Internet 1, Old School Discretion 0
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 13, 2012 - 0 Comments
Via Twitter, Democratic Reform Minister Tim Uppal has announced that the ban on reporting election results before all polls have closed will be rescinded.
The original purpose of the ban was to prevent Western Canadian voters from knowing results from the Atlantic Provinces before casting their ballots. At the time, there was a four hour difference between the closing of the polls in Atlantic Canada and in British Columbia. To address this gap, Parliament introduced staggered voting hours in 1996 which ensures that the outcome of any general election cannot be known before polls close anywhere in Canada.
“We’re in the 21st century,” added Minister Uppal. “The ban, which was enacted in 1938, does not make sense with the widespread use of social media and other modern communications technology.”
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Firefighters in Ottawa
By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 9:06 AM - 0 Comments
The International Association of Firefighters arrived in Ottawa and held a reception at the Delta Hotel.
Labour Minister Lisa Raitt (left) and Scott Marks, IAFF Assistant to the General President for Canadian Operations..
Conservative MP James Lunney and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
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The newest math
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 11:24 AM - 0 Comments
After one version last week and another last night, the official House of Commons math now adds 15 new seats for Ontario, six for British Columbia, six for Alberta and three for Quebec.
The provinces thus break down as so.
Ontario 38.8% of the population and 35.8% of the seats
Quebec 23.1% and 23.1%
British Columbia 13.3% and 12.4%
Alberta 11.0% and 10.1%
Manitoba 3.6% and 4.1%
Saskatchewan 3.1% and 4.1%
Nova Scotia 2.7% and 3.3%
New Brunswick 2.2% and 3.0%
Newfoundland 1.5% and 2.1%
PEI 0.4% and 1.2% -
House of Commons math, revisited and revised
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 9:40 PM - 0 Comments
Tim Uppal, Minister of State for Democratic Reform, will be in Brampton, Ontario tomorrow to make an “important announcement.” According to the CBC that will involve 13 new MPs for Ontario, six for Alberta, five for British Columbia and three for Quebec. That’s one more seat for Quebec than had been reported last week.
Quebec currently has 75 of 308 seats, or 24.35%. The NDP had been calling for that percentage to be matched in any redistribution.
After the 2015 election, Quebec will now have 78 of 335 seats, or 23.28%.
The provinces thus break down under the new formula as follows. Continue…
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Subject to change
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 12:05 PM - 2 Comments
Democratic Reform Minister Tim Uppal suggests the numbers leaked Tuesday might not match what the government will do to rebalance the House.
In a letter to media released Wednesday, Tim Uppal, Minister of State for Democratic Reform, took issue with the leaked reports about the new bill. “Reports on our government’s representation plans are pure speculation until legislation has been introduced,” Mr. Uppal wrote.
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Hockey Night in Barrie: NHL meets MPs
By Mitchel Raphael - Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 6:14 PM - 2 Comments
Ontario Conservative MP Patrick Brown’s annual Hockey Night in Barrie continues to grow. Each year the charity fundraiser for the Royal Victoria Hospital has MPs and NHL players sharing the ice for a game.
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The MP who has to talk about the Senate all summer
By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 9:20 AM - 2 Comments
Mitchel Raphael
Handy having an orthopaedic surgeon
Ontario Conservative MP Patrick Brown’s annual Hockey Night in Barrie continues to grow. Each year, the charity fundraiser for the Royal Victoria Hospital has MPs and NHL players sharing the ice for a game. This year (the fourth) raised almost $200,000 for the hospital’s cancer care centre. Current and retired NHL players this time included Ryan O’Reilly of the Colorado Avalanche, Bryan Little of the Winnipeg Jets, Luke Pither of the Philadelphia Flyers and Darcy Tucker. Also attending was Conservative MP Kellie Leitch (who beat Helena Guergis in the last election). The rookie MP would have been handy in an emergency: Leitch is an orthopaedic surgeon who has sports- injuries training going back to the days when she worked with the Toronto Argonauts.
Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel (who took former cabinet minister Jim Prentice’s old seat in the last election) arrived at the game to support Brown and her fellow MPs. But when she got drafted as one of the coaches, she quickly rose to the challenge. (Last year, Stephen Harper put in an appearance and coached the same team.) Defence Minister Peter MacKay arrived with all his hockey gear but had to borrow one of Patrick Brown’s sticks. Most of the MPs present agreed that Brown is one the Conservatives’ best players.
