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No Tory Ontario 'Hat Trick' Could Mean Tough Talks With Ottawa Ahead

2011-10-07T11:41:53Z

In what is becoming a familiar story, Ontario voters chose Thursday to yet again elect a government of a different political stripe than its federal counterpart.

Consciously, or perhaps unconsciously, Ontario voters seem to prefer backing a premier who is more likely to pick a fight with the federal government than one that wants to play nice.

That's not a surprise says Ned Franks, an emeritus professor in the department of political studies at Queen’s University, because a "good fight" is sometimes necessary.

"The main opposition much of the time to the federal government is the provinces not the parties in Parliament," he told HuffPost.

Franks sees federal-provincial relations as a looming issue over the next five to 10 years with Quebec and Ontario leading the charge.

"The potential for Quebec objecting to the federal government is pretty strong when pretty well all the Quebec representation (in Ottawa) is on the opposition side not on the government side and … I can see one of McGuinty's main strategies over the next few years (will be) to attack or demand more from the federal government."

There are important files to negotiate, most notably the health care funding accord that must be renewed before 2014.

With an aging population, provincial budgets squeezed by increasing medical costs and pressure to balance the books, the provinces will be pushing the federal government for more cash to prop up the public health care system. The feds, in turn, want to balance their own books and limit public-sector spending.

Jonathan Malloy, a political science professor at Carleton University, suggests that during the campaign McGuinty has been careful "not to do any fed-bashing which other premiers tend to do."

Despite Conservative ministers, MPs, senators, staffers and even the prime minister weighing-in on the race and loudly declaring their support for Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and local Tory candidates, Malloy believes on the whole the federal government stayed out of the race.

Harper declared in August, at a barbecue with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, that he was hoping to complete the 'hat trick' with Ontario painted Tory blue on Oct. 6.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, whose spouse Christine Elliott is an MPP and top player in the Ontario PC caucus, told the Canadian Club during the last week of the campaign that Ontario "can’t afford four more years of the same Dalton McGuinty government."

Still, Malloy believes it would have been bizarre if the federal Tories stayed completely out of the race and didn't voice their support for the Ontario PCs. He doesn't think it will affect the federal Conservatives' working relationship with the provincial Liberals.

"I think you'll see a pretty good working relationship after the election, even though they are from different parties," Malloy predicted.

"There is always a danger when the federal government steps in, from both sides, over whether or not it actually helps the party," suggests Wilfred Laurier University political science professor Jason Roy.

Especially in the context of health care negotiations, voters may need "somebody who would stand up for the rights of people in Ontario," he said.

WINNERS AND LOSERS IN KEY RIDINGS:

Change Please? Man Finds Ontario Political Slogans On Cash

2011-10-06T22:56:23Z

Here’s some change and a political message too.

That’s what Ottawa resident Peter Hall encountered at a local Subway restaurant this week when he reached for his change.

On a $10 bill handed to him was a handwritten note urging Ontario voters to cast their ballots for the Liberal Party.

"Vote Liberal in Ontario for Jobs — Medicare, social economic Justice, Labour Solidarity," was scribbled on the bill.

"Labour Solidarity in Canada," it said on the back.

A perturbed Hall went to his local Progressive Conservative candidate Lisa MacLeod's office and asked the volunteers there what to do. They recommended he report the incident to the riding's returning officer Molly McGoldrick-Larsen.

"She had never heard of this happening before," Hall said.

"I don’t know what the law says, but I think that defacing money is a crime, well, it is not something you are supposed to do. And it seems to me that if I was running for office, this would be a violation of the code of conduct for running an election," Hall said.

"In it by itself, there isn’t much meaning to it, but if there are many (such bills) in the money system, then it becomes all of a sudden meaningful," Hall said.

An Elections Ontario spokeswoman declined to tell HuffPost whether other such bills had been reported.

"It is our policy not to discuss complaints that we may or may not have received," Julia Bennett said.

"In order to determine whether or not there has been a violation of Ontario’s election laws we need to take into account all the relevant circumstances, for example what the activity was, who was involved or responsible, when it took place and why it took place," she said, noting that concerns could be reported in writing to Elections Ontario.

The Criminal Code states that someone defacing a current coin is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

KEY RIDINGS TO WATCH:

Minorities, Majorities, Coalitions: All The Ontario Scenarios Explained

2011-10-06T16:51:39Z

UPDATE: Dalton McGuinty's Liberals have won their third consecutive election. Whether they will form a minority or majority government remains to be seen. See the below scenarios to see what might come next.

Ontario's political make-up could look very different after millions of voters cast their ballots Thursday.

If the Liberals are re-elected but don't have the seat count needed to form a majority government will they strike a deal with the NDP to stay in power despite ruling the option out during the campaign?

Could the party that obtains the most seats be shut out from government?

Here's what the constitutional experts and political scientists believe may happen:

LIVE COVERAGE OF ONTARIO ELECTION

1. Liberal Majority (More than 54 Liberal seats)
No change. Premier Dalton McGuinty would likely re-shuffle his cabinet with the strength he has left and any new talent the Liberals pick up on Oct. 6

2. Strong Liberal Minority
McGuinty could try to govern without making a formal deal by reaching across the aisle to obtain support from both opposition parties on different policy areas. For example, the Liberal could collaborate with the NDP on health care and with the Tories on tax cuts. Prime Minister Stephen Harper governed from 2006 until March 2011 by seeking the support of at least one opposition party and by betting his opponents wanted another election less than he did.

