The NDP’s national campaign director is warning his troops to be ready to fight an election “in the coming weeks,” ramping up already overheated speculation that a federal campaign is imminent.
“Stephen Harper has shown little indication that he’s willing to stop the political games,” Brad Lavigne writes in an internal memo to NDP candidates and organizers obtained by The Globe. “He’s shown little indication that he’ll stop the [corporate tax-cut] giveaways to the well-connected.”
The Sunday night missive comes just two days after a meetingbetween Jack Layton and Prime Minister Stephen Harper over the NDP’s demands for next month’s federal budget. It also comes amid a new Nanos poll showing improvements in the national horserace numbers for the NDP.
Clearly, the meeting, in which Mr. Layton presented his budget shopping list, did not go that well – at least not well enough for the NDP to muse about supporting the Harper government’s budget.
Mr. Harper and his team need the support of at least one of the three opposition parties in order for their budget to pass. If the fiscal plan – expected March 22 – is defeated the country will be plunged into a general election.
In his memo, Mr. Lavigne focuses on the issue of the corporate tax cuts – perhaps doing a bit of damage control after weekend stories that the NDP had taken the corporate tax cut issue off the table.
“On Friday, Jack Layton met with Stephen Harper at the Prime Minister’s request,” Mr. Lavigne writes. “Jack Layton’s message to Mr. Harper was clear – it’s time to put the games aside. And it’s time to help Canadian families struggling to get ahead.”
In the meeting, Mr. Layton “stressed that the Liberal/Conservative across-the-board corporate giveaway are wrong for Canada.”
Though Michael Ignatieff has supported tax relief for business in the past, the Liberals now say they cannot support the budget if the government does not roll back this latest round of cuts to corporations.
The NDP opposes the cuts as well, but this was not clear after Mr. Layton’s meeting with Mr. Harper since they were not part of the New Democratic budget wish list. The Liberals jumped on this over the weekend.
“It’s sad to see the NDP abandon the fight for tax fairness without a whimper,” Liberal MP Bob Rae told The Globe. “NDP figures it is losing tax cuts issue to the Liberals, and so needs its own territory. As the Tom Lehrer song says, ‘playing second fiddle’s a hard part, I know, when they won’t give you the bow’.”
Mr. Rae, a former NDP premier of Ontario, believes Mr. Layton’s caucus is divided on whether to try to take down the government over the budget. “If they do join in to the opposition to the budget – because the Tories don’t play ball – they see a small victory. If the Tories play ball – they ‘win’ (according to their theory). People will reward them for gaining concessions.”
The Liberal MP warns, however, that there is a “fatal weakness” to this strategy.
“The first is that everyone can see through it – it simply papers over the split in their caucus, they’ve ceded the tax cut issue to the Liberals (big mistake) and if they support the Tories they’re done for because their base is fiercely anti-Harper. If they don’t support them no one will notice. They are playing a bad hand of cards.”
Mr. Lavigne, meanwhile, told his troops that being ready to fight an election at any time puts the party in a position of strength. “And if Stephen Harper wants to head into an election showing that he is unable to put the needs of Canadians ahead of his own political goals, New Democrats will be ready to fight that election – and win.”
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda was out of town when her office handled the KAIROS funding memo, leaving an aide to stamp it with her signature and write “not” on it to reverse the advice of bureaucrats, the Conservative government says.
OTTAWA—International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda was out of town when her office handled the KAIROS funding memo, leaving an aide to stamp it with her signature and write “not” on it to reverse the advice of bureaucrats, the Conservative government says.
Fighting back against opposition allegations that Oda “doctored” the memo, government officials are supplying new details that portray the handling of the now controversial funding recommendation as routine and a simple use of ministerial powers.
In a briefing note distributed to Conservative MPs over the weekend, they said, “Hundreds of these internal memos cross ministers’ desks every day.”
“This is how elected officials transmit their decisions to the public service in our system of government,” they said. “The Minister had reviewed the memo, made her decision not to approve the funding application, and asked her staff to follow through on it.”
The issue has emerged as a flashpoint after it was revealed last fall that someone had written “not” across the 2009 department memo from senior officials at the Canadian International Development Agency recommending $7 million for KAIROS, a church-based aid group. The insertion overturned their recommendation.
Last December Oda told a Commons committee she didn’t know who had scribbled the word. But in a surprise admission last week, she told the Commons that it was she who had directed a staff member to make the change to reflect her decision not to fund the agency.
That admission prompted all three opposition parties to demand Oda’s resignation and call for a formal parliamentary probe into whether she should be found in breach of privilege for misleading MPs.
The Conservatives are standing behind Oda. To help her defence, they circulated additional details over the weekend about what transpired.
According to new information, senior CIDA staff sent a memo to Oda, recommending the government provide funding for KAIROS. However, Oda did not agree with the decision. But because she was not in Ottawa that day, it was left to her aides to handle the paperwork.
