exclusive political coverage: exclusuussivie ...twenty-seventh year, no. 1325 canada’s politics...

TWENTY-SEVENTH YEAR, NO. 1325 CANADA’S POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT NEWSWEEKLY MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016 $5.00

NEWS NDP LEADERSHIP

NEWS PCO & INNOVATION

NEWS SENATE & AG

NEWS HOUSE COMMITTEES

FEATURE SYRIAN REFUGEES & PARLIAMENT HILL

Bélanger, who’s battling ALS, brings MPs to tears as he leads Speaker’s Parade, just for one day

Mulcair faces ‘fi ght of his life’ at convention, says Capstick

Public servants fl ock to PCO’s fi rst-ever ‘behavioural economics’ conference

Senate to release Binnie’s fi nal Senators’ expense arbitration report on March 21

Some House committees in ‘chaos,’ says NDP MP Julian Liberal MP Tan challenges MPs to mentor

Syrian refugees to help them fi nd work

BY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

More than 1,200 people are ex-pected at the NDP’s convention in Edmonton next month and with a leadership review vote on the agen-

da following a disappointing elec-tion result last fall, at least one NDP supporter says Leader Tom Mulcair faces the “fi ght of his life.”

BY DEREK ABMA

Hundreds of public servants took in the Privy Council Of-fi ce’s conference on behavioural economics for the public sector

last week in Ottawa to learn how to better infl uence public behav-iour. It was the fi rst conference of its kind in Canada.

BY ABBAS RANA

The Senate’s powerful Internal Economy, Budgets, and Admin-istration Committee will publicly release Senate arbitrator Ian Bin-nie’s long-awaited report March

21 on the 14 Senators who chal-lenged Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s 2015 audit fi ndings over $1-million in inappropriate Senate spending.

BY RACHEL AIELLO

The Liberals promised to strengthen Commons commit-tees, but some have gone “from censorship,” under prime minister Stephen Harper’s time in power, “to a chaotic structure” under

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau so far, says New Democrat House Leader Peter Julian.

Mr. Julian (New Westminster-Burnaby, B.C.) said that under the Conservatives in the previous

BY ABBAS RANA

Now that the government has brought 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, the next step is to help

them fi nd jobs, and MPs of all parties can do that by mentoring and letting them work in their constituency offi ces, says a rookie Toronto Liberal MP.

“[MPs] are the leaders in their communities. They’re the lead-

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EXCLUSIVE POLITICAL COVERAGE: NEWS, FEATURES, AND ANALYSIS INSIDE

STATE DINNER P. 25DIGITALECONOMY P.11

SYRIA NEEDSVOICE IN PEACEPROCESS P. 17

BEEF,

BEER,WHISKY P. 2

Emotional walk: Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger, who was recently diagnosed with ALS, was honorary House Speaker last Wednesday. His walk into the House was emotional. See more on page 2. The Hill Times photographsw by Jake Wright

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THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 20162FEATURE BUZZ

Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger got the chance last week to temporarily do the

job he wanted before dropping out of the running last year after learning he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrigh’s disease.

His House colleagues gave him the chance to be acting Speaker for about 30 minutes on Wednesday afternoon. He led the daily parade through Centre Block to the legislature before the session as a crowd, including Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau, looked on and cheered. He wore the traditional Speaker’s clothing of a black robe and tricorne hat. He required a walker to make the trek.

Mr. Bélanger’s condition has progressed to the point that he has lost the ability to speak. He now uses an iPad with text-to-voice software to interact.

During the House session, Mr. Bélanger was saluted by all three main party lead-ers, as Mr. Justin Trudeau and interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose both recalled participating in the “ice bucket challenge” of 2014, when scores of people were videotaped having ice-cold water dumped on their heads in an effort to raise money for research and awareness of ALS.

In response to questioning from NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, Mr. Trudeau promised to continue to support Mr. Bélanger’s past work to protect the rights of anglophone and francophone minority communities across the country. Some MPs cried as it unfolded.

As the end of his session Wednesday, Mr. Bélanger thanked his colleagues for “the great privilege you have bestowed upon me to serve as honorary Speaker of the House of Commons today.”

Mr. Bélanger has been the MP for Ottawa-Vanier, Ont., since 1995.

Clement posts provocative Instagram pic

People are trying to fi gure out what to make of a recent Instagram picture posted by Conservative MP Tony Clement that shows him with no shirt from the shoulders up, with a pile of snow in the background.

It’s unclear what he is, or is not, wear-ing below his shoulders, or if there is some source of heat, such as a hot tub, that’s keep-ing him from freezing off his man parts.

Mr. Clement posted no comment on the picture, dated March 3, beyond calling it “Snow pile selfi e.”

The posting had received more than 260 likes as of last week, and several comments ranging from “Naked?” to “This picture won’t come back to haunt you. Ha” to ‘wtf….. .”

In response to a query about the pic-ture, Mr. Clement said in emailed state-ment: “I was preparing for the Trudeau government’s fi rst budget. The defi cit and taxes are gonna be so high, I was prepping for when I couldn’t afford to keep a shirt on my back.” Who is he, Kim Kardashian?

Photographs by Jake Wright

Canadian Cattlemen’s Association’s Dave Solverson helped host a big shindig on March 9 at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building in Ottawa. Beer, beef, and whisky were on the menu.

Whisky.

Beer.

Cattlemen’s Dan Darling and Dave Solverson.

N.B. Cattlemen’s T.J. Harvey and Cedrick MacLeod.

The Hill Times’ Abbas Rana.

The chefs and the beef on buns.

Canadian Cattlemen’s Association’s Dave Solverson.

The crowd.

The beef.

Beer Canada’s Brittany Moorcroft and Ed Gregory.

Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay.

Liberal MP Will Amos, Veterans Affairs Minister Ken Hehr, and Dan Runak.

Cattlemen’s Rick Toney, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Reg Schellenberg, and Ryan Beierback.

Ontario Cattle Feeders Doug Kaufman, Jim Clark, and John Baker.

Cattlemen’s Brent Griffi n and NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau.

Beer Canada’s Brittany Moorcroft.

Conservative MP Ed Fast, second left, and Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, right.

Grit staffers Kyle Harrietha, Jane McDonald, and Jamie MacDonald.

Ailing Liberal MP Bélanger gets turn in House Speaker’s chair, MPs cry

HEARD HILLONTHE

BY DEREK ABMA


Tony Clement’s social network picture of himself without a shirt in the snow has people talking. Photograph courtesy of Instagram

Longtime Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger, who suffers from ALS, makes his way to the House of Com-mons on Wednesday to be acting Speaker, as colleagues cheer him on. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Beer, beef, and whisky attract a crowd

3THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016

OPINION CANADA-U.S. RELATIONS

Back in the Brian Mulroney era when major newspapers had

an outsize infl uence among policy-makers, Canadian diplomats in the United States were constantly complaining about the lack of attention paid to Canada by The Washington Post, the pre-eminent media outlet in the U.S. capital.

For years, senior offi cials at Canada’s embassy tried to con-vince the Post to assign one of its many foreign correspondents north of the border: Canada is the U.S.’s biggest trading partner, a longtime ally, etc., etc., they argued.

Then one day, in a conversa-tion with the Post’s deputy foreign editor, the news came: The paper had fi nally decided to assign a foreign correspondent for Canada. In response, an obvious question: So where will he or she be based? Ottawa or perhaps Toronto?

“Chicago,” came the answer.A lot has changed since then,

but one thing that hasn’t changed much is Americans’ blind spot about everything above the 49th Parallel.

Justin Trudeau may have altered this picture a bit, at least temporar-ily. It’s been a long time since a Ca-nadian prime minister caused such a fl urry on the celebrity-hungry U.S. cable networks or arrived in Washington to such fanfare.

And that’s not to mention the boost afforded Cape Breton tourism from the tongue-in-cheek business about all the Americans who will be heading for Canada if Donald Trump wins power.

But despite Trudeau’s so-called special relationship with Obama, it would be a mistake for Cana-dians to think this heralds a new day in bilateral relations in which Canada’s concerns and interests are suddenly a priority in the White House.

There will be some of this, of course, in the short term. And the stepped up cooperation engi-neered by Trudeau and Obama looks spectacular after the break-down in relations between the U.S. president and former prime minister Stephen Harper. Their testy dealings surely stand as one of the low points in modern Cana-dian diplomacy. Last year, Harper didn’t even schedule a Three Ami-gos summit—an annual gathering of the leaders of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico—even though it was his turn to host the event.

Harper’s hesitancy about tack-ling climate change of course con-tributed to the tensions between him and Obama. And so the way was wide open for Trudeau and Obama to move forward with a cooperative plan to tighten pollution rules for the oil-and-gas industry, as well as initiating a new focus on sustain-able development in the Arctic. That alone will be seen by some as a very promising start for Trudeau.

But Canadians shouldn’t

expect all this to translate into prompt action on the host of bilat-eral issues that make a difference to their economy and their lives.

When he came to Ottawa in 2009 on his foreign trip as presi-dent, Obama spoke of the U.S.’s relationship with Canada in glow-ing terms and Canadians were enthusiastic and hopeful about the new presence in the White House.

The reality in the years since, however, has fallen far short of expectations.

One of the most intractable problems since 9/11 has been the diffi culties caused for travellers and exporters at the Canada-U.S. border as a result of tightened American security.

This is not just a nuisance. It undermines Canada’s most cru-cial economic link, slowing access to what is still by far the largest market for this country’s goods.

In 2011, it looked like a break-through was in store. Harper went to the White House where with great fl ourish he and Obama announced the Beyond the Border initiative, a series of joint measures intended to improve continental security while speed-ing up cross-border movement for exports and low-risk travellers. But in the years since, little has been accomplished on a problem that costs Canadians millions of dollars a year in lost effi ciency.

The latest initiatives on fa-cilitating the exchange of data on travellers and using pre-clearance to expedite border crossings for commercial goods and some trav-ellers sound exciting, too. But it could take years before much gets done, as issues of security, sover-eignty and privacy weigh heavily.

It needs to be remembered, too, that in the Obama years

Canadian businesses lost many potentially lucrative contracts in the U.S. because of the Buy Amer-ican protectionist rules contained in the administration’s stimulus spending packages.

And, in the talks leading up to tentative approval of the 12-nation Trans-Pacifi c Partnership trade deal—negotiations vital to Can-ada’s economic future—the U.S. worked out a separate side deal with Japan without any input from Ottawa. The measure on foreign content in vehicle production could hurt Canadian manufacturers.

Then there’s the long-delayed Windsor-Detroit bridge. Canada wound up paying the entire $4 bil-lion cost of the project, including for a new U.S. Customs plaza in Michi-gan because Obama could not come up with the needed $250-million U.S. to pay for the infrastructure on the American side.

As for the Keystone XL pipe-line, Trudeau campaigned adroitly in last fall’s election on the idea that Harper’s reluctance to do more to combat climate change poisoned cross-border environ-mental dealings to the point that Keystone could not be approved. That’s a beguiling argument but there’s no proof it’s true. Harp-er’s environmental record gave Obama cover to block Keystone but he might have done so under any circumstances for his own domestic political motives.

And of course it remains to be seen how much Canada and the U.S. can accomplish—even with the best of intentions—in the waning months of an Obama presidency marked above all by impotence in the face of the Republicans’ unique brand of scorched earth politics.

The Hill Times

Don’t expect miracles from Trudeau’s visit to WashingtonDespite Justin Trudeau’s so-called special relationship with Barack Obama, it would be a mistake for Canadians to think this heralds a new day in bilateral relations in which Canada’s concerns and interests are suddenly a priority in the White House.

Run. Jump. Play.Every Day. Let’s get our kids moving!

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Being active doesn’t have to mean planned, structured exercise. All you have to do is encourage that natural urge to ‘Run. Jump. Play. Every day.’

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LES WHITTINGTON

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 20164NEWS LOBBYING

BY DEREK ABMA

In the House of Commons last week, a Liberal MP accused an

airline and government-relations fi rm of improper lobbying, though information that appeared on the federal lobbyists’ registry after the fact, along with claims by the air-line in question, suggest otherwise.

During debate on a motion moved by Conservative MP Kelly Block (Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek, Sask.) on Tuesday to reverse a government decision to not allow expansion of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Liberal MP Adam Vaughan (Spadina-Fort York, Ont.) accused the Tories of “acting on behalf of lobbyists who have not obeyed the rules and have brought to the House a motion to further the private interests of a single air-line at the expense of all the other public investments.”

Mr. Vaughan referred specifi -cally to Robert Deluce, CEO of Porter Airlines—the airport’s main user— and its hired lobby-ing fi rm Sussex Strategy Group, which he said “have been lobby-ing on Parliament Hill for well over a month. If we were to check the lobbyists’ register, we would fi nd that they have not registered.”

He added: “At the very least, we would expect this operator to follow the rules for once, to follow the rules and register as a lobbyist before talking to parlia-mentarians about these business interests, but that has not hap-pened. That is shocking. It is not surprising from the party oppo-site, but still shocking.”

A day later, a registration for Paul Pellegrini, president of Sussex Strategy, appeared on the federal lobbying commis-sioner’s online registry, as did communications reports outlining contact he on had behalf of Porter with several MPs, including Mr. Vaughan on Feb. 2.

Mr. Pellegrini and Mr. Deluce were also subjects of a complaint fi led last week by a Toronto-based group called CommunityAir, which advocates for the closing of the Billy Bishop airport. The com-plaint was based meetings the pair had with Mr. Vaughan and fellow Liberal MP Michael Levitt (York Centre, Ont), along with the fact that neither Mr. Deluce nor Mr. Pellegrini, at the time of the complaint, appeared as registered lobbyists in the federal registry.

In email to The Hill Times Wednesday, Mr. Pellegrini said: “The allegations in the [com-plaint] are baseless and without foundation, as were the assertions made in the House.

“Upon embarking on the fi le for Porter Airlines, I registered as a lobbyist for them as per the require-ments of the [Lobbying] Act. The registration and the fi rst meetings took place in February, not January as the complainant suggests incor-rectly. All activity has been properly tracked and reported. If you check the directory today you will see that my registration is active and started on Feb. 2, 2016. It has been pend-ing since fi rst fi led in February and posted today.”

The complaint from Com-munityAir chairman Brian Iler, which was shared with The Hill Times, did in fact say the meeting happened in January, though in the same message he references a tweet from Mr. Levitt showing a

picture of himself with Mr. Delu-ce, posted on Feb. 2 and referenc-ing a meeting held that day.

When told about Mr. Pellegri-ni’s registration, Mr. Iler said his complaint still stands.

Lobbying Commissioner Kar-en Shepherd would not confi rm whether an investigation is taking place on the matter.

“I take all allegations serious-ly,” she said in an emailed state-ment. “The Lobbying Act requires me to conduct all reviews and investigations in private. I have no further comment.”

The Porter matter marks Mr. Pellegrini’s fi rst federal lobby-ing registration since 2009. When asked about the long delay be-tween fi lings specifi c to him (other consultants with Sussex are quite active federally), Mr. Pellegrini said: “I get involved in certain fi les at various levels of government, but as president my main focus has been on growth of the company.”

Based in Toronto, Mr. Pellegri-ni is a registered lobbyist with the Ontario government and the City of Toronto.

Porter spokesman Brad Cicero said neither Mr. Deluce nor anyone else at the airline is required to reg-ister as a federal lobbyist because the proportion of their work dedi-cated to federal government rela-tions falls well below 20 per cent.

When presented with Porter’s explanation for why Mr. Deluce doesn’t have to register and that fact that Mr. Pellegrini’s registra-tion eventually appeared on lob-bying commissioner’s website, Mr. Vaughan declined to retract earlier

comments he made in the House.“Compliance with the Lobbying

Act is critically important,” he said in an emailed statement to The Hill Times. “I understand that a com-plaint was made about Robert De-luce and Porter Airlines’ consultant Paul Pellegrini. I will leave it up to the Offi ce of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada to determine if any rules were broken.”

Mr. Pellegrini is registered to lobby federally on behalf of Porter on the issues of legisla-tive action that would allow U.S. Customs pre-clearance at the Billy Bishop airport, and on regu-lations about runway safety and how they affect the airport.

Communication reports show Mr. Pellegrini communicated with Mr. Vaughan, Mr. Levitt, along with MPs Judy Sgro (Humber River, Ont.), and Bill Blair (Scar-borough Southwest, Ont.) on Feb. 2. Then on Feb. 8, he had contact with MP Julie Dzerowicz (Dav-enport, Ont), and with MPs Omar Alghabra (Mississauga Centre, Ont) and Peter Fonseca (Missis-sauga East-Cooksville, Ont.) on Feb. 9. All are Liberals, and there are no records of Mr. Pellegrini lobbying Conservative MPs, as alleged by Mr. Vaughan in the House last week.

Later last week, Prime Minis-ter Justin Trudeau, while in Wash-ington, D.C. for meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama, announced a deal in principal had been struck to bring U.S. Cus-toms pre-clearance to the Billy Bishop airport, as well as the Jean Lesage International Airport in

Quebec City, and rail stations in Montreal and Vancouver.

CommunityAir’s complaint said the motion the Tories moved on Tuesday “suggests Mr. Deluce and Mr. Pellegrini have also been active in lobbying Conservative MPs.”

Mr. Iler said in a followup email: “No one else [besides Porter] is promoting the island airport expansion.”

Porter’s Mr. Cicero said the com-pany has not met with any opposi-tion MPs since last year’s election.

“CommunityAir’s assumptions are incorrect and apparently infl u-enced by the group’s stated bias to close Billy Bishop Airport,” he said. “Porter meets periodically with poli-ticians, sometimes at their request. … These meetings were primarily with new MPs interested in learning more about Porter. The focus was to inform them about Porter’s current business, operations at Billy Bishop, and regulatory matters such as customs pre-clearance.”

The Conservative motion was defeated on Wednesday by a vote of 218 to 96. It sought to reverse a position the Liberals took early in their mandate last year to rule out a runway expansion at the Billy Bishop airport that would allow it to accommodate jets.

Arguing against such an expan-sion in House last week, Mr. Vaughan said there is a lack of community support in Toronto for such a project, it would disrupt the city’s water-front, and that proponents expect the federal government to cover its estimated $600-million cost.

[email protected] Hill Times

Liberal MP Vaughan accuses airline, government-relations fi rm of improper lobbying, charge appears unwarranted Liberal MP Adam Vaughan has not retracted critical statements made in the House about a consultant lobbyist last week, even though documentation appearing on the federal lobbyists registry a day later suggested no wrongdoing by his target.

Liberal MP Michael Levitt, left, tweeted this picture of himself with Porter Airlines CEO Robert Deluce on Feb. 2, and referenced a meeting they had that day. Fellow Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, below, also met with Mr. Deluce and lobbying fi rm Sussex Strategy that day, but has criticized them for not being registered lobbyists, a charge that appears unwarranted. Photography courtesy of Twitter and The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright


NEWS PUBLIC SERVICE

“The use of behavioural eco-nomics is an emerging tool for governments seeking to improve the programs and services offered to citizens,” said PCO spokes-man Raymond Rivet. “Combin-ing economics with behavioural psychology, this new tool can help governments make services more client-focused, increase uptake of programs, and improve regulatory compliance. Interest among governments in using this tool has been rising signifi cantly for the past number of years, as refl ected by this conference.”

The forum, held at Otta-wa’s Shaw Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday, was called Behav-ioural Economics for the Public Sector, and organized by the Privy Council Offi ce’s Innovation Hub.

Mr. Rivest said 350 people—taking up all the spaces allot-ted—signed up to attend the Behavioural Economics for the Public Sector forum, which was open to public sector workers of any level of government, as well as academics.

The forum was hosted by Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos; Stephen Lucas, PCO’s deputy secretary to the Cabinet (plans and consultations and intergovernmental affairs); Ian Shugart, deputy minister of Employment and Social Devel-opment; and Andrew Treusch, the CEO of the Canada Revenue Agency.

Government goals, when it comes to infl uencing public behaviour, include getting people to pay their taxes, give to charity, save for retirement, live healthy lifestyles, contribute to the econo-my, and take proper care of their children, among other things.

Often, it was said during the conference, changes in public behaviour can result from subtle changes in messaging. Still, do-ing it right involves a fair bit of experimentation and research.

Mr. Treusch, in one of the fo-rum’s presentations, talked about how stating that 93 per cent of the population fi le their taxes on time and pay in full encourages others to do the same.

“That’s a nudge; I just nudged you,” he told the audience. “Be-havioural economics tells us that people want to follow the social

norms, so pointing out that the overwhelming majority of people [pay their taxes] is a subtle nudge to join the in-crowd.”

Mr. Treusch said the United Kingdom in 2010 was the fi rst world government to set up a “dedicated nudge unit,” called the Behavioural Insights Team. It was later spun into an independent organization. He added that last September, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered federal agencies to examine the use of behavioural economics as a way of increasing the effectiveness of programs, policies, and laws.

Mr. Treusch said there are growing numbers of teams in-volved in behavioural economics in Canada, at both the federal and provincial levels.

Elspeth Kirkman, the Behav-ioural Insights Team’s head of North American operations, was asked during a presentation how she responds to criticism that she’s involved in “social engineer-ing.” She said governments can-not get away from the fact they have to encourage certain kinds of behaviour from people, so it might as well be done effectively.

“Departments and govern-ments are already nudging people in terms of how they present information to them, how they ask them to do things, how they structure their defaults, and all we’re doing really is being mind-ful about that,” she said. “We’re saying, actually, let’s just under-stand what the implication in the way that we’re structuring that choice is.”

Eldar Shafi r, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, told the au-dience that sometimes more than a “nudge” is needed when it comes to public policy.

“I’m a big fan of nudges … but nudges are a very modest attempt to interfere minimally, often at a very low cost, when you’re politi-cally somewhat helpless, in ways that that help people,” he said.

“But there’s a lot more than that. And if you think about what policy does throughout, whether it’s the design of emergency rooms or what it takes to make a nation healthy and happy, there are profound psychological ques-tions that lie at the core of what we do.”

When asked to elaborate on what qualifi es as a nudge and what’s seen as more, Mr. Shafi r noted how buildings are often designed—in terms of where stairs, elevators, and parking lots are placed—to promote physical activity, and he feels buildings that are constructed in ways to encourage certain behaviours represent the kind of policy that goes beyond nudges.

Ms. Kirkman talked about an EAST model—which stands for easy, attractive, social, and timely—for creating conditions for public compliance with gov-ernment policies.

She talked about using plain language and less “legalese” to make it easier for people to understand government commu-

nications. She used an example of a U.S. city that had an unfor-tunate practice of sending out very technically worded letters to homeowners whose properties did not meet municipal standards.

“The letter actually starts with: ‘According to Chapter 156 and/or Chapter 155 and/or Chapter 37 in the [municipal] ordinances pro-cess, we have found your proper-ty to be in violation of inspection.’ And it kind of just goes on and on and on like this, and it doesn’t actually say, ‘Hey, you need to fi x your property and here’s what’s wrong with it.’ ”

In terms of making things attractive, Ms. Kirkman used an example how different styles of texting unemployed people from a job centre in the Britain to inform them about a new super-market that was holding a job fair. She said 10 per cent of the people notifi ed would typically attend such a non-mandatory event. However, when people’s individual names were used in the message, that increased to 15 per cent. When the message appeared to come from the unemployed people’s employment advisers, it increased to 17 per cent. Finally, that rate increased to 26 per cent when the individuals were told their advisers had booked them a time-slot at this event.

The social aspect of encourag-ing certain actions is shown by Mr. Treusch’s example of publiciz-ing how most people pay their taxes, Ms. Kirkman said.

Another factor is who con-veys the message, she said. She recalled how the British govern-ment once sent letters signed by the chief medical offi cer that advised certain physicians to pre-scribe antibiotics less often, and the campaign was a success. She said the message would have been less effective with this particular audience if it came from the health minister. These physicians were

also told how the majority of their peers were prescribing fewer anti-biotics, she added.

An example of timeliness focused on a police force Brit-ain that was found to be much less ethnically diverse than the community it serves. Research ultimately uncovered that most applicants of minority ethnici-ties were failing an online test in which they were asked how they would react, as a police offi cer, to certain situations.

Ms. Kirkman said it’s believed the effect of “stereotype threat” was at work, where people who are part of groups that have nega-tive stereotypes tend to perform worse in certain instances if re-minded of those stereotypes just before the task.

She said when the wording of the email asking applicants to take this test was changed to be “warmer” and contain a preamble asking them to think about what it would mean to their community if they became a police offi cer, the gap in success in the test between white applicants and others was closed.

Mr. Shafi r’s presentation focused largely on considerations to be made when attempting to infl uence people at lower socio-economic levels. He said such people tend to get bad rap for their tendencies in a number of areas.

“The poor look badly every-where you look,” he said, noting that research indicates a lower rate among the economically dis-advantaged in taking medications as prescribed, practicing sound parenting skills, and managing their fi nances properly.

While education levels and the infl uence of surrounding neigh-bourhoods have been cited as factors for this, Mr. Shafi r noted how people of limited fi nancial resources tend to have more of their mental energy devoted to thinking about how they will cope

with their scarce resources on a day-to-day basis. This affects their ability to focus on other things, he said.

“Living under scarcity is a context that generates its own psychology, in particular a psychology where an enormous amount of your mental apparatus is devoted to juggling the thing you don’t have enough of,” he said.

