National Newswatch

Harper chief of staff resigns amid Senate expense scandal

Nigel Wright has resigned as Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, following revelations he wrote a $90,000 cheque to cover living expenses claimed by Senator Mike Duffy.

Ray Novak is Harper’s new chief of staff following Wright’s resignation

Global News has learned Ray Novak is the Prime Minister’s new chief of staff following Nigel Wright’s resignation.

Conservative MP says Nigel Wright wanted to ensure no taxpayer money ‘on the hook’

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said she’s “disappointed” over the ongoing Senate expenses scandal but stands firmly by her party, and the government is motivated by a “desire to make sure that we have accountability and transparency in the Senate.”

Job grant program advertised by Harper government doesn’t yet exist

The Harper government is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising a program that does not yet exist.

Survey says: Can’t trust those polls

British Columbia’s stunning election upset has turned on its head one of the strongest arguments pollsters have always used against banning or restricting public opinion surveys during campaigns.

Email is proof Senate green-lighted expenses, Brazeau says

Senator Patrick Brazeau says he will not pay back $48,000 in Senate expenses because he has evidence he was given the green light to claim the costs for his secondary residence in Ottawa.

U.K. seeks Chretien’s advice ahead of Scotland independence vote

With Scotland set to cast an historic vote for independence next year, campaigners battling to keep the country part of the United Kingdom sought advice from former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien, a man who knows a thing or two about fighting referendum campaigns.

UK Deputy Speaker under renewed pressure as ‘THIRD alleged victim claims he was sexually assaulted by Tory MP’

A third man has reportedly come forward with claims that he was sexually assaulted by the House of Commons Deputy Speaker.

B.C. NDP’s 24-hour bus ride goes beyond Hope and crashes on election night

Adrian Dix was inside the Hitching Post Restaurant drinking from a mug stamped with twin six-shooters while outside on the old mining town’s main street, with dusk starting to cover the mountaintops, his campaign workers were counting potential seats…

Rob Ford crack scandal: Mayor’s defender, his brother Doug, breaks silence

Councillor Doug Ford broke his uncharacteristic silence Saturday to comment on reports of a video that seems to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine.

Gawker raising money to buy alleged Ford ‘crack video’ from Rexdale drug dealers

They’re not raising money for impoverished children or a cure for cancer — it’s to own the rights to the infamous video of Toronto’s mayor said to be smoking crack.

Rob Ford: Will his latest trouble crack Ford Nation?

Two questions were likely chewed over at a lot of cottage-openings, urban farmers’ markets and fun-runs or cycle-a-thons this Victoria Day weekend.

Anglo-rights activists blast Quebec for new language bill

The Quebec government claims to be listening to the concerns of anglophones regarding a new language bill, but its actions don’t reflect its words, two prominent Montreal anglo-rights activists say.

Pamela Wallin forced out of Tory caucus over preliminary audit results

Prime Minister Stephen Harper forced Sen. Pamela Wallin out of the Conservative caucus after learning the preliminary findings of an audit looking into her travel expenses, a source has told CTV News.

Nothing ‘honourable’ about Nigel Wright, Mike Duffy deal

John Robson — If someone in the PMO paid off a big chunk of my mortgage, how much would you trust my coverage of politics? Now, what if they did it for a legislator? It’s wrong, totally wrong. And dangerous to our Constitution.

‘Skippy’ aka MP Pierre Poilievre has sunk to new low

Susan Sherring — Over the course of his short, less than stellar political career, Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre has said a number of silly and really foolish things. This past week, he took all of that to the extreme, attempting to put a positive spin on the drama that is now Mike Duffy’s…

Stephen Harper’s failure to address Senate scandal is hurting his party

Toronto Star — Just how long does Prime Minister Stephen Harper hope to float, butterflylike, above the Senate scandal that is ravaging his Conservative party’s credibility? Sen. Mike Duffy’s abrupt exit from the Tory caucus in the Red Chamber to sit as an…

Harper out of touch on climate change science and economic impacts

Kirsty Duncan, M.P. — Climate change is accelerating much more quickly than previously thought. Nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern weather record occurred since the year 2000. While global average temperature increased by 0.7°C over the past 100 years, Arctic temperatures….

Arrogant B.C. NDP did themselves in

John Robson — The B.C. NDP face plant was so bad they’ll be getting sympathy cards from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Almost the only consolation is they fell on the pollsters and pundits confident they’d win. So what went wrong?

Sore losers: Will B.C. environmental extremists ‘rise up’ again as they did in the 1990s?

Ezra Levant — B.C.’s NDP started the recent provincial election campaign with a 22-point lead in the polls, and ended 4% behind the Liberals. It was a surprise ending, and not every NDP activist is willing to accept defeat.

British Columbia voters serve pundits humble pie

Warren Kinsella — I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I predicted the British Columbia New Democrats would win that province’s election. They didn’t. In fact, the scandal and mishap-prone B.C. Liberals won it — and they won a majority, too. It was perhaps…

Is Wynne the real deal?

Lorrie Goldstein — Fixing McGuinty’s green energy disaster will Will Premier Kathleen Wynne have the political courage to admit the painfully obvious fact that Dalton McGuinty’s experiment with green energy has been an unmitigated disaster for Ontario?

Rob Ford crack scandal: Time for mayor to step down

Toronto Star — Enough is enough. It’s time for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to do the right thing for the city, and himself, and step down. All day Friday, while the city absorbed the news that drug dealers have been shopping a cellphone video that appears…