“They, with the minister’s authority, applied her automated signature, which is used when required because a Minister is unable to personally sign a document, and indicated her decision on the memo by clearly indicating that she did NOT approve the funding application,” government officials said in their memo.
They said the altered recommendation was then returned to the very officials who had sent it to Oda for a decision — and whose signatures were still on the document, even though their advice had been overruled.
“By definition, those who received the returned memo could not have been misled, and were not misled, by the manner in which the Minister’s decision was communicated in the document,” officials said.
They pointed to testimony by CIDA president Margaret Biggs before a Commons committee last December, who said the entire process was “quite normal.
“The inclusion of the word ‘not’ is just a simple reflection of what her decision was, and she has been clear. So that’s quite normal,” Biggs said at the time.
Fighting back against opposition allegations that Oda “doctored” the memo, government officials are supplying new details that portray the handling of the now controversial funding recommendation as routine and a simple use of ministerial powers.
In a briefing note distributed to Conservative MPs over the weekend, they said, “Hundreds of these internal memos cross ministers’ desks every day.”
“This is how elected officials transmit their decisions to the public service in our system of government,” they said. “The Minister had reviewed the memo, made her decision not to approve the funding application, and asked her staff to follow through on it.”
The issue has emerged as a flashpoint after it was revealed last fall that someone had written “not” across the 2009 department memo from senior officials at the Canadian International Development Agency recommending $7 million for KAIROS, a church-based aid group. The insertion overturned their recommendation.
Last December Oda told a Commons committee she didn’t know who had scribbled the word. But in a surprise admission last week, she told the Commons that it was she who had directed a staff member to make the change to reflect her decision not to fund the agency.
That admission prompted all three opposition parties to demand Oda’s resignation and call for a formal parliamentary probe into whether she should be found in breach of privilege for misleading MPs.
The Conservatives are standing behind Oda. To help her defence, they circulated additional details over the weekend about what transpired.
According to new information, senior CIDA staff sent a memo to Oda, recommending the government provide funding for KAIROS. However, Oda did not agree with the decision. But because she was not in Ottawa that day, it was left to her aides to handle the paperwork.
“They, with the minister’s authority, applied her automated signature, which is used when required because a Minister is unable to personally sign a document, and indicated her decision on the memo by clearly indicating that she did NOT approve the funding application,” government officials said in their memo.
They said the altered recommendation was then returned to the very officials who had sent it to Oda for a decision — and whose signatures were still on the document, even though their advice had been overruled.
“By definition, those who received the returned memo could not have been misled, and were not misled, by the manner in which the Minister’s decision was communicated in the document,” officials said.
They pointed to testimony by CIDA president Margaret Biggs before a Commons committee last December, who said the entire process was “quite normal.
“The inclusion of the word ‘not’ is just a simple reflection of what her decision was, and she has been clear. So that’s quite normal,” Biggs said at the time.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Don Newman Sorry, prime minister, two wrongs don't make a right!
It seems to happen with amazing regularity.
Every time the Conservatives start inching towards the possibility of a majority government, something happens within their own ranks.
Just look at this week. Two public opinion polls showed support for Stephen Harper's Conservatives edging into the 40 per cent range, which is what is usually needed to secure a majority in this country.
More importantly, they showed voter support for Michael Ignatieff's Liberals sliding to 24 per cent, four points lower than the party had in the 2008 election under then leader Stéphane Dion.
With a budget coming, ostensibly on March 22, along with its two confidence votes, it would not seem to be too difficult for a party as wily as the Conservatives to have themselves defeated while blaming the opposition for forcing an election
They would then hope to capitalize on the momentum they have been building in the polls to help them cross the line into political utopia.
But then along came Bev Oda and the memo.
Kairos
A personal disclaimer here. I like Bev Oda. I have always found her easy to deal with, perhaps because her late husband gave me my first job in network television at CTV many years ago.
Bev Oda, fielding questions in the Commons on Feb. 17, 2011. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Having said that, mind you, I have to ask: What was she thinking!
Or was she not thinking?
In case you have been in a cave somewhere these past several days, let me recap: Last fall two officials at the Canadian International Development Agency, which Oda oversees, recommended in a memo that the Canadian government continue funding an organization call Kairos.
Kairos is a long-standing church-sponsored organization that works in Third World countries, and part of the money it uses for its projects comes from CIDA, and has for the past 35 years.
Well, make that came from CIDA. That is because, despite a CIDA memo recommending the funding be continued, someone clumsily wrote in what appears to be ballpoint ink the word NOT in front of the typed word recommended.
When first challenged in front of a parliamentary committee about the insertion, Oda said she didn't know who had inserted the NOT, changing the recommendation.
She wasn't unduly concerned, she said at the time, because she agreed the funding should be stopped.
Fast forward to this week. Under pressure Oda conceded that it was she who wrote in the word NOT.
And that has brought down a storm of opposition protest about being misled by the minister, which has sent Oda running for cover.
It also left Harper and Conservative House Leader John Baird to advance the spurious argument that, as the minister responsible, Oda did no wrong because the decision to cut the funding was the correct one.