With this in mind, he said ac-tions such a providing fi nancially challenged people with more money or better options for child care or transportation can ease their strain and help them devote more attention to other matters. He characterized it as freeing up people’s “bandwidth.”

“When I’m overwhelmed and you give me a bandwidth gift on my banking, I might say, ‘Thank you so much. Now I can use my limited bandwidth on my kids’ homework.’ … You might help people with fi nancial instruments and banking, and discover im-provements in their kids grades.”

Other speakers at the confer-ence included: Christine Burton, head of Employment and Social Development Canada’s new channel management strategies directorate; Amira Choueiki, who heads the White House’s social and behavioural sciences’ work focused on improving govern-ment operations; Jamie Foehl, as-sociate director at the Centre for Advanced Hindsight; Erin Gee, a former Team Canada softball player who works in Canada Rev-enue Agency’s Accelerated Busi-ness Solutions Lab; Karen Hall, director of the Canada Revenue Agency’s new innovation lab, the Accelerated Business Solutions Lab; and Elizabeth Hardy, who leads the PCO’s Innovation Hub’s application of behavioural in-sights to public policy challenges.


Public servants fl ock to PCO’s fi rst-ever behavioural economics briefi ng In Canada and elsewhere around the world, governments are increasingly turning to behavioural science to fi gure out how to encourage certain behaviours from their constituents.

Continued from page 1

Presenters at last week’s Behavioural Economics for the Public Sector conference included, from the top left, Elspath Kirkman from the Behavioural Insights Team, Christine Burton from Employment and Social Development Canada, and Erin Gee from the Canada Revenue Agency. The event was hosted, from the bottom left, Employment and Social Development Deputy Minister Ian Shugart, PCO Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet Stephen Lucas, and Canada Revenue Agency CEO Andrew Treusch. Photographs courtesy of the Behavioural Insights Team, the Government of Canada, and LinkedIn

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 20166NEWS SYRIAN REFUGEES

ers in their ridings,” said Liberal MP Geng Tan (Don Valley North, Ont.) in an interview with The Hill Times. “They have to show the leadership and they [Liberal MPs] are part of the government and the work of the government is to help the newcomers. That’s their responsibility.”

It’s estimated 12 million people have been displaced by the civil war in Syria, creating the biggest refugee crisis since the end of the Second World War. This was one of the key issues in the Oct. 19 election. The Liberals promised, during the campaign, to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of last year. They missed that deadline but had achieved their target by the end of February

Mr. Tan told The Hill Times that he and his constituency offi ce staff helped out Shoghig Bedros, 34, a Syrian refugee by mentoring her, and allowing her to work in the riding offi ce as a volunteer to gain Canadian work experience. Within two months of starting her volunteer work, Ms. Bedros found a part-time paid job at the Willow-dale Community Legal Services in Toronto. Now, Mr. Tan said, he and his constituency offi ce staff are planning on mentoring another Syrian refugee. Mr. Tan added that if the newcomers per-form well in their training at the constituency offi ces, MPs could also hire them.

All MPs receive an annual of-fi ce budget to cover staff salaries and other expenses. Recently, the Board of Internal Economy approved a 20 per cent boost to MPs’ offi ce budgets, which means, effective April 1, each will receive an annual budget of about $350,000. In most cases, each of the 338 MPs employ two full time staffers in their Hill offi ce and two in their constituency offi ce.

Ms. Bedros was in the fi rst group of 163 privately sponsored refugees who arrived in Canada on Dec. 10. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.), Immi-gration Minister John McCallum (Markham-Thornhill, Ont.), Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan (Vancouver South, B.C.), Health Minister Jane Philpot (Markham-Stouffville, Ont.), Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, and Toronto Mayor John Tory re-ceived these refugees at the Pearson International Airport.

Ms. Bedros was sponsored by an Armenian community centre in Toronto and her uncle, who has been living in Canada for about three decades.

She told The Hill Times that she and her family fl ed their home town Aleppo, Syria, be-cause of the war and moved to Lebanon to live with their rela-tives two years ago. Ms. Bedros’ mother and her sister, who is married and has two children, also went to Lebanon. Her moth-er, sister, and brother-in-law have also recently arrived in Canada.

Ms. Bedros said that, in Syria, she worked for about 12 years as an industrial and marketing graphic designer.

After moving to Canada, Ms. Bedros said, her aunt encouraged her to get Canadian work experi-ence through volunteer work. She contacted Mr. Tan’s constituency offi ce and they accepted to let her work in the offi ce as a volunteer. In the offi ce, she performed ad-ministrative work and also helped out with graphic design work with pamphlets.

In February, representatives of the Willowdale Community Legal Services came to the constitu-ency offi ce to meet with Mr. Tan. Ms. Bedros was working in the constituency offi ce that day and,

after meeting with her, the legal services representatives offered her a part-time paid position, which she accepted.

Ms. Bedros told The Hill Times that she tries not to think about the ongoing civil war in Syria and the circumstances that led her to leave her home country, as sad memories are a hindrance to moving forward.

“I’m so grateful to be in Canada. When you look back, you are not able to go forward,” said Ms. Bedros. “Any kind of diffi culties in Canada is milder and more easier from being in an insecure situation and thinking all day long that you are going to be the next victim.”

In addition to working at the legal clinic, Ms. Bedros is taking English-as-a-second-language classes and hoping to fi nd full-time work in the near future.

“It’s a great opportunity to have the Canadian experience and have a closer view to the Canadian laws,” Ms. Bedros said. “It has been a month I’m work-ing [at the legal clinic] and so grateful for the chance. They’re so kind and so good to me.”

Liberal MP Adam Vaughan (Spadina-Fort York, Ont.) in an interview with The Hill Times described Mr. Tan’s idea as “excel-lent.” He said that his only reser-vation is that if a Syrian refugee came to work in his offi ce to get work experience, he would want to pay them, but at this time the offi ce budget doesn’t allow him to add more staff.

Mr. Vaughan, however, said that he always welcomes people who want to work as volunteers in his offi ce. He added that his constituency staff is working with Syrian refugees in the riding to ensure that they are familiar and have access to all the government services to help them fi nd jobs, improve skills, and be successful in Canada.

“It’s an excellent idea worth exploring,” he said of what Mr. Tan is doing.

Conservative MP Dave Van Kesteren (Chatham-Kent-Leamington, Ont.) told The Hill Times he disagreed with Mr. Tan’s idea. He said that one of the key tools that the government should provide to the Syrian refugees

is to help them learn Canada’s offi cial languages. He said that after learning English, French, or both, the newcomers should be encouraged to fi nd paid jobs. Mr. Van Kesteren said that his riding is rural and a number of farmers are looking for workers to work on their farms.

“Give them an opportunity to work and try to get rid of all the barriers that stop that process. They’ll fi t in,” said Mr. Van Kes-teren.

NDP MP Brian Masse (Wind-sor West, Ont.) said that his offi ce welcomes all volunteers. If refugees from Syria or any other country chose to contact him, he will allow them to work in his constituency offi ce.

“We have volunteers in my offi ce all the time. We don’t [have] any type of political, racial, ethnic, or any specifi c strategies. Whoever wants to come and volunteer, [they can do it],” said Mr. Masse.

“We’re open to whoever. It could be a refugee from another country.”


Liberal MP Tan challenges MPs to mentor Syrian refugees to help them fi nd work Rookie Liberal MP Geng Tan mentored a Syrian refugee for two months and she found a paid job, and he’s encouraging other MPs to do the same.


Rookie Liberal MP Geng Tan and his constituency offi ce staff mentored Syrian refugee Shoghig Bedros for two months. She has since found a paid job. Mr. Tan is encouraging other MPs to mentor Syrian refugees. Photograph courtesy of Liberal MP Geng Tan


NEWS SENATE AUDIT

The report will be released a day before the Trudeau govern-ment’s fi rst federal budget which some say is a strategy to try to minimize negative coverage. But the chair of the Senate’s Internal Economy Committee denies it.

“The strategy was to release it the moment we get it from the arbitra-tor,” Quebec Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos, chair of the Senate Internal Economy Committee told The Hill Times. “We didn’t pick the date of the budget and we didn’t pick the date the arbitrator delivered it. For us, we’re looking forward to the report. …We have no reason to not want to have it made public.”

Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.) will table the federal budget on March 22 in the House of Commons. All federal budgets receive extensive media coverage, but this one is especially signifi cant because it’s the fi rst budget of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s (Papineau, Que.) Liberal government. During the Oct. 19 election campaign, Liberals cam-paigned on the promise that the defi cit will be capped at $10-billion, but now it’s estimated that the defi -cit will be more than $25-billion.

Mr. Binnie, the former Supreme Court justice who oversaw the Senate arbitration process, sent his rulings on individual cases of all 14 Senators, to Adam Thompson, the Senate procedural clerk on Feb. 29. Mr. Thompson is serving as the registrar to assist Mr. Binnie. None of the 14 Senators has received an advance copy of the report and will only receive one on March 21, the same day it’s submitted to the Internal Economy Committee.

The Senate invited Mr. Ferguson to conduct a comprehensive audit of all 116 Senators and former Sena-tors who served in the Red Chamber between April 2011 and March 2013 after the Senate expenses scandal became public in 2012. The auditor general cannot initiate and can only conduct one if invited by either the House of Commons or the Senate to do so. The Senate asked Mr. Fergu-son to undertake a Senate audit after the expenses scandal rocked the Red Chamber for months in 2012 and 2013 and created signifi cant political damage to the Senate’s reputa-tion, relevance, and credibility. Mr. Trudeau booted all Liberal Senators out of the national Liberal caucus in 2014 in an effort to distance MPs from the developing scandal.

As a result of the scandal, three former Conservative-turned-Inde-pendent Senators—Mike Duffy, Pa-

mela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau—were suspended and former Liberal Senator Mac Harb resigned and paid back about $231,000. Sen. Wallin has returned to the Senate and, as of last week, no criminal charges had been fi led against her. The cases of the other three are still undergoing the legal proceedings. Sen. Duffy re-cently completed the court hearings of his case and a decision is expected on April 21. CTV National News recently reported that Sen. Brazeau had to be hospitalized in January because of a suicide attempt.

Mr. Ferguson provided his fi nal Senate expense audit report to the Senate in June and fl agged the expenses of 30 current and former Senators totalling about $1-million of inappropriate Senate spending. He recommended that the fi les of nine be refereed to the RCMP for criminal investigation.

To address the concerns of Senators who disagreed with Mr. Ferguson’s fi ndings, the Senate In-ternal Economy Committee set up an arm’s length arbitration process and appointed Mr. Binnie to over-see it. Of the 30 Senators whose expenses were fl agged, 14 chose to take their cases to Mr. Binnie.

The former judge started the impartial dispute resolution pro-cess in September and completed it last month. Mr. Binnie’s legal rulings are fi nal.

The 14 Senators who chose to take their cases to Mr. Binnie are: Quebec Ind. Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, Quebec Conserva-tive Sen. Jean-Guy Dagenais, New Brunswick Liberal Sen. Joseph Day, Ontario Liberal Sen. Colin Kenny, New Brunswick Liberal Sen. Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, Nova Scotia Liberal Sen. Terry Mercer, Saskatch-ewan Liberal Sen. Pana Merchant, Nunavut Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson, Manitoba Conservative Sen. Donald Plett, Northwest Ter-

ritories Liberal Sen. Nick Sibbeston and Saskatchewan Conservative Sen. David Tkachuk. Three former Senators—Lowell Murray, Robert Peterson and Terry Stratton also challenged Mr. Ferguson’s fi ndings before Mr. Binnie.

In an interview with The Hill Times, Sen. Dagenais said he found the arbitration process fair and said he would respect Mr. Binnie’s ruling.

But Sen. Boisvenu said he would make his decision about how to react to Mr. Binnie’s rul-ing after reading the report. If he disagreed with the judge’s ruling, Sen. Boisvenu said he would consult his lawyer to explore his legal options.

“If we don’t agree with his report, I will ask a question to my lawyer, ‘Is there a possibility to make an appeal at the federal court,’” said Sen. Boisvenu.

Meanwhile, six Senators an-nounced on Thursday, March 10, that they are forming an indepen-dent non-partisan working group to bring change from inside the Senate Chamber enabling Sena-tors to do their parliamentary work on an “entirely independent, non-partisan basis as was origi-nally intended by the Founders of Confederation,” “ensuring rights of equality for all Senators in the performance of their diverse Senate duties,” and “restoring the reputation and public confi dence in the Senate as a necessary and vital institution within our Cana-dian parliamentary system.”

Of the six Senator in the working group, four are former Conserva-tives, one Liberal and one Ind. Pro-gressive Conservative. All six now are independent Senators. The four former Conservative Senators in-clude John Wallace (Rothesay, N.B.), Jacques Demers (Rigaud, Que.), Mi-chel Rivard (The Laurentides, Que.) and Diane Bellemare (Alma, Que.).

The former Liberal Senator, in this working group, is Pierrette Ringuette (New Brunswick) and the former Independent Progressive Conserva-tive is Sen. Elaine McCoy (Alberta). Sen. Rivard and Sen. Bellemare left the Conservative caucus on Wednes-day, March 9.

“Partisanship that has been blindly one-sided and lacked impartiality, has seriously eroded the credibility and reputation of the Senate,” said the six Senators in a press release on Thursday.

In an interview with The Hill Times, Sen. Wallace said that all the Senators in the working group will be equal and there’s no leadership hierarchy. He said that to achieve their objectives, he and the fi ve other Senators would use all parliamentary tools at their disposal including speeches, mo-tions and inquiries in the chamber to ensure that the Senate becomes a non-partisan Chamber.

“In the Chamber itself, through the introduction of motions, motions that could involve to change rules, to change the practices that have existed in the Senate for many years, those could be introduced in the Senate and they’d be debated in the Senate and voted on in the Senate,” said Sen. Wallace. “Inquiries are another tool that’s available.”

Sen. Wallace said that the working group will not receive any Senate funding as it’s not a caucus and is not affi liated with any political party.

Sen. Housakos also told The Hill Times that the working group of independent Senators will not get any parliamentary funding because, according to Senate rules, only caucuses of political parties recognized by Elections Canada can receive funding.

“They’re a working group, they’re not a caucus. Only caucuses get funding,” Sen. Housakos said.

“You have to apply to be a recog-nized caucus and a recognized caucus in the Senate requires fi ve Senators that are members of a recognized political party affi liated to a political party that is recog-nized by Elections Canada.”

The Conservative Senate caucus held a special caucus meeting on Thursday afternoon in Room 257 of the East Block of Parliament Hill to discuss what does the defection of the two most recent former caucus colleagues and the formation of the working group mean for their cau-cus and the Senate overall. Accord-ing to Conservative Senate sources, the leadership asked Conservative Senators in the caucus meeting if there were any more Senators who were planning on leaving the caucus but no one said that they are.

Sen. Dagenais told The Hill Times that after reading the six Senators’ press release, he was “upset” and “disappointed” that they questioned the “credibility” of the parliamentary work of Con-servative and Liberal Senators because they’re affi liated with political parties.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t ac-cept this,” said Sen. Dagenais.

Saskatchewan Conservative Sen. David Tkachuk told The Hill Times that in his view the Conser-vative Senators who left his caucus should resign from their seats as they were appointed as Conserva-tives and now they have chosen to leave their party and caucus.

“If they want to sit as Indepen-dents, may be they should leave, they should resign because that isn’t the terms that they were appointed at,” said Sen. Tkachuk. “That’s what I feel about it, it’s my own personal opinion. You make a promise when you come to the Senate and it’s important that you uphold that promise.”

The Hill Times

Senate to release Binnie’s fi nal Senators’ expense arbitration report on March 21 Meanwhile, six Senators have formed an independent, non-partisan working group to work together to make the Senate an entirely independent and non-partisan chamber.


Former Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie started the Senate dispute resolution process in September. The 14 Senators who chose to take their cases to Mr. Binnie are: Quebec Ind. Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, Quebec Conservative Sen. Jean-Guy Dagenais, New Brunswick Liberal Sen. Joseph Day, Ontario Liberal Sen. Colin Kenny, New Brunswick Liberal Sen. Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, Nova Scotia Liberal Sen. Terry Mercer, Saskatchewan Liberal Sen. Pana Merchant, Nunavut Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson, Manitoba Conservative Sen. Donald Plett, Northwest Territories Liberal Sen. Nick Sibbeston and Saskatchewan Conservative Sen. David Tkachuk. Three former Senators—Lowell Murray, Robert Peterson and Terry Stratton also challenged Mr. Ferguson’s fi ndings before Mr. Binnie. Photographs courtesy of the Senate

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 20168

EDITORIAL DIVERSITY IN COMMONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Publishers Anne Marie Creskey, Jim Creskey, Ross Dickson

General Manager, CFO Andrew Morrow

The long-awaited 2016 federal immigra-tion plan was released last week laying

out the total number of permanent residents that Canada will accept in the coming year. Meanwhile, it’s important to point out, as The Hill Times reported last week, that this is the most diverse crop of MPs in the House’s history. This 42nd House has nine new MPs who came to Canada either as refugees or fl ed from war-torn countries. Out of the nine, four came to Canada as refugees from war zones or suffered persecution, and fi ve immigrated to Canada from current and past troubled zones such as the Middle East or Pakistan. The four MPs who came to Can-ada as refugees are: Liberal MPs Arif Virani from Uganda; Gary Anandasangaree from Sri Lanka; Maryam Monsef from Afghani-stan; and Ahmed Hussen from Somalia.

The fi ve fi rst-generation immigrants from current and past danger zones are Liberal MP Faycal El-Khoury from Leba-non; Liberal MP Iqra Khalid from Pakistan; Liberal MP Salma Zahid from Pakistan; Liberal MP Eva Nassif from Lebanon, and Conservative MP Ziad Aboultaif from Lebanon. In total, there are 40 MPs from all parties who were born outside of Canada, according to the Parliament of Canada’s website and research conducted by The Hill Times. Of these, 29 are Liberal, eight are Conservatives, two are NDP, and one from the Green Party.

In the last election, 88 female and 10 indigenous MPs were elected. Also, in the 338-seat House, there are 17 Sikh MPs, 11 Muslim, six Jewish, and three Hindu MPs, according to research done by The Hill Times. According to the 2011 National Household Survey by Statistics Canada, there were more than one million Muslim Canadians, 498,000 Hindu Canadians,

455,000 Sikh Canadians, and 330,000 Jewish Canadians. There were about 22 million Christians, including 13 million Catholics, two million United Church members, 1.6 million Anglicans, 635,840 Baptists, 550,690 Christian Orthodox, 478,185 Lutherans, 478,705 Pentecostals, 472,385 Presbyterians, three million other Christians, and 7.9 million Canadians did not disclose any religious affi liation.

The House still has a long way to go to elect a lot more women and a lot more people of colour, but it’s slowly becom-ing more diverse which is good news for Canadian politics, Parliament, and gov-ernment because a more diverse group of federal legislators not only makes a better Parliament, but is a better refl ection of Canadian society as a whole.

Mr. Virani, an Ismaili Muslim who moved to Canada in 1972 from Uganda along with his parents and sister, and who is also parliamentary secretary to Immigration Minister John McCallum, told The Hill Times last week that Canada’s recent initiative to provide home to 25,000 Syrian refugees has rekindled the legacy of Canada’s traditions of compassion and humanitarianism.

“That’s the story of Canada and that’s a good story and that’s what we’re trying to recreate,” said Mr. Virani. “I’m proud to be the parliamentary secretary to the minister for immigration, refugees and citizenship, recre-ating that story for Syrian refugees now.”

As Liberal MP Chandra Arya told The Hill Times, “politics in Canada is giving back to society. It’s doing something good for the country and for fellow Canadians and becoming role models for the new generation, encouraging more and more young people to get involved in politics.”

He’s right.

I admire Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s progressive views on LGBT rights and his

compassionate stance on the Syrian refugee crisis. I also commend him for naming a gender-balanced Cabinet, as he said, “Be-cause it’s 2015.” There’s another issue that has sullied Canada at home and abroad for years, which I hope Prime Minister Trudeau will address: wasteful government bailouts of the nearly extinct East Coast commercial seal trade. As a concerned Canadian and as an honorary director of PETA, which has more than 280,000 members and supporters in Canada, I’d like to meet with Mr. Trudeau in person to discuss this issue.

All major markets have rejected seal products: the U.S., the European Union, and Russia have all banned seal-fur im-ports because of animal-welfare concerns. Former minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea admitted that China has said no to seal meat, despite years of marketing efforts to create a demand there. World leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, have expressed opposition to the

industry, and even local sentiment is chang-ing. Still, the government pours millions of tax dollars into propping up this dying industry, which has long cost Canada more money to support than it brings in.

I urge Prime Minister Trudeau to usher in a new era of fi scal responsibility and kind-ness by ending federal subsidies of the com-mercial seal slaughter, as Norway recently did. This tiny off-season trade makes up less than one per cent of Newfoundland’s econ-omy. I am hoping Prime Minister Trudeau would be available to discuss cutting or phas-ing out subsidies to this controversial, faded off-season trade. The money could be much more wisely spent promoting other Canadian businesses with a brighter future that would make the world see us as the sophisticated, enlightened modern country that we want to be. I hope to hear that Mr. Trudeau will be available in the coming weeks to discuss this important issue in a more offi cial setting.

Pamela Anderson(The letter writer is a Canadian-American actress and a member of the animal rights

movement).

In the wake of budget season in Ottawa, we need to recall Prime Minister Justin

Trudeau’s statement where he said “we will focus not only on enhancing the prosperity of Canadians, but of all global citizens in an inclusive way.”

In a world of abundance and extrava-gance that we live in today, there is still one-sixth of the population of this planet that live in extreme poverty. These are people who have diffi culty feeding themselves merely one meal a day, or afford to send their chil-dren to school for basic primary education, or buy lifesaving medicine against diseases that are history to the remainder of the world. In his speech from the throne, Mr. Trudeau promised to support the implementation of United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that aim to eradicate extreme poverty and address global climate change—what better way to work on the SDGs than

to address them through budget allocation for education, nutrition and health-care programs? There are numerous grassroots initiatives out there that have a proven track record of measured success in areas of education, nutrition, and basic health care. To name a few, initiatives like the Global Partnership for Education, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the Micronutrient Ini-tiative, and the Tuberculosis Reach, have been supported by our government in the past and require our continued and increased support moving forward into the future.

The Harper government championed the cause of Child and Maternal Health; Canadians are now eager to see what the Trudeau government would champion, and even better, supersede the achieve-ments of its predecessors.

Raees AhmedMontreal, QC

When a recent poll by Nanos Research asked a series of independent ques-

tions for each federal party, six of 10 Cana-dians (61.4 per cent) would consider voting Liberal while 42.6 per cent would consider voting NDP. Four of ten Canadians (40.7 per cent) would consider voting Conservative while 28.5 per cent would consider voting Green. It seems that since his election as Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau’s public support has grown exponentially.

Mr. Trudeau has successfully rehabilitated

25,000 Syrian refugees, introduced measures to combat climate change, and taken steps to improve living conditions of the aboriginal people. His voice of openness and modera-tion will be even more needed if atavistic and anti-immigrant Donald Trump become the president of the United States. And we will see greater co-operation between the United States and Canada during the remaining tenure of President Barack Obama.

Mahmood ElahiOttawa, Ont.

More diverse House of Commons makes a better House of Commons

Pamela Anderson wants to meet Trudeau on Canada’s seal trade

Upcoming fi scal budget and development assistance

PM Trudeau’s public support has grown exponentially, say reader

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INSIDE POLITICS XXXXX

MONTREAL—It is a political rule of thumb that defeated incumbents tend to

drown their sorrows in money and it turns out the federal Conservatives are no exception.

At $5-million, the spending limit im-posed on each of the candidates who will vie to replace Stephen Harper between now and next spring is more than fi ve times higher than the maximum allowed for the leadership contest that resulted in Justin Trudeau’s election.

But it is in the same general ballpark as that set by the Liberals immediately after they lost power to the Conservatives in 2006.

Over the campaign that ended with Stéphane Dion’s victory, the candidates were allowed to spend almost $3.5-million each— down from $4-million at the time of Paul Martin’s quasi-coronation in 2003.

In between the two Liberal leadership contests, more restrictive Elections Canada fundraising rules had come into effect.

Corporations were no longer permitted to dish out generous helpings of money to their favourite candidate. Only individuals could contribute a modest amount of money.

In 2006, the Liberals were the fi rst to try out those new rules and the result was a collective disaster.

By the time the campaign ended, more than half the 11 candidates were mired in debt. Over the years that followed their ef-forts to pay off those debts put a crimp in the party’s fundraising efforts.

To top it all, the 2006 Liberal campaign did not yield a winning leader.

The Conservatives apparently believe they are immune to those risks. Not that they have any experience with the process—Harper was selected under the old free-for-all system.

But in this contest, businessman Kevin O’Leary would be forbidden to tap into his own considerable fi nancial resources. Instead he would have to fi nd supporters to fi nance his campaign, $1,500 at a time.

The immediate impact of the high spending limit the party has settled on will likely be to give an added incentive to the other prospective candidates to wait for a clear signal from Jason Kenney and Peter MacKay as to their leadership intentions.

In this contest, the ability to fi nance a truly national campaign will be crucial.

It will not be good enough to sign up a lot of members in a given region. Each riding—whether its membership is in the thousands or less than 50-strong—will be worth 100 points to be split among the candidates based on the percentage of their support.

