Sat 2/17/01 8:00 PM PROTESTS OVER ALLIED BOMBING NEAR BAGHDAD
Canada is defending it, Russia is condemning it, and France is demanding
some explanations over the U.S. and British bombing of Iraq.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/17/iraq_reax010217
Wed 2/14/01 7:00 PM CHRÉTIEN A RELUCTANT MESSENGER ON U.S. MISSILE DEFENCE
Prime Minister Chrétien has become the first world leader to talk about
the American plan for a missile defence shield with all of the major
players. cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/14/chretien-jian010214
11/Feb/2001 CHRéTIEN RAISES HUMAN RIGHTS WITH CHINA
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien began the first full day of Team Canada's
trade mission to China Sunday by broaching concern over human rights
violations, as well as media coverage of the issue.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/11/chretien_china010211
11/Feb/2001 PM'S FUTURE RAISED AT ONT. LIBERAL MEETING
Only a few months after Prime Minister Jean Chrétien increased his
majority in Parliament, some Liberals in Ontario are once again
questioning whether it's time for a new leader.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/10/ontliberals_010210
9/Feb/2001 Rough justice
The Canadian government should make clear to Saudi Arabia it expects it to abide by the terms of the United Nations Charter the Middle Eastern kingdom signed in 1945 and provide a fair, just and open trial to Canadian citizen William James Sampson, 42.
Mr. Sampson, an economist with the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, was arrested last November and has been detained since that time, even though no charges have been laid against him
8/Feb/2001 Governments have no incentive to reform
By: JAY BRYAN
Nearly a decade after governments in Canada started cutting spending to create balanced budgets, many of them seem inexplicably unable to manage the second part of the task: smarter spending of the remaining money.
The latest evidence surfaced this week, with the publication of a scathing valedictory report by federal Auditor-General Denis Desautels.
6/Feb/2001 AUDITOR GENERAL CRITICIZES OTTAWA'S SLOPPY SPENDING
The auditor general denounced the federal government's spending and
management practices Tuesday in his latest report to the House of
Commons. cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/06/ag_report010206
January 2001
30/Jan/2001 Pre-vote bridge pledge now just a 'priority' for Liberals
By: KEVIN Dougherty and DAVID GAMBLE
A new front opened yesterday in what a federal minister called the "flag war" between Quebec and Ottawa over what exactly the Chretien government promised when it made a $357-million commitment before the Nov. 27 federal election to build two bridges for the Autoroute 30 extension.
Two weeks before voting day, Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano and Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard, accompanied by three Liberal candidates in the region, announced in Beauharnois-Salaberry riding a commitment to build the bridges across the Beauharnois Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
20/Jan/2001 CARIBBEAN LEADERS CRITICIZE CANADIAN TRADE POLICIES
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien received a stern lecture about trade
relations Friday during a meeting of Caribbean leaders in Jamaica.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/19/chretien_010119
15/Jan/2001 Who'll replace the warrior?
By: ALYCIA AMBROZIAK The Gazette
Clifford Lincoln (72) had no sooner been elected in November to a third mandate in federal office when the political buzzards starting circling, speculating about who would get the choice pickings next time in one of the safest Liberal ridings in Canada.
After all, the 72-year-old member of Parliament had already stated he won't seek a fourth term in the Lac-Saint-Louis riding where - for the second time in a row - he registered the largest margin of victory in the country, defeating his nearest rival by 39,098 votes. ...Russ Williams Happy as MNA; Geoff Kelley looking to retire & Yeomans says he's too old.
10/Jan/2001 Give MPs some power
The tendency toward ever greater concentration of power in the hands of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is a worrisome trend in Canadian politics. This increased concentration of power has come at the expense of ordinary members of Parliament, the men and women whom voters elect to represent their interests.
During the last election campaign, the Canadian Alliance's platform included a package of parliamentary reforms intended to reduce prime ministerial power. Unfortunately, too much of the package was taken up with needlessly contentious ideas.
December 2000
Sat 12/30/00 8:55 AM Canada fared well in 2000
As a new year dawns, we can look back at 2000 with some satisfaction. It was a year of expanding opportunity for many Canadians, as the economy grew at a 5-per- cent pace. Hundreds of thousands of new jobs were added and disposable incomes climbed. Governments began the task of cutting the country's heavy tax burden, leaving Canadians with more money to spend and invest. This process will continue in the new year, as the federal government has pledged $100 billion in tax reductions over five years.