No right
Frankly, I don't have enough detail about the appropriate distribution of aid money by CIDA to weigh in on that aspect of the argument.
But the Harper-Baird defence doesn't pass muster on a couple of levels.
What they are trying to get Canadians to swallow is a curious twist on the old adage that two wrongs don't make a right.
By their reasoning, if the funding decision on Kairos was right, it cancels out two wrongs.
They want Canadians to believe that reversing a recommendation in a memo signed by two senior public servants, without getting them to initial or otherwise acknowledge the change, is all right.
(Would either Harper or Baird feel that way if the situation was somehow reversed? I think even to ask the question here is to answer it.)
And what about misleading a parliamentary committee?
For someone in authority to lie or purposely mislead at any time is clearly wrong.
But in the House of Commons, which a parliamentary committee is by extension, it is as grave an offence as there can be. The whole system is based on "honourable" men and women going about the public's business.
Harper and Baird are trying to blow this off as though it is no big deal.
But you would think that, more than anyone, Conservatives would want to support and maintain the traditions and regulations of Parliament.
After all, it is abiding by the rules that is behind the party's law and order agenda, and so much else that they stand for.
Terribly rude
But we probably shouldn't be surprised by the behaviour of John Baird.
Think back to the end of November 2008 when the newly elected Conservatives tried to cancel, out of the blue, public funding for political parties, and the Liberals and NDP came together to plan a coalition alternative.
Harper was forced to go to Rideau Hall to ask then Governor General Michaëlle Jean to suspend Parliament for a time, to avoid the impending confidence vote he would surely have lost.
While he was there, Baird was stalking the foyer of the House of Commons threatening that if there was no prorogation, the Conservatives would "go over the heads of Parliament, go over the head of the Governor General" to get their way.
It was never entirely clear what he meant by that, other than perhaps hoping that bombast and time would help make the problem go away.
But once again it feels like the Conservatives are playing fast and loose with the conventions of an institution that should be above these kind of games.
In the process they are also ignoring that old limerick from the British Parliament at Westminster: "To lie in the nude isn't terribly rude, but to lie in the House is obscene!" What's more, it is an obscenity, I am sure, that will send those polls sliding out of majority territory.
Every time the Conservatives start inching towards the possibility of a majority government, something happens within their own ranks.
Just look at this week. Two public opinion polls showed support for Stephen Harper's Conservatives edging into the 40 per cent range, which is what is usually needed to secure a majority in this country.
More importantly, they showed voter support for Michael Ignatieff's Liberals sliding to 24 per cent, four points lower than the party had in the 2008 election under then leader Stéphane Dion.
With a budget coming, ostensibly on March 22, along with its two confidence votes, it would not seem to be too difficult for a party as wily as the Conservatives to have themselves defeated while blaming the opposition for forcing an election
They would then hope to capitalize on the momentum they have been building in the polls to help them cross the line into political utopia.
But then along came Bev Oda and the memo.
Kairos
A personal disclaimer here. I like Bev Oda. I have always found her easy to deal with, perhaps because her late husband gave me my first job in network television at CTV many years ago.
Bev Oda, fielding questions in the Commons on Feb. 17, 2011. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Having said that, mind you, I have to ask: What was she thinking!
Or was she not thinking?
In case you have been in a cave somewhere these past several days, let me recap: Last fall two officials at the Canadian International Development Agency, which Oda oversees, recommended in a memo that the Canadian government continue funding an organization call Kairos.
Kairos is a long-standing church-sponsored organization that works in Third World countries, and part of the money it uses for its projects comes from CIDA, and has for the past 35 years.
Well, make that came from CIDA. That is because, despite a CIDA memo recommending the funding be continued, someone clumsily wrote in what appears to be ballpoint ink the word NOT in front of the typed word recommended.
When first challenged in front of a parliamentary committee about the insertion, Oda said she didn't know who had inserted the NOT, changing the recommendation.
She wasn't unduly concerned, she said at the time, because she agreed the funding should be stopped.
Fast forward to this week. Under pressure Oda conceded that it was she who wrote in the word NOT.
And that has brought down a storm of opposition protest about being misled by the minister, which has sent Oda running for cover.
It also left Harper and Conservative House Leader John Baird to advance the spurious argument that, as the minister responsible, Oda did no wrong because the decision to cut the funding was the correct one.
No right
Frankly, I don't have enough detail about the appropriate distribution of aid money by CIDA to weigh in on that aspect of the argument.
But the Harper-Baird defence doesn't pass muster on a couple of levels.
What they are trying to get Canadians to swallow is a curious twist on the old adage that two wrongs don't make a right.
By their reasoning, if the funding decision on Kairos was right, it cancels out two wrongs.
They want Canadians to believe that reversing a recommendation in a memo signed by two senior public servants, without getting them to initial or otherwise acknowledge the change, is all right.
(Would either Harper or Baird feel that way if the situation was somehow reversed? I think even to ask the question here is to answer it.)