In theory, a candidate could come fi rst in the 99 ridings the party currently holds but still lose by not doing well in the 239 that are not currently represented by a Conservative MP in the House of Commons.

And if you think that is an extreme scenario, consider that, on balance, Ken-ney is best placed to score high in many of the Conservative-held ridings but MacKay could be an easier sell in most of the non-conservative ones.

There are of course more ways to gain from a leadership campaign than by be-coming leader.

Brian Mulroney, John Turner, Jean Chré-tien and Paul Martin all built subsequent

Funds key to clinching Conservative leadership

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CHANTAL HÉBERT

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201510COPPS’ CORNER NATIONAL ANTHEM

Mauril Bélanger was not the fi rst Member of Parliament

to recommend a gender-neutral national anthem. Hopefully, he will be the last.

Last week, the long-serving Liberal MP from Ottawa-Vanier was honoured by all his col-leagues as he occupied the House Speaker’s chair in recognition of his contribution to Parliament.

The emotional and heartfelt support from all sides of the House was honest and palpable. It gave Canadians an ever so brief glimpse into the humanity of all parlia-mentarians. In the end, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper.

An even more durable recog-nition would be a parliamentary motion to unanimously adopt Bélanger’s proposed wording changes to the English version of Canada’s national anthem.

It is the second time Bélanger proposed two little changes to the song, to wipe out any hint of gen-der bias in nation building. His plan is simple; replace the words “thy sons” with “of us.”

This is the fourth time a private member’s bill has been introduced on the subject in the House of Commons. The Senate has also entertained a similar mo-tion and Prime Minister Stephen Harper even fl oated the idea of a gender-neutral anthem in a throne speech.

The backlash to that initia-tive was swift, and the idea was scuttled within two days.

This time, Bélanger has done his homework. Before introduc-ing the bill, he commissioned an extensive national public opinion survey on the subject.

The results of the analysis by Mainstreet Technologies illus-trated massive support for the proposed changes.

Among the 5,000 people in-volved in the survey, 58 per cent approved the change while only 19 per cent disapproved. In such a large sampling size, the margin of error was small, only 1.35 per cent; 19 times out of 20.

Indubitably, the vast majority of Canadians are with Mauril on this one. They are also with him in his battle against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

However, sometimes the tail wags the dog in politics. When Harper aborted his promise to review sexist language in the anthem, he had more negative re-action within his own party than elsewhere.

Judging by the twitter reaction to Bélanger’s bill, some naysayers are still pretty persistent.

Even as the Ottawa-Vanier MP was being feted in the House of Commons as the fi rst honourary Speaker in history, critics were attacking his bill as sexist. “Can we have a men’s day too? Women have a day. Can we change ladybug to people bug. What about lady justice in from the courthouse. Can we change that to something neutral? Mother Nature? Why does nature have to be female...” ranted one blogger.

As a minority francophone living in Ontario, Mauril has built his much-vaunted reputation around the search for racial, gen-der, and linguistic equality.

How many times have we at-tended a hockey game or even a parliamentary event to have a ca-cophony of sound as some sing in English with French inserts and some sing in French with English inserts.

Add to that mix the attempt to strike a gender balance and we lit-erally have Canadians singing four different versions of the anthem.

Perhaps it is a refl ection of our diversity that no one seems to get too excited by the confused bilin-gual wording in the current anthem.

Some, of course, including members of the Bloc Québécois, don’t particularly want to sing any-thing in honour of Canada in our national Parliament or beyond.

It is ironic that the original O Canada, was written in French only for a celebration of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day.

In those days, the original did not include an English transla-tion. So it is certainly historically relevant to replace an outdated, sexist anglicised version of the anthem with a better modern 21st century translation.

That was Mauril’s hope, in his private member’s bill fi rst intro-duced two years ago. Who could have known what a difference two years would make in his own life?

His latest effort, tabled in January, was seconded by Leona Alleslev, MP for Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill, Ont. and parliamentary secretary to the minister of Public Services and Procurement.

And on Mauril’s special day in the House, the words he proposed for the English version of the updated anthem were included in the rendition by New Democratic Party member Christine Moore.

It was a touching and appro-priate gesture on a day when all parliamentarians came together to honour Mauril’s courage and tenacity, in the face of a daunting and relentless disease.

A fi tting follow-up to last week’s honour would be unani-mous support for his bill to modernize O Canada for all Canadians.

Sheila Copps is a former deputy prime minister and a former Jean Chrétien-era Cabi-net minister. She is a registered lobbyist.

The Hill Times

OAKVILLE, ONT.—Not to raise anybody’s hopes or

anything, but I expect the soon-to-be unveiled federal budget will be a catalyst for some extremely entertaining theatre.

And that’s kind of ironic since the federal budget itself, with all its mumbo jumbo about marginal tax rates and current account balance and debt-to-GDP ratio (or is it GDP-to-debt ratio?), will be far from fun.

Indeed, to fi nd budgetary details interesting you’d have to be an economist or an accountant or one of those people who get their kicks by fi lling out income tax forms.

But what will be “entertain-ing theatre” is the drama of party politics that always surrounds a federal budget.

In other words, what’s fun to watch on budget day are the per-formances of the political party leaders as they take on the role of either impassioned budget de-fender or fervent budget attacker.

Plus, this year’s budget will be especially entertaining to watch since each party leader needs to tweak and fi ne-tune his or her character in the play that is par-liamentary politics.

Their budgetary reactions will help them do just that.

Take, for instance, Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau.

Right now, Trudeau’s part in the play could be defi ned as the “Fun Guy”—lots of sizzle, not much steak. Or to paraphrase Winston Churchill, Trudeau’s a photo op, wrapped in a selfi e.

Nothing wrong with that, but Trudeau needs to grow his character.

So he will use the budget as a way of adding depth and gravi-tas to his persona, in order to convince Canadians that he’s less Teen Beat magazine and more Wall Street Journal.

Hence, he will bedazzle us with golden oratory about how his government is “investing” bil-lions of tax dollars in needed stuff like municipal infrastructure and in cool stuff like the “knowledge” economy, and in trendy stuff like “green” industries.

Only an economic genius could do all that.

Yes, Trudeau will plunge Cana-da into a sea of budgetary red ink, but he will calmly explain, with a twinkle in his eye, how sophisti-cated politicians, like him, regard the concept of balanced budgets as an unfashionable relic of an archaic past.

And speaking of unfashionable relics of an archaic past, the Conser-vatives will use the budget debate to re-establish their role as Canada’s “Fearless Defender of the Taxpayer.”

When debating the budget, interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose, who needs to be a strong character to re-energize her base, will be outraged, ir-ritated, and otherwise miffed at the Liberal government’s massive defi cit, which she will character-ize as reckless spending.

Of course, when her party was in power, it spent tax dollars only a little less recklessly, but who cares?

Luckily for the Conservatives, characters in political theatre don’t need a consistent back story.

As for NDP Leader Thomas Mul-cair, well the budget will give him a golden opportunity to give his char-acter some radical socialist edge.

And yes, his political character needs to get a little edgy because in the last federal election, Mul-cair disillusioned many on the left when he (gasp) voiced support for boring old bourgeois fi scal responsibility.

In fact, many on the left blame the NDP’s poor electoral show-ing on Mulcair’s supposed lack of socialist conviction.

To make amends, when the

budget is released, watch for Mulcair to go all “Working Class Hero,” meaning he will bash the Liberals for not for spending more, for not taxing more, and for not devising some sort of Soviet-style Five-Year Plan.

So Mulcair, Trudeau, and Am-brose, all of them should put on a great show.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the curtain to rise.

The Hill Times

Bélanger not fi rst MP to call for gender neutral O Canada

This year’s budget theatre will be a great show

A fi tting follow-up to last week’s honour would be unanimous support for his bill to modernize O Canada for all Canadians.

But what will be ‘entertaining theatre’ is the drama of party politics that always surrounds a federal budget.

POST-PARTISAN PUNDIT 2016 BUDGET

GERRY NICHOLLS

SHEILA COPPS

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s part in the play could be defi ned as the ‘Fun Guy’—lots of sizzle, not much steak, writes Gerry Nicholls. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger, who has ALS, was the honorary Speaker on March 9. The emotional and heartfelt support from all sides of the House was honest and palpable. It gave Canadians an ever so brief glimpse into the humanity of all parliamentarians. In the end, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper, writes Sheila Copps. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright


CANADA IN THE 21ST CENTURY ECONOMY & INNOVATION

TORONTO—Finance Minister Bill Morneau has promised to

deliver, before the end of the year, “a robust growth strategy” for “strong and sustainable growth.” It’s a big promise.

If he succeeds, he will fi ll the glaring gap in the federal Liberal Party platform which had little to offer on innovation and long-term growth. Yet, without more innova-tion and stronger productivity growth, Canada faces continuing weak economic fundamentals and huge challenges in meeting the needs of an aging society without sacrifi cing the needs of the young. Moreover, if the government genuinely wants to strengthen the middle class, as it endlessly claims it does, then it has to improve Canada’s poor productivity per-formance and raise the economy’s potential growth rate. This is the only way to increase the prospect

of good jobs and a sustained and improving standard of living.

To help accomplish this, Morneau has enlisted an advisory group, headed by Dominic Barton, global managing director of the worldwide consultancy, McKinsey & Co. Barton. He is an experienced globalist and presumably Morneau can draw on the research base of the McKinsey Global Institute.

But this is too important to be left to a small group of insiders, no matter how experienced. Not all the good ideas will reside with them. Canadians need to be more widely engaged, which is why the Trudeau government should also charge a House of Commons committee to hold public hear-ings on a growth strategy, to learn from Canadians who also have something useful to say.

In looking at a framework for long-term growth, one obvi-ous direction is to focus on the potential of the digital economy and what Canada must do to seize the signifi cant growth opportuni-ties that could emerge. Canada is not starting from square one. We have many small-and mid-size companies and a small number of larger ones that are internationally

competitive in telecommunications, software and systems, digital ap-plications, and engineering, as well as universities that are producing good graduates in these fi elds.

Over the next 10 to 15 years, advances in digital technology will radically transform many industries; from banking and retail, to automo-tive and energy. Digital technologies will also need to be embedded in much of our infrastructure. While the digital economy—the so-called fourth industrial revolution—will be highly disruptive, it will also create opportunity. What Canada needs is a growth strategy that helps Canada seize those opportunities.

This means ensuring we have the talent base. It means developing innovation ecosystems that not only help companies get started, but also enables them to scale up and be-come sustainably competitive in the global economy, something that we are not good at right now. Many of our tech-based companies are sold to foreign corporations because the patient capital isn’t there to grow them. We may simply be creating seed corn—R&D branch plants—for international corporations headquarted elsewhere rather than creating our new business cham-

pions headquartered in Canada, with the brains of these businesses located here.

We must also focus much more on creating markets for our digital entrepreneurs. Given the signifi cant increase planned in in-frastructure spending by all three levels of government, we should ensure that we are investing in leading-edge infrastructure.

Autonomous and connected cars, for example, need not only com-municate with each other but also communicate with our infrastruc-ture. Likewise, our water systems need to address leakage and safety challenges using networks of sen-sors to monitor changing conditions. Our electricity networks need smart meters to make the most effi cient use of electricity.

So our planned infrastructure investments should put a high priority on digital content. This makes for better infrastructure but also creates opportunity for Canadian entrepreneurs to dem-onstrate what they can do.

But we also need to look at our digital infrastructure. International reports suggest that Canada has some of the most expensive yet slowest digital networks among the advanced economies. A report last year by the UN-backed Broadband Commission for Digital Develop-ment ranked Canada 16th in fi xed broadband subscriptions per capita and 47th in mobile subscriptions per capita. The OECD found that Cana-da ranked 26th in mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, which is hosted in Ottawa, is pushing the smart infrastructure city-agenda, based on the internet of things. Smart infrastructure, it says, includes smart transporta-tion, smart buildings and homes, smart health care and elder care, smart environmental sensing and protection and carbon footprint reduction, enhanced tourism expe-riences, and city open data. It can be a centre of knowledge for imple-mentation of a strategy to make our planned huge infrastructure in-vestments an opportunity for smart infrastructure investments that can generate many opportunities for innovative Canadian companies while improving quality of life and urban effi ciency.

A recent report from the Mck-insey Global Institute—Digital Glo-balization: The New Era of Global Flows—states that “the current wave of churn and transition creates opportunities for countries to carve out profi table roles in the global economy.” But “those opportunities will favour locations that build the infrastructure, institutions, and busi-ness environments that their compa-nies and citizens need to participate fully.” And, it adds, “building these enablers can have the double benefi t of boosting domestic productiv-ity—and without them, the economic impact of fl ows will be muted.”

A successful growth strategy, then, must be very much future-oriented—focused on the world in 2020 and beyond—and the strategy, if it is to be effective, must also be disruptive. We have to think big, take calculated risks, and be auda-cious. We really don’t have a choice if we want the long-term growth that will generate good jobs and prosperity for all Canadians.

David Crane can be reached at [email protected].


Canada needs growth strategy to seize digital economy

Canada’s successful growth strategy must be very much future-oriented, focused on the world in 2020 and beyond, and the strategy, if it is to be effective, must also be disruptive. We have to think big, take calculated risks, and be audacious. We really don’t have a choice if we want the long-term growth that will generate good jobs and prosperity for all Canadians.

DAVID CRANE

Finance Minister Bill Morneau, pictured in this fi le photo on Parliament Hill, has promised to deliver, before the end of the year, ‘a robust growth strategy’ for ‘strong and sustainable growth.’ It’s a big promise, writes David Crane. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201612THE WAR ROOM STATE DINNERS

TORONTO—A meal, some speeches, and some self-

ies. That’s what state dinners are all about, mostly. They’re supper, basically, except you have to wear your best clothes and be on your best behaviour.

When Jean Chrétien was still running things, I was lucky enough to be invited to some state dinners. At one of them, the best-ever prime minister was hosting Russian president Vladimir Putin. Unlike Stephen Harper would do, much later on, I shook Putin’s hand.

I tried to exchange a few words with Putin, too, via a trans-

lator. I distinctly remember an ominous grin playing across the Russian strongman’s face as he looked up at me (he’s really short, or I’m really tall). I recall thinking he had the look and comportment of a guy who would run you over with a tank if he didn’t like what you had to say. Which, as histori-ans will agree, is exactly the case.

Anyway. Those are state din-ners. Most of the time, they’re genteel affairs, with lots of poli-tesse and everyone doing their utmost to avoid sounding like Donald Trump.

But was anything actually ac-complished, at last week’s much-written-about Trudeau-Obama bromance banquet? Probably not. But fans of The West Wing—which famously did a whole episode about state dinners, way back in 1999—will know that they can be an occasion for important things to be said. To wit:

Sam Seaborn: ‘Toby, do you re-ally think it’s a good idea to invite people to dinner and then to tell them exactly what they’re doing wrong with their lives?’

Toby Ziegler: ‘Absolutely, oth-erwise it’s just a waste of food.’

Exactly. (And don’t you wish Josiah Bartlet was running for president in 2016? Me, too.)

The point, here, is that Justin Trudeau was having duck for dinner—as in, a lame duck. The guy he was breaking bread with will be at a Wall Street law fi rm a year from now, making a bajillion

dollars for speeches to Rotar-ians. He won’t be spending two minutes thinking about Trudeau or Canada.

The people Trudeau needs to be focused on, instead, weren’t even at the dinner: Hillary Clin-ton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz or (God forbid) the aforementioned Donald Trump. They were chasing delegates in the mid-west.

Per The West Wing, Canada’s newly-minted prime minister should consider using state din-ners, and the like, to pass along a few hard truths to Washington audiences. These are found below, helpfully typed up as talking points:

•My American friends, I’m from Canada. Head to Buffalo, then turn left. You can’t miss us.

•I know the primaries prob-ably convinced all of you that the path to power lies in tearing up trade agreements with countries like mine. That’s why Bernie shocked everyone, and beat Hill-ary in various Rust Belt states. That’s why Donald won every-where—he peddles anti-free trade xenophobia.

•But don’t do it. With the world economy starting to show the faintest glimmers of hope, don’t embrace protectionism. Don’t become (even more) insular. Don’t succumb to the siren song of solipsism. It doesn’t work.

•While we’re on the subject, consider a couple things Canada is good at. Our banking system,

for starters. Yours, a few years back, plunged everyone into a global recession. We Canadians did pretty well in that sad era because we don’t ever let bank-ers do whatever their tiny black hearts desire. You need to simi-larly restrain them before they conjure up yet another mess.

•Guns, too. Proportionately, we have as many crazy people as you do. But we don’t like our crazy people get their hands on assault rifl es. You should do likewise. You’ll thank us one day.

•Health care, as well. We’re not bad at it and you stink at it. When candidates for president start promising to give U.S. citizens less health care, not more—when they want to let poor, sick people get poorer and sicker—well,

there’s something wrong in your culture, folks. It needs fi xing.

•Refugees, immigrants, new-comers: we welcome them. You should too. They become citizens, they get jobs, they pay taxes. It’s a good thing.

•Canada has some useful tips for you to consider. Thanks for dinner.

Would Justin Trudeau ever say any of those things to a well-heeled American audience? Of course not. We Canadians are way too polite.

But these state dinners don’t come along every week, PMO. The next time one happens, consider de-livering a few cautionary messages.

After all, if President Josiah Bartlet thought it was okay to do so, it’s always okay to do so.

The Hill Times

The role of copyright within the Canadian education system

has emerged as a contentious is-sue in recent years as the internet and digital technologies have transformed how schools provide

students with access to materi-als. At the centre of the fi ght are a series of Supreme Court of Canada rulings that establish the boundaries of “fair dealing,” which permit copying of reasonable portions of materials without the need for permission or further compensation.

Last month, the Copyright Board of Canada issued a landmark decision on copying practices in primary and second-ary schools, largely affi rming the approach adopted by educational institutions. As a result, Access Copyright, the copyright collec-tive that represents publishers and authors, will collect far less for in-school copying than it originally demanded.

The reason for the reduction rests primarily with the emer-gence of fair dealing principles that emphasize the need for bal-ance between creators’ and users’ rights. The board’s fair dealing analysis found that 97.2 per cent of copying from books, 98.1 per cent from newspapers, and 98.5 per cent from periodicals quali-fi ed as fair. In other words, virtu-

ally all copying of books, newspa-pers, and periodicals in the large sample reviewed by the Board is covered by fair dealing and does not require a licence.

In response to the decision, Ac-cess Copyright and its allies have tried to increase the pressure for legislative reform. The Association of Canadian Publishers claims that there is little clarity in Canada on fair dealing, yet the reality is that the Supreme Court established the fair dealing copyright rules in 2004 and reconfi rmed its approach in 2012. Reasonable guidelines based on those decisions are now widely used by educational institutions across the country and their princi-ples are refl ected in the Copyright Board decisions.

The Writers’ Union of Canada tried to shift the focus away from the courts, attributing the Copyright Board ruling to the 2012 copyright reforms that added “education” to the list of fair dealing purposes under the law. The argument seems designed to suggest that Parliament created the problem and that it can “fi x” it when the law undergoes a review in 2017.

However, even a cursory reading of the Copyright Board decision re-veals that the 2012 reforms had little impact on the ruling. In fact, it un-equivocally states that the reduced fees are directly attributable to the Supreme Court decisions, which are grounded in longstanding principles about the copyright balance.

As for Access Copyright, it called the decision “deeply disap-pointing,” arguing that it means that large amounts of copying will go uncompensated. Rhetoric aside, fears that Canada is now a copying free-for-all are simply untrue. The board estimated that its decision will provide Access Copyright with nearly $10 million per year in compensation. In fact, provincial ministers of education have expressed their own con-cerns with the decision, suggest-ing that the fees are still too high.

Revenues from collective licens-ing is only part of the compensa-tion story. Nearly 90 per cent of all copying in primary and secondary schools does not engage Access Copyright as the copies do not involve works from its repertoire or are copied with prior permission

from the rights holder. Moreover, educational institutions increas-ingly rely on digital materials, which require that subscription fees be paid directly to rights hold-ers and avoid the need to involve a copyright collective.

Alternative revenue sources are particularly common within universities and colleges. The Canadian Research Knowledge Network, a partnership of 75 Canadian universities repre-senting 1.2 million researchers and students, has entered into thousands of agreements with publishers to offer access to their members. Last year, CRKN spent over $100-million in licensing fees for electronic content.

Access Copyright wants the gov-ernment to believe that the changes to the Copyright Act are responsible for evolving approach to copying permissions. Yet the evidence sug-gests that it is digital technologies, new services, and court decisions that are the real agents of change. The problem for Access Copyright is that copies are still valued, but in light of new forms of access and the evolution of the law, its licence is no longer valuable.

Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can be reached at [email protected] or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.


State dinners: a meal, some speeches, some selfi es

Copyright ruling strikes fair balance in heated education battle

Canada’s newly-minted prime minister should consider using state dinners, and the like, to pass along a few hard truths to Washington audiences.

Access Copyright wants the government to believe that the changes to the Copyright Act are responsible for evolving approach to copying permissions.

DIGITAL WORLD COPYRIGHT ACCESS

MICHAEL GEIST

WARREN KINSELLA

Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, Michelle Obama, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and U.S. President Barack Obama, pictured March 10, 2016, before attending the state dinner. These state dinners don’t come along every week, writes Warren Kinsella, which is why Canada’s prime ministers should use them to deliver a few cautionary tales too. Photograph courtesy of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau


OPINION HOMELESSNESS

VANCOUVER, B.C.—Canada has long maintained that

it’s a standard-bearer for human rights internationally, a dominant myth that many of us hold to be true. A report from the United Nations released this month throws cold water on that notion, however. The international body has criticized Canada for failing to meet many of its international obligations to protect vulner-

able Canadians. They have also outlined how Canada can, once again, become a human rights leader.

The report, written by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights following its 10-year review of Canada’s compliance with the International Covenant that it signed in 1976, expresses particular concern about the persistent housing cri-sis in this country. Ten years ago, that same committee referred to Canada’s housing and homeless-ness crisis as a “national emer-gency”, and yet the crisis contin-ues unabated.

In a given year, an estimated 235,000 people experience home-lessness in Canada. Thousands of them resort to sheltering and sleeping in public spaces to sur-vive, trying to protect themselves until morning. Most of them are breaking municipal laws to do so.

Cities across Canada engage in ticketing, harassment, and dis-placement tactics that marginal-ize homeless people for engaging in acts of basic survival such as sleeping or setting up a tent in a park.

Anti-camping laws prohibit-ing sleeping and sheltering in public places effectively criminal-ize homelessness because they prohibit basic acts of survival like laying down or sheltering ones’

self from the elements. Breaking these laws can lead to a ticket, and unpaid tickets can lead to involvement with the justice system.

The harm of anti-camping laws, however, goes well beyond the possibility of a ticket. These laws empower cities to target, harass, and displace homeless people, perpetuating prejudice and stigma against them and imperiling their health and safety, practices that one UN committee member referred to as “shameful.”

The courts of British Columbia have found anti-camping laws in two cities unconstitutional. Fur-ther, the Supreme Court of B.C. has found that constant displace-ment of homeless people causes physical and psychological harm and hinders the ability of ser-vice providers to fi nd and assist homeless people. Despite these fi ndings, local anti-camping laws continue to exist across Canada.

The proliferation of anti-camping laws and related state actions are the result of taking a piecemeal policy approach to housing in Canada and of failing to recognize the human rights of homeless people to an adequate standard of living, housing and protection from discrimination. Homeless Canadians have been left to fi ght for the right to sleep under a tarp or box overnight

rather than a right to an adequate standard of living and protec-tion from laws that discriminate against them.

This is an unacceptable state of affairs in a nation as affl uent as Canada.

The UN has called on Canada to enact a national housing strat-egy that recognizes the right to housing and prohibits anti-camp-ing laws that prevent people from sheltering. Without these legally enforceable rights, an incredibly vulnerable population cannot access justice and protect them-selves from laws that displace them, make them invisible, and treat them like criminals.

If Canada is going to assume a role as a leader in international human rights, the federal govern-ment must recognize social condi-tion, including homelessness, as a protected ground against discrimination and recognize the right of homeless people to an adequate standard of living and health. These are the cornerstones of ending stigma and prejudice against homeless people.

Canada must also recognize a justiciable right to adequate hous-ing, this is what is required of us under the Covenant and it is what Canadian values demand. We can no longer leave some our most vulnerable people without any le-gal recourse when their most fun-

damental rights are violated. We must also revoke anti-camping laws that discriminate against, stigmatize and criminalize people experiencing homelessness for engaging in behavior necessary for survival.

None of this will result in Canada being pushed beyond its capacity to provide for these rights. Canada will maintain its ability to allocate its resources. These commitments will, how-ever, ensure that those resources are allocated in accordance with human rights and will allow alleged rights violations to be adjudicated on the facts of each case rather than being dismissed as non-justiciable.

As Canadians we believe ourselves to be compassionate and respectful of human rights. The international community, however, is not yet convinced that we are committed to acting on our stated values. For Canada to meet its international obligations and to show the world that we are back and are ready to be leaders on the international stage, we must start with housing justice at home.

D.J. Larkin is a lawyer and housing justice campaigner with Pivot Legal Society, a Vancouver-based human rights organization.


Rare in the history of our collec-tive battle to address climate

change has there been a more serendipitous opportunity for our federal, provincial, and territorial governments to lead by example.