If the Liberals obtain anything higher than 47 seats, Jason Roy, an assistant professor in the department of political science at Wilfred Laurier University, argues the parties would be better served co-operating through an informal agreement.

"If they (the Liberals) are coming in at the low-50s, high 40s, I think it hurts them or can potentially hurt them to enter in any formal agreement," Roy told The Huffington Post Canada. "Nothing would be signed. There would be no piece of paper that could be held up, two years from now (during a potential election), to say: 'Hey, you folks went into the coalition.' "

3. Weak Liberal Minority
Liberals play let's make a deal in order to guarantee themselves a certain time in office free from votes that would threaten the fall of their government and likely plunge the province into another election campaign.

"If (the Liberals) are five seats away from the majority, I don't think they will have anything to do with a coalition. But if they are significantly below a majority, I think, they would consider it," Ned Franks, an emeritus professor in the department of political studies at Queen's University, said.

Franks argues the NDP would be better off insisting on a power-sharing deal, with seats at the cabinet table, rather than a loose arrangement with the Liberals.

"I think (the NDP) would go with coalition because they got stung pretty hard in the Peterson government with Rae as a supporter but not a rainmaker," Franks said about the 1985 Accord inked by then-NDP leader Bob Rae and Liberal leader David Peterson that saw a number of NDP priorities put into law in exchange for the party propping up the minority Liberals for two years.

"They could demand portfolios they care about, like health and education," he said of Andrea Horwath's team.

But would Ontario voters accept it?

"We've had coalitions before and coalition isn't a dirty word," Franks notes. "(Prime Minister Stephen) Harper made it so, but it is not a dirty word."

If the Liberals win a weak minority, Jonathan Malloy, an associate Political Science professor at Carleton University, believes "some pretty serious negotiations would start happening as early as this weekend."

"But it may take a while to reach a bargain," he cautions.

4. Tory Minority
a) It is quite possible that if Tim Hudak's Progressive Conservative Party wins the most seats on Thursday, the Liberals and NDP could still form a government.

McGuinty, as the incumbent, remains premier even if he loses the election, according to constitutional convention. He is within his rights to visit Ontario's Lieutenant Governor David Onley and tell him that he plans to seek the confidence of the legislature to govern, Franks said.

"There is no constitutional principle that says that the party with the most seats forms government, the principle is the party that enjoys the confidence of the house forms the government," Franks said.

b) Hudak could also reach out to the NDP to try to make a deal, although party differences suggests a marriage between the left and the right may be untenable.

"The NDP and the Conservative party are more ideologically apart, it will be harder for them to make a bargain. Whereas the NDP and Liberals are obviously more adjacent so it will be easier for them to bargain," Malloy said.

Still, he notes that in 1985 there were talks between the NDP and the Conservatives.

"So it might happen again here, but on balance you'd have to say that it is unlikely," Malloy added.

Last year, the U.K.'s coalition government cemented a relationship between unlikely bedfellows. After a May vote which resulted in a hung Parliament with no party having an absolute majority, the Conservatives formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats giving them five cabinet seats. Polls show, however, that the left-leaning Lib Dems have plummeted in support as they have propped up unpopular Tory policies such as a raising the cap on tuition fees.

5. Tory Majority
Hudak is ecstatic and celebrates.

6. NDP Majority
Horwath is ecstatic and celebrates.

7. NDP Minority
Horwath reaches across the aisle and tries to make a deal with the Liberals or the PCs. The reverse of scenarios 2 or 3 or 4b.

As Roy suggests, "Anything is possible."

Join The Huffington Post Canada team as we liveblog the Ontario election results starting 8 p.m. ET.

Paul Dewar Joins NDP Leadership Race

2011-10-02T14:25:06Z

The NDP leadership race is heating up.

The Official opposition's foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar announced Sunday he is throwing his hat in the ring to replace the late Jack Layton as federal leader of the New Democratic Party.

Dewar, the fourth candidate to jump in race, said he'll focus his campaign on the "grassroots."

"For me, it is about engaging with people who are presently members of the party, and people who aren't,” he said, noting that there were 4.5 million Canadians who voted NDP in the last election.

"We need to invite them in and offer them a vision of Canada that, I think, people are thirsting for," Dewar told reporters right after his announcement.
In a broken French, the Ottawa MP told a hometown crowd he knows he needs to work on his language skills but it is a "challenge" he is confident he will overcome.

He joins British Columbia MP Nathan Cullen. who announced his candidacy in Vancouver Friday, as well as first-time Quebec MP Romeo Saganash and front-runner Brian Topp, the NDP's former party president and a long-time backroom organizer.

Topp, the perceived front-runner, has collected a series of endorsements from big names in the party, such as former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow and former federal leader Ed Broadbent.

Broadbent represented Ottawa-Centre, Dewar's riding, from 2004 to 2006 and is often seen at Dewar’s side during events. Sunday, Dewar acknowledged Broadbent won’t be standing next to him any longer, but he said he expects the contrast between Topp and himself will become obvious.

"Brian is going to do what he thinks is best, and I'm going to do what I think is best, in terms of how we engage," Dewar told reporters. "I think contrast is inevitable. Different candidates are going have different things they bring to the table."

Topp has the public support of four caucus members, Dewar acknowledged that so far he has none.

