Your PMO at work

In today's Star, you can read how the Prime Minister's Office  has been keeping busy, in part, during prorogation --  making statements or sending out emails that attempt to smear various people who get in the way of the government. In this case, it's TD Bank CEO Ed Clark. (** Point of clarification -- the email officially came from the Conservative Party, but it found its way to us, and a few others, from the PMO.**)

There is a quaint old notion that the Prime Minister's Office is supposed to govern for all Canadians, not just friends or mouthpieces for the partisan line. But now we have Conservative attack lines being sent out by the Prime Minister's communications team. Yesterday, for instance, Dimitri Soudas sent out an email blaming the NDP's Libby Davies for a protest that dogged the PM in Vancouver -- the email was a strange mix of attempted reportage and drive-by smear. Here it is, in its entirety (unedited, as well):

 

- Inside the chinese cultural centre are 250 chinese canadians who have gathered for a dress rehearsal of their chinese new year parade.

- At approx 125pm, about 200 protestors descended on the cultural centre and swarmed the building, will bullhorns, plackards and masking tape.

- They proceeded to block access to and from the chinese cultural centre, then began taping all the doors shut 
- Another 50-75 protestors arrived and began chanting and cursing. Protestors totalling close to 300. 
- Of the 250 chinese canadians, 50 are uniformed veterans, 50 are young children who have come to showcase their culture to the pm and media

in the horrible event of fire of emergency, all those goodwilled people would be prevented from exit

Is libby davie proud of this?

*** Update: I missed this last night, but here's Soudas and Davies, head-to-head on CBC's Power and Politics. http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/02/in-the-ring-pmo-vs-ndp.html  ****

Soudas has also been put forward in recent weeks to explain the prorogation of Parliament and why the government isn't going to go along with a Supreme Court of Canada ruling on Omar Khadr. Those are official, PMO functions, requiring some dignified detachment from partisanship -- his salary is paid by all Canadians, not Conservatives.  

 Yet Soudas has  also been busy  casting aspersions on  people who've appeared at the Liberal roundtables the past few weeks and, let's not forget, he's also the person who twice made himself infamous on the international stage last year with misguided attacks on Harper's perceived opponents.  For those who have forgotten, see here and here. Should the Canadian taxpayers be financing these duties, or the Conservative Party of Canada?  You be the judge. 

Off season?

Political news seems to be banned for the next few weeks in deference to the Olympics.  Even that old standby, CTV's Question Period, is headed off the air until early March, we learned yesterday, and there's a general sense in Ottawa that the city will effectively shut down, politically, anyway, until March.

This morning, I went looking  for what kind of political news was happening the last time the Olympics were held in Canada -- in Calgary, in 1988, from Feb. 13-28.  Though I was here in Ottawa then (just arrived, actually, as a young reporter), I couldn't really recall if it was down-tools then too.

Here's what I found.

• Prime Minister Brian Mulroney introduced conflict-of-interest legislation in the House of Commons. 
•  Liberal opposition critics Herb Gray and Lloyd Axworthy went to Washington to talk about proposed  free trade.
• NDP MP Svend Robinson decided to publicly announce that he was gay (and several days later, his constituency-office windows were smashed.) 
• Conservative MP Andre Bissonnette was cleared of fraud charges in court and welcomed back into Mulroney's caucus.  
• A House of Commons committee wrapped up its inquiry into the election spending of cabinet minister Marcel Masse. 
• The federal government's spending estimates were tabled.
• A group of Conservative backbenchers proposed amendments to effectively gut the official-languages law in Canada.
• The federal Conservatives held a caucus meeting in Ottawa. 

I guess the conclusion must be that we were more capable then, 22 years ago,  of paying attention to politics and sports at the same time. Or maybe the next few weeks will be equally busy here... who knows?