On the one hand, fi rst min-isters at their recent Vancouver meeting underscored their com-mitment to move towards a low carbon economy. On the other, in the wake of the recent global eco-nomic slowdown, governments are rolling out economic stimulus spending initiatives to support jobs and address the country’s very real infrastructure defi cit. The federal government alone is pledging to spend $60-billion over 10 years to support our economy. All levels of government in Can-ada spend more than $100-billion every year in goods and services. How all that money is spent will determine the size of the carbon footprint left behind.

Earlier this week, an unprece-dented group of executives and se-nior leaders representing forestry, transportation, renewable energy, building, climate and environmen-tal groups issued an open letter to the prime minister, all premiers

and environment ministers calling for a carbon fi rst principle for in-frastructure spending and procure-ment policy decisions.

The concept of carbon fi rst is intended to encourage public and private sectors to select the least carbon intensive option for any project. For example, gov-ernments could invest in more climate friendly construction. The noted Vancouver architect, Michael Green, says that a single 100,000 square foot building made of wood instead of compet-ing materials such as concrete would have a total carbon benefi t equal to 7,380 metric tons of CO2. And that’s the equivalent of tak-ing 1,410 cars off the road for a year for a single building.

There are many other ex-amples of making climate-friendly decisions. It could mean increased investment in public transit or shipping more goods by rail to lower transportation-related GHG emissions. It could mean switch-ing from fossil fuels to green renewable energy. It could mean policies that would encourage new manufacturing processes and other innovations that would limit

carbon emissions. Carbon fi rst would be a principle supported by science-based carbon accounting tools such as life cycle assessments and green building programs.

Governments have a unique opportunity right now to apply this carbon fi rst principle when planning infrastructure spending and procure-ment. They have the capacity to infl uence both areas through billions of dollars in associated spending and commitments every year. We believe that doing so will encourage the private sector to follow suit. And of course, it will help Canada achieve the ambitious goals agreed to at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

At their Vancouver meeting, the fi rst ministers agreed to set up

working groups that would con-sider carbon mitigation in such areas as the build environment. They are signalling it is now time to move beyond commitments and move toward real actions based on science-based principles and policy. If our political leaders are indeed serious about address-ing both the infrastructure defi cit and our climate responsibil-ity, then adopting a carbon fi rst principle is an enormous oppor-tunity—one that would send a message to all Canadians and the rest of the world.

Derek Nighbor is the CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada.


Canada must meet its international obligations and recognize rights of homeless

Government spending needs to embrace carbon fi rst

For Canada to meet its international obligations and to show the world that we are back and are ready to be leaders on the international stage, we must start with housing justice at home.

If our political leaders are indeed serious about addressing both the infrastructure defi cit and our climate responsibility, then adopting a carbon fi rst principle is an enormous opportunity—one that would send a message to all Canadians and the rest of the world.

OPINION ENVIRONMENT

D.J. LARKIN

DEREK NIGHBOR

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, pictured in this fi le photo with Bob Rae. Rare in the history of our collective battle to address climate change has there been a more serendipitous opportunity for our federal, provincial, and territorial governments to lead by example, writes Derek Nighbor. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201614OPINION GHGS

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA.—In Paris, the new federal government announced

Canada was joining the High Ambition Coalition, a group of countries aiming to limit global warming to no more than 1.5oC. On March 3, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met in Vancouver to address a framework for a sustainable Canadian

economy better positioned to compete globally in the areas of clean knowl-edge and technologies. We support those changes.

We are Sustainable Canada Dialogues, a network of Canadian climate scholars. In March 2015, we released a national re-port proposing integrating hydroelectric installations in British Columbia, Manito-ba, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Lab-rador with future renewable energy from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and the Maritimes—a backbone for Canada’s low-carbon economy. Our map of renew-able energy resources highlights the vast potential of wind and solar energy in the southern Prairies.

In this context, recent discussions over the expansion of Alberta’s oilsands leave critical questions unanswered. In 2014, the federal government approved the Northern Gateway pipeline to deliver 525,000 barrels of bitumen per day for export via Kitimat on Canada’s West Coast. Currently, two more major pipe-lines are proposed to deliver increased oilsands production. Kinder Morgan proposes expansion of its Transmoun-tain Pipeline to the West Coast, add-ing 600,000 barrels of delivery per day. TransCanada Corporation wants to build

the Energy East pipeline to deliver 1.1 million barrels of oilsands production to refi neries in Eastern Canada and a Ma-rine terminal in New Brunswick. Togeth-er, Canada has approved and proposed pipelines for additional oil sands sales of 2.3 million barrels per day at a total cost of $27.6-billion.

In late 2015, the break-even price to produce oil from a new oilsands mine rose to roughly US$100 per barrel for an oil sand mine and US$75 for a new steam-based oil sands project. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. reported the aver-age cost of steam-based oil sands project, and surface oil sands mines are about $40,000 and $78,000, respectively, per barrel of daily production. Thus fi lling the proposed new pipelines could require new production facilities with a minimum estimated cost of $92-billion, above and beyond the $27.6-billion for the pipelines. That is an investment of at least $120-bil-lion, possibly much more.

Given that world oil prices are unlike-ly to rise, it is questionable whether or not those investments will be profi table. Recently, the Saudi oil minister stated oil prices will remain low until high cost producers, like oilsands, are forced out of the global market. Even if oil did recover in the next few years, Bloomberg Busi-ness reported expanding electric car markets would crash the oil market per-manently within fi ve to 10 years. Further, any discussion of new oil extraction must also consider national and provincial positions on climate change mitigation. Environment Canada projects our 2030 national emissions of greenhouse gases will be 55 per cent above our Paris com-mitment. A multi-billion dollar invest-ment in pipelines is not what Canada, nor any province, need as we begin the transition to a low carbon economy and meet our Paris obligation.

We believe diversifi cation of national and regional energy portfolios would improve both the health and well-being of Canadians and would reduce the devastating impacts of fossil fuel devel-opments on indigenous peoples and the environment. The diversifi cation of these portfolios would also improve energy and economic security. Refocusing investment on renewable energy providers would shift oil and pipeline workers to build-ing energy production systems that take advantage of Canada’s renewable energy potential. The transition to a low-carbon society and economy will enhance pros-perity and well-being, modernize infra-structure, develop regional renewable en-ergy sources, and create new businesses and new jobs. Much smaller investments in renewable energy would make Canada energy independent and dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Such signifi cant progress on emission reductions would clearly show the world that Canada and Alberta are cleaning up the oil sands emission problems.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance says clean energy investments increased from US$10-billion to $50-billion between 2004 and 2014. However, Canada’s role in the global CleanTech market is in decline, ac-cording to Ottawa based Analytica Advi-sors. Energy infrastructure lasts decades; our investments lock in development along specifi c pathways. Pipelines and oilsands plants require multi-decade time frames to pay off capital costs. Continued investment in oil extraction and transportation locks Canada into carbon intensive energy for decades. Sustainable Canada Dialogues calls for a clear energy and climate policy that will decrease GHG emissions, increase certainty in Canada’s business environ-ment and encourage companies to invest in low-carbon technologies.

James Byrne and Bryson Brown from the University of Lethbridge, and Cathe-rine Potvin from McGill University, wrote this on behalf of their colleagues with the Sustainable Canada Dialogues.


Canada needs a clear energy, climate policy to decrease GHG emissions, increase certainty in Canada’s business environment

BRYSON BROWN, CATHERINE POTVIN, AND JAMES BYRNE


OPINION HEALTH

In last week’s Health Policy brief-ing in The Hill Times, Health

Minister Jane Philpott outlined a compelling vision that will drive her mandate. From negotiating a new Health Accord, to addressing access to life-saving pharmaceuti-cals, to new investments in mental health, palliative care and First Nations health, there is no shortage of issues where her leadership is needed and welcome.

As a father and fellow physi-cian, I also support her stated intent to address “the moral im-perative of responding to stagger-ing mortality rates from suicide and substance abuse.”

Canada currently fi nds itself in the midst of two related public

health crises: the under-treatment of chronic pain and the challenges of prescription drug abuse, misuse and diversion. Chronic pain af-fects one in fi ve Canadians along with their families and caregivers. It is a disease that needs to be ad-dressed, and prescription opioids remain a safe and effective treat-ment for appropriately selected and monitored patients.

However, these medicines do have a risk and, tragically, we have seen the varied costs of prescription drug abuse. A human cost that has disproportionately affected young Canadians and our First Nations communities, a societal cost given the vast health care, societal, and law enforce-ment resources expended, and the very personal cost of stigma against doctors, pharmacists, and patients who responsibly prescribe, dispense, and use these medicines respectively.

In 2012, after more than a de-cade of research and development, Purdue Pharma replaced Oxy-

Contin in Canada with OxyNEO, a product with features designed to deter its abuse and misuse. Since this transition, signifi cant real-world evidence has been generated in both Canada and the United States that reveals: a reduction in the product’s abuse relative to OxyContin; fewer adverse event re-ports of overdose related to abuse/misuse; and, a marked decline in pharmacy thefts and losses of Oxy-NEO relative to the old formulation OxyContin.

That is why products with abuse-deterrent features (ADFs) represent an important contribu-tion by the pharmaceutical indus-try—brand and generic—to tackle the broad and growing issue of prescription drug abuse. On March 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Admin-istration (FDA) reported that more than 30 such products are currently in various stages of development and that it has already approved fi ve ADF products for use by Amer-ican health-care professionals and American patients.

While ADFs are not a “silver bullet” for addressing the complex societal issues of prescription opioid abuse, they are an impor-tant and available “upstream” tool in a multi-faceted approach that can help to deter misuse, abuse, and diversion of these medicines. These “upstream” tools complement other efforts such as prescription drug monitoring programs, prescriber education, law enforcement efforts, and the broader provision of naloxone to fi rst responders. All of these efforts are also consistent with a harm reduction approach.

Converting one drug in the opioid class to a tamper-resistant or abuse-deterrent version would be expected to move abuse and diversion to non-deterrent medi-cines. This shift is referred to as the “balloon effect,” and in fact actually demonstrates that abuse-deterrent technologies work. Therefore, it is important that this class of drugs be converted as the technologies are demonstrated by

manufacturers, and approved by Health Canada. The quicker that occurs, the quicker we will see a benefi t to public health. Purdue’s commitment is to introduce technologies designed to make our medicines less attractive or vulnerable to misuse and abuse while continuing to ensure they are safe and effective for patients.

In the last Parliament, both the Senate Social Affairs, Sci-ence and Technology (November 2013) and the House of Commons Health (April 2014) committees recommended that Health Cana-da amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act regulations to make abuse-deterrent products a Canadian reality. These recom-mendations were informed by experts from the fi elds of medi-cine, pharmacy, public health, law enforcement, and addiction.

Philpott has a window of im-mediate opportunity, framed by a public health urgency, to further expand the work of the last Parlia-ment and align with the FDA by quickly introducing regulations to accelerate the use of abuse-deter-rent formulations across the entire class of opioid medications.

Dr. Craig Landau is the presi-dent and CEO of Purdue Pharma (Canada). He is an anesthesiolo-gist with 25 years experience in private practice, the U.S. Army Reserve, and industry. Purdue Pharma (Canada) is a member of Innovative Medicines Canada.

The Hill Times

They have almost been forgot-ten. The picket fence that

segregated this hallowed ground

from the surrounding boreal forest has collapsed. So have the wooden crosses that once marked their graves.

There are at least 16 bodies interred in a cemetery measuring only 35 by 25 metres. Most were men, a few were children. We know their names thanks to the determined research of Vernon’s Lawrna Myers.

To protect what remains of their privacy, their surnames will not be repeated, save for one man’s—for his name was an-nounced in newspapers published in those troubled times.

Six imprisoned infants per-ished of unknown causes between May 1915 and March 1916. Their names were Jeannette, Olga, An-drez, Jan, and Carolka. Another boy, Iwan, died from an intestinal haemorrhage, in December 1915.

Six men died between May 1915 and October 1916—Pawlo, Aksenty, Geo, Wasyl, Stefan, and Mike, taken by tuberculosis. Karol died in August 1915 from typhoid fever. Chronic nephritis killed Gregori, in October 1916, and tubercular meningitis took Sotiri in January 1917.

Ivan Hryhoryschuk suffered a different fate. He was shot dead on June 7, 1915, attempting to escape from the Spirit Lake internment camp located in the Abitibi region of Quebec, not far from Amos. Ivan’s death warranted front-page

coverage, for example, in The Manitoba Free Press of June 23, 1915. So the nation knew some-thing about what was happening to those branded “enemy aliens” by the now-notorious War Measures Act. Most readers likely didn’t care.

Not all internees were recent immigrants. Some, like Carolka, were born in Montreal, making her a British subject. Her status did not matter. She became just another one of the victims of Canada’s fi rst national internment opera-tions, along with the rest of her family. His sister, Mary, one of the last survivors, explained why it was so important for Canadians to remember what happened in the First World War, reminding us it had happened again in the Second World War and yet again during the FLQ Crisis, in 1970. Standing on guard for civil liberties and hu-man rights was particularly impor-tant, she counselled, in periods of domestic and international crisis. Perhaps if her little sister, Carolka, had not died at Spirit Lake she too would have been a mother, an aunt, and a storyteller like Mary. She never got the chance.

At Spirit Lake (now La Ferme), in the Abitibi region of Quebec, the interned men were forced to work for the profi t of their jailers and local businessmen, carving an Experimental Farm out of the woods, as other internees laboured likewise, to the west, at Kapuskas-

ing. Many Spirit Lake prisoners had been residents of Montreal’s Pointe-St Charles working class district, including parishioners of St. Michael the Archangel Ukrai-nian (Greek) Catholic church. Ad-ditional internees were railroaded in from Petawawa, Beauport, Montréal, Kapuskasing, Toronto’s Stanley Barracks, Banff, and the Otter internment camp in British Columbia. At its maximum, the Spirit Lake population swelled to 1,312 internees, including some 60 families. Opened on Jan. 13, 1915 it was shut on Jan. 28, 1917—Ka-puskasing would not close its gates until Feb. 24, 1920, some 14 months after the end of the Great War.

When the American vice-consul, O Gaylord Marsh, visited Spirit Lake in the autumn of 1915, the cemetery had a large cast-iron cross and several graves with cedar markers. By the time I fi rst visited, in June 1999, one concrete and a few toppling wooden crosses were all that remained. By September 2008, most of those had fallen, so much so that even determining the locations of all 16 graves would have required concerted effort. This unique site is now in much, much worse, condition, almost complete-ly lost to the forest.

How did a Catholic cemetery, established under federal au-thority, fall into such disrepair? We know that, in October 1918, soon after the military left, the

Dominion Department of Agri-culture assumed control over the property. Eventually, in May 1936, Ottawa let the province of Quebec have the land for a nominal sum. No one cared about the internee cemetery. The land was next sold to a farming couple, in 1988. It’s now theirs. Whether they have ownership of the cemetery, or of its skeletal occupants, is another, more contentious, issue.

In the past few years, a per-manent display about the Spirit Lake internment camp has been opened at La Ferme, largely thanks to the fi nancial support of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund. Even earlier, a commemorative plaque (1999) and then a statute, titled “Interned Madonna,” were unveiled (2001). Unfortunately, every attempt to secure limited rights of access to the internee cemetery for the purposes of restoring and re-consecrating it have failed. Local feuds had made certain of that.

On Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s website, Heritage Min-ister Mélanie Joly is described as “a lawyer by training [who] is passionate about her city of Mon-treal and the power of positive politics.” That’s encouraging. For only the intervention of another Montrealer will recover the mem-ory of the innocents transported from her city into the wilderness, whose tombs will forever be lost if she does not act, and soon.

Lubomyr Luciuk is a professor of political geography at the Royal Military College of Canada. The “Appeal” to Heritage Minister Mé-lanie Joly is found at www.uccla.ca.


Philpott should bring in regs to accelerate use of abuse-deterrent formulations for opioid medications

Spirit Lake: the federal cemetery that Ottawa forgot This unique site is now in much, much worse condition, almost completely lost to the forest. Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly should intervene to restore the memory of the innocents transported from Montreal into the wilderness and whose tombs will forever be lost if she does not act, and soon.

OPINION SPIRIT LAKE CEMETERY

CRAIG LANDAU

LUBOMYR LUCIUK

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201616OPINION SENATE & ACCOUNTABILITY

OPINION AIRPORT NETWORKS

VICTORIA, B.C.—It is open to you as prime minister,

demonstrably having the back-ing of Canadians, to bring about a performance standard for the Senate that both serves public accountability and largely elimi-

nates political partisanship as an infl uence on Senators’ actions and voting.

The Feb. 15 issue of The Hill Times published the performance standard ( page 11). If the stan-dard is met by Senators, it would gain public respect for the Senate. My column’s title was: “Fixing the Senate needs a performance stan-dard for its sober second thought.” The Senate’s sober second thought mandate is crucial. The performance standard is key for needed Senate action in debate on a bill that would affect citizens in important ways if passed into law. A performance standard is a standard of motivation and competence to bring about an intention for what should hap-pen and cause not to happen that which shouldn’t.

The performance standard for the Senate’s sober second thought duty stems from the 1989 Massey lecture of Ursula Franklin, whose insight into the workings of society is likely unmatched. She admonished citizens: “Whenever someone talks to you about the benefi ts and costs, of a particular project, don’t ask ‘What benefi ts?’

ask ‘Whose benefi ts, and whose costs?’

Her observation achieves two profound effects: she explained to citizens how to hold to account, and she redefi ned the essence of public accountability as the obligation of decision-makers in authority to explain what they intend to bring about, for whom and why, before they act—not af-ter the fact, as in traditional audit or court cases that can’t prevent what should not have happened.

Thus, the non-partisan perfor-mance standard for the Senate’s sober second thought duty in its debating process on a bill is the following: Senators will require proponents of the bill to publicly answer both in the bill and in the Senate debate on the bill two basic public accountability ques-tions: Who would gain what ben-efi ts from what the bill proposes, and why should they, in both the short and longer term? And who would bear what costs and risks, and why should they, in both the short and longer term?

This performance standard could well be a fi rst for Canada and perhaps the fi rst in other

countries with parliamentary de-mocracies—not just for countries having a Senate. The Hill Times article explains how Senators meeting the performance standard in debate on a Bill would help produce greater fairness in laws emerging from Bills and would largely eliminate political parti-sanship infl uence in the Senate.

As Prime Minister, you have already started on means of re-moving political partisanship as a dysfunctional infl uence on Sena-tors’ actions and decision-making. In setting up a body to seek non-partisan men and women for Sen-ate membership, the search body can ask prospective candidates whether as Senators they would commit to meeting the proposed performance standard for Senate debate on a bill.

If met, the performance standard moves past disgruntled Liberal Senators (The Hill Times coverage Feb. 15 on “Tough times ahead for Trudeau Libs in Sen-ate, say Liberal Senators”) and neutralizes the current voting-numbers advantage of present Conservative members. Through the two basic accountability questions, the proposal sets out unassailable criteria for indi-vidual Senators’ personal voting decisions on bills.

The public explanation obliga-tion in debate is based on the fi rst principal of public accountability. It is that citizens are entitled to know the implications of intentions of decision-makers in author-

ity before they act. This allows fair and effective challenge. The performance standard for Senate debate applies equally to intentions in a bill coming before the House of Commons, and to provincial, territorial or state legislatures. It applies as well to proposals coming before municipal councils when the intention would affect citizens in important ways.

For existing Senators, a problem may be parliamentarian thinking remaining “within the box.” If present Senators think such a performance standard isn’t needed, they would be wrong. But I would not expect this objection to be the view of new Senators.

The Senate performance stan-dard of asking in debate the two basic accountability questions for public answering would clarify for Canadians the implications of a bill if the reply extracted for the questions was full and fair. The two accountability questions cover most intentions.

Senators meeting the perfor-mance standard for debate on a bill would gain public respect. It would not only bring out for Canadians the implications of the bill; it would also largely eliminate political partisanship because the answering with the reasons would be public. The standard holds for members of legislatures and municipal councils when their answers to the basic accountabil-ity questions and their reasons are publicly accessible.

The Hill Times

While Canada’s aviation sys-tem may not have been top

of mind for many voters when they entered the polling stations last fall, Canada’s economic future as a small, but globally-oriented trading nation was. Return a safe, strong, competitive air network covering Canada and connecting us to the world supports trade, tourism and countless jobs. Greater alignment in government policy can help and the coming report of the Canadian Transportation Agency Review Panel should promote some healthy discussion in this area.

A review of transport policy by former minister David Emerson was submitted to Transport Minis-ter Marc Garneau after more than a year of input from stakehold-ers around the country. Airports, airlines, and other organizations with a stake in a solid air trans-port sector are now anticipating Emerson’s report, which will be made public in the coming weeks.

Passenger volumes in Canada continued to grow last year, contributing to air transport’s economic footprint of $34.9-bil-

lion, 405,000 jobs, and $7-billion in taxes to government. While the sector serves Canadians well, the competitive market has changed dramatically over the past quarter century since the government’s “user pay” approach to aviation was established. Con-tinued growth is great news for airports and airlines but creates considerable challenges around government services like security screening and border facilitation. Economic competitiveness and infrastructure funding challenges for some small and regional air-ports are also areas of concern.

Airports are important components of transportation infrastructure in the communities they serve, not just in large com-munities but in smaller cities as well. The Charlottetown Airport is the only gateway by air for Prince Edward Island’s important tour-ism sector. Gander International Airport serves as an important regional employer and technical stop for transatlantic fl ights. Sto-ries like this are repeated through the country.

With a soft economy and investments in transportation infrastructure top of mind, airports have spent the past few months highlighting the need for predict-able funding for important capital projects at small airports like these. With lower passenger volumes, less

stable traffi c and aging assets, small airports have greater diffi culty obtaining capital for infrastructure maintenance and upgrades. While a valuable program, the Airport Capital Assistance Program (ACAP) does not fully address the needs of many small airports it was designed to support. The Canadian Airports Council’s small airport members have united with other regional airport groups around Canada to propose reforms to this program.

Moreover, six small airports in Charlottetown, Fredericton, Gan-der, London, Prince George and Saint John are located on federal land and are specifi cally excluded from ACAP and the broader Build-ing Canada federal infrastructure program. A more inclusive and eq-uitable approach to infrastructure renewal should be pursued for all projects at small airports.

Four of the airports affected are located in Atlantic Canada, which is enjoying new air service options from Canada’s major air carriers. Together with the airports in Lon-don, Ont., and Prince George, B.C., these airports have requested federal funding support for much needed runway and terminal upgrades that will further enhance economic activ-ity and jobs in their communities during these tough times.

At Canada’s larger airports, our passengers’ single largest and growing source of traveller

frustration is security screening. As passenger numbers have continued to grow, and Air Travellers Security Charges taxes collected increases, money transfers to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) simply have not kept pace with demand. The result is a diminished level of service, espe-cially at peak times. Passengers have been paying for a service and are not receiving value for their money—this needs to change.

On the opportunity side, Can-ada is well placed to capture a big share of growth in global traffi c be-cause of Canada’s geographic loca-tion at the crossroads between both Europe and Asia and the Americas. By being more competitive as a global transport hub, Canada can attract many more transiting pas-sengers and cargo fl ights and trav-ellers not destined for Canada, but whose business can help sustain international air routes that may not otherwise exist.

Fees and taxes on a Cana-dian air ticket pose a burden on travellers where it matters a lot—their wallets. While cross border shopping is in decline with a weakened Canadian dollar, each year millions Canadians still depart from U.S. border airports for cheaper fares. One of those hidden taxes is the component of cost or “rent” which Canadian airports are required to pay to

the federal government and is not a requirement in the U.S. or other parts of the world. Canada’s airports pay more than $305-mil-lion in rent annually—$4.6-billion since 1992. There are many op-tions to deal with rent, but as a minimum Canada’s airports have recommended that more of it be reinvested back into the industry.

Canada’s airports will see Em-erson’s report along with the rest of Canadians by early April. Air-ports are anticipating a suite of recommendations for the federal government to consider and look forward to working with Garneau and his offi cials in consider-ing the review and instituting a new government approach to air transport for the next 20 years.

Canada has a great air trans-port foundation; let’s build on it.

Daniel-Robert Gooch is presi-dent of the Canadian Airports Council (CAC), the voice for Canada’s airports community. Its 48 members operate more than 100 airports, including all the privately-operated National Airports System (NAS) airports and many municipal airports across Canada. CAC members handle virtually all of the nation’s international passenger traffi c and air cargo, and 95 per cent of domestic passenger traffi c.


An open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Government review an opportunity to strengthen Canada’s air network

There needs to be a performance standard for the Senate that both serves public accountability and largely eliminates political partisanship as an infl uence on Senators’ actions and voting.

HENRY MCCANDLESS

DANIEL-ROBERT GOOCH


OPINION SYRIA

It has been fi ve years since the war in Syria started—fi ve years

of destruction and devastation. There are fi ve million refugees, 6.6 million who are internally displaced, and, according to some estimates, upwards of 470,000 casualties. As unimaginable as it seems today for peace to come back to Syria, it was almost unimaginable fi ve years ago that such a brutal and unconscionable confl ict could erupt in the coun-try. Today, the world is confronted with the worst humanitarian and refugee crisis since World War II and a war that has become a geopolitical battleground that can no longer be viewed as a national or even regional confl ict, but one with a global reach.