And what about misleading a parliamentary committee?
For someone in authority to lie or purposely mislead at any time is clearly wrong.
But in the House of Commons, which a parliamentary committee is by extension, it is as grave an offence as there can be. The whole system is based on "honourable" men and women going about the public's business.
Harper and Baird are trying to blow this off as though it is no big deal.
But you would think that, more than anyone, Conservatives would want to support and maintain the traditions and regulations of Parliament.
After all, it is abiding by the rules that is behind the party's law and order agenda, and so much else that they stand for.
Terribly rude
But we probably shouldn't be surprised by the behaviour of John Baird.
Think back to the end of November 2008 when the newly elected Conservatives tried to cancel, out of the blue, public funding for political parties, and the Liberals and NDP came together to plan a coalition alternative.
Harper was forced to go to Rideau Hall to ask then Governor General Michaëlle Jean to suspend Parliament for a time, to avoid the impending confidence vote he would surely have lost.
While he was there, Baird was stalking the foyer of the House of Commons threatening that if there was no prorogation, the Conservatives would "go over the heads of Parliament, go over the head of the Governor General" to get their way.
It was never entirely clear what he meant by that, other than perhaps hoping that bombast and time would help make the problem go away.
But once again it feels like the Conservatives are playing fast and loose with the conventions of an institution that should be above these kind of games.
In the process they are also ignoring that old limerick from the British Parliament at Westminster: "To lie in the nude isn't terribly rude, but to lie in the House is obscene!" What's more, it is an obscenity, I am sure, that will send those polls sliding out of majority territory.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Two-thirds of Canadians fear Prime Minister Stephen Harper will "compromise" by giving up too much power over immigration, privacy and security to get a deal with the United States on border controls, a new poll has found.
OTTAWA — Two-thirds of Canadians fear Prime Minister Stephen Harper will "compromise" by giving up too much power over immigration, privacy and security to get a deal with the United States on border controls, a new poll has found.
The national survey, conducted exclusively for Postmedia News and Global Television, also finds Canadians are split over whether they "trust" Harper to craft a deal that maintains this country's independence.
Moreover, the poll by Ipsos Reid reveals Canadians want Harper to adopt a much more transparent approach to the "perimeter security" negotiations which are being held in total secrecy.
An overwhelming 91 per cent of Canadians say the negotiations should take place in public so that they can see what is on the table.
The online poll was conducted Feb. 15-17 — nearly two weeks after Harper travelled to Washington to announce with U.S. President Barack Obama that negotiations were being launched for a potentially historic and wide-ranging agreement.
Under the proposal, Canada and the U.S. would adopt common border-security controls that could lead to joint government facilities, sophisticated tracking of travellers, better cyber-security protection and improved oversight of overseas cargo shipped to both countries.
In exchange for greater co-operation and increased U.S. influence over security, the two governments hope to ease the flow of cross-border traffic and boost Canada-U.S. trade.
Critics have accused the Conservative government of negotiating the deal under a shroud of secrecy and contend that Harper is poised to give up too much at the bargaining table.
Ipsos Reid senior vice-president John Wright said Friday the new poll sheds light on the political dynamics that lie ahead.
Wright said he's not surprised at the level of public anxiety: Canadians were worried initially about a proposed free-trade deal proposed by Brian Mulroney, but then gave him a majority mandate in 1988 to implement the agreement.
"I think that when anything crosses the border with the prospect of integration, many Canadians are at the beginning very wary of it," said Wright.
The poll found that 68 per cent of Canadians believe Canada "will compromise too much power over decisions about immigration, privacy and security to get a perimeter security agreement." Thirty-two per cent disagreed.
Wright said the findings about the degree of trust Canadians give the prime minister aren't as troubling for the government as some might think.
The pollster asked Canadians if they "trust Stephen Harper to negotiate a deal that improves border access but doesn't give up powers that are important to Canada maintaining its own independence." Forty-nine per cent trust him, while 51 per cent don't.
Wright said the distrust is most prominent in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, which drags down the national figures. Trust for him is more pronounced in some of the western provinces, particularly Alberta.
"He still gets half the public trusting him. For any political observer, half the public trusting this prime minister is quite a victory."
Wright said that if the security-perimeter deal becomes an election issue, it's clear the opposition parties will attempt to "stoke fears" and capitalize on the public's thirst for more transparency.
"So what do you have to do as a government? You recognize that there is going to be anxiety around this and that the opposition is going to attack you. So you come out with a communications strategy that gets enough information out so that people are satisfied you are going to do the right thing."
In announcing the negotiations earlier this month, Harper and Obama released a generally-worded declaration of intent.
They want both countries to develop programs to better verify the identities of travellers, through common standards for the use of biometrics and through sharing information on travellers in real time.
The plan also envisions far greater co-operation between the military, police forces and intelligences services of both nations.
One of the proposals being negotiated is an "entry-exit" system to track cross-border traffic. Under this system, it is possible that when a Canadian enters the U.S., the Canadian government would be informed of the movement across the border.
