We saw it coming, but perhaps not quite this soon: the story of the late Jack Layton will be the subject of a biopic broadcast on the CBC (where else?). Layton’s widow, Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow, has signed on with veteran filmmaker Laszlo Barna to produce the docudrama. Barna’s previous subjects include Roméo Dallaire (Shake Hands with the Devil), right-to-die activist Sue Rodriguez (At the End of the Day) and other figures with similarly strong emotional resonance for Canadians. He told the Toronto Star that Layton’s story was a perfect fit for him. “It was really kind of tragic,” he said. “He ended up elevating the NDP to where he wanted it to be but he couldn’t go into the promised land himself. That makes for great drama.” Chow, who said the rest of Layton’s family is also on board, admitted that “it’s difficult to relive my life with him so soon, but I figure it needs to be done so that the script writer can write the story properly.” Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
The discerning mediavore’s take on the news of the day, from city hall to Power Ball
Strange bedfellows? Stephen Harper chooses Toronto Star columnist Angelo Persichilli as his new PR chief
Angelo Persichilli (Image: Jason Ransom/PMO)
Ottawa has been abuzz this week with rumours surrounding who will replace Dimitri Soudas as Stephen Harper’s director of communications. Well, it turns out Soudas’s official replacement comes from the stranger-than-fiction category—the new whipping boy for frustrated reporters on Parliament Hill is none other than a Toronto Star columnist, one Angelo Persichilli.
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Sign of the apocalypse: several prominent Liberals are talking about merging with the NDP
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With the federal Liberals a mere shadow of their former selves in Parliament, the obvious question of what the Grits should do next occurs. Do they try and claw their way back to power, inch by inch? Or do they consider what would have once been unthinkable: a merger with the NDP? According to some pretty senior Liberals, the idea isn’t quite as crazy as it would have sounded only a few months ago.
David Miller’s name is being floated for the NDP’s top spot, but can anyone from Toronto win (again)?
(Image: Shaun Merritt)
With Jack Layton’s moving funeral now behind us, the new week has NDP candidates quietly leaking their intentions to run to the press. As expected, Brian Topp and Thomas Mulcair are widely being touted as front-runners, but some other names have started to crop up. Peggy Nash, MP for Parkdale–High Park, is being mentioned, as is Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina), who would obviously represent a continuation of the Layton legacy. A bit more off the beaten path is the suggestion—raised by Councillor Josh Matlow on his radio show yesterday and by others elsewhere—that ex-mayor David Miller could run for the NDP’s big chair. Off the top of our heads, we can see a few problems with this idea.
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That was quick: NDP leadership speculation begins as Brian Topp said to be giving it “serious consideration”
Thomas Mulcair and Brian Topp are unofficial frontrunners to replace Jack Layton as leader of the NDP
As Jack Layton’s casket made its way yesterday to Ottawa—where the former leader will lie in state before coming home to Toronto tonight to lie in state at city hall before his Saturday funeral—the new political reality is coming to the surface about as quickly as manners will allow. The NDP needs a new leader and—shocker—there’s already some jockeying going on.
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Jack Layton takes temporary leave as NDP leader. What’s next?
(Image: Matt Jiggins)
Yesterday Jack Layton announced that he was temporarily leaving his position as leader of the NDP to battle a new form of cancer, and the outpouring of well wishes that followed was a nice reminder that despite the acrimony among Canadian politicians, these are all humans capable of some moments of genuine kindness. Rob Ford released a statement hearkening back to his first term on council, when he learned Layton “has a fighting spirit and the will and determination to beat this.” Stephen Harper also released a statement offering his family’s heartfelt support to Layton’s.
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NDP convention endorses Layton, shelves “socialist” decision for now
Jack Layton presides over his party at the 2011 NDP convention (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani/NDP)
With Canada’s first majority government since 2004, Ottawa’s political parties now have the chance to focus on all sorts of things they’d have neglected if an election were just around the corner. For the Liberals, this means trying to dig out of the hole they’re in. For the Conservatives, it means re-affirming that everything is awesome. For the NDP, it means a convention full of deliberating on just how much of their lefty heritage they’re willing to dump in order to win power.
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Ottawa drops its “new” budget with few changes from March—only more deficit anxiety
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Image: Rocco Rossi)
The federal election may have changed Parliament’s political makeup, but it seems to have changed relatively little in the minds of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his boss, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The evidence? The budget bomb Flaherty dropped on Monday. The most recent budget is almost exactly the same as the one that brought down the government in March, except for one big difference: a serious focus on the deficit.