The international community, including Canada, was slow to react to this crisis when it fi rst started, only increasing its inter-vention when the group calling itself ISIS entered the fray, and when Syrians began to arrive by the boatload on European shores. With insuffi cient support from the international community, countries like Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, which alone are hosting more than four million refugees, have closed their borders. In the meantime in Syria, shells continue to destroy homes with no warning and starva-tion is used as a weapon of war.

The response of the new Cana-dian government to this crisis since being elected has signalled a signif-icant shift in Canada’s approach to Syria. It has diminished its military intervention by withdrawing from air strikes on ISIS in Iraq and Syr-ia, has offi cially welcomed 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, and recently announced an increase in the amount allocated to humanitar-ian aid and long-term development.

Although there appears to be a clearer focus on peace rather than war, is it enough? Is it enough to prevent another Alan Kurdi from losing his life on a terrifying trip to escape an even more terrifying reality; or to make this the last year that we mark the anniversary of this terrible war? Military action will never bring an end to this war. Syrians need peace, and for this to happen, Canada must strengthen its role in the peace process and not resort to a military solution.

And for real peace to take root, it is the people of Syria themselves who need to be in-volved in determining their own future. It is their voices that are missing from the strategies being discussed and ongoing peace talks between heads of states, which have mainly resulted in a fragile ceasefi re.

This is why Canada must play a leadership role in making the voices of Syrian civil society heard in the peace process. It was those groups—young activ-ists, community organizations, women’s groups, intellectuals, human rights defenders, students, and others—who fi rst dreamt of a better future for their country, the ones who believed and fought for a democratic society free of sectarianism. And in many cases they are the ones who are coura-geously providing humanitarian aid within Syria. They need to be at the table if Syria is to have any hope of real peace and of rebuild-ing, once this confl ict ends.

Experiences from other coun-tries recovering from confl ict, like Colombia and Liberia, have shown that lasting peace is only reached when including the civil society in

the process; not only as observers, but in a truly participatory way.

Civil society actors are skillful and creative and constantly striv-ing to identify alternatives to vio-lence. Even when political peace is achieved, and an agreement signed, it cannot be imposed on a divided population that continues to believe that the most effective way of resolving their issues is through violence.

It is the skills of local people that will lead to a necessary national dialogue, to reconciliation, to cre-ative grassroots solutions, and to a holistic and participatory process of rebuilding trust. It is through these processes that ordinary people can articulate their needs and their issues, and where the common

ground required for peaceful coex-istence can be identifi ed.

A Syrian-led, Syrian-owned political process will be the foundation on which a new Syria will be built. By bringing together Syrian civil society in a secure space where they can express their priorities and propose solu-tions—whether through a forum, roundtable discussions, or posi-tion papers—and ensuring that this feeds into the UN-led peace process, this could be Canada’s greatest contribution to lasting peace in Syria.

David Leduc is executive di-rector of Development and Peace in Montreal.


Critics of the Trans-Pacifi c Partnership (TPP) agreement

have been quick to claim that it is bad for Canada’s future prosper-ity. What is missing from this predictable denunciation is any understanding of why our coun-try has chosen to negotiate trade agreements—and benefi ts from them. Canada, with a population of 35.8 million, is a small market,

representing just two per cent of the global economy.

We produce more than we consume, which means that our well-being depends upon our abil-ity to trade with countries around the world. Canada’s fi rst com-prehensive free trade agreement, with the United States, took effect in 1989. Since then, our country’s GDP per capita has expanded by nearly 150 per cent.

Today, one in fi ve jobs de-pends, directly or indirectly, on exports. Yet critics warn that glob-al competition is bad for Canada. Trade and productivity are inex-tricably linked, and together they drive prosperity. Trade deals such as the TPP spur productivity and prosperity by exposing Canadian companies to foreign markets.

Just as sprinters tend to achieve their best results at the Olympics, companies are most innovative when squaring off against world-class competition.

To succeed internationally, companies must innovate in all aspects of their business. The TPP

will give Canadian entrepreneurs and innovators an opportunity to compete with some of the best in the world, on a level playing fi eld.

Innovative and productive companies abound in sectors of the Canadian economy that are exposed to global completion. Con-sider Guelph, Ont.-based Linamar: its automotive parts facilities in Ontario are the most competitive and productive of the company’s 48 plants spread around the globe.

Some have suggested that the provisions of the TPP dealing with intellectual property (IP) will somehow undermine Canadian innovation. This is simply false.

Trade and IP law experts who have studied the agreement confi rm that it largely reinforces Canada’s existing IP framework and is consistent with the IP rules already in force in other advanced economies. Are those rules perfect? Perhaps not.

But rather than sitting on the sidelines and complaining, Canada can have more infl uence by working with other trading

nations to shape and harmonize global IP laws.

Besides, the IP chapter is only one of 30 in the agreement. Reject-ing the TPP without considering the broader implications of the deal would be a grave mistake. Instead of fearing global competition we should face it head on and embrace the opportunities in fast-growing Asia-Pacifi c markets such as Viet-nam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

While there are 12 members now, the TPP will include a mechanism to allow other countries—such as South Korea, China, and Indone-sia—to sign on to the agreement in the future. The benefi ts of the TPP expanding to include an even larger share of global trade fl ows are immeasurable. Suggesting that Canadian prosperity would suffer if we sign the TPP is alarmist.

Recent estimates from the Peterson Institute for Interna-tional Economics suggest that the agreement will increase Canada’s national income by $37-billion by 2030. At the same time, Canadian exports will jump by seven per

cent, inward investment stocks by 7.2 per cent, and outward investment by 1.2 per cent. While we can only try to forecast the expected benefi ts of the TPP, we know without a doubt that Canada would suffer if it chose to walk away from a trade agree-ment that encompasses nearly 40 per cent of global GDP.

The United States, Mexico, and Japan—respectively Canada’s fi rst, third, and fi fth largest trad-ing partners—are participants in the TPP. With nearly 80 per cent of Canada’s exports going to these three countries alone, the TPP is critical to deepening commer-cial ties and enhancing shared North American competitiveness. Canada must strive to be one of the most global, competitive, and innovative countries in the world. To do so, we must embrace global competition, not fear it.

John Manley is president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada.


Where is the voice of Syrians in the peace process?

Canada must strive to be one of most global, competitive, innovative countries in world

A Syrian-led, Syrian-owned political process will be the foundation on which a new Syria will be built. By bringing together Syrian civil society in a secure space where they can express their priorities and propose solutions—whether through a forum, roundtable discussions, or position papers—and ensuring that this feeds into the UN-led peace process, this could be Canada’s greatest contribution to lasting peace in Syria.

Rejecting the TPP without considering the broader implications of the deal would be a grave mistake.

OPINION TPP

DAVID LEDUC

JOHN MANLEY

Syrian refugees, pictured Sept. 2, 2015, arriving in Greece after fl eeing Syria in boats. Today, the world is confronted with the worst humanitarian and refugee crisis since World War II and a war that has become a geopolitical battleground that can no longer be viewed as a national or even regional confl ict, but one with a global reach. The Hill Times photograph by Fernando Del Berro

“It’s a huge toss up right now as to what happens. We’re expecting anywhere between 1,000 and 1,500 delegates or so, and it will really come down to the mood of those delegates as they arrive in Edmon-ton,” said Ian Capstick, a communications consultant, former NDP staffer and current party member.

He added that there’s “a lot of disap-pointment” within the party over the results of the 2015 election.

“Mulcair faces the fi ght of his life. ... This is going to come down to how good is the presentation at convention; how impressive is Mr. Mulcair in his convention speech [and] in the videos that they decide to put up; how well has Mr. Mulcair’s team done at whipping his vote and bringing his loyalists out to Alberta,” Mr. Capstick told The Hill Times.

The NDP convention is scheduled April 8 to 10, with a leadership review vote slated for the last day.

As set out in the NDP’s constitution, at every convention that’s not a leadership one, a “secret ballot vote” is held on “wheth-er or not a leadership election should be called,” requiring 50 per cent-plus-one support from delegates to be passed. If a leadership election is called for, it must be held within a year.

That said, there’s been some discus-sion among Dippers in the lead up to the convention over what the actual acceptable threshold of support should be, and NDP president Rebecca Blaikie has said Mr. Mulcair (Outremont, Que.) needs at least 70 per cent support to stay leader of the party.

Convention delegates will also debate and discuss policy resolutions put forward by members and riding associations from across the country. The party’s fi nal post-mortem report on the election campaign will also be presented at convention.

NDP national director Karl Bélanger said that, as of March 10, 1,275 people were registered to attend the convention, with the agenda still being fi nalized. He said the “higher-than-expected turnout is a sign of the enthusiasm of our base for their party.”

“I hope we will leave this convention united around our core values and moving forward together,” he said.

Mr. Capstick said the convention needs to “excite NDP members again” as there’s a lot of “apathy, generally, towards the leader and towards the future of the party at the moment.”

He said “largest question” for NDP mem-bers to tackle at the convention is “how do we regain relevance in Justin Trudeau’s Canada?”

“Because right now we are perilously close to irrelevance,” he said.

“It’s going to have to get people con-vinced there’s a place and a role for New Democratic politics in Ottawa. I think that

there is. I’m very hopeful for the future, but we need to clearly articulate what has gone wrong with the campaign and then seize on some incredible opportunities that sit in front of us, not the least of which is pre-senting a more fi scally responsible alterna-tive to the Trudeau Liberals,” he said.

After surging into offi cial opposition on the back of an Orange Wave in 2011, the tide turned for the NDP last fall, with a Liberal wave sweeping out much of the party’s caucus, dropping from 97 to 44 MPs. Now the third party under a majority Liberal government led by Prime Minister Trudeau (Papineau, Que.), party members sound a lot like the Liberals did after their disastrous showing in the 2011 election, with much talk of the need to renew and rebuild.

In February, Mr. Mulcair published a letter to supporters taking “full responsibil-ity” for the “shortcomings” of the campaign, saying, “I could have done a better job.” As of late, Mr. Mulcair has been travelling across Canada, meeting with NDP asso-ciations, activists, and union groups, and holding town hall meeting with the party’s grassroots.

Mr. Capstick said by reaching out and running a “bit of a campaign” ahead of the upcoming convention, Mr. Mulcair is “doing the due diligence that’s required for the vote that he’s facing,” and not taking members for granted. Mr. Capstick said he personally is reserving his judgement until he sees the election post-mortem, but he also thinks Mr. Mulcair “needs at least 70 per cent” support.

“I’m looking to hear from the leader himself [at convention],” he said, adding that Mr. Mulcair’s speech will be an “in-credibly important” one. “It’s probably the most important speech of his life.”

In response to emailed questions from The Hill Times, Mr. Mulcair said he’s “energized” from his meetings with party members, organizer, and supporters, which he said are a “key party or renewal and establishing our trajectory forward,” but that he takes “nothing for granted” and will “serve at the will of NDP members.”

“No one in the party is happy with the results of the campaign, but it is my job and my duty to the party to learn from those mistakes and apply those lessons go-ing forward. Sitting on the sidelines is not an option for the NDP and it’s never been an option for me,” said Mr. Mulcair.

Last week, former Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan and Barry Weisleder, chairman of the NDP socialist caucus, told The Globe and Mail they were

escalating efforts to get rid of Mr. Mulcair as leader ahead of the convention.

Mr. Ryan said he thinks Mr. Mulcair should “bite the bullet” and “step aside and allow some other person to come in that’s going to bring the kind of zest and zeal that we need in this party.” Mr. Weisleder said he thinks the campaign run by Mr. Mulcair and his staff was an “unmitigated disaster.”

Alain Charbonneau, the newly elected president of the Lasalle-Ville-Émard-Ver-dun, Que. NDP riding association, has also criticized Mr. Mulcair’s leadership, saying Mr. Mulcair “failed” his “mission” as leader, as well as by Ontario NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale-High Park, Ont.), who has said she thinks Mr. Mulcair “has to go” as leader.

Robin Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and former NDP strategist and member, said the list of critics to date “wouldn’t fi ll my heart with any dread if I were a Mulcair loyalist.”

But a longtime NDP staffer told The Hill Times in a phone interview last week that, despite “the lack of very open organizing against” Mr. Mulcair as leader, “there are certainly large groups of people who are or-ganizing for as low a vote as possible for the leader at convention,” and that “everyone is going because of the leadership [vote]. ... That is the reason to come to this convention.”

“It’s not just the left; there are organiz-ers and campaign managers and former campaign staffers from across the country who have been in active discussions and the goal is to drive the leader south of 70 [per cent support],” said the source, adding that many of these people “work with the party and can’t because of our jobs that we currently hold, can’t publicly put our names on it, which is a problem.”

The source, who is attending the convention, said while New Democrats “don’t have a tradition of knocking off our leaders because of poor election results,” the question this time is about whether Mr. Mulcair “is the right leader to rebuild the party today.”

“It’s not about rehashing what hap-pened or didn’t happen in the campaign—lots of different opinions about that. It’s about the future,” said the source. “I don’t think Tom Mulcair actually connects with Canadians, and I think that came through rather strongly in the campaign.”

The source said no one will declare interest in the leadership “until the space is made because nobody wants to be the person who was aggressive against Mr. Mulcair.”

“You’re seeing a very united caucus, at least publicly,” said the source.

Chad Rogers, a partner at Crestview Strategy and a former Conservative staffer, said he thinks “Tom Mulcair is like Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense; he is the only guy that doesn’t know it’s over.”

“You can’t lose that big without a differ-ent plan about why it happened and what you’re going to change and stick around. You have a caucus that has declined by more than 50 per cent in size and he was the leader,” he said.

Mr. Sears said a lot of New Democrats are unhappy with the results of the election, but not everyone that’s grumbling thinks the right move now is to change leadership. He said he thinks he doesn’t think it’s “ever a good thing” to have two leadership races ongoing at once, and the Conservatives are already set for one to be decided in May 2017, and he doesn’t “think it’s a good idea to go fi rst” without knowing who the Conserva-tive leader will be in the next election.

“I think some of the people who are grumbling have not sort of thought through the consequences for them and the party [if they change leadership],” he said, adding that he thinks there’s a “very long list” of problems with the NDP’s 2015 campaign, leadership aside, to examine, pointing to advertising, research, and use of data analytics.

Robin MacLachlan, a vice-president at Summa Strategies and a former NDP staffer, said immediately after the election, “there was a lot of anger and frustration” as well as “disappointment. It wasn’t the result we wanted and hopes were high,” but he thinks talk has recently shifted to a more “forward-looking phase.”

“A lot of people got some feelings off their chest about the election and some of that was certainly directed at the leader, but what’s happening in Edmonton in April at the convention is obviously a culmina-tion of the post-election refl ection and, most important, looking forward to where we’re going,” he said.

Mr. MacLachlan said Mr. Mulcair has been “listening to the membership” and has already made some changes, such as bring-ing in Ray Guardia as chief of staff and Riccardo Filippone as communications director—both party stalwarts.

“I think everyone recognizes that [the NDP is] in a rebuilding phase. This is a time for renewal. That is not up for debate. The question is do we do that renewal … in the context of a leadership race,” said Mr. MacLachlan.

“I think that in asking themselves whether now is the time for a leadership race, I think members may think that there are other priorities and perhaps that they’ve invested in Tom Mulcair,” in terms of his profi le among Canadians and his “personal brand,” he said.

That said, Mr. MacLachlan said he thinks “it’s going to be close,” but in his opinion, a “divisive leadership race while we have a lot of other things to focus on may not be the best thing for the party.”

NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.) said he thinks the higher-than-expected registration for the convention is a sign “there is a lot of energy and interest” among New Democrats, and there’s lot’s of support for Mr. Mulcair.

“When you start to draw up what you need in a leader, he ticks so many of those boxes that that’s what’s going on for a lot of people. We want someone good on their feet in both French and English and who’s passionate and progressive,” he said. “I think for a lot of people, they’re realizing, even though we’re disappointed clearly that that happened in October, that we have a very good leader with us.”

Mr. Cullen said the NDP is at a “defi ning moment” as a party and movement.

NDP MP Matthew Dubé (Beloeil-Cham-bly, Que.) said he thinks Mr. Mulcair is “the guy that we need to have” right now and he’s “pretty convinced” Mr. Mulcair will get the support of delegates.


THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201618NEWS NDP LEADERSHIP

Mulcair faces ‘fi ght of his life’ at convention, says Capstick NDP policy spells out that 50 per cent-plus-one support is what’s needed to avoid a leadership convention, though some within the party say Mr. Mulcair should have at least 70 per cent if he intends to continue as leader.


There is a mix of supporters and detractors within the NDP for Leader Tom Mulcair, and next month’s party convention will be a defi ning moment for him and the party. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

hilltimes.com/events/ht-upcoming-events.html

SUMMARY

EXPERT PANEL

Julie Delahanty, Executive Director, Oxfam CanadaWomen are doing more and more work. They are growing the economy in Canada and around the world. But they are not seeing their fair share of growth. In fact, women’s contributions to economic growth are often made possible precisely because of their marginalized position in the economy. In a global economy that depends on cheap labour to produce

and CCPA’s new report, Making Women Count: The Unequal Economics of Women’s Work proposes solutions to help build a more fair

Brittany Lambert,

Policy & Advocacy

CanadaWomen in Canada and in the Global South are disproportionately poor. Finding solutions to women’s economic inequality requires understanding its root causes. The uneven distribution of unpaid work is one of them. Women’s unpaid work has a powerful impact on their access to paid work and worsens inequality by limiting the time women have to participate in economic, political and social activities. Public services such as childcare, eldercare, healthcare and education reduce women’s

their opportunities by creating jobs in female employment sectors. Social policies like paternity leave also show promise in reducing women’s motherhood penalty and shifting the balance of unpaid work within the family. Finally, supporting women’s rights activism and organizations can help change the social norms that shape men and women’s roles in society.

Nancy Peckford, National

Equal VoiceEqual Voice is

highly encouraged by the diverse backgrounds and

current crop of 88 women MPs. The appointment of a gender balanced federal cabinet is

only one of two in Canada (Alberta has a 50% plus female cabinet). At just 26 percent of MPs, however, we have a long way to go. Women are more likely to put their name on the ballot if know they can make meaningful change. It’s why the outcomes from this Parliament could make an enormous difference to future generations of women. It’s also why Equal Voice is leading an ambitious national leadership initiative, Daughters of the Vote, which will choose one young women from every federal riding in Canada to participate in a groundbreaking

for International Women’s Day in 2017. Learn more at www.equalvoice.ca

Anita Vandenbeld, Member of Parliament,

Nepean Throughout my career in international democratic development I was inspired by women across the globe who fought for political representation despite threats to their personal safety and social barriers. Here at home, our government’s initiatives towards gender parity are a step in the right direction but Canada still ranks 48th in the world when it comes to women in politics. We have a long way to go. I have seen

at the table when crafting policy cannot be overstated. Gender based analysis remains sorely underutilized. As Chair of the newly formed Pay Equity Committee I am committed to furthering the cause of political equality in Canada in and outside of the House.

Kate McInturff,

Canadian Centre for

If the economy were actually made up of rational actors equally well-trained, well-educated women and men would have equal levels of employment and be paid equal amounts. Not happening. Women’s employment rates fall behind those of men in every country in the world and the wage gap for full time full year work in Canada is getting bigger, not smaller. Today it stands at 72%. How do we close the employment gap? We need employment and job creation strategies that recognize that men and women tend to work in different occupations. It means

barriers that women face to employment—namely that double burden of care work. We need to close the pay gap. That means tracking rates of pay and promotion. We also need regulation because the evidence shows us that waiting for the karmic return on our hard work just doesn’t cut it. The results: more sustainable and balanced growth at a time when we really need it.

GENDER EQUALITYEVENTS

AN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY DISCUSSION ON

BY RACHEL AIELLO

In response to repeated questioning from MPs during a meeting of the House Public

Accounts Committee over a revised timeline for completion of the government-wide IT con-solidation, Shared Services Canada executives say the new game plan is still months off.

Last Thursday, MPs on the committee grilled Shared Services executives on the “ineptitude and inaction” in completing the

government’s IT consolidation and mod-ernization project, which includes merging email systems, data centres, and networks.

Shared Services Canada president Ron Parker, chief operating offi cer John A. Glowacki Jr., and Treasury Board chief infor-mation offi cer John Messina appeared before the committee on March 10 to discuss chapter 4 of the auditor general’s fall report, which dealt with Shared Services. Auditor General Michael Ferguson also appeared before the committee last week, as did Manon Fillion, Shared Services Canada’s deputy chief fi nan-cial offi cer of corporate services.

None of the witnesses were able to com-mit to the current 2020 completion deadline, as they are currently reviewing their plans as a result of Mr. Ferguson’s report.

In response to the AG’s recommenda-tions, Treasury Board will be completing a strategic IT plan for the government by March 31. It will then have to be approved by Treasury Board President Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.). The aim is to have it ready to implement by June.

Mr. Parker said Shared Services will also be updating its transformation plan next fall. Right now, he said, it is consulting chief information offi cers across depart-

ments and discussing with them the scope, pace, and cost of the plan going forward.

“This is a combination of ‘do you change the scope?’ ‘Do you change the funding?’ ‘Do you change the time?’ All of those three elements will come into play, so I hesitate to speculate about which of those elements will change in the updated plan until we have an updated plan,” said Mr. Parker.

Meanwhile, the department is facing high turnover rates in staffi ng. Mr. Glowacki said it’s the result of “reaching burnout.”

“That’s something that as leaders we have to manage,” he told the committee.

NDP MP David Christopherson (Hamil-ton Centre, Ont.) described what was hap-pening at Shared Services as “a boondoggle.”

“There is a highly technical term used when something is this complex and involving this many billions of dollars and has this much ineptitude and inaction, and that highly technical term is a boondoggle,” he said during the committee meeting.

“That’s exactly what we’ve got here, and I’m not satisfi ed at all that this department has a handle on this and I think the proof of that’s in front of us.”

Mr. Ferguson started the meeting with a review of his fi ndings, which, as The Hill Times reported back in February, were that the transformation of government IT has been hampered by the department’s weak reporting and unreliable information, and the department has not established effective ways to monitor its progress or cost savings.

The witnesses took a wide array of questions on the timeline, cost, and human resource issues behind the department’s massive delays on delivering a consolidated IT system. One of the biggest concerns raised was that neither the auditor general nor Parliament is able to monitor or track Shared Services progress or savings.

“The challenge for us in measuring suc-cess is we don’t know what we’re measur-ing,” said Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.). “How are we as a committee supposed to judge whether you’re succeed-ing if we don’t know what your goals are?”

Reports on Plans and Priorities shift reporting model

On this, Mr. Parker pointed to the 2016-17 Shared Services Canada’s Report on Plans and Priorities, where the department has “established baselines and markers to measure,” and said the metrics to go with those plans will come in the fall.

“You can see in our reports on plans and priorities for ‘16-17 that we are shift-ing to a truly business model for Shared Services Canada.”

Public Services and Procurement Min-ister Judy Foote (Bonavista-Burin-Trinity, Nfl d.), who oversees Shared Services, has said the government is committed to deliv-ering on the program.

“In the future, Shared Services Canada’s reports to Parliament will focus more transpar-ently on how we are using our resources to fulfi ll our commitments and achieve results for Canadians. These new reporting mechanisms will allow Canadians to more easily follow our Department’s progress towards delivering on our priorities,” Ms. Foote wrote in Shared Services’s plans and priorities report.

“We are moving forward with renewed vigour while absorbing the lessons learned over the last four years,” said Mr. Parker, adding that this is the time to “course cor-rect” and wouldn’t endorse shutting the plans down or starting over.

Throughout the meeting, Mr. Glowacki said what’s happening at the department is “quite typical in the industry.” He said the “hodgepodge” of software and organiza-tional structure is normal for an IT com-pany that’s just four years old.

Ultimately the plan is to consolidate all 63 government email systems into one [email protected] system, of which only about 10 per cent have been migrated; to consolidate more than 400 data centres into seven which is 18 months behind schedule; and the consolidation of wide-area net-works, which is six to nine months behind, according to Mr. Parker’s testimony.

Criticized for a lack of a plan“Was there not a strategic plan before

Shared Services Canada was established?” asked Liberal MP Chandra Arya (Nepean, Ont.), who also questioned how many bil-lions of dollars were spent without a plan.

To this, Mr. Messina replied: “There was no offi cial version of the strategic plan in place. There was a draft version that had been circulated, and it was around in 2013, but the strategic plan was not in place.”

Mr. Messina also said that, gener-ally, the Shared Services budget has been $2-billion per year, and the govern-ment spends about $5-billion in IT every year. However, he said he didn’t know exactly how much was spent. According to the 2016-17 Main Estimates, Shared Ser-vices Canada’s budget is $1.5-billion.

Mr. Arya said he keeps hearing about Shared Services Canada from his constitu-ents because some are employees, contrac-tors, or union leaders.

“Trust me, this is the single most disas-ter, at least as far as they are concerned.”

Staff are ‘very precious commodity like gold’As part of his remarks, Mr. Parker

addressed the issue of very poor morale within Shared Services Canada, as fi rst reported by The Hill Times.

Mr. Parker said that staff are a priority, their strongest asset, and a “very precious commodity like gold,” and commended their “herculean work” on the consolida-tion of the government’s IT services so far.

He said improving customer satisfaction is the key to improving staff morale and the key to the department’s success.

According to an internal survey obtained by The Hill Times 58.3 per cent of departments are unsatisfi ed with the embattled department’s services.