"That is not my focus — stay tuned as the campaign goes on, but my focus was actually to connect with people all across the country," he said.

Dewar has been the MP for Ottawa-Centre since 2006. Dewar's mother, Marion Dewar, a past president of the NDP and a former MP, was a popular mayor in the nation's capital
.
Dewar resigned his position as the NDP's foreign affairs critic Sunday when he made his announcement, as per the party's leadership rules. It will be up to Interim leader Nycole Turmel to name a replacement.

A handful of other NDP MPs are still mulling over potential leadership bids.

B.C. MP Peter Julian suggested on Twitter this weekend that he will have an announcement to make in the coming days.

Nova Scotia MP Robert Chisholm, Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair, Ontario MP Peggy Nash and Manitoba MP Niki Ashton are still on the fence.

NDP members will decided on March 24 who will be the next leader of the official opposition.

Tories To Bring Back Controversial Anti-Terror Measures Minus Safeguards

2011-09-30T23:38:26Z

The Conservative government is thinking of permanently bringing back tough anti-terrorism measures that civil libertarians decry, despite the fact Canadian authorities never successfully used the legal tools when they had them, The Huffington Post Canada has learned.

The Tories announced in their campaign platform that they planned to bring back legislation giving law enforcement officials the power to arrest someone without a warrant and force individuals to testify before a judge. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the CBC earlier this month that, despite being rarely applied, there were times when preventative arrests and investigative hearings were needed to combat terrorism.

The use of preventative arrests, however, has never been reported.

Investigative hearings were almost used once, when authorities tried to compel an unco-operative witness to testify in the Air India case. The evidence was never used and Parliament was never told an investigative hearing took place.

Mandatory reporting was part of the checks and balances the majority Liberals included in the Anti-terrorism Act, which set out the controversial provisions in the wake of 9/11. The measures expired five years later after Parliamentarians reviewed them and the NDP and Liberals voted against reinstating them.

Now, the Conservative government is not convinced those checks and balances are needed.

While government officials insist they haven't yet decided on whether to include a sunset clause, a parliamentary review or a reporting mechanism in their upcoming legislation, sources say the Tories believe a sunset clause is a bad idea.

"The reason a sunset clause may be problematic is that, while a parliamentary review can be delayed for a variety of reasons (especially in an election-prone series of minority parliaments), once a sunset clause is activated, powers cease to be available to police and prosecutors, regardless of whether or not Parliamentarians have turned their minds to the utility of those powers. That kind of abrupt end to a particular power may be very detrimental to public safety — right at the moment when the power may be needed most," said an individual familiar with the file.

Opposition politicians, however, insist that since the government has never successfully used the powers, they aren't needed and certainly should not be made available for use indefinitely.

"Our position has always been that they were of no use, and there was too much potential abuse," the NDP's justice critic Joe Comartin said.

"Incarcerating people for 72 hours and possibly longer without any explanation … and the accused not being told why he or she are being held, I think those provisions fly so much in the face of our existing democratic rights and civil liberties. We've never had a case made for the need for it," Comartin said.

"This is just part of the leftover paranoia feelings that we have from 9/11 that has really never been justified in the 10 years since," he added.

"When you think of the Toronto 18, they didn't use them [the measures] then, and that was probably the most widespread potential terrorism that we've had ... The balance of the convictions were all gotten by the conventional use of our criminal code and our evidence act and clearly showed no need for it."

Comartin added that, at the very least, if the Tories were going to press ahead with "draconian legislation," the measures should be automatically sunsetted if they fail to pass a parliamentary review. "There has to be a review component in so that the legislature can have the opportunity to take a look at it and see if there is any justification for continuing, and if not they just let (the powers) be sunsetted," he said.

In a heated Senate debate this week, Leader of the Government in the Senate Marjory LeBreton appeared to have no idea the anti-terrorism measures had never successfully been deployed or that the government was forced to report to Parliament on their use.

Liberal leader James Cowan repeatedly asked LeBreton to justify the need for the controversial measures.

She told the upper chamber she didn't know how often the powers of investigate hearings and preventative arrests had been used.

"I am not privy to this information. I am not on the Cabinet Committee on National Security," LeBreton told Cowan Wednesday.

Cowan told LeBreton that to his knowledge the federal government had never used the provisions and if it had, he said amid heckling from Conservative senators, authorities would have had to disclose their use to Parliament.

"The Attorney General and the Solicitor General of Canada, along with provincial ministers responsible for policing, were subject to strict reporting requirements, notably with respect to the use of these two provisions we spoke about — investigative hearing and preventative arrest. They were required to report to Parliament if and when those provisions were used," he said.

"This is serious business. Honourable senators on the other side may find it amusing, but it is not," Cowan continued.

"There is a very difficult balance to be struck between privacy and national security concerns. Safeguards were built into this legislation 10 years ago. The Prime Minister [Harper], when he answered that question [on CBC], indicated to any fair-minded listener that while the provisions were not widely used, they had been rarely used. Yet, there are no reports of them having been used," Cowan said.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews' office confirmed the measures were never used.

Despite that, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is expected to soon table legislation bringing back the contentious powers.

"Terrorism is one of the greatest threats our country faces. We must give law enforcement the tools they need to safeguard our national security while protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Canadians," Nicholson’s press secretary Pamela Stephens said in an email.

"Our Government committed to Canadians to reintroduce these measures during the recent election; we will deliver on that promise," she wrote.

