Jun 7 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — For a few hours, it had all the makings of a classic mid-June cross-aisle cliffhanger — a high-stakes standoff over the legislative package containing many of the big-ticket measures laid out in the latest budget. Accompanied by a full contingent of his front bench critics, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre hit the House of Commons Foyer […]
May 31 2023 — Marco Vigliotti — iPolitics — A new poll has the Conservatives narrowly ahead of the governing Liberals in voting intentions, with Pierre Poilievre and Justin Trudeau neck-and-neck in the choice for best prime minister. The online survey, designed by Earnscliffe Strategies and conducted by Leger, also asked respondents for their impressions of the four major party leaders, using questions based […]
May 30 2023 — Marco Vigliotti — iPolitics — Lobbyists can only give gifts to MPs, Senators and other public officials that are valued at $40 or lower, under new rules for the sector set to go into effect on July 1. The gift limit is one of several changes found in the updated Lobbyist Code of Conduct aimed at providing greater clarity to […]
May 30 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — To start with, the now-standard programming note: This week’s edition was originally going to feature the traditional post-May 24th hiatus rundown of the bills the Liberal government absolutely, positively needs to get through the House — and, in some cases, the Senate — before the legislative circuit shuts d
May 29 2023 — Teresa Wright — iPolitics — The Mission Cultural Fund program, which operated under Global Affairs Canada, aimed to support ‘cultural diplomacy’ activities to help advance Canada’s foreign policy priorities. Ottawa has quietly shuttered an arts and culture funding program that has drawn controversy for financing some provocative initiatives and was flagged by a federal evaluation over transparency concerns. The Mission […]
May 24 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — Those who, not unlike Process Nerd, tuned into yesterday’s press conference fully expecting to hear the prime minister’s handpicked “independent special rapporteur” David Johnston side with those calling for a full public inquiry into allegations of attempted political interference by China can take some comfort in knowing that, back when he first took up the […]
May 16 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — Before diving in, a quick behind-the-scenes programming note: Initially, Process Nerd had planned to take a closer look at just how the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs could investigate the prima facie breach of privilege brought forward by Conservative MP Michael Chong last week. After just a few minutes of pre-writing brainstorming, however, […]
May 9 2023 — Teresa Wright — iPolitics — The Liberal government’s omnibus budget bill is getting a rough ride from Conservative MPs who have been filibustering it at committee for over 20 hours and raising questions about why so many non-spending measures are included in the 430-page document. Bill C-47, the government’s budget implementation bill, includes proposed changes to over 50 laws. When […]
May 9 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — Before we get rolling, let the record show that, if Process Nerd had a vote, she would exercise it — emphatically and enthusiastically — to support New Democrat MP Daniel Blaikie’s backbench pitch to formalize the “confidence convention.” She would not, however, expect it to be a one-click workaround to the inherent instability of a […]
May 7 2023 — Stephen Maher — iPolitics — The emotional high point of the Liberal convention that concluded in Ottawa on Saturday was not the speech Thursday night from Justin Trudeau, or the question and answer session with Hilary Clinton and Chrystia Freeland on Friday, but Clinton’s opener — former prime minister Jean Chretien, who is in fine form at 89. As with […]
Apr 25 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — Barring a truly exceptional eleventh-hour delay — which, when it comes to parliamentary business, can never be entirely ruled out as a hypothetical possibility — the government’s years-long push to overhaul the broadcasting regime to cover online and streaming platforms is finally going to reach the legislative finish line this week. It will happen a […]
Apr 18 2023 — Marco Vigliotti — iPolitics — Leader Jagmeet Singh on Tuesday said he told the prime minister the NDP is a “workers’ party” and would never support legislative action curtailing the right to strike. The NDP won’t back the Trudeau Liberals if they introduce back-to-work legislation to end a prospective strike of more than 150,000 federal public servants, though it’s unclear […]
Mar 29 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — For starters, let’s drop the suspense and fast-forward to the seemingly inevitable finale: Barring not just one, but an intricate, interlaced sequence of unexpected events, there’s virtually no chance that the upcoming back-and-forth over Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s latest budget will end on a cliffhanger: namely, the minority Liberal government losing a confidence vote Such […]
Mar 22 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — Unless (or until) one of the key players spills the details in their eventual memoirs, we’ll probably never know just how close the Liberal-New Democrat supply-and-confidence pact came to collapsing on the floor of the House of Commons just one day shy of its first anniversary. We don’t even know for sure whether Prime Minister […]
Mar 14 2023 — Kady O'Malley — iPolitics — As of Tuesday morning, it hadn’t happened yet, but at some point over the next few days — possibly as early as this afternoon, but more likely later this week — members of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs will vote on whether to expand the witness list for their ongoing probe into […]