Liberals' new executive director: update

Ian McKay's arrival as the new national director was confirmed today in a letter sent out to the party by president Alf Apps. See below. Note too that the job, last held by Rocco Rossi, has now effectively been split in two. McKay will be handling all the party organization and fundraising -- kind of important, given the Liberals' continuing challenges in that area compared to the Conservatives -- is a whole other task. It's said that the Liberals aren't looking strictly for a party person for that job; that they want someone with proven expertise at raking in donations. To be continued.... In the meantime, here's Apps' letter:

On behalf of our Leader Michael Ignatieff and the National Board of Directors, I am pleased to welcome Ian McKay to the position of National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada. This selection was confirmed by the Board earlier today.

Mr. McKay will officially begin his duties in early March 2010.

A consummate professional with extensive experience in the worlds of business and government, this British Columbian is a fresh face who brings the full range of management and political experience required not only to lead our outstanding team at the National Office, but also to assume responsibility for the management of day-to-day affairs in our Party from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

Ian's track-record in business coupled with his experience at the front lines of our Party as a volunteer, candidate, ministerial advisor, and Party officer, equip him to continue the modernization of our Party's communication and technological infrastructure and give him the tools to drive our membership engagement process.

For more information on our new National Director, please read his bio.

I wish to personally thank the many dedicated and able Liberals who took the time to submit an application through the open selection process conducted by the Party in connection with this vitally important position. The quality of the applicants was a testament to the depth and breadth of talent in our Party.

Moving forward, the National Board of Directors will now focus on filling the position of President of the National Liberal Fund.

We look forward to an equally fruitful process in the weeks to come.

Alfred Apps
President, Liberal Party of Canada

Unsuitable for framing

Premier Dalton McGuinty, caught with an unfortunate background as he celebrates a by-election win in Toronto this week. Somehow, I suspect we haven't seen the last of this picture.

Liberals' new national director

Ian McKay has just been named as the new national director of the federal Liberal party, replacing Rocco Rossi, who's stepped down to take a run for the Toronto mayor's job.

McKay is a B.C. Liberal -- he ran for the party in the 2000 election in the riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, losing to Conservative John Reynolds. He supported Gerard Kennedy in the 2006 Liberal leadership, and he's been the campaign manager for the Liberals in the riding of Quadra during three elections. He's also been a policy adviser to the provincial industry minister, Doug Leung. 

And that's about all I can tell you about Mr. McKay at present -- I'm sure there will be more to tell in days to come.

 *** Update *** For further information on Mr. McKay, I've put out a new post, with more up-to-date, correct information.

Animal farm

The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation has served as a farm team of sorts for the Conservatives through the years. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney once headed the organization, as did the Prime Minister's current head of communications, John Williamson.

But the federation has been distinctly unhappy with Harper's spending record of late and it has another kind of farm imagery on its mind. Here is its newly released video, which is billed as "light-hearted," even though I find it a bit scary (I think it's the glowing red eyes.)

And an update *** Alert readers have noticed that this ad has been "borrowed" from a California politician's attack ad and there have been some suggestions that the tactic backfired. ****

The PMO is everywhere

Now  we understand why the PMO needs all those communications people -- they're also doing the talking for organizations such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.  Have a look at the contact info at the bottom of this news release we just received here. (h/t to Laura Payton at Embassy for spotting first.)

** Update. A distinctly unamused PMO says the contact info was tagged on to the end of the press release by mistake, when they forwarded to the press gallery. So for heaven's sake don't call the PMO asking about Canadian municipalities. They've got enough to do, monitoring the web and looking for reasons to be aggrieved. **

Buy American Deal Gives Hope to Communities, says FCM

 

Ottawa, February 5, 2010 – The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) today applauded the Government of Canada for reaching an agreement in principle to exempt Canadian companies from “Buy American” trade restrictions.

 

“Canadian are fighting hard to recover from the recession, but they need to be on a level playing field with their neighbours south of the border,” said FCM President Basil Stewart, mayor of Summerside, P.E.I. “Today’s announcement gives them hope.”

 

“This deal is a powerful reminder that all three orders of government must work together for Canada to meet its economic challenges,” added Stewart. “This issue – and Canada’s own economic stimulus plan – show there is no substitute for federal, provincial/territorial and municipal collaboration. We must keep this partnership strong.”