Of course, the economic optimism that characterized 2000 may not be as robust in 2001. There are already signs of a slowdown, mostly as a result of a rapidly cooling economy in the United States, our biggest trade partner. As American demand for everything from lumber to automobiles contracts, Canadians will begin to feel the pinch. Private-sector forecasts say the Canadian economy will grow at about 2.3 per cent next year, less than half the pace in 2000. The shock of rising energy prices and the collapse of the high-tech bubble in the stock market will continue to be felt.
30/Dec/2000 Changing the world a tall order
By: KATE SWOGER
Montreal is in the midst of an economic, social and cultural revival spurred by a new generation of dynamic young leaders.
These movers and shakers have already left their mark on the city in the fields of business, science, new technology, politics, sports, the arts, education and community service.
29/Dec/2000 TRUDEAU VOTED NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR
The late Pierre Elliott Trudeau has been named Canadian Press' Canadian
newsmaker of the year for 2000. FULL STORY: Wed970PET.htm
29/Dec/2000 CN/CP MERGER A POSSIBILITY: CN PRESIDENT
The President of the Canadian National Railway says a merger with
Canadian Pacific Railway may be necessary.
See our Gun Control page [It's a disaster for we Tax payers. ..Wisdom is not possible with this Government]
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Susan Harada reports for CBC TVSusan Murray reports for CBC TV
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21/Dec/2000 GUN OWNERS GIVEN MORE TIME TO MEET NEW LAW
Just days before a deadline, hundreds of thousands of gun owners in
Canada have been told they have a little longer to obtain licences for
their firearms. FULL STORY: cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/12/21/gun001221 [total waist of our money.. stupid!]
19/Dec/2000 CHIRAC WANTS OTTAWA TO PLAY BIGGER ROLE
French President Jacques Chirac says Canada's relationship with Europe
on matters of international security is more important than it has ever
been. Chirac, the outgoing president of the European Council, met with
Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Ottawa on Tuesday.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/12/19/chirac001219
17/Dec/2000 NDP dances with oblivion
By: DESMOND MORTON
Reactions to the Nov. 27 election have ranged from a loud cockadoodle from our prime minister to an equally predictable pout by newspaper magnate Conrad Black, whose massive investment in managing Canadian opinion netted the Canadian Alliance only six new seats, none of them where the National Post circulates widely.
The election was not meaningless. The bulk of the losses fell on the three small parties and, barring a major change of heart or shrewd tactics, Canadians have delayed a U.S.-style party system by a parliamentary term. After 2005, Canadians might have to choose between a right-wing and a righter-wing party, just as Americans are stuck with Democrats and Republicans.
see Menu on Dr. Desmond Morton History Prof.
16/Dec/2000 HEADLINE: The vision thing
By: DAVID GAMBLE The Gazette
OK, let's play 'Who Wants to be a Visionaire' Name the Canadian prime minister whose greatest achievement was to win three majority governments in a row? A: Pierre Trudeau, B: Brian Mulroney, C: Wilfrid Laurier, or D: Jean Chretien.
If we're talking about greatest achievement, the final answer must be, D: Jean Chretien. ...But McGill University historian Desmond Morton said Chretien would do well to worry about his place in the history, noting that the prime minister has yet to leave a lasting imprint on Canada.
15/Dec/2000 WTO SAYS CANADA SHOULD LOWER BARRIERS TO IMPORTS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The World Trade Organization said Friday that a series of trade measures
block imports from developing countries and make goods more expensive
for Canadians.
15/Dec/2000 Adapting to the elephant
By: The Gazette
It was an open secret that Prime Minister Jean Chretien hoped Vice-President Al Gore would emerge the winner from the bitter post-election battle for the U.S. presidency. Many in the Chretien cabinet felt that Mr. Gore would have been the more compatible leader, more in tune with Canada's values and aspirations. They believed that the personal warmth that characterized the relationship between Mr. Chretien and President Bill Clinton would likely have continued with Mr. Gore.
With Mr. Gore having conceded the presidency a second time, the Chretien government is left facing an American president whose priorities do not include Canada and whose economic and environmental policies might prove difficult for this country.
4/Dec/2000 Negative campaign led to low turnout
By: L. IAN MACDONALD
The 63-per-cent turnout in last week's election, down four points from 1997, represents by far the lowest voter participation rate in modern times.
Jean Chretien blamed it on the weather, rather than the campaign. But another late November election, as recently as 1988, produced a voter turnout of 76 per cent.