Topp Gets Another Key Endorsement In NDP Race

2011-09-30T14:15:45Z

British Columbia NDP MP Nathan Cullen jumped into the NDP leadership race Friday just as rival Brian Topp collected the endorsement of another party veteran and challenged other contenders to mount equally professional campaigns.

"I make no apologies for running a strong campaign," Topp, the only officially registered candidate in the NDP's leadership race so far, told reporters in Ottawa.

"One of the things that the party is looking for, is 'can you campaign successfully in national politics?'," Topp said. "All the leadership candidates face the same challenges that I do, which is to show in the race that you are capable of doing that. And I think so far, so good, I think it has gone well so far and I am quite comfortable with the way the campaign is going."

Topp shot out of the gates on Sept. 12 announcing his leadership bid flanked by party giant and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent. He was also accompanied by Quebec NDP Françoise Boivin. He then received former Saskatchewan NDP premier Roy Romanow’s support and last week added New Brunswick MP Yvon Godin and Quebec MP Alain Giguère as supporters.

Topp said his strong entrance in the race showed New Democrats were "capable of running well-run, professional, effective campaigns" something the party needed to do to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

So far, Topp faces challenges from new Quebec MP Romeo Saganash and Cullen, the member for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, who announced his bid in Vancouver Friday.

Ottawa MP Paul Dewar is also expected to announce his intention to take the plunge Sunday.

Friday, Dewar told reporters Topp was focused on "getting endorsements from caucus."

"I don’t see any, you know, conspiracy here at all. He’s just – he's a smart strategist," Dewar said of Topp’s head start.

Davies, a Vancouver NDP MP with 14 years experience in the Commons, said she decided to back Topp because of his "good leadership qualities" and especially his experience across the country, including in government.

"I thought long and hard about the leadership race and what we need to do, I think that Brian Topp understands the work that Jack took on and he's the best person to move us forward," she said Friday morning.

"He has a base and connections and an understanding of all parts of Canada. So yeah, there will probably be people from B.C. running and they are good colleagues of mine, and that won't change ... but I made my decision on who I think will be the best leader," she added.

Davies said she feels that despite Topp’s lack of electoral experience, he will succeed where others, such as former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, did not.

"Coming in to parliamentary life is a lot to learn, we've all gone through that," Davies said, adding that the leader’s role was something Topp could take on and learn.

"It is not impossible. In fact, it is very doable and when you have been in the political arena, you know Brian has been a key part of our team for years," she said.

"He is not Mr. Ignatieff, he is a different person altogether. He lives in the real world. He is in his union, he is the leader of his union, he is active in the community, he understands politics ... so I don’t see it as an issue at all.”

Topp defended his lack of electoral experience, saying he never ran for public office because he devoted his time to his young family, but now that they were teenagers, he was willing to take the plunge.

"I'm not going to need any of the on the job training to campaign nationally against Stephen Harper. I've already cut a bit of my teeth on that one," he said, referring to his years working on national NDP campaigns.

Topp also said he didn't expect the NDP leadership race to be divisive because New Democrats had learned hard lessons from the Liberals.

"I don’t expect that we are going to get a nasty campaign," he said.

"We’ve seen what happens when people do that. If you want this too much, and you are prepared to do anything to win, then you get what happened to the Liberals. You get divisive civil wars that destroy your party and that elect the Conservative. So we must not do that. And everyone who is going to be in this race knows that," Topp said.

Topp would not pledge to run in former NDP leader Jack Layton's Toronto - Danforth riding Friday, but he suggested that he had approached about, or been offered, a seat in the Commons by another NDP MP.

"That (seat) is not the only possibility for getting into the House. We'll just have to see how it works out. I did make a commitment to get into the House as quickly as I could," Topps said.

When asked specifically if others had offered to step aside, Topp answered: "I don't have any announcement to make about that today."

Members of the NDP will choose a leader at the party convention in Toronto on March 24, 2012.

CBC Cuts Could Be Deeper Than 10 Per Cent, Liberals Suggest

2011-09-29T23:50:25Z

OTTAWA –The CBC could see even deeper cuts than the 10 per cent reduction the Heritage Minister has discussed, federal Liberals suggested Thursday.

Liberal heritage critic Scott Simms told HuffPost he believes Heritage Minister James Moore is under tremendous pressure from right-wingers in the Conservative caucus to axe the public broadcaster's budget substantially.

"They are openly musing about it. They are no longer quiet," Simms said, reacting to petitions being distributed by some Tory MPs, such as Rob Anders and Brad Trost, that call for the CBC's public subsidy to be eliminated entirely.

"So what lies beneath James' rhetoric is pretty scary stuff. So if he has gone from five, now to 10, it may go even further," Simms concluded.

HuffPost broke the news Thursday that Moore wants to cut the CBC's budget by 10 per cent. The Conservative government, however, hasn't officially settled on a figure. In order to balance the books, all departments, agencies and Crown corporations have been asked to propose two scenarios to deal with a 5 per cent cut and a 10 per cent cut.

With a $1 billion allocation from the public purse, Moore noted in the Commons this week that: "The CBC is receiving a lot of money from taxpayers."

"CBC will do its part, that's certain," Moore added. "We will work with them to find the savings, but they will do their part to achieve a balanced budget by 2015."

Simms said he accepts the fact that budgets will be cut because of the review, but the issue is how far those cuts will go.

"It went from musing about five per cent to now musing about 10 per cent, so it keeps going," he said.