 

Buy American became a national political priority when the Town of Halton Hills, Ont., grabbed international headlines with a resolution on the issue that it brought to FCM’s annual conference in Whistler, B.C., in June 2009. The resolution, supported by mayors and councils from across the country, called for action on both sides of the border. It exposed a policy that was hurting communities – and the economy – reeling from the global recession, and set the stage for a negotiated solution.

 

“Today isn’t just about a trade deal, it’s about people. It’s about protecting Canadian workers, families, businesses and communities,” said Halton Hills mayor Rick Bonnette. “Those folks are hurting from the downturn and they need to know that all governments are working together to create jobs and give their communities a fair chance to compete. The progress we’re seeing today is a product of that kind of cooperation.”

 

“As we move ahead, Canadians will need to know more about how exactly the agreement will impact cities and communities and how quickly it can be implemented,” said Stewart. “But as long as governments continue working together, in collaboration with businesses and communities, we’re hopeful this agreement-in-principle can lead to a concrete solution.”

 

 

 

Andrew MacDougall

Deputy Press Secretary / Attaché de presse adjoint
Office of the Prime Minister / Cabinet du Premier ministre

 

It's not about hockey

The gender divide may be re-emerging in the Conservative-Liberal battle, as noted in a story I have in today's Star. I find it intriguing the way in which the Conservatives have chosen to respond to the Liberals' big announcements this week on child care and abortion -- by trying to turn voters' attention to... hockey. There, on the front page of the National Post this morning, for instance, is a big picture of young Stephen in hockey gear, no doubt supplied by the PMO in their bid to "change the channel," as they say. In this case, I guess it's getting  Canadian voters  to turn off HGTV (what will we do with this empty House?) and turn on TSN.

On this same theme, there are a number of columns today that ask the question, directly or indirectly -- how stupid do the Conservatives think voters are? Susan Riley in the Citizen and Michael Harris in the Sun are two worth reading.

They raise an issue I didn't have room to include in today's article. It's about bullying -- a word that Harris mentions explicitly. Anita Neville told me that what's turning off women voters, perhaps more than anything, are  the  bullying reflexes of this federal government. There are just too many examples -- and shutting down Parliament, then doing the nyaa-nyaa, no-spring-breaks thing, tell a lot about the schoolyard mentality here. Voters aren't dumb. And women voters are hardly going to support the kind of people they tell their kids to avoid when they send them off to school each morning.

 Strategically, it also raises an interesting, further  question-- if you do think voters are so  apathetic  as to be distracted from federal politics by hockey or the Olympics, what makes you think they'll get off the couch to vote for you when the time comes?  

Harper vs. the onion ring

An odd new campaign began in the last 24 hours on Facebook. The challenge: to pit an onion ring against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and see who gets more fans. As I write this, the onion ring is a good deal behind the Prime Minister -- around 14,000 fans, compared to the nearly 30,000 fans of Harper.  

And what is the end game of this contest? I have no idea. Perhaps the gold ring has something to do with the Olympics. Or not.

Child care: Paul Martin and the record

Paul Martin called yesterday from London. On his flight over to the U.K., he'd been reading the newspapers, including The Star, with some frustration. In  reports about Michael Ignatieff's child-care announcement, he kept reading that this was a long-made, long-unfulfilled promise by successive Liberal regimes.

Martin pointed out  that he and Ken Dryden, his social development minister, invested a considerable amount of energy between 2004 and 2006 to get 10 agreements, with all provinces (including Quebec) for a cross-country, federal-provincial system of child care. The story is here.

We did chat about other issues too and yes, I did try to draw him out a bit on Ignatieff's other announcement of the week, in favour of foreign aid to organizations that support abortion. I'd kind of half-hoped, given all Martin's work in Africa since leaving politics, that he might have some views. But his instinct to stay out of the fray prevailed -- he said he wasn't discussing that one, on or off the record.