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The U.S. debt-ceiling dance and Canadian Senate reform
By John Geddes - Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 11:40 AM - 35 Comments
Much as I know it’s bad form to give away somebody else’s kicker, I can’t resist passing along the last paragraph of William Watson’s most recent (and typically excellent) column, which is about why Canadians (and Brits) shouldn’t feel all superior about their parliamentary system just because the U.S. way of government looks so dysfunctional during its current dance with debt default: Continue… -
The Conservative in charge of fixing the Senate
By John Geddes - Monday, July 18, 2011 at 10:00 AM - 24 Comments
Tim Uppal’s first big obstacle is opposition from within his own party.
Adrian Wyld/CP
There’s no shortage of veteran politicians around Ottawa—not to mention party strategists, academic experts and even journalists—who can tell war stories about doomed efforts to reform the Senate. But Tim Uppal, a second-term Conservative MP from Edmonton, isn’t one of them. Before politics, he was a residential mortgage manager, community radio host, and coach of the traditional Punjabi sport kabaddi, which has been described as a combination of rugby, tag and wrestling. Maybe the last credential is what suggested to Stephen Harper that Uppal might have what it takes to be his secretary of state for democratic reform, the junior minister whose top priority would be to fight through inevitable resistance and finally make good on the promise to overhaul the Senate.
Uppal is spending his summer trying to build support for the Senate Reform Act, which was tabled in the House last month. The bill would limit senators, who can now serve until age 75, to nine-year terms. It would also encourage, but not compel, provinces and territories to hold elections that would produce lists of winners from which prime ministers would be expected to appoint senators. In an interview, Uppal took an upbeat, optimistic tone, and resisted being drawn into a detailed discussion of exactly how the revamped Senate would function. Pushed on just about any issue, he repeated his mantra: “The status quo is not acceptable.”
And Harper’s position does, in fact, boil down to saying something’s got to change—an unelected Senate, in which partisan appointees currently collect $132,300 a year, plus benefits, just can’t be allowed to stand. But the limited fix Uppal is assigned to promote is prompting predictable questions, the sort that have derailed many past bids at reform. If senators are to be elected, how will that change their relationship with the House? It stands to reason that they will feel emboldened to more often block legislation sent to them by MPs. And if democratic legitimacy makes the Senate more powerful, won’t that also make its regional imbalance a bigger problem? For instance, British Columbia and Alberta now have six senators each, while New Brunswick and Nova Scotia get 10 senators apiece.
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This year's models
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 10:43 AM - 65 Comments
Welcome to live coverage of this morning’s cabinet shuffle, wherein we find out which backbenchers we have to pretend to take more seriously for the next little while.
There’s been a steady stream of Conservatives arriving at Rideau Hall and the Prime Minister is due shortly. So far we seem only to know for sure that John Baird will be the next Foreign Affairs Minister. Presumably he will be counted on to bluster away opposition criticism of the government’s international endeavours, charm foreign officials and periodically convene breathless news conferences to report the latest breathtaking developments in our make-believe war with Russia. Presumably he’ll do fine. His image problem notwithstanding.
10:45am. Our Andrew Coyne is already deeply disappointed with all of this. Follow his Twitter feed this morning to watch his head explode repeatedly.
10:52am. The Prime Minister has now arrived. The swearing in is to commence in about 20 minutes.
11:04am. CTV reports a 39-member ministry, which equals an all-time high mark. Welcome to the new era of smaller government.
11:07am. Peter Van Loan apparently goes back to House leader. Welcome to the new era of non-partisan Harper governance. Continue…
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Brave voices for the status quo
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 5, 2010 at 3:06 PM - 6 Comments
Peter MacKay and Tim Uppal join Rod Bruinooge and Patrick Brown in opposing changes to the national anthem.
Dean Del Mastro is open-minded.
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Truth in advertising
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 11:26 AM - 18 Comments
Vic Toews may or may not want the people of Provencher to believe Michael Ignatieff has no time for Ukranians. Conservative backbencher Tim Uppal used a members’ statement to raise the same allegation in March. A not disinterested blogger, writing for the National Post, did likewise in February.
