Every weekend we round up the highlights from the other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. Check them out, after the jump.
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All stories relating to Ottawa
Tim Hudak spent his life climbing the Tory ladder and now he has a shot at taking over Queen’s Park—but can he convince voters he’s more than just Mike Harris lite?
Tim Hudak is riding in the back of an RV, a big, bouncy RV wrapped in an enormous picture of his smiling face, and he’s coming to see you. He’s really happy. So happy that he’s tweeting about it on his BlackBerry. “Outstanding,” he types, and, “On my way…” Now he’s peering out the front window, over the driver’s shoulder, toward one of the event venues where he’s going to meet you. “Shit, has this thing started?” He doesn’t want to be late. He wants to look you in the eyes and tell you what he thinks, and he wants to listen to you, too. The whole big meet-and-greet ball of wax: he loves it. This is who he is. “It gets in your blood, right?” he asks. Although that’s not actually a question. Putting “right?” at the end of certain things he says is just Tim Hudak’s way. “You are who you are, right?” he says. “I’m Tim Hudak.”
Weekend Reading List: top stories from our sister sites, from designer glam to Italian ham
Every weekend we round up the highlights from the other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. Check them out, after the jump.
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Weekend Reading List: Top stories from our sister sites, including how to achieve that rustic look and Neil Young’s new book
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Every weekend we round up the highlights from the other websites in the St. Joseph Media family (that’s the company that owns us, by the by). Check them out, after the jump.
Weekly Reading List: top stories from our sister sites, including centrepieces and budget squeezes
Every weekend we round up the highlights from the other websites in the St. Joseph Media family (that’s the company that owns us, by the by). Check them out, after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
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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Looks like Rob Ford was wrong: Ottawa says it doesn’t need a pile of provincial cash to help with Sheppard after all
The Sheppard subway extension may just get the funds it needs (Image: gloom)
Okay, this is just weird. Today the Toronto Star is reporting that Ottawa is willing to provide $330 million for the Sheppard subway extension even if the province fails to kick in the full $650 million the mayor’s office had insisted was a condition of securing federal funding for the project. It turns out that since the Sheppard LRT no longer exists, Ottawa is willing to be more flexible with its transit cash. Just yesterday, we accused them of being too inflexible, and we’re more than happy to be proven wrong in this case (although we have to admit we’re more than a little surprised).
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Why doesn’t Rob Ford hit up his Conservative pals in Ottawa for the Sheppard subway cash?
The mayor has a big problem: the Sheppard subway extension that he’s promised to build increasingly appears to make no financial sense, and neither the private nor the public sector seems prepared to pay for it. Yesterday, Rob Ford appealed to Dalton McGuinty to open the provincial purse, but the premier all but said no, which prompted Toronto Star columnist Martin Regg Cohn to ask why Ford doesn’t go ask Stephen Harper for the funds (seeing as how they’re chummy fishing buddies and all).
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Will Melanie Aitken, the Competition Bureau’s feisty and fearless chief, ax the Maple Group’s bid for the Toronto Stock Exchange?
The Toronto Stock Exchange (Image: Serdar Gurbuz Photography)
Recently, the Competition Bureau—that part of the Canadian government designed to protect consumers from anti-competitive corporate behaviour—has started to make something of a splash, from picking fights with the country’s real estate industry over its listings practices to levying a $10-million penalty against Bell Canada for charging higher prices than its advertised rates. And it turns out the reason behind the newfound spirit of vigilance is simple: the bureau hired Melanie Aitken, whom the Toronto Star dubbed “a new champion in the form of a courtroom litigator” and who colleagues call a “force of nature.” She hasn’t wasted time using her powers—beefed up in 2009—and apparently the next issue she’s going to tackle could be the bank-led Maple Group’s $3.8-billion offer for the Toronto Stock Exchange.
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Dalton McGuinty tries another new election tactic: run against Rob Ford
Yesterday, we shook our heads at the provincial Liberals’ seemingly wrong-headed campaign strategy of attempting to win the upcoming election by running against the Stephen Harper government in Ottawa. Today, we’re shaking our heads even harder at the second prong of Dalton McGuinty’s run-against-Conservatives-at-other-levels-of-government approach to staying in office: campaigning against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
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Dalton McGuinty tries a new election tactic: run against Ottawa, remind everyone of the federal Liberal shellacking
We’re not quite sure yet if this is destined for the Election Strategy Hall of Fame (headquarters to be decided): Dalton McGuinty, who’d like to retain his current job for the next four years, has tried a number of campaign strategies to convince Ontarians not to vote for the Tim Hudak Conservatives. But after crying “abortion” fell a little flat, McGuinty opened another front: this time, campaigning against Ottawa.
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NAFTA challenges, energy board rulings and the sell-off of AECL: is Ontario’s energy plan unravelling?
T. Boone Pickens is launching a NAFTA challenge to Ontario’s Green Energy Act (Image: Center for American Progress Action Fund)
One of George Smitherman’s crowning achievements in provincial politics was the establishment of the Green Energy Act, a cornerstone in the Liberal government’s attempt to reshape (and, to a large extent, rebuild) Ontario’s electricity sector after the difficulties that plagued the Mike Harris and Ernie Eves years. But a few different speed bumps have appeared on the road to a green economy. First of all, Smitherman’s act has increasingly become a target for conservatives like Tim Hudak. Then, this week, Toronto Hydro’s conservation plans got scuppered by the Ontario Energy Board. Now, a Texan oil billionaire is suing the government—but not for the reasons you think.
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Jack Layton accomplished the impossible (with a little help from the anti-Iggy movement)—now what?
(Image: Daniel Ehrenworth)
I should start by telling you that you’re my MP.
That makes you my boss.
Great—so you have to answer all of my questions.
I’ll do my best.
This is the moment you’ve been waiting for—a chance to show that the NDP is a viable alternative as a governing party. How do you make sure you don’t blow it?
We’ve been around for 50 years in the House of Commons and in public life—from our earliest days with the contribution of Medicare and our work around the CPP. We’ve shown we’re able to add to good legislation and governance.