The poll found that 63 per cent believe the proposal is "an acceptable measure to enhance border security," while 37 per cent disagreed.
For its survey, Ipsos Reid sampled 1,097 adults from its online panel. The margin of error is three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The national survey, conducted exclusively for Postmedia News and Global Television, also finds Canadians are split over whether they "trust" Harper to craft a deal that maintains this country's independence.
Moreover, the poll by Ipsos Reid reveals Canadians want Harper to adopt a much more transparent approach to the "perimeter security" negotiations which are being held in total secrecy.
An overwhelming 91 per cent of Canadians say the negotiations should take place in public so that they can see what is on the table.
The online poll was conducted Feb. 15-17 — nearly two weeks after Harper travelled to Washington to announce with U.S. President Barack Obama that negotiations were being launched for a potentially historic and wide-ranging agreement.
Under the proposal, Canada and the U.S. would adopt common border-security controls that could lead to joint government facilities, sophisticated tracking of travellers, better cyber-security protection and improved oversight of overseas cargo shipped to both countries.
In exchange for greater co-operation and increased U.S. influence over security, the two governments hope to ease the flow of cross-border traffic and boost Canada-U.S. trade.
Critics have accused the Conservative government of negotiating the deal under a shroud of secrecy and contend that Harper is poised to give up too much at the bargaining table.
Ipsos Reid senior vice-president John Wright said Friday the new poll sheds light on the political dynamics that lie ahead.
Wright said he's not surprised at the level of public anxiety: Canadians were worried initially about a proposed free-trade deal proposed by Brian Mulroney, but then gave him a majority mandate in 1988 to implement the agreement.
"I think that when anything crosses the border with the prospect of integration, many Canadians are at the beginning very wary of it," said Wright.
The poll found that 68 per cent of Canadians believe Canada "will compromise too much power over decisions about immigration, privacy and security to get a perimeter security agreement." Thirty-two per cent disagreed.
Wright said the findings about the degree of trust Canadians give the prime minister aren't as troubling for the government as some might think.
The pollster asked Canadians if they "trust Stephen Harper to negotiate a deal that improves border access but doesn't give up powers that are important to Canada maintaining its own independence." Forty-nine per cent trust him, while 51 per cent don't.
Wright said the distrust is most prominent in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, which drags down the national figures. Trust for him is more pronounced in some of the western provinces, particularly Alberta.
"He still gets half the public trusting him. For any political observer, half the public trusting this prime minister is quite a victory."
Wright said that if the security-perimeter deal becomes an election issue, it's clear the opposition parties will attempt to "stoke fears" and capitalize on the public's thirst for more transparency.
"So what do you have to do as a government? You recognize that there is going to be anxiety around this and that the opposition is going to attack you. So you come out with a communications strategy that gets enough information out so that people are satisfied you are going to do the right thing."
In announcing the negotiations earlier this month, Harper and Obama released a generally-worded declaration of intent.
They want both countries to develop programs to better verify the identities of travellers, through common standards for the use of biometrics and through sharing information on travellers in real time.
The plan also envisions far greater co-operation between the military, police forces and intelligences services of both nations.
One of the proposals being negotiated is an "entry-exit" system to track cross-border traffic. Under this system, it is possible that when a Canadian enters the U.S., the Canadian government would be informed of the movement across the border.
The poll found that 63 per cent believe the proposal is "an acceptable measure to enhance border security," while 37 per cent disagreed.
For its survey, Ipsos Reid sampled 1,097 adults from its online panel. The margin of error is three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Bev" Oda, Wikipedia info.
Beverley Joan "Bev" Oda, PC, MP (born July 27, 1944 in Thunder Bay, Ontario)[1] is a Canadian politician. She is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, as well as the first Japanese-Canadian MP and Cabinet Minister in Canadian history. She represents the riding of Durham for the Conservative Party of Canada. She was appointed Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women on February 6, 2006. On August 14, 2007, she was appointed to a new portfolio:Minister for International Cooperation.
Contents[hide] |
[edit]Background
Oda, a sansei, was born in Thunder Bay. Her mother was interned at Bay Farm in 1942 and her father went to southwestern Ontario to work on a sugar beet farm. He moved to Fort William to do millwork where he met his wife.[2]
Oda has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto.[3] She began her broadcasting career at TV Ontario in 1973, and later worked for Citytv and the Global Television Network. Oda was an Ontario Film Review Board Member in 1986-87, and a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Commissioner from 1987 to 1993. She became the Chair of FUND (now The Harold Greenberg Fund) in 1994. From 1995 to 1999, she was a Senior Vice-President of CTV and Baton Broadcasting. She was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame in November 2003, and was awarded The Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of work in broadcasting. She has also worked as a policy adviser to three Secretaries of State.
[edit]Politics
Oda was for many years a volunteer with the Progressive Conservative Party. She ran as a Conservative in Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge in the 2004 federal election, and won a narrow victory over Liberal Tim Lang.