NDP Interim Leader Nycole Turmel said Thursday the cuts were "regrettable" because the CBC is providing "neutral" information accessible to all Canadians.

althia.raj@huffingtonpost.com

Tories Seek Big Budget Cuts At CBC

2011-09-29T10:45:42Z

Heritage Minister James Moore wants to slash CBC’s budget by 10 per cent, The Huffington Post has learned.

Although a government decision is far from complete, Moore has discussed his wish to see the public broadcaster’s $1.1-billion allocation cut by ten per cent, sources said. Moore had earlier this summer suggested the CBC could face a cut of "at least 5 per cent."

According to Ian Morrison, the spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, that would be a devastating blow to the CBC.

“Ten per cent would have just huge consequences. It would result in station closures,” said Morrison, who warned that small stations serving rural areas would be particularly vulnerable.

Cuts to the CBC would flow from the Conservatives’ strategic and operation review process, a plan to find $4-billion in savings in order to balance the books by 2014-2015.

The federal government has instructed all departments, agencies and crown corporations that receive federal money to come up with two separate proposals on how they could slash their budgets by five per cent and 10 per cent.

Cabinet hasn’t approved any CBC reductions, sources said. In fact, it appears the public broadcaster hasn’t yet submitted its proposal on how it would handle budget reductions.

“The process is unfolding. We are working (on it),” CBC spokesman Marco Dubé told HuffPost.

The public broadcaster doesn't expect to find out how much it will have to cut until the next federal budget, likely in March, Dubé said.

Moore assured reporters Wednesday that the government won't eliminate the CBC's public subsidy, but he repeated comments he made in the Commons, saying the public broadcaster won't be spared from government-wide spending cuts.

“Obviously, I’m not going to talk about Budget 2012… In the campaign, we said, we’re going to balance the budget and we’re going to do so responsibly. We’re going to keep our word and the CBC has to be part of that,” he said.

The minister added: “We’re not interested in privatizing the CBC.”

The Conservative government may not want to eliminate public financing completely, but some Tory backbenchers are suggesting that’s precisely what they would like to see.

Conservative MPs on the Heritage Committee voted against an NDP motion this week that called for a study of the impacts of anticipated cuts to the CBC/Radio-Canada.

Although the meeting was held in-camera, numerous sources said the government majority voted down a request to hear testimony from witnesses on the effects of the cuts and the crown corporation’s ability to fulfill its mandate.

CBC supporters view it as the latest attack against the crown corporation.

The NDP’s heritage critic Tyrone Benskin refused to discuss his motion but he told HuffPost the CBC had already suffered enough cuts.

“If you want this economy to work, you need to get people working. Cutting the CBC is going to cut jobs,” he said.

The Tories are trying to pave the way for more drastic cuts by undermining the ability of the CBC to provide quality programming, Benskin said.

“It will… strengthen the call to say that CBC is wasting money because CBC is not doing their job. It’s almost like a two-pronged attack where you cut the legs out from someone and say, ‘well walk faster,’” Benskin said.

On Tuesday, the Tory-majority on the Commons' access to information, privacy and ethics committee also voted to study the use of taxpayers' money in funding CBC's legal battle with the Information Commissioner, another body paid for by the public purse. The Tories want to call CBC's competitors, including Sun Media journalists, to testify about the public broadcaster's refusal to turn over documents they have requested under the access to information law.

The Conservative Party has often used the public financing of the CBC as a wedge issue, picking fights over the broadcaster’s alleged left wing bias and questioning whether taxpayers should be forced to dish out more than a $1-billion a year to the crown corporation.

The Globe and Mail reported last week that Conservative Senator Irving Gerstein had recently sent a ‘“National Critical Issues Survey’ to supporters asking whether CBC was “good value” for money.

A number of Tory backbench MPs are also quizzing constituents on the funding of the CBC or asking them to sign petitions.

Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost wants his supporters to sign a petition to defund the CBC.

Ed Holder, the MP for London West, released Wednesday the results of an unscientific survey he’d advertised in his weekly newsletter.

Although Holder reported approximately 66 per cent of his respondents wanted to maintain or increase funding for CBC Radio, with only 35 per cent wanting to reduce or eliminate funding, he told HuffPost, he believes the result were “skewed a lot” because a pro-CBC group promoted the poll to its membership.

Before the large spike in votes, Holder said the poll results were more in line with a survey last week on CBC television which suggested 38 per cent wanted of respondents wanted funding maintained or increased, 21 per cent wanted funding reduced, and 41 per cent wanted CBC TV funding eliminated outright.

"CBC radio is certainly more popular than CBC television," Holder added.

Ontario Conservative MP Jay Aspin said CBC funding is not an issue in his riding but his constituents want to see fiscal responsibility.

“Everything is under review, so certainly the CBC is no exception,” he said.

But a few other MPs suggested they have personal reasons to support a viable public broadcaster.

“Cut? I like watching it. Where would I watch my hockey?,” said Joe Preston, the Tory MP for Elgin—Middlesex—London.

The CBC has inked a deal with the NHL to broadcast Hockey Night in Canada until 2014.

Manitoba Conservative MP James Bezan told HuffPost his sister works at CBC radio in Winnipeg.

Asked if he’d like to see the CBC cut, Bezan responded: “I love my sister.”

althia.raj@huffingtonpost.com

Trouble Brewing In Tory Caucus Over Funding For Group That Provides Abortions

2011-09-28T18:08:57Z

There's trouble brewing in the Tory caucus over a government decision to continue funding the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), a group that provides abortions abroad.