4/Dec/2000 Canada could use a PM from the West
By: WILLIAM WATSON
I hope for the country's sake it's not true, as some people have been saying, that the Canadian Alliance can't win a federal election with a western leader. We like to think of ourselves as a beacon of tolerance and diversity, a model for the world. No one would ever say the Alliance couldn't win with a non-white leader or a female leader - neither of which is a ridiculous possibility, by the way, since the party's caucus includes talented people in both categories.
But can an Alliance leader from the West never win? What kind of people are we? Quebecers are a very distinct minority and yet Ontarians have repeatedly been willing to vote them in as prime minister. But if no Westerners need apply, maybe we really do need an agenda of respect.
3/Dec/2000 
Canada Little guy wins big
Nov 30th 2000 | OTTAWA
From The Economist print edition
Full Yarn www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=436482 A remarkable election leaves Jean Chrétien free to define his legacy
3/Dec/2000 Martin loyalists 'floored' by victory
By: HUBERT BAUCH The Gazette
Next to Gilles Duceppe and the sovereignists, no one was more stunned by Monday's federal election result than some of Jean Chretien's fellow Liberals.
These were the friends of Paul Martin, for whom the unexpected sweep of the Liberal victory came as a blow to their anticipation of an early Chretien abdication and a quick Martin succession in the event of a reduced Liberal majority that would have been blamed on rampant disenchantment with a prime minister who overstayed his welcome.
3/Dec/2000 It's time for sovereignists to mobilize
By: JOSEE LEGAULT
If I had a dollar for each time the sovereignty movement is pronounced either dead or in agony, I'd be sipping champagne at the Ritz every evening. Yet so it went, once again, after last Monday's federal election, where the Bloc Quebecois lost some seats to the Liberals. Commentators rushed to venture that both the Bloc and sovereignty itself would soon keel over from chronic irrelevance.
Not so fast. Why would a 41-per-cent cross-Canada vote for the Liberals be a stunning victory, but a 40-per-cent score for the Bloc constitute a crushing defeat? Here's another reality check: Liberals might have had 44 per cent of the popular vote in Quebec, but the Bloc harvested nearly 50 per cent of the francophone vote, while the Liberals received only 35 per cent. So don't write the obituary just yet.
notes for November 2000
EDITORIAL 28/Nov/2000 Mr. Chretien's triumph
The Liberal government was re-elected with a strong majority last night, marking a significant personal triumph for Prime Minister Jean Chretien. With his triple play, Mr. Chretien enters the history books along side Macdonald, Laurier and King. This would rate as an even more impressive achievement, were it not for the fact that Canadian voters are sending him back to Ottawa with a majority that is again concentrated heavily in central and eastern Canada.
The Liberals maintained their lock on Ontario, gained seats in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois and picked up ridings in Atlantic Canada. But western Canada remains largely inhospitable to the Grits and the electoral map is once again polarized.
28/Nov/2000 Chretien pulls it off
By: HUBERT BAUCH The Gazette
Jean Chretien appeared headed for both re-election as prime minister and elevation to a pedestal in Canadian history for leading the his party to a third consecutive majority government, a feat that eluded all but three of his 21 predecessors.
The CBC-TV network projected a majority Liberal government less than an hour after the polls closed in central Canada.
see video clip of Election the best part!
28/Nov/2000 Clark wins gamble
By: JANICE TIBBETTS Southam News
Joe Clark defied predictions of his political demise by capturing his own seat yesterday as his Conservatives teetered on the edge of official party status after slipping in their Atlantic stronghold.
Hundreds of his supporters erupted in cheers upon news of the Tory leader's dramatic come-from-behind win in unseating the Canadian Alliance in its birthplace.
27/Nov/2000 Clark's campaign goal: Save the Tories
By: JANICE TIBBETTS Southam News
Joe Clark wrapped up his campaign yesterday in a last-minute blitz through his too-close-to-call race as he appealed for help to secure a seat that will shape his political future.
But as the Progressive Conservative leader zoomed from a 300-strong breakfast meeting to a shopping mall and then to the packed stands at the Grey Cup game, he basked in the comforting knowledge that, win or lose, he will probably be credited with rescuing his 133-year-old political party from oblivion.
26/Nov/2000 Politicians overlook the P.E.I. solution
By: MORDECAI RICHLER The Gazette
In 1957, once it had been revealed that England and France had colluded with Israel in the invasion of Egypt, seizing the Suez Canal, the splendid Nye Bevan rose in the British Parliament to excoriate Selwyn Lloyd, then minister of foreign affairs. Bevan stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed Prime Minister Harold MacMillan drifting into the house. "Why tease the monkey," he said, "when here comes the old organ-grinder himself?"
