers about being fooled by Stéphane Dion’s permanent new carbon tax which will destroy jobs and drive up the cost of everything.

The campaign will consist of radio ads that coincide with the start of the Atlantic federal Liberal caucus in Digby, Nova Scotia. [...]

The campaign is being funded by voluntary donations from Conservative supporters in Nova Scotia and across Canada.

- 30 –

For more information contact:

Ryan Sparrow
Director of Communication
Conservative Party of Canada
(613) 996-5084

Hey, at least the party is paying for the ads, right? Although you’d think with all those voluntary donations flowing in from Conservative supporters in Nova Scotia and across Canada, they’d be able to spring for an official CPC cell phone for the Sparrow, rather than force him to come perilously close to doing party business on the public dime.

Also, it’s probably worth noting that the CRG entry in GEDS hasn’t been updated since the fin de Buckliecle: Kory Teneycke is still there, as are several members of the entourage who have followed him to PMO Communication-with-no-S-and-don’t-get-me-started-on-that-Jane-Taber-item-in-Saturday’s-Globe.

PS – Yes, I’ve been away for days – but I’m back and fully refreshed and reinvigorated. Hopefully, it’s not been so long a hiatus for a mass debookmarking by regular readers.

The Icarus Principle at work!

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 3:21 PM - 0 Comments

From the depths of the caucus stakeout in Quebec comes word that congratulations are in order for our favorite Conservative party spokesparrow:

From: Chelsie McIntee
To: Chelsie McIntee
Sent: Wed Jul 30 15:26:24 2008
Subject: Notice of Appointments / Avis de nominations

Doug Finley, Director of Political Operations for the Conservative Party of Canada, is pleased to announce the following appointments:

Effective July 1^st, Ryan Sparrow has been appointed Director of Communication for the Conservative Party.

Effective August 1^st, Geoff Donald has been appointed Deputy Director, Political Operations.

We wish both individuals great success in their new positions.

Best Regards,

Doug Finley

Director, Political Operations

National Campaign Director

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Come back, Oily. All is forgiven.

By kadyomalley - Monday, July 14, 2008 at 8:34 PM - 0 Comments

Okay, that’s it: It’s ITQ Edict Time. The phrase “green shaft” is now banned until further notice.

As word play goes, it was marginally amusing the first time; I’m not sure who gets the credit, but whoever you are, take a bow (or a curtsy). Not surprisingly, it has become progressively less amusing on each repetition, and now serves only to expose a tragic lack of rhetorical dexterity on the part of the user, and yes, that includes prime ministers, although to be fair, it was actually Lorne Gunter whose latest inspired this edict. It could have been anyone, though. He just happened to be on National Newswatch at the exact moment that I careened over the edge. (Don’t worry, I always land on my feet.)
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Who wants to be the next Sandra Buckler?

By kadyomalley - Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 11:06 PM - 0 Comments

UPDATE: Two more names added to the pool! Hit the jump to find out who!

It’s the hot new game that’s sweeping the capital: Name the New PMO DComm!

The best part? Since nobody seems to know anything (and if they do, they’re sure being quiet about it), anyone can play!  To get you started, some of the guesses that emerged during last night’s latenight session, plus a few that I threw in after the fact for my own cryptic amusement, and to see if anyone is paying attention:
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