An angry Brad Trost, MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt, posted a response to International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda’s move to renew funding for the organization on his website, vowing that the Tories’ pro-lifers would take on aggressive stances.

"Many, many Conservative MPs pressed the PMO to stop the funds from flowing. Federal funding did stop for a time. Funds allocated to IPPF were considerably reduced ... This only happened because of the pressure applied. This was a real victory," he wrote.

READ THE COMPLETE TEXT OF TROST'S LETTER

Bureaucrats, Trost said, were still fighting to keep the taps flowing to Planned Parenthood, but he warned "pro-life politicians have been taught a lesson."

"The government only responds to pro-life issues and concerns when we take an aggressive stance. We will apply this lesson," he vowed.

His comments are “almost scary,” said the NDP international development critic Hélène Laverdière.

The NDP, she said, believes the decision to give $6 million to IPPF was a good one and a step in the right direction.

"We would have even liked to see the government go even further and that the funding would include reproduction services but they are programs that are interesting in countries that absolutely need, sexual education and contraception, such as Mali, Sudan, Bangladesh," she said.

“Women in Canada have the right to chose for themselves, and I do not understand, I will never under undersand, why we would prevent women in Africa, women in Bangladesh or elsewhere, those same rights that women here enjoy,” she added.

Trost had boasted during the last federal election that he had helped de-fund Planned Parenthood with the help of petitions signed by anti-abortion advocates.

"Now, you should know, they're still trying to get their snout back in the public trough," Trost told the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association in April, in a speech that was distributed by the Liberals.

The Conservatives insisted at the time that IPFF’s multi-million-dollar funding had not been cut but simply delayed.

In a story, first reported by CBC on Sept. 22, the Canadian International Development Agency confirmed it would provide the group with $6 million over three years to be used in countries where abortions are not performed.

Trost, in his letter, said he didn’t know how the government's decision "squares with the repeated statement that Canada will not fund abortion internationally."

"The PMO attempts to square this circle by only permitting IPPF funding to go into countries that ban abortion," he wrote. "Considering that promoting abortion internationally is central to the identity of IPPF, this sort of political hairsplitting only seems to make sense in the Ottawa bubble. This is a position I totally reject."

An official in the Prime Minister’s Office told HuffPost Wednesday that if Trost was presented with the facts, he would understand the government’s decision.

"The fact of the matter is that funding is going to countries that do not fund abortions, it is going to maternal and children's health. It will help save lives. I think those facts, when he sees them, he will appreciate them," the official said.

Liberal health critic Hedy Fry, noted Trost had "attacked his own Conservative government today" and asked Oda for assurances Wednesday during Question Period that the government would not "yield to such threats" and would "ensure that women around the globe have access to evidence-based programs that include safe abortions and family planning services."

Although Oda stood up to answer the question, she took the opportunity to highlight Canada's Muskoka initiative and action taken to prevent malaria, provide mothers and children with better nutrition and train more midwives. She ran out of time to address Trost's comment directly or the funding decision.

Trost’s colleagues kept mum Wednesday.

Fellow pro-lifer Cheryl Gallant, the MP for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, told HuffPost she hadn’t heard Trost’s comments "so I am not going to comment."

THE FOLLOWING IS THE COMPLETE TEXT OF MP BRAD TROST'S RESPONSE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S DECISION TO FUND IPFF

Response to Federal Government's Decision to Fund IPPF
Late in the afternoon of Thursday, September 22nd, I received a phone call from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) about a news story on the CBC that had run earlier in the day. The CBC reported that the federal government had approved funding for the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

A PMO staffer explained to me that the story had not been accurate when it ran, but due to the day's events, the CBC story was mostly accurate now. Apparently, six staffers in CIDA Minister Bev Oda's office had been working on a grant to fund IPPF -- and one of them decided to leak the story to the CBC.

Rather than deny the story, a decision was made to rush funding to IPPF to the tune of $6 million over three years. (I was told that the funding letter was sent out at 4 pm that afternoon.)

People have asked how funding IPPF squares with the repeated statement that Canada will not fund abortion internationally. The PMO attempts to square this circle by only permitting IPPF funding to go into countries that ban abortion.

Considering that promoting abortion internationally is central to the identity of IPPF, this sort of political hairsplitting only seems to make sense in the Ottawa bubble. This is a position I totally reject.

Since 2006, Conservative MPs have been asking to have IPPF defunded.

In 2006, our request that federal funding for IPPF be stopped was ignored because we asked politely--and behind closed doors.

In 2009, we became more aggressive and began to take our campaign public.

Many, many Conservative MPs pressed the PMO to stop the funds from flowing. Federal funding did stop for a time. Funds allocated to IPPF were considerably reduced. Furthermore, federal grants for IPPF also had more strings attached.

This only happened because of the pressure applied. This was a real victory.

Bureaucrats have fought for years to keep the status quo and continue the funding of the IPPF that was established by the Liberals.

The battle over the IPPF continues.

Pro-life politicians have been taught a lesson.

The government only responds to pro-life issues and concerns when we take an aggressive stance.

We will apply this lesson.

Senators Openly Suggest Scrapping Age Limit

2011-09-28T13:13:54Z

OTTAWA — Some senators are openly suggesting they would like to scrap the 75-year age limit that forces them to retire from the upper chamber.