I had similar feeling when the inadequate Gilles Duceppe plucked superannuated Jacques Parizeau, sans beanie, out of his retirement home in France to light a fire under separatist students in Montreal. Addressing the Bloc kiddie corps, the old warrior ventured, against the evidence, that it was nonsense to suggest the young were not interested in politics. He told them that a huge election-day turnout for the Bloc would prove that separatism wasn't dead, but flourishing.
25/Nov/2000 Canada's political parties do their spinning on the Web
By: ANDREW FLYNN CP
In an election campaign, spin is everything. And where better to spin than on the Web?
Canada's political parties have used campaign sites to air their platforms during previous elections, but the Internet has experienced huge growth since the last campaign.
25/Nov/2000 A country divided
By: JOSEE LEGAULT Los Angeles Times
Many commentators have called this election campaign one of the nastiest and dirtiest in decades, one in which mudslinging became the fashion du jour. The number of insults exchanged by the five party leaders might even have surpassed the number of federal grants awarded in Shawinigan.
But this is an election campaign, not a church-choir practice. Right? The smears come with the territory - especially when there's precious little debate about the real issues that concern most voters. In an era of highly personalized politics where the leaders take centre stage, you gotta expect the verbal jabs to reflect that, to be unduly personal and obsessively centred on the leaders.
25/Nov/2000 Happy voting day and good luck
By: NORMAN WEBSTER The Gazette
Dyspeptic mutterings on a dismal election: come back, Kim Campbell, all is forgiven. The former prime minister might have sunk her chances in 1993 by observing that an election campaign was not the time to discuss serious issues. Judging by this go-around, she was right on the money.
Only one issue of major consequence to the country has emerged - health care - and the debate has been a galloping disaster. For starters, not even the people running the shop can agree on the basic facts.
25/Nov/2000 Chretien has been diminished by this campaign
By: L. IAN MACDONALD The Gazette
The Liberals won a majority government in 1997 with only 38 per cent of the national vote, but they'll need 40 per cent to get there Monday. Maybe even more.
That's because of the Charest factor, and the 22 per cent of the Quebec vote won by the former Conservative leader in the last election. The redistribution of most of Jean Charest's votes, between the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois, takes the national threshold for a Liberal majority at least two points higher.
24/Nov/2000 From the United Nations to Main St.
By: KAREN SEIDMAN The Gazette
Each nestled in the splendour of the mountain that has always been the defining beauty of Montreal, the ridings of Mount Royal and Westmount-Ville-Marie are probably two of the safest Liberal seats around.
A mix of great wealth, ethnic diversity and low-income residents, both ridings are going into Monday's federal election with a strong Liberal tradition and an odd mix of local and international concerns that are crucial matters to the ridings' voters.
23/Nov/2000 The Liberals by default
The choice for voters in this election is not an easy one. The campaign about to conclude has been one of the nastiest on record, replete with negative advertising, personal attacks and outrageous distortions. Party leaders preferred to sling mud rather than debate the issues in a way that would help voters make informed choices.
From the beginning, Canadians didn't seem tOWN this unnecessary election and as the campaign progressed, the temptation to tune out grew stronger. The spectacle of the leaders yelling at each other during the English-language TV debate typified the frustrating nature of the campaign.
20/Nov/2000 A new standard of arrogance
By: L. IAN MACDONALD Freelance
From arrogance in power to abuse of power. That's the story of Jean Chretien's interference with the president of the Business Development Bank of Canada to grant a loan to a Shawinigan man to renovate a money-losing Shawinigan hotel formerly owned by the prime minister.
Former bank president Francois Beaudoin was reluctant to authorize the $615,000 loan, and did so only after several telephone calls from the prime minister and one meeting at 24 Sussex. The applicant, Yvon Duhaime, evidently failed to disclose that he had a criminal record for drunk driving, income-tax offences and assault.
19/Nov/2000 Chretien's downward spiral his own fault
By: NEIL CAMERON Freelance
According to Jean Chretien, this election is about values, and truly Canadian ones are also Liberal Party ones. The Canadian Alliance is not just a rival political party, but a dark engine of destruction. Already sounding alarmingly like a Caesar, Chretien now shows additional signs of wanting to be pope. But heresy has broken out. Recent polls show that only about 40 per cent of Canadians have Chretien-approved values, and hardly any of them live west of the Ontario border.