Mr. Glowacki said staff has been “working amazingly hard,” but one of the challenges in getting employees on the same page and moving in the same direction has been inher-iting staff from all the various departments with “different cultures, different experi-ences, different ways of operating.”

Execs told to expect a call back to committee At the end of the meeting, Conservative

MP and committee Chairman Kevin Sorenson (Battle River-Crowfoot, Alta.) asked the wit-nesses to send along their respective new plans as soon as they are fi nalized in June, and to expect to be back before committee in the fall.

“There are certain benchmarks that we expect, and we’re going to follow up on this. ... You can pretty well expect a call back here, you can pretty well expect within eight or nine months to be called back here,” he said.

“We expect and the taxpayers expect and Parliament expects that we will see goals laid out that are achievable, that you’ve met them, and we know what the ultimate goal may be.”


THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201620NEWS SHARED SERVICES CANADA

Monday, March 21st, 201611:45 am - 1:30 pm , The Fairmont Chateau Laurier, 1 Rideau Street, Ottawa

~Individual member ticket price $89, Individual Non-Member ticket price $110. Tables of 10 available. Advance registration is required – numbers are limited.

For tickets call (613) 369-4363, visit www.economicclub.ca

ECONOMIC CLUBOF CANADA

Rona Ambrose, Interim Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and

Leader of the Official Opposition to address the Economic Club

At a turbulent time in Canada’s economy, Canadians expect their elected officials to act prudently and make the sometimes difficult choices that come with leadership. With the federal budget to be revealed on March 22nd, families and workers across the country will be looking for a clear plan focused on job growth – not a plan for reckless spending backed up by higher taxes.

Opposition Leader Rona Ambrose will outline what the Conservative opposition wants to see from the federal budget, her caucus’ vision for job growth in Canada, and the importance of accountable government spending for all Canadian taxpayers.

Thank you to our Annual Sponsors:

Ottawa Partners:

New timeline for completing IT modernization still months off Last week during a Public Accounts Committee meeting, Shared Services execs were grilled over their department’s ‘boondoggle’ and took heat over fi ndings of the AG’s report on its progress, staff burnout was also addressed.

Shared Services Canada president Ron Parker, chief operating offi cer John A. Glowacki Jr., and Treasury Board chief information offi cer John Messina were grilled by MPs on the ‘ineptitude and inaction’ in completing the government of Canada’s IT consolidation and modernization, which includes consolidating email systems, data centres, and networks. Screenshot from Parliament of Canada website


NEWS PARLIAMENTARY PRESS GALLERY

BY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

A few months after a com-promise was reached between the Parliamentary Press Gallery and the Prime Minister’s Offi ce over how to organize Cabinet “ins” and “outs” in Centre Block on Parliament Hill, some complaints remain but overall reporters say there’s a “big improvement” in terms of media access.

“Everybody’s not totally happy … but that was the fi rst time, at the [press gallery annual] general assembly [on Feb. 26], that I heard a complaint about that, that some ministers were not coming down,” to the second fl oor foyer outside the House of Commons cham-ber in Centre Block, where the press gallery “pools” are set up for comments from Cabinet mem-bers, said press gallery president Manon Cornellier, a columnist for Le Devoir.

“There are glitches here and there along the way since the election [but] it’s getting better … and each time we raised [glitches] with the PMO, they show willing-ness to work to correct that.”

Ms. Cornellier said while not all reporters are happy with the setup, access under the new Liberal government is a “big improvement compared to the previous government in terms of access to ministers, the avail-ability for press conferences, for scrums—they’re more available.”

The “pool” setup refers to a camera and microphone set up by the press gallery that captures an audio and visual feed that’s shared with members, as well as transcribed, with the audio tran-script made available to reporters in a timely manner.

Cabinet “ins” and “outs” are what reporters call the opportuni-ties to question Cabinet ministers as they head into or out of Cabi-net meetings on the third fl oor of Centre Block every Tuesday. Between the two, the outs are typically busier.

Under the former Conserva-tive government, Stephen Harper (Calgary Heritage, Alta.) did not announce when Cabinet meetings were being held, and the third fl oor hallway in Centre Block—by which one would access the hallway horseshoe that includes both the

PM’s offi ce and the Cabinet meet-ing room—was off-limits for press.

After the new Liberal govern-ment was elected, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) resumed the past practice of an-nouncing when Cabinet would meet. While the decision was met with enthusiasm, it also led to some back-and-forth between communications staff in the Prime Minister’s Offi ce and the press gallery late last year over how it would work.

While the PMO pushed for the gallery’s pool to be set up in the second-fl oor foyer in Centre Block, citing logistical concerns, the press gallery executive want-ed it on the third fl oor hallway, which is where the gallery pool has historically been set up for Cabinet ins and outs.

Having a pool on the third fl oor makes it impossible for ministers leaving a Cabinet meet-ing to avoid walking past the pool set-up—whether they comment or not. But there are multiple ways to leave a Cabinet meeting with-out passing through the second fl oor foyer.

During the fi rst few Cabinet ins and outs under the Liberals last fall, there was something of a showdown between ministers and reporters: the gallery pool was set-up on the third fl oor, with most reporters staked out there. However, many ministers said they would only speak to media in the second-fl oor foyer.

The gallery subsequently com-plained to the PMO, indicating the pool would continue to be set up on the third fl oor. Ms. Cornellier said that push-back was ulti-mately undermined by a lack of solidarity among members, and the gallery ultimately agreed to set up its main pool in the second-fl oor foyer.

“It was decided that the pool would be downstairs because PMO was saying that ministers would come and answer ques-tions there,” she said, adding the gallery doesn’t “have the resourc-es to have a pool upstairs and downstairs.”

Last week, The Hill Times observed that most reporters sta-tioned themselves on the second fl oor to try to scrum ministers, though a smaller number of reporters stuck to the third-fl oor hallway while peaking down into the foyer to monitor any scrums underway.

Splitting time between watch-ing from the second and third fl oors, The Hill Times spot-ted about a third of Cabinet, roughly 10 ministers, exiting the meeting. Cabinet outs were said to begin at noon that day, and a few minutes after 1 pm, the press gallery pool packed up to leave.

Ms. Cornellier said she reached out to PMO communi-cations director Kate Purchase soon after hearing the complaint at the press gallery’s AGM that not all minister’s were coming down, and said she’s “fi ne” with the result of that discussion, that ministers would be reminded to go through the foyer.

“We do regularly, every time there’s a Cabinet meeting, remind ministers as they’re walking out to—if they can, if they don’t have an urgent meeting—that they quickly go downstairs if there’s a desire from journalists to speak with them to stop and make themselves available, and they generally do,” PMO press secre-tary Cameron Ahmad told The Hill Times last week, adding that he thinks the setup is “working very well.”

Mr. Ahmad said the Liberal government believes in the impor-tance of ministers engaging with media. Beyond Cabinet meetings, ministers are available on a daily basis before and after Question Period when “there are almost always multiple ministers who scrum, [and] who stop and do one-on-one interviews,” he added.

“I think that in the fi rst few months of our mandate you’ve seen a real shift from a period during which the media did not have as much access as they could have wanted [under the pre-vious government],” he said.

Hélène Buzzetti, a reporter for Le Devoir who’s been in the press gallery since 1999 when Jean Chrétien was prime minister, said she’s come up ”every week” for Cabinet ins and outs since the Liberals were elected last October, and that she is one of the reporters who pushed for the gallery to hold fi rm on the third fl oor.

“I’m a bit split on the issue [over-all] because, on one hand, I noticed that ministers talk to us. Today is caucus day, and I’ve scrummed probably fi ve Cabinet ministers al-

ready, and they do make themselves available. So it would be unfair for me to say that this is the same as before [under the Conservatives],” said Ms. Buzzetti.

“But at the same time, it’s not true that they all make them-selves available after Cabinet, and there’s lots of ministers that I have not seen after Cabinet; they’re not going down. … So I’m a bit disappointed, but as I say, it’s not as if I have absolutely no access to Cabinet ministers,” she said, adding the fact she works for a smaller news organization also makes a difference.

“If things are happening up-stairs and downstairs, it’s diffi cult to catch everything [with limited reporters].”

She said she and her col-league, Le Devoir’s Marie Vas-tel, usually each take a fl oor, “but if two scrums are happening at the same time [on one fl oor], then you’re missing out.”

Ms. Buzzetti said she fi nds the Cabinet ins and outs to be “less useful” than they were under Mr. Chrétien, but that it’s still “much better” than the previous Conser-vative government.

“I haven’t had access to Cabi-net ministers like that over the last 10 years,” she said.

And while it’s “a bit frustrat-ing,” she said she’s not looking to start a fi ght over it—in particular given the access to ministers she’s had after caucus meetings or Question Period—but she’d support the gallery if it wanted one.

Kyle Duggan, a reporter for iPolitics who joined the gallery last fall after the Liberal govern-

ment was sworn in, said he’s been up for almost every Cabinet out since, though less so for the ins, and that he fi nds their usefulness to be “hit or miss.” But, overall, he said he’s “fi ne” with the setup.

“You’re kind of gambling by hanging out on the third fl oor. If a minister goes downstairs to talk, then you’ll miss out on that,” said Mr. Duggan.

Still, he said he opts to wait on the third fl oor for “tactical” reasons.

“On the third fl oor you’re more likely to get someone who doesn’t want to talk that day, or someone who is going to run away. So there’s potential to get somebody who nobody else has. But on the other hand, like I said, you’re gambling,” he said, adding though that “the trick is just hav-ing enough bodies on the Hill that you can manage to have some-body [from your bureau] on the third and someone on the second, but you can’t always do that.”

Just being in the third fl oor hallway—from which you can see the horseshoe that includes the PM’s offi ce and the Cabinet meet-ing room—can at times prove useful, said Mr. Duggan.

“I found it useful to network. There’s lots of staffers up there that work with ministers and [you can] just chat them up and you also see little moments, like [March 8] Hazel McCallion was up there with Trudeau and you see people hugging and you get these little moment between the meeting or after the meeting, so it is useful,” he said.


Complaints remain over Cabinet outs, but Hill reporters cite improvement While not all reporters are happy with the setup for Cabinet ‘ins’ and ‘outs,’ access under the new Liberal government is a ‘big improvement compared to the previous government,’ says press gallery president Manon Cornellier.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scrummed by reporters in Centre Block on March 9. Journalists are generally happier with their access to Cabinet ministers now compared to during the previous Conservative government. The Hill Times photography by Jake Wright

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201622NEWS LEGISLATION

Parliaments, House committees under rigid control from the executive branch of government were barely functioning.

But he said so far “some com-mittees” are operating effectively, while a “whole range of others” are not. He said the commit-tees’ ability to do their work and consult Canadians has not yet been revived by the new Liberal government, despite promises to strengthen House committees.

“We were hoping that under the new Liberal government there would be an opportunity for com-mittees to function in a healthy way, and instead of the sort of rigid discipline, we’ve had often what can only be described as chaos,” said Mr. Julian. “So we’ve sort of gone from one bad situa-tion to another bad situation.”

Mr. Julian said the conversa-tion came up at a special meeting of NDP committee members as part of the caucus’ regular check-in meetings on what’s going on in committees. He declined to offer names of specifi c committees where issues are arising, but said that the problems that NDP MPs are seeing include: rules are not being followed; there are attempts to move away from the procedur-al guidelines that committees vote in at the start of each session; in-correct information is being given to MPs; and “inappropriate com-ments being made, sometimes to NDP members and are not being dealt with by chairs.”

The meeting last Thursday included most NDP MPs that have a spot on committees as well as some alternates. Committee membership is based on each party’s representation in the House. In this Parliament, there is one NDP Member on each House committee.

In response to these un-confi rmed allegations, Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North, Man.), parliamentary secretary to Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour, Man.), said he hasn’t heard of any complaints of committees not functioning. But he said with the growth in the Liberal caucus from 30 to 185 MPs after the Octo-ber election, there’s a lot of MPs

with little to no experience work-ing in these kinds of structures.

“They have a lot of background and personal experience on a wide variety of things, but maybe not necessarily sitting on committees, and there’s always a bit of a learn-ing curve,” Mr. Lamoureux said. “There’s always going to be some issues, no matter whether you have seasoned committee experts or MPs or individuals that are relatively new at it.”

Mr. Lamoureux said it may take some time to adjust. The House returned at the end of January. He said it depends on the personalities and the preroga-tives of individual members on either side to make the best of their committee work, and that the committee chairpeople have a great deal of discretion.

“We underestimate just how much potential a standing com-mittee has. And if it means that it might be a little awkward for a number of months, that’s fi ne if at the end of the day we have a bet-ter committee structure,” said Mr. Lamoureux.

In response to Mr. Julian’s allegations that procedural rules aren’t being followed, Mr. Lamoureux argued that that can happen in all Parliaments and legislatures, and said the Liberal caucus has trust and confi dence in committee chairs to use their discretion.

Mr. Julian isn’t sure if the al-leged “chaos” is a result of there being so many new MPs and wants the government to provide better direction to their members.

Conservative Whip Gord Brown (Leeds-Grenville-Thou-sand Islands, Ont.) oversees com-mittees for his party, but did not respond to The Hill Times’ request for comment.

First government bills to be tested in committee

The fi rst real test of commit-tees scrutinizing legislation will be in the House Human Resourc-es, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee on March 21 when it begins to discuss the study plan for Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Pub-lic Service Labour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act. The bill repeals two union-related Conser-vative private member’s bills that passed during the last Parliament, Bills C-377 and C-525.

This committee will be fol-lowed shortly after by the House Citizenship and Immigration Com-mittee that will begin studying Bill C-6, An Act to amend the Citizen-ship Act and to make consequen-tial amendments to another Act, as it fi nalized second-reading debate last week and will be voted on when MPs return next week.

When asked how optimistic he was on the committee’s indepen-dent study of Bill C-4, a bill that repeals two private member’s bills that spurred highly partisan debates at their time, Mr. LeBlanc told reporters he anticipates the broad support in the House of Commons will be refl ected in the committee.

“The Conservatives may want to propose amendments and so on; they should feel free to do so. But again, democracy begins with a vote, so I think that the committee should be allowed to express itself on amendments, on witness lists, on whomever, but I have every reason to think that the study at the committee will be as balanced and as compelling as was the debate in the House of Commons,” he said.

Liberal MP Bryan May, chair-man of the Human Resources Committee, told The Hill Times last week he anticipates it being a “short to medium” length study, given Parliament’s familiarity with the acts this bill involves before the Conservatives implemented the changes last Parliament.

“It is what it is in terms of the bill. … The committee work that has been done in the past has been very toxic, and so far the work from all committee mem-bers from all sides of the House has been very cordial and it’s been very respectful, and I know that as chair that’s what I want to maintain,” said Mr. May.

“It is possible that this could go a very interesting direction in terms of defence of what was done in the past, but I don’t ex-pect it to be very toxic.”

When the bill was tabled, the Conservatives criticized it for moving away from transparency and considered it repaying politi-cal favours to unions.

Mr. Julian said the NDP will be supportive of the government’s efforts to pass this bill quickly, as it’s something they feel they’ve

heard lots of testimony on already in the last Parliament.

Mr. Lamoureux said if there are “well thought out” opposition amendments, he expects they will be given attention to.

“The members of all commit-tees have been told, in a fairly clear fashion I believe, that, ‘Look, you’re there to listen to what the witnesses have to say, and if you can improve upon the legislation and you believe it’s going to make the legislation better, then sup-port the amendment.’ ”

Budget tops agenda in House next week

On Monday, March 21, the House will have its fi nal supply day, debating an opposition motion.

Tuesday, March 22 will begin with more debate on Bill C-6, un-til 4 p.m., at which time Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.) will table the Lib-eral budget for 2016-17.

The next two days will be spent debating the budget, which is ex-pected to fully fl esh out the govern-ment’s spending plans on election platform promises, and will come with at least an $18-billion defi cit.

New government bills tabled, put on notice

Last week, Treasury Board President Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.) added another bill

to the order paper. On March 9 he introduced Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures.

This bill responds to a January 2015 Supreme Court ruling that stated the current RCMP labour re-lations regime was unconstitutional.

It creates a new labour regime for the RCMP and reservists, and provides a process to acquire collective bargaining rights for members. It also changes the title of the Public Service Labour Re-lations Act and the Public Service Labour Relations and Employ-ment Board Act and the name of the Public Service Labour Rela-tions and Employment Board to refl ect the inclusion of the RCMP.

Given an extension this January to address the ruling, the Liberals now have until May 17 to have this bill come into force.

As well, Transport Minister Marc Garneau (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, Que.) has put on notice: “An Act to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act and to provide for certain other measures.” It has not been tabled, so the details are unclear, but it’s expected to be introduced in the House “in the near future,” according to Mr. Garneau.


Some House committees in ‘chaos,’ says NDP MP Julian New Democrats that sit on committees met last week to raise concerns about rules and procedure not being followed and ‘inappropriate comments’ being made.


STATUS OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

HOUSE OF COMMONS• C-2, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (second

reading)• C-4, An Act to amend the Canada Labour

Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act (committee)

• C-5, An Act to repeal Division 20 of Part 3 of the Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1 (second reading)

• C-6, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act (second reading)

• C-7, An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures

SENATENo government bills have passed into the Senate

yet this session.

ROYAL ASSENT RECEIVED• C-3, Appropriation Act No. 4, 2015-16

NDP House Leader Peter Julian says there is ‘chaos’ in House committees due to rules not being followed, a move away from procedural guidelines, false information being passed around, and inappropriate comments being made. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright


NEWS INDIGENOUS MURDERED & MISSING WOMEN

BY RACHEL AIELLO

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minis-ter Carolyn Bennett will be presenting a

summary “in the coming weeks” on what she, Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu, and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould heard during their cross-country, pre-inquiry meetings on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. They are cur-rently reviewing what they heard over the 18 meetings this winter.

However, the national inquiry itself is still a ways off, despite the ministers previ-ously saying it would get underway this spring. Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada spokeswoman Valérie Haché said it’s looking more like the summer.

“While we hope the inquiry can begin by summer 2016, we are ensuring that we take the time to do this right,” Ms. Haché told The Hill Times in an email.

In the meantime, details of the inquiry will be announced “in the coming months,” and will be aimed at developing an inquiry that “will re-sult in concrete and achievable recommenda-tions to address and prevent violence against Indigenous women and girls,” she said.

In December, Ms. Bennett (Toronto-St. Paul’s, Ont.), Ms. Hajdu (Thunder Bay-Superior North, Ont.), and Ms. Wilson-Ray-bould (Vancouver-Granville, B.C.) launched the pre-consultation on the design and goals of the national inquiry and spent 10 weeks over the winter travelling Canada hearing from the families and loved ones of missing or murdered women, indigenous organizations, and provincial and territo-rial government representatives.

Ms. Haché said there were more than 2,000 participants, 4,100 submissions through the online survey, and other submissions received through email, phone, and mail.

Ms. Bennett and the Missing and Mur-dered Indigenous Women and Girls Pre-Inquiry Secretariat, which was set up within her department, is responsible for summa-rizing the submissions received and will be taking the lead on designing the inquiry.

Ms. Hajdu and Status of Women Canada has done considerable research on violence against women. She’ll be responsible for drawing links to what is happening with in-digenous women and girls, and to the broader phenomena of racism and patriarchy.

Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s role in the na-tional inquiry is expected to be focused on the impact of the Canadian justice system, and likely the responsibility the RCMP has in the handling of cases of missing and murdered indigenous women.

The three ministers’ respective depart-ments will be covering the costs of the pre-consultation, and it’s expected there will be up to $40-million over two years earmarked in the March 22 budget for the national inquiry.

Some of the fi rst steps in getting the inquiry underway will be to name its com-missioners, and set the terms and refer-ence. The commissioners will then decide

how to proceed with determining the scope and focus of their study.

In Winnipeg between Feb. 24 and Feb. 26, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger hosted the second national roundtable on miss-ing and murdered indigenous women and girls. The meeting included federal ministers, national indigenous leaders, provincial and territorial representatives, and families of murdered and missing in-digenous woman from across Canada. The fi rst national roundtable was held under the previous Conservative government in February 2015, in Ottawa.

There have been widespread calls for a national inquiry into missing and mur-dered indigenous women for years. Both

the Liberals and the NDP promised to hold a national inquiry during last year’s elec-tion campaign, and under interim Lead-er Rona Ambrose (Sturgeon River-Park-land, Alta.), the Conservative Party now supports a national inquiry.

The RCMP’s 2014 report Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: An Operation-al Overview identifi ed a total of 1,181 miss-ing and murdered Indigenous women and girls between 1980 and 2012, and updated its numbers a year later to include another 32 who had died and 11 disappearances.

Ms. Hajdu has said the number of miss-ing or murdered could be as high as 4,000, citing research from the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

“The issue that has been described as missing and murdered indigenous women is a tragedy much greater than that,” Ms. Ben-nett told reporters on Feb. 16, in response to the number potentially being this high.

“When you hear the kinds of stories that we’ve been hearing, about someone who died by a shot through the back of her head is called a suicide, somebody whose arms are tied behind their back is called a suicide ... the characterization of accidents, the characteriza-tion of ‘it’s just an overdose,’ when people know that in that community there were hotshots and being people delivered purposeful over-doses ... you have to say that [the numbers are] much greater,” said Ms. Bennett.

“I think that when you realize that some people who know it could have been them, it was almost them, that they escaped from the Pickton farm or that ... they actually woke up in an emergency department with bruises around their neck, that this is a much bigger problem.”

Past multi-volume reports have come out of other national or provincial inquires, including the 1991-1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the 2009-2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and the 2010-2012 British Columbia Miss-ing Women Commission of Inquiry.


Pre-inquiry report on murdered indigenous women expected soon, inquiry could start by summer Summary of pre-inquiry meetings on a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls to be released ‘in coming weeks,’ hope to begin inquiry by summer 2016.

www.rpi-ipr.com

THE CANADA SCHOOL OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE is no longer offering retirement seminars

The Retirement Planning InstituteThe largest provider of retirement seminars to the Public Service....established in 1986

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SCHOOL’S OUT...COME AND SEE US

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201624

THE GREAT DEBATEBe it resolved that Canada needs proportional representation

Moderated by Evan Solomon

The Broadbent Institute presents

MARCH 31 - APRIL 2

Register at www.broadbentinstitute.ca/summit2016

YESAndrew Coyne, columnist

Alex Himelfarb, former Clerk ofthe Privy Council

NOMichelle Rempel, Official Opposition

Critic (Immigration)Tasha Kheiriddin, columnist

THE SPIN DOCTORS“What if Donald Trump is the next U.S. president? What would that mean for Canada?”

By Laura Ryckewaert

“The relationship between Canada and the United States is our most important bilateral relationship. We have the lon-gest, most peaceful, and mutu-ally benefi cial relationship of any two countries in the world.

“It is crucial for Canadians, for Canadian jobs, and for Canadian prosperity that we work in close collaboration with our American neighbours. The prime minister has been clear that Canada’s relation-ship with the United States transcends partisanship. An ef-fective prime minister must be willing to work with presidents of both parties to create good-paying jobs and to strengthen the Canadian economy.

“Our partnership with the U.S. is rooted in shared values and deep people-to-people contacts. It is also defi ned by the many challenges we face together—challenges like the transition to a low-carbon economy, the fi ght against climate change, and the protec-tion of our citizens. History has shown that we are all better off when we tackle these issues together.”

KATE PURCHASE

Liberal strategist

“This just shows how different American politics is from Canadian politics. Imagine us electing a prime minister that rode the coattails of a famous last name to get elected? Or that had virtually no foreign policy experience, and instead of answering questions, just spoke in platitudes all the time? And a catch phrase like ‘Make America great again’ would never fl y here. What would that even be? ‘Canada is back’? Can’t happen.

“We would never have a prime minister appear on a popular news program, telling our American friends that maybe they should pay more attention to the world—that would be unbelievably smug, and obviously something only a president like Donald Trump would do. Would we hand the keys over to someone that has never struggled to pay for groceries or their kids’ soccer program, or come close to knowing what it’s like to live paycheque to paycheque? No way could we have someone born into wealth and a trust fund—that’s hardly middle class.

“Good luck to my American friends and family. I’m sure you’ll be able to nimbly navigate this. No one can accuse you of having a low-energy presidential race.”

CORY HANN

Conservative strategist

“Holy hypothetical, Batman, that is scary! Even scarier is what this could mean for Americans—an even more polarized country, a Republican Party divided, a Congress still in gridlock and an even nastier political culture.

“And while it’s not unusual for an American presidential candidate to run as an anti-government candidate, I cannot remember any candidate for president spouting quite as ridiculous, and dangerous, policies. Scary still for students of history is the way this gen-eral dissatisfaction can be so easily lev-eraged—through slogans and photo-ops delivered by a celebrity candidate—into votes. As if George Bush’s presidency wasn’t enough of an embarrassment, American politics may soon unleash an even worse president on the world.

“Before we get too smug, let’s keep in mind how far Canadian politics has gone down this same rabbit hole—with successful Canadian campaigns focused on photo-ops and appealing to the basest anti-government sentiment, followed by a successful campaign that was focused on rhetoric and leveraging celebrity.

“So while I hope we are never faced with the prospect of President Donald Trump, let us also take a moment as Canadians to look in the mirror and consider what’s happened to our political culture.”

IAN WAYNE

NDP strategist

“Democracy in the United States is healthier than it might seem. Even if Donald Trump were to become president, he would not have the leeway needed to fulfi ll all of his ‘promises.’ The American system has many counterbalances that narrow the president’s scope of action. The very distinct separation of pow-ers maintains a political balance that prevents abuse of power.