Following her election, Oda was named as the Conservative Party critic for the Ministry of Heritage. She has recently argued in favour of allowing more Canadian and foreign programming options in the country.
On November 15, 2004, she reintroduced Bill C-333, the Chinese Canadian Recognition and Redress Act, which calls on parliament to recognize the contribution of Chinese immigrants to Canada, and acknowledge the unjust past treatments of Chinese Canadians as a result of racist legislation. Oda is not herself Chinese, but is Canada's first parliamentarian of Japanese heritage.
In the 2006 election, she successfully defended her seat in Durham with 47% of the vote in the riding, despite controversy over campaign funding by US copyright proponents.[4] On February 6, 2006, Oda was sworn in as Heritage Minister in the cabinet of the newly elected Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She is the first Japanese-Canadian cabinet minister in Canadian history.
Oda was re-elected by a significant margin in the 2008 federal election.
[edit]2006 fundraising controversy
In November 2006, Oda planned on holding a fundraising dinner for broadcasting executives, just weeks before a major review of broadcasting rules. The event was cancelled, but a number of donations were still made.[5]
[edit]2006/2008 limo controversy
In 2006, Oda paid back $2,200 to taxpayers after the Liberals found that she had incurred nearly $5,500 in limo rides at the 2006 Juno awards in Halifax.[6] In 2008, she was accused of hiding over $17,000 dollars of limo expenses billed to tax payers.[6]
[edit]2011 CIDA memo controversy
In February 2011, Bev Oda admitted to doctoring an already signed CIDA memo in 2009 that resulted in a funding recommendation for KAIROS being ignored.[7] The memo was altered by the addition of 'not' into the recommendation line of the document.[8] For more than a year, Oda had represented this change as an action taken by CIDA staff, when in fact it was a political decision made at her direction. KAIROS is a faith-based human rights organization, and has been attacked by Conservatives for an allegedly anti-Israel stance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[7]
Opposition MPs in the House Foreign Affairs committee have initiated proceedings which could lead to a contempt of parliament finding against Oda; this would be the first time in Canadian history that a sitting cabinet minister would be found in contempt. Prime Minister Harper has continued to support Oda.[9]
[edit]References
- Geist, Michael. "The Sad Reality of Copyright Policy in Canada". Retrieved 2006-02-07.
[edit]Footnotes
- ^ Parliament of Canada: ODA, The Hon. Beverley J. (Bev), P.C., B.A.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Conservative Party of Canada Website
- ^ Michael Geist: The Sad Reality of Copyright Policy in Canada
- ^ Curry, Bill (2007-05-04). "Oda faces heat over aborted fundraising event". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on May 07, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
- ^ a b NDP says Conservative MP hid limo expenses, May 8th 2008, ctv news
- ^ a b Bill Curry; Gloria Galloway (14 February 2011). "Accusations against Oda tied up in a ‘not’". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
- ^ "Amended CIDA document". Retrieved 14 February 2011.
- ^ Clark, Campbell (Feb. 15, 2011). "Amid cries of contempt, Harper backs Bev Oda". The Globe and Mail (Ottawa). Retrieved 16 February 2011.
[edit]
Thursday, February 17, 2011
48 hours to save Canadian journalism Sign the petitionTo the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission:
48 hours to save Canadian journalismSign the petitionTo the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission:
As concerned Canadians who value journalistic integrity, we urge the CRTC to protect, not weaken, Canada's standards for journalism by refusing to change the "fair and balanced" rule for news networks and distributors. Open and honest media is vital to our democracy. We urge you to keep Canada's news honest.
SendAvaaz.org will protect your privacy and keep you posted about this and similar campaigns. 70,00067,45967,459 have signed the petition! Help us get to 70,000
In 48 hours, public protections against false news coverage could be destroyed. The CRTC may pass a huge loophole to the “fair and balanced” rule that currently prevents media from outright lying to the public.
Canada's broadcast journalism standards are an impediment to the new "Fox News North" (Sun TV) network being set up by Prime Minister Harper's cronies, which promises to mimic Fox News -- the poisonous US propaganda network. The CRTC rule change, which allows false news to be blasted across Canadian airwaves, comes just as SunTV is about to launch. We can stop this -- last year, we prevented Harper cronies from pressing the CRTC to fund "Fox News North" with public money. Now, we have just two days to raise another national outcry to save the standards of Canadian journalism, and our democracy. Sign the petition, and then tell everyone about this campaign:
As concerned Canadians who value journalistic integrity, we urge the CRTC to protect, not weaken, Canada's standards for journalism by refusing to change the "fair and balanced" rule for news networks and distributors. Open and honest media is vital to our democracy. We urge you to keep Canada's news honest.
SendAvaaz.org will protect your privacy and keep you posted about this and similar campaigns. 70,00067,45967,459 have signed the petition! Help us get to 70,000
In 48 hours, public protections against false news coverage could be destroyed. The CRTC may pass a huge loophole to the “fair and balanced” rule that currently prevents media from outright lying to the public.