Senators on both sides of the political spectrum mulled aloud Tuesday about the age limit, suggesting if the Conservative government plans to bring in term limits, it should also end to mandatory retirement at age 75.

Liberal Senator Jim Munson told the chamber he finds the mandatory retirement age “ridiculous.”

"I find this age discriminatory," he said, during tributes for newly retired Conservative Sen. Vim Kochhar.

"If there will be term limits and you come to this place at the age of 73, why should Senator Vim not be allowed to stay until 81 or 82? Age is just a number. That is all it is. I just turned 65 this year," Munson told his colleagues.

Kochhar told The Huffington Post Canada last week that he would have liked to stay in the chamber longer.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered him a Senate appointment on Jan. 29, 2010 at age 73, but he was forced to leave the upper chamber after reaching age 75 on Sept. 21.

"I personally would like the age (limit) to be scrapped, I think it is discriminatory," Kochhar said.

"If you are not in a good health, you should not stay there, but if you are in a good health and you can contribute, I think you should have more opportunity to contribute," he said.

In a letter he wrote that was read to his colleagues Tuesday, Kochhar said: "I am not ready to be put out to pasture yet."

Conservative Sen. Stephen Greene also said he thought Kochhar, a man who is up before 6 a.m. and usually works 14 hour days, should not be forced to retire.

"The example of Senator Kochhar has made me realize that the 75?year age limit should be reconsidered in the context of term limits," Greene said. "I am convinced that Senator Kochhar has the energy to perform at a high level – at least until he is 76," he added jokingly.

David Christopherson, the NDP’s democratic reform critic, said he's not surprised senators want to stay in their cushy jobs longer.

"Of course, they want to stay as long as they can, who wouldn't?," Christopherson said.

"There isn’t a Canadian anywhere who wouldn't be thrilled to get a Senate appointment and who wouldn't just love the idea that they could just continue to stay there until the ripe old age of a 110. It's absurd," he said.

Christopherson, however, acknowledges the idea of altering the age limit was "interesting" if term limits were introduced but he said the Conservatives’ plan for reform was "indefensible" because it didn’t make the chamber accountable.

"Yes, it creates a problem. What do you do when you elect a senator who is 70 years old, and they are on an eight or nine year term but the rules say they have to retire at age 75? I agree, it is a mess. The whole Senate is a mess. We should just get rid of it," Christopherson said.

The $100 million the upper chamber spends could be put to better use, the NDP MP added.

The Conservative government introduced legislation in June that would establish a process for electing senators and limit their stay in the chamber to one non-renewable nine-year term.

The 75-year age limit was introduced in 1965. Senators had previously been appointed for life.

David Christopherson, the NDP’s democratic reform critic.

Tory Minister's Office Accuses Liberal MP Of Grandstanding On EU Trade Deal

2011-09-27T19:04:56Z

The International Trade Minister's office reacted to a Huffington Post Canada story Tuesday, accusing Liberal MP Wayne Easter of grandstanding.

Easter earlier Tuesday presented two motions at the Standing Committee on International Trade that called for a study of 'Buy America' provisions as well as a background briefing on the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union. Yesterday, Easter told Huffington Post that Canada’s elected representatives have been kept in the dark over a multi-billion dollar trade deal with the EU and Parliamentarians deserve to know what they’re signing-off on.

But International Trade Minister Ed Fast's office says the Minister sent a letter to Tory MP Rob Merrifield, the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade, on Sept. 15, asking if Fast could appear before the committee to update members on the Canada-EU free-trade negotiations.

Easter, however, told The Huffington Post that letter was only presented to MPs at the committee Tuesday morning.

Fast's office also said Easter was incorrect that there had been no net-benefit analysis done by the Government of Canada.

"The Canada-EU joint study indicated a trade agreement with the European Union is expected to boost Canada's economy by $12 billion and increase two-way trade by 20%," Fast's press secretary Rudy Husny said. "It will give preferential market access for Canadian businesses to the world's largest single common market, foreign investors and trade... (and) is expected to create almost 80,000 new jobs."

Easter said if that was true he wanted to see it.

He told Huffington Post he was penning a letter to the minister asking him to table the comprehensive document with the clerk of the committee, so MPs could study the risk analysis.

The international trade committee passed Easter's motion calling for study of 'Buy American' provisions on Tuesday. The committee will call on the minister as well as representatives of the manufacturing sector and Canada's Ambassador to the U.S. Gary Doer to testify.

Easter's other motion calling for a briefing on the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement was nullified after the committee passed a draft agenda presented by Gerald Keddy that included a briefing on CETA.

MPs are tentatively scheduled to be briefed on October 6th by the minister as well as on October 18th — just as the ninth round of negotiations begin.

"We should have been briefed before the first round began," Easter told Huffington Post.

Speaking with reporters after Question Period, Fast pledged the government would increase consultations on the Canada-EU deals — both CETA and the political framework agreement which accompanies it.

"We will be consulting not only with our colleagues, we will be consulting broadly with our stakeholders as we have with the Canada-European free trade negotiations. The CETA negotiations have been the most consultative. They’ve been the most transparent negotiations Canada has ever undertaken," he said.

The Minister also addressed concerns of new 'Buy America' provisions that could hurt Canadian businesses by freezing them out of the U.S. market.