“Unfortunately, Canada does not have as strong a system of coun-terbalances. That means our prime minister wields more power than the president of the United States. The concentration of legislative and ex-ecutive powers is a real danger that weighs on Canadian democracy. The giant omnibus bills introduced by the previous government are a good example. Furthermore, the Cana-dian Parliament encourages a two-tier system, by treating members of recognized parties differently than members of unrecognized parties. By increasing the research budgets for recognized parties by 20 per cent, the House is adding to the sys-tem’s democratic defi cit. This widen-ing gap sets a dangerous precedent for our democracy.

“As for Donald Trump, he may be as distracting as Mackenzie King.”

MATHIEU R. ST-AMAND

Bloc Québécois strategist

“It’s hard to imagine a person more ill-suited for the U.S. Presi-dency than Donald Trump, and it’s troubling to see him inch closer and closer toward clinching the Re-publican nomination. His repeated attacks on Muslims, Mexicans, and failure to immediately denounce even the Ku Klux Klan are deeply disturbing. This angry, divisive style of politics is out of step with Canadian values and in fact, was squarely rejected by Canadian vot-ers last fall when the Conservatives attempted to whip up anti-Muslim sentiment by attacking women who wear a niqab.

“Worryingly, Trump has pre-viously stated that he believes climate change is a hoax cre-ated by China, and he attacked climate science. At a time when global leaders need to work to-gether closely to implement the Paris agreement and protect our planet from the worst effects of climate change, it is diffi cult to imagine Donald Trump playing a constructive role in this effort.

“If Trump becomes the Re-publican nominee, it is our deep hope that American voters will turn out in droves to stop him from sitting in the White House.”

CAMILLELABCHUK

Green strategist


POLITICS U.S. RELATIONS

Trudeau & Co. tackle D.C. state dinner circuit in style

hilltimes.com/events/ht-upcoming-events.html

EXPERT PANEL

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

EVENTS

Howard Sapers – Correctional Investigator for CanadaThe previous government’s policy had a disproportionate effect on the disadvantaged and vulnerable in Canada. Between 2005-2015

federal inmate population grew 10%, even though crime rates fell. Growth came from increases in admissions of indigenous people, visible minorities, the mentally ill and women. Criminal justice spending now exceeds $20 billion. Backlogged criminal courts, little tolerance for well-managed

need to be addressed. However there are solutions – starting with overhauling the Criminal Code of Canada and mandatory

law more judiciously; expanding front-end diversion measures and alternatives to incarceration; ending segregation to manage the mentally disordered; appointing a Patient Advocate to serve

Forum to lead death in custody prevention efforts. Finally, we need an increased focus and dedicated leadership on Aboriginal Corrections.

Louise Bradley – President, Mental Health

Commission of CanadaThere is a need to address the mental health both of inmates and those working in correctional facilities. Education, training and reducing stigma are all necessary to improve outcomes. Right now, people in the prison system living with mental illness are doubly stigmatized. They’re the ‘mad and the bad.’ The current methods employed to observe individuals who may be suicidal or at risk of self-harm – like the use of segregation and restraint – are not only ineffective, but also highly dangerous. From 2011-2014, almost half of the 30 suicides in federal corrections facilities occurred in segregation cells. It is unconscionable to think that a person who spends time in our correctional system emerges with even greater mental health problems than when they arrived.

Kim Pate – Executive Director, Canadian Association

of Elizabeth Fry SocietiesCriminal Law & Policy: What we need and how we can get there! We must focus on the need to arrest and dismantle more than a decade of policy and law reforms that were based on myths, stereotypes, misconceptions and fear-mongering. We must identify the challenges posed by the increased criminalization and imprisonment of women and Indigenous Peoples, especially those who are poor, victimized and have mental health issues. We have eviscerated social programs, health care, and educational services in this country. If we only change the corrections system, we will not change the trajectory we’re on.

Stan Stapleton – National President, Union of Solicitor

General EmployeesThe Union of Solicitor General Employees represents thousands of members who are integral to the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals who have been convicted of a crime. In the last ten years, there have been dramatic changes to Canada’s criminal justice system which have diminished opportunities for the rehabilitation of offenders within federal penitentiaries. There has

reduction in resources available to support offenders with housing and other needs once they are released into the community. Federal offenders with complex needs, including those with mental health challenges, are poorly served by the current incarceration model. A new approach, which will require minimal investment

now required.

Claudette Dumont-Smith, Executive Director, Native

Association of Canada

Association of Canada has worked to bring light to the fact that Indigenous women and girls do

criminal justice system. The reality we are facing is clear: this system is failing our peoples and reforms are urgently needed. One of every three women federally incarcerated in Canada is of Indigenous descent, although Indigenous women merely account for 4% of the total female population. In 2015, both the RCMP and the OPP publicly professed that there is clear racism within their ranks. This systemic problem impacts our Indigenous women and girls directly – resulting in our discriminatory incarceration and criminal persecution. Perhaps the most shameful link between our broken criminal justice system and the plight of our peoples is the direct link to the growing number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Since 2007, Indigenous women have outperformed every other group in the Canadian labour market. Clearly, even despite many facets of systemic discrimination, Indigenous women are capable of great things.

Justin Trudeau, wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and sev-eral cabinet minis-ters and top staffers attended the state dinner last week arranged for the new Canadian PM by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Pictured top centre and clockwise: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau poses with fi rst lady Michelle Obama, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and U.S. President Barack Obama. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna stands with acting married couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, along with Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains and Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly. Mr. Reynolds poses with Ms. Telford, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, and Ms. Purchase. PMO staffers Kate Purchase, Gerald Butts, Jeremy Broadhurst, and Katie Telford take in the atmosphere. Canadian actress Sandra Oh hugs the Prime Minister. The Trudeaus surround R&B musician The Weeknd, the night before at Canada 2020’s event. Photographs courtesy Twitter Kate Purchase, Mélanie Joly, Justin Trudeau,Harjit Sajjan, and Hannah Thomson

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201626FEATURE BUZZ

Government relations and communica-tions fi rm Navigator Ltd. has launched a new political issues podcast called Political Traction, based on a segment the compa-ny’s executive chairman Jaime Watt used to do on CBC’s Power & Politics.

A description of the podcast on Naviga-tor’s website says it’s meant to be an ex-pansion of the previous TV segment, which ran from 2011 to 2014.

“With podcasting, we saw an opportuni-ty to take the original made-for-TV concept and dive deeper,” the company says.

The new weekly show is hosted and produced by Navigator associate consultant Allie McHugh. It takes the top federal politi-cal issues of the week and looks at how much “traction” they have with the Canadian public.

The episodes are available at the web-site, PoliticalTraction.fm. As of last week, there were four episodes available, the fi rst two dated Feb. 26 to introduce the podcast and its methods, and two topical shows for Feb. 29 and March 7. Another was expected to be posted this Monday. The segments so far are running just under 30 minutes.

Ms. McNeil said the show seems to be a hit.“In less than 48 hours, we made it to iTunes’

list of New and Noteworthy podcasts, and that was just after soft-launching the show,” she said. “We’re looking forward to sharing Navigator’s unique perspective with special ep-isodes featuring some of Ottawa’s top insiders, including Ensight Canada’s political experts.”

Ensight and Navigator are affi liated companies.

Gazette managing editor to lead Ottawa Citizen/Sun

Michelle Richardson, managing editor of the Montreal Gazette, has been chosen to be the new joint editor of the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun.

News broke out over the Twitterverse last week—largely from past and pres-ent employees of the Citizen—that Ms. Richardson would soon be in charge of the recently amalgamated newsroom of the national capital’s two daily newspapers, both owned by Postmedia Network.

“The Citizen’s new editor...a great win for us, is @mirichardson,” tweeted Citizen editorial pages editor Christina Spencer.

Recently departed Citizen editor An-drew Potter tweeted: “I’m delighted to see @mirichardson set to take over the Ottawa newsroom for the Citizen/Sun. Hugely talented editor.”

Ms. Richardson told The Hill Times that she will be starting March 28, and that she’s “excited about making the move to Ottawa, a city I have come to know as vi-brant and exciting, as much for its cultural scene and civic engagement as for the place politics holds.”

As for the novel situation of simultane-ously running two newspapers that have traditionally been competitors, she said: “While there have been many changes in the Ottawa newsroom over the past few months—and change is always challeng-ing—I think there are a lot of opportuni-ties there as well. One thing that has not changed is the newsroom’s commitment to doing the kind of signifi cant journalism that can effect change.”

Grant reappointed Elections Canada broadcasting arbitrator

Peter Grant, a lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault, has been reappointed Elections Canada’s broadcasting arbitrator.

A release from Elections Canada said he was chosen by unanimous consent off all parties in the House of Commons.

Mr. Grant has held the job since 1993. The broadcasting arbitrator’s role is to al-locate the paid and free broadcasting time that must be made available to political parties during an election campaign.

An Elections Canada spokesman said Mr. Grant is paid $595 an hour for this work.

Fire chiefs lobby on transporting risky goods, other matters

The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs held meetings on the Hill Tuesday with of-fi cials such as Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, Transport Minister Marc Gar-neau, and Infrastructure Minister Amarjit Sohi, and followed that up with an evening reception in the Speaker’s lounge.

According to their registration with the lobbying commissioner, the chiefs are lobby-ing the government on issues related to: the transport of dangerous goods; mental health; federal support for urban search-and-rescue teams; coordinating emergency-response communications; and the fi re safety of build-ings in First Nations communities.

The Hill Times’ Rachel Aiello reports that the reception included more than 50 fi re chiefs from across the country and included a tasty assortment of bites including lobster poutine, sushi, spring rolls, among other classic recep-tion snacks—not to mention, an open bar.

Among those who stopped by were: Indig-enous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Ray-bould, and Public Service Minister Judy Foote.

Liberal MPs Matt DeCourcey, Bryan May, John MacKay, Kyle Peterson, Don Rusnak, Marco Mendicino, Rob Oliphant, Karina Gould, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Jennifer O’Connell, Sukh Dhaliwal, and Randy Bois-sonnault stopped by, as did Conservative MPs David Tilson, Garnett Genuis, and Deepak Obhrai, and NDP MPs Erin Weir, Randall Gar-rison, Irene Mathyssen, and Pierre Nantel.

The event was organized by Environ-ics Communications’ Greg MacEachern, Louis-Charles Roy, Chris McCloskey, and new hire Pascal Chan.

PM announces more public service changes

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau last week announced fi ve appointments of senior public service offi cials, three of which involved current federal employees.

Marie Lemay, president of the Economic Development Agency of Canada, is to become deputy minister of Public Services and Pro-curement. Siddika Mithani, associate deputy minister of Environment and Climate Change, will become president of the Public Health Agency of Canada. And Coleen Volk, a deputy secretary to the Cabinet for the Privy Council Offi ce, becomes associate deputy minister of Environment and Climate Change. These three appointments take effect April 11.

Two others are joining the federal public service. Catherine Blewett, currently clerk of the executive council and secretary to Cabinet for the government of Nova Scotia, will become deputy minister of Fisheries and Oceans. And Dylan Jones, currently CEO of the Canada West Foundation, becomes deputy minister of Western Economic Diversifi cation. These two appointments take effect June 20.

Mr. Trudeau noted the retirements of George Da Pont, deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement, Matthew King, deputy minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and Krista Outhwaite, president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the upcoming retirement of Daphne Meredith, deputy min-ister of Western Economic Diversifi cation, and thanked them for their service.

This came about week after Mr. Trudeau announced six other senior appointments in the public service.

Funding available for Ottawa 2017 celebrations

A program has been set up to dispense $250,000 for projects to help celebrate Cana-da’s 150th anniversary in Ottawa next year.

It’s called the Ottawa 2017 Arts, Culture and Heritage Investment Program. The program will dispense funding allotments of between $5,000 and $25,000, accounting for up to 75 per cent of any one project.

Ottawa 2017 spokeswoman Denise LeBlanc said the program is funded mostly through corporate sponsorships, includ-ing its lead partner CIBC, as well as from contributions from the City of Ottawa and Ontario government.

Criteria for applicants include being affi liated with a not-for-profi t group head-quartered in Ottawa, or being an organiza-tion run by a federal, provincial, or munici-pal government. Projects proposed must take place in Ottawa and during 2017.

Proposals that are “respectful, positive in nature,” and promoting diversity will get priority, according to Ottawa 2017’s website.

The deadline for applications is March 24, For more information, email [email protected].

Parliamentary basketball tournament coming up

A charity basketball tournament, that pits the three main federal political parties against each other and a team of journal-ists, is coming up next month.

It will be held Sunday, April 19, at Ottawa’s Adult High School and raises money for Christie Lake Kids, which pro-vides organized recreational opportunities for disadvantaged kids.

Theophilos Argitis, Bloomberg’s Ottawa bureau chief, is recruiting for the media team. Because he can’t make the event him-self, he’s also looking for a team captain.

Mr. Argitis said the captains for the political teams are as follows: Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains for the Liberals; MP Kellie Leitch for the Conservatives; and MP Peter Julian for the NDP.

Any journalists interested in playing should email Mr. Argitis at [email protected].


Navigator launches Political Traction podcast

Navigator consultant Allie McHugh is producing and hosting a new podcast called Political Traction, based on a segment that used to run on CBC. Photograph courtesy of Navigator


Montreal Gazette managing editor Michelle Richardson has been chosen to be the joint editor of the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun. Photograph courtesy of Michelle Richardson

Peter Grant has been reappointed as the broadcasting arbitrator for Elections Canada, a role he’s had since 1993. Photograph courtesy of McCarthy Tétrault

Blaine Wiggins, left, and Richard Kent, both from the Aboriginal Firefi ghters Association of Canada, chat with Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett at a reception last week put on by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs. The Hill Times photograph by Cynthia Munster

HEARD HILLONTHE

BY DEREK ABMA


HILL CLIMBERS POLITICAL STAFFERS

Sports and Persons with Disabilities Minister Carla Qualtrough recent-

ly hired Jude Welch as director of parlia-mentary affairs and issues management.

Mr. Welch, until recently, was manager of policy and programs at the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and before that worked briefl y as a senior com-mittee adviser for the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada in Ottawa. For about fi ve years, beginning in the fall of 2007, Mr. Welch was director of community relations at Air Canada and before that he was a senior special adviser to then Liberal leader Stéphane Dion.

Mr. Welch worked under the previous Liberal government for then Heritage minister Sheila Copps as a policy adviser and special assistant starting in 1999 and later was a departmental liaison in then Heritage minister Liza Frulla’s offi ce, among other past roles.

Ashley Michnowski has left Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s offi ce, and tour team, to move to Ottawa and serve as Ms. Qualtrough’s press secretary. Originally from Montreal, Ms. Michnowski lent a hand to Liberal campaigns in Ontario in 2015 in a volunteer capacity.

Before she was hired as a special assistant for tour to Ms. Wynne in the fall of 2014, Ms. Michnowski was executive assistant to the Liberal MPP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Grant Clark. Ms. Michnowski previously worked for the federal Liberal Party as both national development manager and as Quebec development manager before that in Montreal.

A McGill grad, during the 2011 election, she helped with the party’s Quebec auxiliary tour as a coordinator.

“I’m very excited to be a part of Minister Qualtrough’s team. She’s an incredible person to work for and I look forward to being a part of all the great things that are to come in sport over the next year, especially with the games and everything,” she said when reached by Hill Climbers last week.

Kristina Molloy is Ms. Qualtrough’s director of policy as minister. Ms. Molloy was recently director of Parapan Planning and Integration for the Toronto 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games Organiz-ing Committee. She’s been an independent consultant for strategic planning and project management since 2010, lending efforts to the International Paralympic Committee and the London Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee, among others.

Ms. Molloy has previously been a project manager with the Rick Hansen Foundation on its 25th anniversary international program, and helped manage Vancouver’s Paralympic games in 2010. She’s also previously worked with Right to Play in Rwanda and has a back-ground in rowing, among other experience.

Also working in the offi ce are special assistant Jennifer Perimal and Kim Leclerc, assistant to the parliamentary secretary for Sport, Liberal MP Stéphane Lauzon.

International Development and La Fran-cophonie Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau

recently welcomed Louis Bélanger to her offi ce as director of communications. He recently returned to Canada after roughly 16 years out of the country.

After studying a bachelor in international studies at Concordia University in his home province of Quebec, Mr. Bélanger moved to Bruges, Belgium, to study a master’s in European politics at the College of Europe, graduating in 2000. He then began working as a media offi cer for the International Trade Union Confederation in Brussels, and later was a media coordinator for WWF in the city.

In 2004, he was hired as a media and advo-cacy offi cer for Oxfam in Brussels, and a few years later his job with Oxfam brought him to Washington D.C. By 2008 he was in New York City serving humanitarian media manager for the organization. In this capacity, he helped with aid efforts in Haiti following the 2008 earthquake and with a food crisis in Somalia, among other humanitarian crises, and during his time working for Oxfam, he also worked on its Make Trade Fair campaign.

“That really allowed me to see a bit of the world and see some of the people who are go-ing through diffi cult times and what are NGOs and different governments doing about it, and how to improve the situation,” Mr. Bélanger told Hill Climbers last week.

Mr. Bélanger went on to work as a stra-tegic communications offi cer for the United Nations Offi ce for the Coordination of Hu-manitarian Affairs (OCHA) in NYC before being head-hunted to serve as communica-tions director of the Malala Fund in 2015. He most recently was working as a communica-tion consultant for LB Communications in Geneva, Switzerland and NYC.

“I spent one day lobbying with Malala in Washington, D.C., on the Hill in Congress and the Senate, and I can say that was the greatest highlight of my career by far, with her and her father,” he said.

It’s his fi rst time working in politics and being actively involved with the Liberal Party. After watching the election last fall unfold from New York, Mr. Bélanger said he was “inspired by the victory” and by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s words.

“By the tone, by the energy, and everything I heard—in terms of gender parity, in terms of their position on international issues—really attracted me and I felt it was for me the best time to come back home,” said Mr. Bélanger.

“It’s been fast and furious for two weeks, but it’s great and I’m getting used to the political world and so far so good. We had a really good fi rst announcement [March 7] on reproductive health with the launch of a multi-million and multi-initia-tive announcement,” he said, adding that it marked his fi rst time up in Centre Block.

He said the building is “beautiful” but he was “a bit lost,” something colleagues poked fun at, given his senior title.

“My minister is great. She’s approachable, she’s kind, she’s very focused and she’s keep-ing us on our toes and that’s how it should be. So I’m really happy,” he said.

Along with Mr. Bélanger, Bernard Boutin, a former Quebec Liberal, is press secretary to Ms. Bibeau as minister. As well, Maximil-ien Depontailler has been hired as assistant to the parliamentary secretary for Interna-tional Development, Karina Gould, the Lib-eral MP for Burlington, Ont. He previously spent more than a decade as policy adviser to Liberal Sen. Céline Hervieux-Payette, who was appointed to the Senate in 1995 by then Liberal PM Jean Chrétien. He has also previously worked for the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Gatineau in Quebec, among other past jobs.

Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk has hired John O’Leary as her director of com-munications, along with recently welcoming a number of other exempt staff to her team.

Mr. O’Leary was previously manager of public affairs and communications for Coca-Cola Canada in Toronto, Ont., and before that, spent roughly nine months working as a consultant for StrategyCorp Inc. He was a communications adviser on Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne’s 2012 leader-ship campaign, having previously worked in Dalton McGuinty’s offi ce as premier. Mr. O’Leary worked for Ms. Wynne for a time back in 2007 when she was education minister, having already worked for Gerard Kennedy in the same role.

He ran as a candidate for the provincial party in Ontario in 2011 in Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, Ont., but ultimately came second to Progressive Conservative John Yakabuski. Mr. O’Leary is also a former public affairs consul-tant for Hill and Knowlton.

Corey Hobbs is director of parliamentary affairs and on the minister’s ‘Atlantic desk.’ A former Hill staffer, Mr. Hobbs has been in Fort McMurray, Alta., since 2007, serving as communications director for the Cumula-tive Environment Management Association (CEMA) up until last year.

Before that, he spent a decade working as a Liberal staffer on the Hill, including for then MPs Dan McTeague and George Baker

(now a Senator). He also was press secretary to Mr. Baker as Veterans Affairs minister and later worked for Albina Guarnieri when she wore that hat. Mr. Hobbs has also been policy adviser to Gerry Byrne as the minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the Lib-eral party’s nomination in Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, Nfl d. His hometown is Gander, Nfl d., but lost to MP Scott Simms. After the Liberal government was defeated, he worked for a time for then MP Joe Volpe.

Gillian Hanson is now a special assis-tant for Western Canada to Ms. Mihychuk, after running the minister’s campaign to become the Liberal MP for Kildonan-St. Paul, Man., last year.

Before that, Ms. Hanson was a com-munications and outreach coordinator with the Manitoba Institute for Policy Research in Winnipeg, Man., where she fi rst began working in the summer of 2013, according to her LinkedIn profi le. A graduate of the Uni-versity of Manitoba, he’s previously spent almost a year as an intern with the Ontario legislature internship programme.

As well, Daniel McKenzie works under the title of special assistant to the director of policy in the minister’s offi ce. However, no policy director has yet been named, though Leah Van Houten is now a special assistant for Ontario and policy adviser in the offi ce.

Ms. Van Houten was manager of plan-ning for the Liberal leader’s tour for 2015, and worked in the Liberal leader’s offi ce last Parliament as a special assistant for opera-tions and outreach, starting in the fall of 2013. Before that, she was a constituency assistant to Ontario Liberal MPP Bob Chiarelli, who is the Ontario minister of Energy and represents Ottawa West-Nepean, Ont., at Queen’s Park, after serving as his deputy campaign manager in the 2011 Ontario election.

Ms. Van Houten was an Ontario election advance for Michael Ignatieff’s national leader’s tour as Liberal leader during the 2011 election, having worked for the party in Ottawa before that.

Sports Minister Qualtrough hires director of parliamentary affairs, issues, policy

HILL CLIMBERSBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

Gillian Hanson, left, is a special assistant for Western Canada to Employment Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk, while Leah Van Houten is a special assistant for Ontario. Photographs courtesy of LinkedIn

John O’Leary is director of communications to Ms. Mihychuk. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

Ashley Michnowski is press secretary to Sports Minister Carla Qualtrough. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

Louis Bélanger recently moved back to Canada to work for International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

Kristina Molloy is Ms. Qualtrough’s director of policy. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201628FEATURE PARTIES

The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national voice of Inuit in Canada, hosted its sixth

annual A Taste of the Arctic event at the Na-tional Arts Centre last Monday night. It was a packed house with around 500 attendees for the marquee event, but, despite the new president of ITK Natan Obed’s charm of-fensive, the event slightly underwhelmed, unlike in years past.

Mr. Obed spent the evening making the rounds, introducing himself and speaking about his organization’s key issues, like affordable housing, strengthening mental health services and protecting the environ-ment. Mr. Obed’s spouse, Letia, and their two boys, Panigusiq and Jushua, were also at the shindig. Meanwhile, Party Central made her rounds in search of a good time.

The evening is all about showcasing Canadian Arctic life, its food, culture, and businesses, which it did well, but the ex-citement was lacking.

The entertainment was great, but the tables of canapés were nearly always bare or picked over, and the lineups for hot food were long.

This year, organizers opted to take a more traditional route by offering more games and more authentic food presentations. For the last few years, the NAC’s executive chef, John Morris, would prepare modern interpreta-tions on Inuit foods, but this year new execu-tive chef Martin Levesque stepped in.

The menu included some familiar dishes, with new additions, including: Arc-tic clam chowder with pan-fried bannock, a seaweed rice wrap with tamarind birch sauce, pitsi with pickled cucumber and grapefruit salad.

Other food stations had members of the local Inuit community demonstrat-ing how to prepare and serve things like raw caribou, or raw beluga, which people seemed really into. If you were feeling less adventurous there was a seal fricasee with pearl onions, carrots and melted leeks on a bed of wild rice; torched Arctic char with horseradish crème fraiche, tobiko and dill; and Party Central’s favourite, an Arctic char salad wrap with daikon, cucumber and sesame-soy mayo.

Party Central was hoping to sample the dessert as well, tarts with lemon curd and

blueberry crème, but the dessert table was perpetually empty.

Other than the food being served up, the event included the staple, and often controversial “seal-fi e” photo booth where attendees could take pictures in an assort-ment of seal vests and other accessories.

Entertainment for the evening included the Iqaluit band, The Trade-Offs, as well as a surprise performance from comedian Ni-cole Etitiq. And there were Inuit games from students of Nunavut Sivuniksavut, the local program that brings students to Ottawa from Nunavut to teach about northern history and cultures, while acting as ambassadors for the North while they’re here.

The emcee for the evening was Inuit advocate Franco Buscemi, who was lively and humorous, and went over well with the overall younger-than usual crowd. Party Central appreciated the dozens of dapper guests, dressed to the nines in seal vests, bow-ties and traditional Silapaaqs.

Mr. Obed addressed the crowd, wel-coming those that had traveled down from Nunavut to be a part of the evening, and highlighted that Ottawa is home to 3,000 Inuit people, of the around 60,000 in Canada, making it the third largest Inuit community in Canada.

Attendees included Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde, Indig-enous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, and her parliamentary secretary Yvonne Jones, Liberal MPs Brenda Shanahan, Michael McLeod, Gudie Hutchings, Ruby Sahota, Kyle Peterson, and Dan Rusinak.