Canada's broadcast journalism standards are an impediment to the new "Fox News North" (Sun TV) network being set up by Prime Minister Harper's cronies, which promises to mimic Fox News -- the poisonous US propaganda network. The CRTC rule change, which allows false news to be blasted across Canadian airwaves, comes just as SunTV is about to launch. We can stop this -- last year, we prevented Harper cronies from pressing the CRTC to fund "Fox News North" with public money. Now, we have just two days to raise another national outcry to save the standards of Canadian journalism, and our democracy. Sign the petition, and then tell everyone about this campaign:
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Ottawa will appeal a Federal Court ruling on Feb. 4 striking down cabinet's 2009 decision allowing Globalive to launch its Wind Mobile wireless brand, Industry Minister Tony Clement
Ottawa will appeal a Federal Court ruling on Feb. 4 striking down cabinet's 2009 decision allowing Globalive to launch its Wind Mobile wireless brand, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Tuesday.
Clement said Globalive — majority-funded by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris's Orascom empire — does qualify as a Canadian company under the Telecommunications Act, and the government wants to foster consumer choice and competition.
The federal broadcast regulator originally found Globalive was in breach of Canada's limits on foreign ownership.
The CRTC based its decision on Globalive's complicated ownership structure.
But the federal cabinet overruled that decision in December 2009, allowing the company to launch Wind Mobile the same month.
On Feb. 4, Justice Roger Hughes found Ottawa's move was based on "errors of law," and ruled it null and void.
He also ordered a 45-day stay in the ruling, giving the company time to appeal and continue to operate in the interim.
Journalists asked Clement on Tuesday why the government doesn't change the law, instead of challenging a regulatory ruling and a court interpretation of existing legislation.
He said Ottawa has not rejected the idea of opening the entire industry up to foreign investment, but added the government wasn't yet ready to outline its plans on relaxing or lifting foreign ownership limits for the industry.
Clement announced consultations on foreign ownership in May, outlining three options:
•Removing all restrictions.
•Increasing the limit of foreign investment from the current 20 to 49 per cent.
•Lifting restrictions for carriers with less than 10 per cent market share.
"It's yet another big win for Canadian consumers and obviously we're very pleased to see our government stand behind Canadian consumers," said Anthony Lacavera, chairman of Globalive.
"It obviously brings certainty to our operation. We are still assessing what action, if any, Globalive will take. We're not clear on that. This is a very unusual situation, obviously."
Wind has 250,000 customers.
"It [the appeal] was the right thing to do," Iain Grant, head of Montreal-based SeaBoard Group, a research and consulting firm, told CBC News.
Clement "couldn't let Globalive, who invested more than a billion dollars in the Canadian marketplace, based on the undertakings he gave them, he couldn't let them languish with uncertainly."
"Business loves certainty and there's nothing more uncertain than to be told that you have to shut down in 45 days," he said.
Legislative changes could take some time, Grant said, being "tough to stickhandle" as a minority government.
But NDP critic Brian Masse blamed the government for creating a situation where the issue of foreign ownership may take years to resolve as appeals stretch all the way to the Supreme Court. The legal limbo makes it less likely that competition will flourish in Canada, and that consumers will benefit through enhanced service and lower costs, he said.
"There's was no good solution after the minister overturned [the CRTC]," he said.
"What's going to happen now is there's going to be a cloud over this industry and all the competitors until the situation reaches another legal hurdle, and I'm not sure consumers are going to benefit at all."
Government responds to suggestions of interference
The government, in a release accompanying its announcement Tuesday, also responded to suggestions it has recently begun interfering with CRTC rulings.
The release said that since 2006, the cabinet has reviewed 13 of the 2,200 decisions issued by the broadcast regulator.
"Of those, the government has upheld seven decisions, varied three and referred three back to the CRTC for reconsideration," it said.
A former chair of the CRTC on Monday criticized the government for demanding a reversal of another decision —on usage-based internet billing — by the regulator.
Francoise Bertrand told The Canadian Press she finds the Conservative government's rejection of the decision "disturbing."
'What it means for business is that there is no longer predictability in the system.'—Francoise Bertrand, former chair of CRTC
Bertrand, who under the Liberal government did not have a single decision overturned by cabinet, said that repeatedly questioning the decisions of the commission will only create confusion in the telecom and broadcasting industries, and potentially hamper investment.
"Now we have a minister, or I don't know who, who have not heard all the facts, all the elements, and decides arbitrarily that it's not a good decision and it should be the other way around," she said.
"What it means for business is that there is no longer predictability in the system. Right now there are rules, principles, policies, legislation and regulation, and businesses develop their business plans and they ... know what the parameters are, and they know how to calculate their risk."
Public Mobile says decision unfair
The Federal Court case was brought by Wind competitor Public Mobile, which argued the cabinet's decision was unfair to other wireless carriers, such as Public Mobile, that secured substantial Canadian investment to qualify for the government's wireless auction.
Though initially an Egyptian company, Orascom itself has seen a shift in the nationality of its ownership.
