Feds stalling special Afghan detainees probe, could be a fall election

The federal government is hindering attempts to finalize an agreement allowing opposition MPs to view uncensored copies of secret documents central to allegations of detainee torture in Afghanistan, The Hill Times has been told.

The delay, which has raised doubts that the agreement will be set by a deadline the government itself agreed to earlier this month, signals that Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) may be setting the stage for a snap fall election as public opinion polls gradually rise in his party's favour, says a prominent political observer.

Negotiations to establish an ad hoc committee of four MPs

House pays for 29 unidentified MP lawsuits, won't say how much it cost

The House paid the legal fees for MPs involved in 29 lawsuits between 2006 and 2009, but the powerful Commons Board of Internal Economy refuses to identify the MPs or to say how much it cost, however, Canada's former access to information commissioner says this information should be public.

"When members are defending themselves and when you have people that you expect to take public positions you will have to expect that they will...

Source: The Hill Times

Public servants should not fear retribution in Jaffer probe, says MP

Federal public servants who will be called to testify at the Commons inquiry into former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer's unregistered lobbying activities will have the full protection of Parliament and should fear no retribution, says NDP MP Pat Martin.

"We have to remind them they have Parliamentary privilege and they have whistleblower protection, so I think they might have the safest jobs in the public service, frankly, as they...

Source: The Hill Times

Faith becoming a 'powerful political force,' says Crowley

photograph by Jake Wright, The Hill Times

The Harper government likely isn't concerned its recent moves to pacify the religious right are turning off more socially liberal Canadians, because with increasingly low voter turnout on election day the key to success is mobilizing the base and fighting the best campaign, say observers.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) minority Conservative government has come under fire for deciding to exclude funding abortions from its G8 maternal health initiative, and for withholding funds for gay pride events, even though some of them, like Toronto's Pride Parade, come with a

UNHCR calls for safe country review mechanism

Even people from a safe country of origin may have a legitimate request for protection, says the director of division of international protection at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. So any reform of the Canadian refugee system would need to include a review mechanism to ensure potential erroneous decisions can be corrected.

"We just want to make sure that if you use the procedural tool of a safe country of origin,...

Source: The Hill Times

Climate change criticism reaches new level

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon wasted no time during his whistle-stop visit to Ottawa last week in levelling a clear challenge to the Harper government on what many consider its Achilles heel: climate change.

"As a leader of the G8 and as chair of the G20 this year, and as one of the most developed countries in the world, Canada has a special role and a special responsibility to play. That's what I'm going to emphasize here," Mr. Ban told an audience made up of NGOs and diplomats at the Château Laurier on May 12, evoking widespread applause.

"I urge

Libs can't find their mojo, frustrated voters not 'a little madder' at Tories

F

Source: The Hill Times

MPs wary DND will produce all Afghan detainee documents

Opposition MPs are wary about the Defence Department's commitment to produce all documents on detainee transfers in Afghanistan following the Army's inexplicable failure to locate a month's worth of crucial logs and reports for an internal inquiry into detainee beating at the hands of Afghan police in 2006.

The MPs, and a lawyer for Amnesty International at an inquiry into detainee handling by the military police, also note that the Canadian Forces have yet to produce sensitive detainee documents Army officers say have been lost for at least two years in sea containers that serve as storage bins for

PMO suggests other sources for Guergis's firing from Cabinet

Tim Powers put it in cold, harsh terms as he explained something all of Parliament Hill was trying to piece together after gumshoe Derrick Snowdy said he gave the Conservatives no information that would have justified Prime Minister Stephen Harper's abrupt firing of former minister of state Helena Guergis five weeks ago.

"We have a saying in business: you can never fire someone too early," Mr. Powers told The Hill Times as he attempted to explain Mr. Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) dismissal of Ms. Guergis (Simcoe-Grey, Ont.) over undisclosed activities that, Mr. Harper said, had nothing to do with the

Opposition MPs 'hopping mad,' prepared to seek perjury charges against Jaffer

Opposition MPs are "hopping mad" and prepared to seek perjury charges against former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer over the blatant contradictions between his House of Common committee testimony that he didn't lobby for green energy money and a trail of government emails that shows otherwise.

"I'm insulted and I'm increasingly angry because he must think we're really stupid or he's not as smart as he looks," NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, Man.) told The Hill Times. "He left a paper trail a mile wide that proved he just lied his face off. We're hopping mad."

Mr. Martin and Liberal

PMO communications control follows 'control freak' narrative, says Spector

Parliament Hill journalists praised it, but Tory staffers slammed last week's story in The Hill Times on the "unprecedented" strategic communications control in the PMO. However, one experienced political watcher says the story attracted some attention because it's a narrative beginning to boil again between the Prime Minister and the national media.

Norman Spector, a former chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney,...

Source: The Hill Times

PM's iron-willed decision to expose Jaffer-Guergis scandal intended to protect his conservative base

A top Conservative commentator says Prime Minister Stephen Harper's iron-willed decision to "cut the cancer out" by exposing Rahim Jaffer's undeclared lobbying over the past year and throwing Helena Guergis overboard is intended to end the brewing scandal before it spreads.

But political observers and opposition MPs believe Prime Minister Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) is also trying to ensure the unusually lurid details of the furor involving the husband and wife team does not erode crucial financial and electoral backing for the federal Conservative party from perhaps its single most important base—the conservative Christian right.

And, even though Conservatives believe Mr. Harper's decision to draw attention of the media, MPs and the federal lobbying commissioner with a trail of emails showing Mr. Jaffer's lobbying efforts after his 2008 election defeat will put the government in a transparent light, the emails themselves suggest the strategy could backfire and lead to new questions about backroom government pressure on public servants.

"There's no question these documents will come back to haunt the conservatives," said NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, Man.).

A bundle of emails and letters the government distributed to selected journalists after sending it off to Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd last week included more than 40 emails involving odd schemes Mr. Jaffer and his Green Power partner Patrick Glémaud were promoting through Conservative MP Brian Jean (Fort McMurray-Athabasca, Alta.), a friend of Mr. Jaffer's who had been designated as the government gatekeeper for the $1-billion Green Infrastructure Fund, and Sébastien Togneri, then director of parliamentary affairs to