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Cabinet shuffle: Toronto gets a seat in Harper’s new government—and it’s not even a token
Joe Oliver is almost as happy to be in the Harper cabinet as Rocco Rossi is to wear his flashy new shirt (Image: Rocco Rossi)
Good news, Toronto: Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced his new cabinet this morning and, for the first time since 2006, the 416 proper will have an elected MP on the ruling government’s front benches (in fairness, it’s also the first time since 2006 that the city actually elected an MP who sat on the government side of the House). Joe Oliver, Member of Parliament for Eglinton-Lawrence, is the new minister of natural resources, and while it’s a bit of an odd fit—Toronto isn’t exactly known for mining or forestry—we’re willing to concede that point, since one cabinet member is probably better than none.
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Five things we learned about ourselves from the latest Wikileaks dump
Julian Assange and David Jacobson
Wikileaks totally still exists, and is still releasing cables received from U.S. diplomatic computers. Its latest document dump offers some juicy tidbits about Canada, released just in time to influence the election—though there’s almost nothing in there that actually will. Here are five things we learned about U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson’s deep thoughts.
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Alberta court shoots down national securities regulator, all eyes still on Ottawa
All eyes on Ottawa: the Supreme Court of Canada (Image: detsang)
The federal government Canadian government Harper regime Harper government’s effort to give Bay Street a single national regulator had a minor setback yesterday, as an Alberta court of appeal ruled that Ottawa cannot create a body to govern something that, according to the Constitution, falls under provincial jurisdiction. This isn’t decisive—the big test is before the Supreme Court, whose hearings are supposed to start next month—but the Supremes have said they’ll be paying close attention to what the provincial courts in Alberta and Quebec say.
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Why isn’t everyone celebrating Michael Ignatieff’s five-year anniversary the way they celebrated Harper’s? Oh, right
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As any Canadian with access to newspapers, TV or the Internet knows, Stephen Harper celebrated his fifth anniversary as prime minister a few weeks ago. But the 2006 election that brought him to power wasn’t just the end of Paul Martin’s government and the beginning of Harper’s—it was also the beginning of Michael Ignatieff’s formal political career. Five years ago this Sunday, Ignatieff and Harper took their seats in Canada’s 39th Parliament. The press went gaga over Harper’s wooden anniversary, while Ignatieff’s fifth is being noted nowhere that we can see—it’s the Google News equivalent of crickets and tumbleweeds.
Report: Tony Clement beats Stephen Harper on Twitter; most MPs are still pre-2002
Twitter awaits its time to shine on Parliament Hill (Image: scazon)
How do modern politics and social media mix? Not well, it seems. A new report by digital public affairs strategist and self-proclaimed “thought-leader” Mark Blevis looks at some of the main forms of social media and how they’re being used by politicians in Ottawa. The verdict isn’t great: few MPs have so much as a Twitter account, and most who do mainly use it to spam their followers with press releases. One exception to this rule is Tony Clement, something that won’t be a surprise to his legion of 10,638 followers.
Oops! Peter MacKay tells Arnold Schwarzenegger that California shares a border with Canada
Looks like we can’t make fun of the stereotype of the geography-challenged American. Defence Minister Peter MacKay was speaking with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Winnipeg about defence spending when he began extolling the close ties between the U.S. and Canada. So far, so good. Then things took a turn for the awkward when MacKay said, “California and British Columbia have a shared border.” (It’s at 1:25 in the video above.) In MacKay’s defence, we probably couldn’t name all the states that border Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but we’re pretty sure Nevada isn’t one of them, or else trips to Vegas would be cheaper.
• Schwarzenegger gives Peter MacKay geography lesson [CTV.ca]
• Peter MacKay’s embarrassing flub with the ‘Governator’ [Toronto Star]
Reaction roundup: what the country is saying about Stephen Harper’s fifth anniversary as prime minister
Sunday was big in Ottawa. January 23 marked five years ago to the day that Stephen Harper won his first election victory. His talk had all the hallmarks of a campaign stump speech, noting all the positive changes the Conservatives have made in Canada since 2006 and carefully omitting some of the more divisive history. Hey, it’s a party, right?
How are people taking this anniversary? We survey the country’s media to find out.
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