Last October, Russia's second-largest wireless provider, VimpelCom Ltd., and Weather Investments, majority owner of Orascom, announced a merger that would see the combined company become the world's fifth-largest mobile telecommunication service provider.
Weather, the investment company headed by Sawiris, owns 51.7 per cent of Orascom and all of Italy's Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, both of which are headed by Sawiris.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/15/clement-globalive-appeal.html#socialcomments#ixzz1E6HO81mW
Clement said Globalive — majority-funded by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris's Orascom empire — does qualify as a Canadian company under the Telecommunications Act, and the government wants to foster consumer choice and competition.
The federal broadcast regulator originally found Globalive was in breach of Canada's limits on foreign ownership.
The CRTC based its decision on Globalive's complicated ownership structure.
But the federal cabinet overruled that decision in December 2009, allowing the company to launch Wind Mobile the same month.
On Feb. 4, Justice Roger Hughes found Ottawa's move was based on "errors of law," and ruled it null and void.
He also ordered a 45-day stay in the ruling, giving the company time to appeal and continue to operate in the interim.
Journalists asked Clement on Tuesday why the government doesn't change the law, instead of challenging a regulatory ruling and a court interpretation of existing legislation.
He said Ottawa has not rejected the idea of opening the entire industry up to foreign investment, but added the government wasn't yet ready to outline its plans on relaxing or lifting foreign ownership limits for the industry.
Clement announced consultations on foreign ownership in May, outlining three options:
•Removing all restrictions.
•Increasing the limit of foreign investment from the current 20 to 49 per cent.
•Lifting restrictions for carriers with less than 10 per cent market share.
"It's yet another big win for Canadian consumers and obviously we're very pleased to see our government stand behind Canadian consumers," said Anthony Lacavera, chairman of Globalive.
"It obviously brings certainty to our operation. We are still assessing what action, if any, Globalive will take. We're not clear on that. This is a very unusual situation, obviously."
Wind has 250,000 customers.
"It [the appeal] was the right thing to do," Iain Grant, head of Montreal-based SeaBoard Group, a research and consulting firm, told CBC News.
Clement "couldn't let Globalive, who invested more than a billion dollars in the Canadian marketplace, based on the undertakings he gave them, he couldn't let them languish with uncertainly."
"Business loves certainty and there's nothing more uncertain than to be told that you have to shut down in 45 days," he said.
Legislative changes could take some time, Grant said, being "tough to stickhandle" as a minority government.
But NDP critic Brian Masse blamed the government for creating a situation where the issue of foreign ownership may take years to resolve as appeals stretch all the way to the Supreme Court. The legal limbo makes it less likely that competition will flourish in Canada, and that consumers will benefit through enhanced service and lower costs, he said.
"There's was no good solution after the minister overturned [the CRTC]," he said.
"What's going to happen now is there's going to be a cloud over this industry and all the competitors until the situation reaches another legal hurdle, and I'm not sure consumers are going to benefit at all."
Government responds to suggestions of interference
The government, in a release accompanying its announcement Tuesday, also responded to suggestions it has recently begun interfering with CRTC rulings.
The release said that since 2006, the cabinet has reviewed 13 of the 2,200 decisions issued by the broadcast regulator.
"Of those, the government has upheld seven decisions, varied three and referred three back to the CRTC for reconsideration," it said.
A former chair of the CRTC on Monday criticized the government for demanding a reversal of another decision —on usage-based internet billing — by the regulator.
Francoise Bertrand told The Canadian Press she finds the Conservative government's rejection of the decision "disturbing."
'What it means for business is that there is no longer predictability in the system.'—Francoise Bertrand, former chair of CRTC
Bertrand, who under the Liberal government did not have a single decision overturned by cabinet, said that repeatedly questioning the decisions of the commission will only create confusion in the telecom and broadcasting industries, and potentially hamper investment.
"Now we have a minister, or I don't know who, who have not heard all the facts, all the elements, and decides arbitrarily that it's not a good decision and it should be the other way around," she said.
"What it means for business is that there is no longer predictability in the system. Right now there are rules, principles, policies, legislation and regulation, and businesses develop their business plans and they ... know what the parameters are, and they know how to calculate their risk."
Public Mobile says decision unfair
The Federal Court case was brought by Wind competitor Public Mobile, which argued the cabinet's decision was unfair to other wireless carriers, such as Public Mobile, that secured substantial Canadian investment to qualify for the government's wireless auction.
Though initially an Egyptian company, Orascom itself has seen a shift in the nationality of its ownership.
Last October, Russia's second-largest wireless provider, VimpelCom Ltd., and Weather Investments, majority owner of Orascom, announced a merger that would see the combined company become the world's fifth-largest mobile telecommunication service provider.
Weather, the investment company headed by Sawiris, owns 51.7 per cent of Orascom and all of Italy's Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, both of which are headed by Sawiris.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/15/clement-globalive-appeal.html#socialcomments#ixzz1E6HO81mW
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