Winning a majority of seats in the House of Commons is grounds for a party to form a government and lay down policies, especially those it defended or advanced in the election. But the notion that an electoral victory, even a big one, makes the victors the exclusive authorities on society's moral premises is simply false. In fact, it is the dead opposite of what parliamentary democracy has always been intended to accomplish, which is to prevent a national leader from claiming to be the incarnation of a general will. Instead, government leaders find the intentions of their own parties checked by those of the loyal opposition, which always has the potential to remove the ruling group and replace it with one of their own.
13/Nov/2000 Clark won the debates
By: L. IAN MACDONALD Freelance
No knockouts, but Joe Clark won both debates on points last week. However, it remains to be seen whether that makes much difference in the election two weeks from today.
Clark's surprisingly strong showing in the first debate in French didn't bring him anything, except for positive resonance in English Canada. Both Jean Chretien [got to go] and Gilles Duceppe had good nights in the French debate, and it was essentially a wash between the Liberal and Bloc leaders, the only two participants with much to win or lose in Quebec.
18/Nov/2000 ougher terms are a dead end
Sounding like the Canadian clone of George W. Bush, Stockwell Day unveiled the Canadian Alliance's 72-point platform on law and order this week. He is promising to usher in a tough new world of Canadian justice, saying it is "better to have an extra prison and keep serious offenders from murdering our children and committing grave crimes."
The Alliance would go one better than the Americans in their most extreme law-and-order phase.
18/Nov/2000 MARTIN BEATS CHRéTIEN IN QUEBEC
A new poll conducted for The Gazette and Le Soleil suggests a federal
Liberal party led by Paul Martin would handily defeat the Bloc
Québécois.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/18/001118
17/Nov/2000 Downright dirty
Ano-holds-barred political contest is one thing. What is passing for political debate in Canada in the past few days has moved beyond that. A new low was reached this week when Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan, the Liberal candidate in Thornhill, accused Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day of having supporters who are "Holocaust-deniers, prominent bigots and racists.
Specifically, she had in mind Doug Christie, a lawyer who came to public attention defending Jim Keegstra and Ernst Zundel on charges connected to Holocaust- denial. Mr. Christie had bought a $10 Canadian Alliance membership card, which the party rescinded. He was also organizing a rally in support of Mr. Day, who promptly dissociated himself from it.
16/Nov/2000 LIBERALS PREPARING FOR MINORITY WIN: REPORT
There's a report that the federal Liberal cabinet has asked senior civil
servants to prepare for a minority government.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/16/minority001116
16/Nov/2000 CHRETIEN BEING LINKED TO CONTROVERSY IN HIS RIDING
Evidence has surfaced tying Jean Chrétien to a controversial government
loan in his Quebec riding, according to The National Post newspaper.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/16/chretienloan001116
16/Nov/2000 CHRETIEN ADMITS PHONING 'FRIEND' FOR HELP
Jean Chrétien is once again facing allegations he's involved in a
controversial government loan.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/16/can_election001116
16/Nov/2000 DAY ACCUSES 'DESPERATE' LIBERALS OF TELLING LIES
Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day reacted angrily on Wednesday to
allegations his party's supporters are bigots and racists.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/15/can_election001115
16/Nov/2000 SOME LEGAL EXPERTS DON'T LIKE ALLIANCE PLAN TO COLLECT DNA
Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day spent much of Tuesday touting his
party's policy on law and order. But legal experts say one aspect of
that policy should get more attention than it has so far.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/15/day_dna001115
16/Nov/2000 CANADIAN DOLLAR FALLS TO 22-MONTH LOW
The loonie sunk to a new 22-month low Wednesday afternoon. The Canadian
dollar closed at 64.36 cents (US), down from its Tuesday close of 64.59
cents (US). cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/15/loonie001115
10/Nov/2000 DEBATE VIEWERS IMPRESSED WITH CLARK
After their last chance to confront each other face to face, Canada's
political leaders head toward the election hoping to have done
themselves some good, or their opponents some damage, in the debates.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/10/debatereax001110
cbc.ca/election2000/ Clark buoyed by debate performances, is winner and the best we have!
Go to the CBC message board.
or election.ca & politicswatch made by the young
canadianallianceparty.net unreal
7/Nov/2000 POLL PUTS BLOC AND LIBERALS NECK AND NECK
A new survey has found that if an election had been held last week, the
Bloc Québécois would have won in a majority of Quebec ridings, taking
about 40 seats. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/06/qcpoll001106
7/Nov/2000 PARTY LEADERS TAKE GLOVES OFF IN ELECTION BATTLE
The race to the Commons has taken on a nastier tone, even as preparation
for two national debates this week overshadows actual campaigning.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/06/election_001106
Confused and conflicted