For the record, Dan Gardner debunked (link fixed) this more than three years ago. Our John Geddes did likewise a week later. And when the National Post editors reviewed Blood and Belonging earlier this year they didn’t even see fit to note the allegedly scandalous passage in question.
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Mitchel Raphael on Layton's tight pants
By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 5:21 PM - 0 Comments
Why Ruby’s not the first and an MP’s wedding
Finger puppet goes after Stockwell Day’s tanWhen Toronto textile artist Gabe Thirlwall and her partner moved to Ottawa three years ago, she discovered “you’re hard up for excitement in this town.” Then inspiration hit as she began spotting the city’s political “celebrities.” She decided to combine her textile skills with political theatre. The result is a growing collection of handmade MP finger puppets. While she likes to poke fun at all the politicians she has made so far, some get worse treatment than others. “I purposely made Stephen Harper look on the fatter side. I feel you can attack a man on his policies, but he probably stands by his policies. But we know he is sensitive about his weight.” Harper and a few of the other puppets have an apple-motif fabric backing “because I thought they were keeners.” NDP Leader Jack Layton has tight orange pants “because he is very fit. Riding his bike to Parliament Hill and all.” There is also an Olivia Chow puppet; most people buy her with Layton so as not to separate the MP couple, says Thirlwall. Trade Minister Stockwell Day “is on a brown fabric because he always has questionable tans—I don’t know if he goes to the tanning salon or uses creams. But every time I see that guy, he’s a different colour.” Green Leader Elizabeth May is made out of a hand-dyed organic cotton. “I gave one to her in exchange for her new book [Losing Confidence].” Each puppet comes with a card saying the head is filled with polyester stuffing and that the puppet “is not intended for small children.” Thirlwall always asks people which puppets they’d like to see and says “there is a big demand for Stéphane Dion.” Puppets made so far include Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, Justin Trudeau, John Baird (her most popular seller) and Peter MacKay. The puppets are available at fishonfridays.ca and Ottawa’s Workshop Studio & Boutique, where staff say there is a rush on Ruby Dhalla.
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MPs dole out the pork, literally
By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 12:50 PM - 4 Comments
The Canadian Pork Council held a Hill BBQ to show the safety of Canada’s white meat in the midst of the panic over the H1N1 swine flu.
Labour Minister Rona Ambrose serves up the pork.
Iggy chows down.
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The Speaker takes a stand (V)
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 13, 2009 at 12:07 PM - 23 Comments
Jim Abbott is up now defending Tim Uppal’s right to impugn the character of Michael Ignatieff.
Mr. Abbott is trying to explain the situation with a hockey game analogy. Apparently the “referee” threatens to “ruin the entire game” with this sudden change in the rules.
Liberal Derek Lee responds that the rules have not changed, they are merely now being enforced.
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The Speaker takes a stand (IV)
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 13, 2009 at 11:16 AM - 50 Comments
Tim Uppal rose just now and attempted a rant against Michael Ignatieff, only to be cut short by deputy speaker Andrew Scheer (a Conservative, for the record).
Dean Del Mastro was allowed to use his statement to both mock Peter Milliken’s ruling and criticize former Liberal policies.
Conservative Leon Benoit was allowed to say that “someone” wants to introduce a carbon tax and raise the GST.
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The Speaker takes a stand (III)
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 13, 2009 at 11:04 AM - 5 Comments
Yesterday’s debate, in its entirety, after the jump.
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Israeli wine, meets Canadian cheese
By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, March 6, 2009 at 5:16 PM - 2 Comments
The Canada Israel Committee and the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee held a special Israeli wine meets Canadian cheese reception on the Hill. Here is Israeli Ambassador Miriam Ziv with Conservative James Lunney, Chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Committee.
Transport Minister John Baird (left) and Adam Chambers, Jim Flaherty’s aide.
Baird with Justin Trudeau.
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Would Canada fly a pot flag?
By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 9:29 AM - 3 Comments
Heritage Minister James Moore presided over a special Flag Day celebration in Speaker Peter Milliken’s Hill reception room.
Jason Kenney built a stunning flag collection, including all of Canada’s historical flags (even ones before Canada was a country), when he was Minister of Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity.
