The Dhalla poll

Those who want to read more about the poll I wrote about it today can find it here: Download 2009.05.21_Dhalla

Democracy overhaul

In recent weeks, my colleague Jim Travers has been writing quite eloquently about the dearth of democracy here in Canada. And clearly it is an idea whose time has come -- the same theme runs through new books by Elizabeth May and Garth Turner. (All three were on CBC Radio's Sunday program last week. You can find the show's website, and ways to hear the broadcast, here.)

This appetite for reform isn't confined to Canada either. Yesterday, The Guardian Newspaper launched its own, ambitious effort in this direction, found  here.  The sheer breadth of topics addressed on this site shows that it's going to require concerted effort -- from politicians, public servants, lobbyists, and yes, even and especially we in the media, to really fix this beast called politics.

Ads: The view from afar

Janalee Cherneski is a Rhodes scholar, a Canadian studying at Oxford, who is taking the Conservative ads against Ignatieff a little personally. She's posted an essay here, at The Mark, a neat new website featuring essays by smart young (and some older) folks.

Her last three paragraphs  should be put on a billboard, in my view: 

Why, then, are our current leaders launching advertising campaigns to attack each other? Why would we even think about spending money to attack one of our citizens instead of to provide tools for the people of our country to learn and to communicate with each other?

We need people who can cooperate across their differences. We must empower leaders who foster community rather than conflict:, leaders who succeed for society through a politics of unity rather than succeed for themselves through a politics of division.

I am worried, Canada. I am partly worried for myself: when I come back to serve you with the knowledge and experience I have gained from afar, will you call me opportunistic and turn on me too? But I worry more for you: once you start rejecting the skills and knowledge of your own citizens where will that leave you, O[h] Canada?

 

Party crasher

Thanks to the magic of Twitter (which I still don't totally understand, sorry), I see that NDP leader Jack Layton has just arrived at Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's announcement re: credit cards. I'm keen to hear what he's doing there.

Update: And here's my answer, also brought to you through the magic of Twitter and some alert NDP staffers (thanks folks), who sent me this press release.  In short, Layton was there to tell Flaherty that the measures don't go far enough.

 

From .me to YouTube

A video of Michael Ignatieff, responding to the attack ads, has just landed on YouTube. Here's the link.

But if you need them to talk about Ignatieff...

Here is a transcript of a White House briefing this week on talks between President Barack Obama and Israeli  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. By my rough count, over 40 questions on the actual meeting and about 2,500 words worth of answers from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

And here -- see below --  is a  sorry excuse of a message, sent by email today to   the Parliamentary Press Gallery, to elaborate on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's talks with the Israeli Prime Minister.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu called Prime Minister Harper today to discuss Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington D.C., and in particular, the prospects for Middle East peace negotiations.  Leaders agreed to remain in close contact in the weeks ahead."

  Yes. That's it. You wonder why they bother, don't you?

True Patriot Love

"Remarkable"

"Bravura"

"Moses armed with a God Positioning System."

Excerpts from a new Macleans article. I think we have a fair idea of where Peter C. Newman (not Global's Kevin Newman, as some have curiously  assumed)  is headed with his plans to do a biography on Michael Ignatieff.

The mysterious fourth story

I confess, I'm intrigued about this whole  wrinkle at the  Oliphant inquiry yesterday, when  Mulroney explained how, in  2003, he tried to negotiate with The Globe and Mail on its plans to reveal that the former prime minister  had indeed taken money from Karl-Heinz Schreiber.

Apparently,  Mulroney dangled a fourth element before the Globe, offering some incendiary information which he now says was never published. (Note that the former PM was far more active, personally, in this negotiation than he was in his dealings with Revenue Canada. That discussion, resulting in a 50-per-cent cut in his taxes, was reportedly conducted anonymously, through his lawyer.)

The information Mulroney was offering didn't pan out, Globe editor Edward Greenspon  noted  yesterday.

“I told Mr. Mulroney that if the story he was offering was true and verifiable that it would be in his interest to tell it to me in any case and that we would pursue it. He did and we did. Unfortunately, it was not verifiable,”   Greenspon says in a letter to the commission counsel.

How unusual is it for politicos to offer journalists better stories in exchange for silence on more damaging ones?  Quite unusual, though I know that a former communications director for the current prime minister tried this at least once in the past few years. It's a bad policy/tactic and doesn't generally work. It's also a bit outrageous and desperate.

*** Update: Guy Pratte, Mr. Mulroney's lawyer, put on the record today that his client's interventions with The Globe were all done in the interest of his family.  

Nonetheless,  good for The Globe in resisting the attempt at manipulation, if that's what it was.

But what some of us will remember is the unusual way in which The Globe rolled out its three-part series in the fall of 2003.  The first story in the series was not about Mulroney taking the cash -- the pivotal fact in this whole inquiry. (Indeed, it's the pivotal fact  in this basic question: Why did the Canadian government give Mulroney $2-million-plus for a libel settlement in 1997?) 

 The Globe's series-opener was about journalist Stevie Cameron, Mulroney's nemesis, and whether she was a secret RCMP informant. Given Mulroney's continuing antagonism toward Cameron, oft-displayed while he's been on the stand these past two weeks, he at least must have been mollified back in 2003 that this was the way The Globe decided to   kick off its expose on the explosive details of the whole Mulroney-Schreiber business.  He didn't get his fourth story. But the first one must have made him happy.

 

*** Yet another update: Over here, at the Mulroney media room, the team isn't taking the Greenspon letter lying down, accusing The Globe of suppressing legitimate information. So clearly the story's not over.

Informed dissent

Normally, when a government or a political party has something to announce, it's carried out on the record, with much fanfare, flag backdrops and so on.  Then, when someone on the same team dissents, it usually comes off the record -- "a senior source,"  or a "well-placed person," etc.

The Conservative ads seem to be a current  exception to the rule. They were announced, notoriously, off the record by a couple of fellows from the PMO on temporary leave.

The ads are being criticized, however, on the record, by Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod.

Interesting.

Hi, Mr. Mulroney, it's Jean-Pierre from Revenue Canada calling, wondering when you're going to pay taxes on that cash in the envelope

Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn makes changes to the Agency’s call centres

 

Montréal, Quebec, May 19, 2009… The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture and Agri-Food), today announced changes to the way agents respond to enquiries received on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) tax and benefit enquiries lines. The new policy will allow taxpayers who call for information to find out the identity of the call agent on the phone. The policy will help reinforce the agents’ accountability while also ensuring greater consistency in the way they greet callers.

“The Government is committed to streamlining services and making the tax system more accessible and flexible to respond to the needs of Canadians,” stated Minister Blackburn. “Now, anyone calling a call centre will be greeted by an agent who provides his or her name, which means better service for taxpayers.”