Bluesky Strategy Group’s Susan Smith and Elizabeth Gray-Smith were there, as were MediaStyle’s Ian Capstick and Cait-lin Kealey; the Canadian Parks and Wilder-ness Society’s Shawn Dearn was there too; as were Rogers’ Heidi Bonnell; Summa Strategies Louis-Alexandre Lanthier; Eco-nomic Club of Canada’s Natasha Morano; the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Wendy Johnson; Indigenous and Northern Af-fairs Canada’s Assistant Deputy Minister Stephen Van Dine and policy adviser to the Prime Minister, Zoë Caron.

The Hill Times

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami serves up its sixth annual

A Taste of the Arctic

PARTY CENTRALB Y R A C H E L A I E L L O

Photographs by Cynthia Münster

The evening is a showcase of Inuit culture and included an Iqaluk station where Arctic char was on offer.

ITK President Natan Obed, his wife Letia, and sons Panigusiq and Jushua.

Comedian Nicole Etitiq gave a surprise performance.

Students of Nunavut Sivuniksavut, an Ottawa-based college program, square danced in the NAC lobby.

Former ITK president Mary Simon joined the band on the squeeze box.

Liberal staffers Christian Von Donat, Ben Howe and Liberal MP Gudie Hutchings.

ITK President Natan Obed and emcee Franco Buscemi.

ITK executive director Elizabeth Ford; Zoë Caron, adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Assistant Deputy Minister Stephen Van Dine, and ITK’s Natan Obed.

Ben Steylen and his husband, Summa Strategies’ Louis-Alexandre Lanthier.

J.W. McConnell Family Foundation’s Stephen Huddart and Liberal MP Marc Miller.

Liberal MP Kyle Peterson with Natan Obed.

The crowd was swelled to around 500 people at this year’s A Taste of the Arctic.

Martha Flaherty and Tooneejoulee Kootoo-Chiarello.

Josh Qaumariaq of The Trade-Offs.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett and Wendy Johnson of the Heart and Stroke Foundation get a lesson in eating maktaaq from Natan Obed.

Two Inuit performers link arms during a performance on Monday, March 7, at A Taste of the Arctic at the National Arts Centre.

NRSEC President Mario Pinto and Susan Smith of Bluesky Strategy Group.

Actua’s Leslie Cuthbertson and Jennifer Flanagan.

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GLEBE CONDO FOR RENTIn the Heart of Dows Lake, Steps from Rideau Canal; Two Bedrooms,Two Full Baths in a quiet Low Rise. Spacious lay-out, 1235 sq. ft. - Hardwood Floors, Air Conditioning, in-unit Laundry, 5 Appliances. South Facing Balcony. Underground Parking and Locker. $1,750.00/Month. Available for view-ing now. Contact 613-723-5125.

0030 Condos foR Rent

NEW EDINBURGH

Quick commute, 3 bedroom, 2 full baths, generous living room, real fireplace, two patios, ample storage, 2 parking $2,700 + utilities. Diplomat occupied. Call (613) 868-1480. Available now.

0032 toWnhouse foR Rent

BEAUTIFUL 3 BEDROOM, 2.5 BATHROOM

Modern kitchen, available immediately, $2,195.00 + utilities, located in Central - East. Covered parking, central air, wood burning fireplace, large balcony, lovely back yard, partially fenced. www.attachetms.ca 613-727-1400EXECUTIVE TOWNHOME FOR RENT -

MOVE IN BONUS, MARCH FREE

Modern 3 bedroom, 2 bath. Situated in the popular and sought after New Edinburg neighborhood. Quiet street. Walking distance to Restaurants, shops, Foreign Affairs. Go to www.greentreeot-tawarentals.ca for more pictures, click on 165 Avon Lane or call 613-262-4973

OLD OTTAWA SOUTHThree story modern furnished townhouse, private lane, Bronson & Sunnyside. Three bedrooms, den. April 1.$2000 per month + utilities. Non-smoking, no pets. Contact Paul: [email protected] http://tinyurl.com/9CarrawayOttawa

0040 houses foR Rent

3 BRAND NEW, VERY LARGE, ELEGANT EXECUTIVE HOMES FOR RENT. WALK TO EMBASSY COMMUNITY/CENTRAL

OTTAWA. BOOK A TOUR!

1,750 sq ft and 3,500 sq ft homes, built new in 2016, luxury living, 4 and 5 bedroom, with theater room, balco-nies, plus den, intercom system. Custom designed kitchens and staircase. Interior/exterior high-end finishes. Roof-top access. Walk to Ottawa river, Ottawa University, Rideau Tennis Club, new Adàwe bridge, and 24h Loblaws. Extra features. $2,750-$3,250/month. Parking available. Visit www.36ontario.ca or call 613-581-7041 [Call: 613-581-7041] .

MODERN EXECUTIVE 3500 SQ FT. STYLE HOME

Nestled in Chelsea offers park setting with 3 + bedrooms, 2 full renovated bathrooms, 2 large decks and 3 car garage, plus an outdoor pool (seasonal). Great home for entertaining w/ large kitchen w/ newer appliances featuring wood burning fireplace and eating area, separate living room w/ second fireplace and large solarium, large separate family room on lower level, heat-ed flooring throughout. Exterior boasts low maintenance garden. Luxury living steps from the Gatineau Park and Meech Lake and only 10 minutes to Parliament Hill. 2950$ plus utilities. Pets allowed. Contact Meghan Kennedy at 613-203-2348.

0040 houses foR Rent

320 POWELL AVENUEDowntown 3-bdrm, 2-bthrm semi-detached vintage house. Available May 15. $1975 plus utilities. Photos and details: find 320 Powell on Kijiji Ottawa

HOME FOR RENT IN SANDY HILL1890s character home with original features. Main floor, 3 large rooms and kitchen. First floor, four bedrooms and bathroom. Garage and parking stalls. 2 porches and a deck. Can be rented furnished or unfurnished. $2500 613-316-6951

0041 aPaRtments foR Rent

BRIGHT, QUIET, CENTRETOWN APARTMENT

1300 sq. ft. 2bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and a den. Fireplace, hardwood floors, granite countertop, indoor parking. No pets. Non-Smokers. $2200/month con-tact 613-720-4128.

MCLEOD STREETExecut ive apar tments . Tastefu l ly decorated. All inclusive, long-term, available now. View apartments at mcleodapar tments.wordpress.com 613-232-7939

SANDY HILLSuperb 2 bedroom in small heritage b ldg. 7 rooms. Jus t complete ly renovated! 6 new appliances. Al l inclusive! $1,950/month. 613-234-7010.

0132 tRavel

SAVE 30%On our Heart of the Arctic adventure Visit Inuit communities in Greenland and Nunavut Aboard the comfortable 198-passenger Ocean Endeavour CALL FOR DETA ILS! 1 -800-363-7566 www.adventurecanada.com 14 Front St. S. Mississauga (TICO # 04001400)

0211 aRtiCles foR sale

SAWMILLSfrom only $4,397 - MAKE MONEY & SAVE MONEY with your own band-mill - Cut lumber any dimension. In stock ready to ship. FREE Info & DVD: http://www.NorwoodSawmill.c o m / 4 0 0 O T 1 - 8 0 0 - 5 6 6 - 6 8 9 9 Ext:400OT.

0217B ComPuteR seRviCes

WANTED: OLD TUBE AUDIO EQUIPMENT.

40 years or older. Amplifiers, Stereo, R e co r d i n g and T hea t r e Sound Equipment. Hammond organs, any con-dition. Call Toll-Free 1-800-947-0393 / 519-853-2157.

0401 Coming events

27th Annual HAVELOCK COUNTRY JAMBOREE

The Band Perry, Scotty McCreery, Terri Clark, The Road Hammers, Sammy Kershaw, Asleep At The Wheel, Chad Brownlee, Jess Moskaluke, Tebey, Bobby Wills, & more, OVER 25 ACTS... Canada’s Largest Live Country Music & Camping Festival - AUG. 18-21/16 - TICKETS 1-800-539-3353, www.HavelockJamboree.com. BUY NOW & SAVE!

0850 finanCial seRviCes

Do you have a DISABILITY?

Physical or mental. We can help you get up to $40,000 back from the Canadian Government. FOR DETAILS check out our website: disabilitygroup-canada.com or CALL us today Toll-Free 1-888-875-4787.

FREE$10 Gas Card For Every Insurance Quote. Call Today to Save On Your Car & Home Insurance. Winter Tire Discount Available. CALL TOLL-FREE 1-877-941-2266.

0920 Business oPPoRtunity

HIP OR KNEE REPLACEMENT?Problems Walking or Getting Dressed? The Disabi l i ty Tax Credit $2,000 Yearly Tax Credit. $20,000 Lump Sum Refund. For Expert Help: 1-844-453-5372.

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MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION!In-demand career! Employers have work-at-home posit ions avai lable. Get online training you need from an employer-trusted program. Visit: CareerStep.ca/MT or 1-855-768-3362 to start training for your work-at-home career today!

0929 emPloymentWE ARE URGENTLY LOOKING FOR

THE FOLLOWING AZ DRIVERS: OWNER OPERATORS

**Now Offering Higher Mileage Rates** CROSS BORDER COMPANY HIGHWAY DRIVERS $.514 Cents Per Mile LCV DRIVERS – MISSISSAUGA TERMINAL Premium Rate APPLY TO: [email protected] OR CALL TOLL-FREE: 1-855-721-3962 For More Details JOIN THE FAMILY DRIVE THE BUSINESS

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HEALTHCARE DOCUMENTATION SPECIALISTS

in huge demand. Employers prefer CanScribe graduates. A great work-from-home career! Contact us now to start your training day. www.canscribe.com. 1.800.466.1535. [email protected].

1030 PeRsonal

ANOTHER LONELY WINTER?Don’t make it a lonely Spring & Summer too. CALL MISTY RIVER INTRODUCTIONS, Ontario’s Busiest Matchmaking Service with 20 year’s experience in finding singles their life partners. CALL (416)777-6302, (705)734-1292, (613)257-3531, (519)658-4204, www.mistyriverintros.com.

The hill Times, monday, march 14, 2016 29

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THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 14, 201630FEATURE EVENTS

MONDAY, MARCH 14 House Sitting—The House

breaks this week for one week, returns March 21-25, breaks for

two weeks, returns on April 11 and sits until April 22, breaks for one week, returns May 2 for three weeks until May 20, breaks for one week, and returns again on May 30.

It’s scheduled to sit for four weeks until Thursday, June 23.

Innovation and the Economy for Tomorrow—Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains will speak at the Pearson Centre’s #Econ4Tmro Se-ries, Monday, March 14, 12 noon-2 p.m., co-hosted by the Pearson Centre and the Toronto Region Board of Trade, Board of Trade, First Canadian Place, 77 Adelaide St. West, Toronto. The minister’s keynote speech will be followed by a panel discussion which wil include Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, CEO, MaRS Discover District, and Shel-don Levy, deputy minister, Training, Colleges and Universities.

TUESDAY, MARCH 15Cabinet Meeting—Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau is expected to hold a Cabinet meeting today in Ottawa. For more information, call the PMO Press Offi ce at 613-957-5555.

MONDAY, MARCH 21 House Sitting—The House

returns March 21-25, breaks for two weeks, returns on April 11 and sits until April 22, breaks for one week, returns May 2 for three weeks until May 20, breaks for one week, and returns again on May 30. It’s scheduled to sit for four weeks until Thursday, June 23.

Michael Bonner —Michael Bon-ner, a former senior policy adviser for Jason Kenney, and current communications consultant at Allan Bonner Communications Manage-ment, talks about Iranian history in his new book, Al-Dinawari’s Kitab Al-Akhbar Al-Tiwal: An Historical Study of Sasanian Iran, March 21, 11:45 a.m., lunch 12:15 p.m. The Albany Club, member and spouse $55 per person and guests $68 per person, plus taxes and service charges, 91 King St. East, Toronto, RSVP to [email protected] or 416-364-5471.

TUESDAY, MARCH 22

Budget Day—Finance Minister Bill Morneau is expected to release the federal budget document in the House on Tuesday, March 22, 4 p.m. EST.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 Liberal Caucus Meeting—The

Liberals will meet in Room 237-C Centre Block on Parliament Hill. For more information, please call Liberal Party media relations at [email protected] or 613-627-2384.

Conservative Caucus Meet-ing—The Conservatives will meet for their national caucus meeting. For more information, contact Cory Hann, director of communications, Conservative Party of Canada at [email protected]

NDP Caucus Meeting—The NDP caucus will meet from 9:15 a.m.-11 a.m. in Room 112-N Cen-tre Block, on Wednesday. Please call the NDP Media Centre at 613-222-2351 or [email protected]

Joint Annual Reception—The supply managed commodities of Chicken Farmers of Canada, Egg Farmers of Canada, Turkey Farmers of Canada and Canadian Hatching Egg Producers are hosting their Joint Annual Reception on Wednesday, March 23 from 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Chateau Laurier, 1 Rideau Street, Ottawa. An excellent selection of hors d’oeuvres prepared with high-quality Canadian chicken, turkey and eggs will be served. Please RSVP at [email protected]

Chow Down for Charity—Speaker of the House of Commons Salon, Room 216-N, March 23, 2016 12 noon-1 p.m. The Evening in The Maritimes Sponsors and Citizen Advocacy board Members will join invited members of the Senate and House of Commons for a chowder lunch in the House Speaker’s Salon to raise awareness for Citizen Advocacy Ottawa. This is the offi cial launch of Evening in The Maritimes. Citizen Advocacy’s annual gala is raising funds for its Everyday Champions program. This event is by invitation only. For more information, call Virgilia Partridge, Citizen Advocacy of Ottawa, at 613-761-9522, ext. 240 or email to [email protected]

The National Capital Re-gional Group of the Institute of

Public Administration of Canada Presents The Evolving Nature of Democracy and Governance—to be held Wednesday, March 23. 5:30 p.m. registration, networking and light refreshments, 6 p.m. panel discussion, Impact HUB Ottawa, 71 Bank Street (6th fl oor), Ottawa. IPAC members $15; Impact Hub Ottawa members $15; IPAC new professional members $10; IPAC student or retired members $5; non-members - $20. Register on-line by credit card by March 22nd at http://opengov2016.eventbrite.ca. Contact: [email protected]

Forum for Young Canadians MP Reception—The Forum for Young Canadians is a unique educational program that brings high school students from across the country to Ottawa for a weeklong, behind-the-scenes look at federal politics on Parliament Hill. All MPs are invited to join these smart and ambitious youth from all over Canada for an evening reception on Wednesday, March 23, at the Sir John A. Mac-donald Building (144 Wellington St.), from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. If you have any questions, or to learn more about Forum for Young Canadians, please check out our website http://forum.ca/, or contact Catherine McDonald. Tel: (613) 233-4086, email: [email protected]. To

RSVP to this reception, please contact Laura Seguin at [email protected] or call 613-235-1400.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24HT Events Presents a New

North American Future—Join Hill Times Events for a discussion on A New North American Future. Agustin Garcia-Lopez, Mexico’s ambassador to Canada, will provide the opening remarks. Catherine Clark will then moderate a substan-tive discussion featuring Eric Miller, senior vice-president Business Council of Canada; Matthew Wilson, vice-president, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Associa-tion; and Mairead Lavery, senior vice-president, Export Development Canada. March 24, Delta Ottawa City Centre, 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. No charge, but advance registration is required. Get tickets: Eventbrite. Contact: [email protected]

Sean Bruyea’s Thesis Defence of Remembrance Forgotten: 70 Years of Neglect of the Canadian Forces and the Obligation We Owe Them—March 24, 10 a.m., Room 1124 Amphitheatre, St. Paul University, 223 Main Street, Ottawa, Ont. RSVP [email protected]

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Space provided through a partnership betweenindustry and Ontario municipalities to supportwaste diversion programs.

Parliamentary Calendar

Bains to speak at Pearson Centre’s Toronto Region Board of Trade event March 14 in Toronto


Innovation and the Economy for Tomorrow—Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains will speak at the Pearson Centre’s #Econ4Tmro Series, Monday, March 14, 12 noon-2 p.m., co-hosted by the Pearson Centre and the Toronto Region Board of Trade, Board of Trade, First Canadian Place, 77 Adelaide St. West, Toronto. The minister’s keynote speech will be followed by a panel discussion which wil include Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, CEO, MaRS Discover District, and Sheldon Levy, deputy min-ister, Training, Colleges and Universities. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright


FEATURE EVENTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 Canada’s Defence Perspectives

2020-2050: Recapitalization and the Canadian Forces—Hosted by the Mackenzie Institute, the conference will engage military and civilian of-fi cials of the Department of National Defence, the defence and security industry, and academia in a series of expert panels to inform recommenda-tions for future Canadian defence plan-ning. Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel, Ottawa, March 29-30, eventbrite.ca.

THURSDAY, MARCH 31 The Pearson Centre’s Pursuing

Justice Project Launch—Featuring Irwin Cotler, and moderated by Jean Chrétien, John Turner, Kim Camp-bell, Paul Martin, and Indira Naidoo-Harris. Mingle with federal, provincial parliamentarians, ministers , and

former prime ministers. 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. reception with cocktail and food stations and 7 p.m. dialogue on pursuing justice with Mr. Cotler. 8 p.m. dessert reception. The Pearson Centre launches its Pursuing Justice Project, March 31, King Edward Hotel, Toronto. Eventbrite.ca

Broadbent Institute’s 2016 Prog-ress Summit—Canada’s largest annual progressive policy conference, is being held from March 31 to April 2, at the Delta Ottawa City Centre (101 Lyon St. N.). Feminist icon Gloria Steinem is headlining the event and will be joined by other leading thinkers, policy experts and organizers over three days of training and policy talk. The event is almost sold out. Register at http://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/summit2016. The #prgrs16 line-up includes: Barack Obama’s ad maker John Del Cecato and Sara El-Amine, who heads up Obama’s grassroots organizing move-ment; federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Alberta

Environment Minister Shannon Phil-lips; France’s former Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira, who stepped down in January over objections to the Hol-lande government’s terror policy; the Great Debate on proportional repre-sentation with Alex Himelfarb, former clerk of the Privy Council, Postmedia News columnist Andrew Coyne, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel and Tasha Kheiriddin, National Post and iPolitics columnist; Beer and Politics panel on the Bernie-Hillary race with CNN political commentator Sally Kohn; and Broadbent Institute founder Ed Broadbent.

TUESDAY, APRIL 5 Transition 2015: How the Federal

Public Service Managed the Transition of Executive Power—Join IPAC for an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at how the federal public service managed the transition of executive power in 2015. This panel discussion will feature Allen Sutherland (assistant secretary to the cabinet, machinery of government) and Dr. Lori Turnbull (Policy Advisor, Machinery of Govern-ment), Tuesday, April 5, 5:30 p.m.-7:45 p.m., $15 IPAC members, $20 non-members. Register online https://goc2015.eventbrite.ca

FRIDAY, APRIL 8NDP Federal Convention—The

federal NDP will meet for a policy convention April 8-April 10 at the Shaw Centre, Edmonton, Alta. Rick Devereux is the convention’s director. For more information, call the NDP in Ottawa at 1-866-525-2555.

TUESDAY, APRIL 12Canadian Life and Health Insur-

ance Industry Advocacy Day—Under the theme “Working Together for a Better Canada,” industry CEOs will be in Ottawa to meet with parliamen-tarians about issues of importance to Canadians, such as health care, investing in infrastructure projects and fi nancial literacy, April 12. For more information, contact Susan Murray ([email protected]).

Hope in Fragility: Healthy Futures for Women and Children in the World’s Toughest Places—Join President & CEO Michael Messenger as World Vision Canada hosts an experiential reception to explore how to improve women’s and children’s health in the toughest parts of the world on April 12, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Drawing Room, Fair-mont Chateau Laurier, 1 Rideau St. RSVP: 613-569-1888 or [email protected]

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13The Agricultural Institute of

Canada Conference—It will be holding a conference, April 13-14 on “Disseminating Agricultural Research.” Delegates will be part of a national dialogue on the place of agricultural research to re-establish Canada as a leading developer of innovative and sustainable agricul-tural products and technologies.

Smart Global Development Confer-ence—This event will explore the role of higher education in advancing sustainable development goals, April 13-14, at the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, Ottawa. Organizers and spon-sors: Aga Khan Foundation Canada, Academics without Borders, Interna-tional Development Research Cen-tre. Undertaken with fi nancial support of: Global Affairs Canada. Registration is now open at smartglobaldev.ca.

THURSDAY, APRIL 14 Bacon & Eggheads Breakfast—

PAGSE presents a talk ‘Exploring a Simulated Brain: From Human Behav-iour to Drug Effects’ with Chris Elia-smith, University of Waterloo. Thurs-day, April 14, 7:30 a.m. Parliamentary Dining Room, Centre Block. No charge to MPs, Senators and media. All oth-ers, $25. Pre-registration required by Monday, April 11 by contacting Donna Boag, PAGSE [email protected] or call 613-991-6369.

HT Events Presents Transporta-tion Forum—Join leading industry ex-ecutive and senior policy specialists for Hill Times Events Transportation Forum to examine the substan-tive recommendations put forward in the Transportation Act Review Report entitled, Pathways: Canada’s Transportation System to World. April 14, 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Shaw Centre, Ottawa. Registration prices are $249 for subscribers and $299 for non-subscribers. Special group discounted pricing is available. Get tickets: Eventbrite or contact [email protected]

Canadian War Museum Hosts Prestigious Society for Military History Conference—The Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of History are proud to host the 83rd Annual Conference of the Society for Military History, which will take place in Canada’s National Capital Region from April 14 to 17. It is considered to be one of the world’s top events for military historians and a certain draw for all those interested in history, heritage, security and current affairs. For more information on the Society for Military History and this year’s con-ference held at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, please visit the Society’s website: www.smh-hq.org.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 Writers’ Trust of Canada An-

nounces Shortlist March 2—On Wednesday, April 20 at 10 p.m. EST, the prize winner will be announced at the Politics and the Pen Gala in Ot-tawa. Details of the authors and their nominated books will be available on the Writers’ Trust website: writ-erstrust.com. Last year’s winner was Joseph Heath for Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy, and Our Lives.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27Donner Canadian Founda-

tion Award Ceremony—The 18th anniversary of the Donner Prize to reward excellence and innovation in public policy writing by Canadians for 2015-2016, will be held on Wednes-day, April 27, 2016 at 6 p.m. at The Carlu, 444 Younge St. Invitation only.

THURSDAY, APRIL 28Conservative MP Tom Kmiec

Fundraiser: Trudeau 2.0: How Conser-vatives Must Respond. Cocktail and private dinner with Conservative MP Tom Kmiec, April 28, cocktail recep-tion at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m. The Polish Canadian Cultural Centre, 3015 15 Street NE, Calgary, Alta. Special guest speaker: Conserva-

tive MP Jason Kenney, $100. Tickets online at http://tomkmiec.ca/april28

TUESDAY, MAY 3 Nestlé Canada Parliamentary

Reception—All parliamentarians are invited to join Nestlé Canada’s business leaders from across the country to celebrate 150 years of Nestlé ‘Good Food, Good Life’. May 3, 6 p.m.-8 p.m., Daly’s Restau-rant, The Westin Ottawa Hotel. RSVP to Laura Seguin [email protected] or call 613-235-1400.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 Canadian Rail Summit 2016—

Canadian Rail Summit 2016, Canada’s leading rail event. Explore cutting-edge products and services from 50 tradeshow exhibitors, and choose from a wide variety of technical and conference sessions on key industry issues such as competitiveness, safety and emerg-ing technologies. Register at www.railcan.ca/crs2016 and for more information, contact Janet Greene at 613-564-8109 [email protected] or Lynn Raby at 613-237-3888 or [email protected]

THURSDAY, MAY 26Liberal Biennial Convention—The

federal Liberals will hold their conven-tion in Winnipeg, Man., Thursday, May 26, to Sunday, May 29, 2016.

Conservative Convention—The federal Conservatives will hold their convention in Vancouver, B.C., May 26 to May 29, 2016. The Parlia-mentary Calendar is a free listing. Send in your political, cultural, or governmental event in a paragraph with all the relevant details under the subject line ‘Parliamentary Calendar’ to [email protected] by Wednesday at noon before the Monday paper. Or fax it to 613-232-9055. We can’t guarantee inclusion of every event, but we will defi nitely do our best.


Tuesday, March 22nd, 20167:30 am - 9:00 am , The Fairmont Chateau Laurier, 1 Rideau Street, Ottawa

Breakfast will be served~

Individual member ticket price $89, Individual Non-Member ticket price $110. Tables of 10 available. Advance registration is required – numbers are limited.

For tickets call (613) 369-4363, visit www.economicclub.ca

ECONOMIC CLUBOF CANADA

Thank you to our Annual Sponsors:

Ottawa Partners:

Caroline RiseboroPresident and CEO, Plan International Canada

Karen WilsonPresident,Women’s Business Network

Nancy PeckfordNational Spokesperson, Equal Voice

Dr. Cindy BlackstockExecutive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada & Associate Professor, University of Alberta

Dr. Roseann O’Reilly RuntePresident & Vice Chancellor, Carleton University

Elaine LarsenDirector, Head Start for Young Women’s Network Consultant, The Capital Hill Group

Finance Minister Morneau to release budget March 22

Parliamentary Calendar


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