"I have been I touch with both the American Ambassador to Canada as well as with the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. We’ve impressed upon them our serious concerns about the impact that this has on trade around the world. We believe that their decision really signals the wrong signal that trade protectionism is helpful. It is not. We are a government that is very supportive of removing trade barriers rather than erecting new ones," he said.

Fast did not say the federal government had received any assurances that any kind of protective wording would be dropped from American plans.

"All I can say right now is that we’re working very hard to impress upon the Americans that protectionism hurts not only our workers, it also hurts their workers. Our economies are fully integrated. Our supply chains are fully integrated. And when they take a decision on protectionism like they have, that hurts both economies. And it sends the wrong message to the global economy," he said.

The text of International Trade Minister Ed Fast's letter to Tory MP Rob Merrifield, chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade.

Baird To Return To Libya As Early As This Week

2011-09-27T11:41:51Z

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird may head to Libya as early as this week, The Huffington Post has learned.

Planning is underway for Baird to visit Tripoli, the Libyan capital, but sources said the trip is conditional on the National Transitional Council (NTC) selecting a new interim cabinet.

Libya’s Interim Prime Minister Mahmud Jibril said last week in New York that he expected the cabinet would be announced “within a week, “10 days maximum.”

But political infighting between members with old regional rivalries seems to be delaying decisions about who will form the cabinet — decisions that were first promised in early August.

Baird is expected to pledge more money for the reconstruction effort during his second trip to the country in four months. He was in Benghazi in June to meet Libya’s rebel leaders.

On Monday, MPs formally approved the extension of Canada's military role in the NATO-led 'Operation Unified Protector' by up to three months, voting 189 to 98 in favour, with the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois supporting the government’s motion and the NDP and Green Party opposed.

Baird, who addressed the United Nations General Assembly while the vote was taking place in Ottawa, told the sparse crowd that Canada had not looked the other way as the Gadhafi regime disregarded human rights and the rule of law and “waged war on the people of Libya.”

In a speech in the Commons earlier Monday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Canada had been on the ground at the very beginning when the international community acted to protect Libyan civilians from indiscriminate and violent attacks by Gadhafi’s regime, and Canada should be there until the job is done.

“Canada has never shirked a responsibility and certainly we cannot do so now,” MacKay told his fellow MPs.

The NDP, however, feels that with the NTC in place, the job in Libya is mostly finished and it is now time for Canada to change its focus.

NDP Defence critic Jack Harris told HuffPost his party feels that Canada should turn its attention on helping Libya rebuild.

“We’ve done more than our share, (we should) put the effort in the rebuilding and the civil society and the help with governance issues — that should be the focus of Canada’s efforts,” he said. "We don’t think that we should continue with the military role.”

Harris said he also feels Canada could help the National Transitional Council achieve cohesion — possibly through mediation.

"I think there needs to be some assistance to this group to develop a proper kind of consensus — or make sure that there is a role for the different groups within that. Some mediation role, that is something that Canada could be good at. We could be providing our good officers to help that rather than just be sort-of a cheerleader," he told HuffPost.

Harris noted that Canada has spent less than $12-million on the humanitarian front, but was expected to shell out more than $60-million on the military side.

Although MacKay noted Libya’s “immense petroleum wealth” three times during his speech to the Commons, the minister insisted Monday that Canada was not joining the military efforts in Libya to get a piece of the country’s large economic pie.

“Canada still has more of a load to shoulder, which we do willingly, with enthusiasm, with no expectation of anything in return except the success of the Libyan people,” he said.

Libya sits atop Africa's largest proven reserves of conventional crude, raking in $40-billion in revenue last year from oil and gas exports.

With Files from the Canadian Press
RELATED VIDEO
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Parliamentarians Kept In The Dark On EU Deal: Liberal Critic

2011-09-27T00:48:18Z

Canada’s elected representatives have been kept in the dark over a multi-billion dollar trade deal with the European Union — and Parliamentarians deserve to know what they’re signing-off on, Liberal international trade critic Wayne Easter told The Huffington Post Canada Monday.

“The Europeans on any of the discussions, nothing can be finalized unless they vote on it. (European parliamentarians) absolutely must be informed and nothing can be put on the (negotiating) table unless they are informed of it. Then they basically have veto power,” Easter said.

“In Canada, it is the direct opposite. We do not know what is going on — other than we do know that there will be another round of negotiations and there is the political framework negotiations. But we are just guessing at what is in them,” he said.

On Tuesday, Easter plans to ask his Conservative colleagues — who hold a majority on the international trade committee — Tuesday for support on a motion calling for a full committee briefing on the status of trade talks.

He isn’t the only Parliamentarian to acknowledge he knows little about what the government is negotiating with the EU.

Conservative MP David Tilson told a group of European parliamentarians and officials earlier this month during a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, that he was “blissfully ignorant” about the political framework agreement.

That document, which is in addition to the massive Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that Canada is currently negotiating, covers the entire relationship between Canada and the EU and includes obligations Canada must meet on various fronts such as human rights and the environment.

Sources told Huff Post negotiations began on the framework agreement Monday in Ottawa and continue Tuesday. The parties hope to finish negotiations in early 2012 — at the same time as CETA negotiations are expected to wrap up. While Members of the European Parliament will be asked to vote on both documents, MPs in Canada will only need to vote on the trade deal.

Tilson is the head of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association. He was in Strasbourg in early September with Conservative MP James Lunney, Conservative Senator Michel Rivard and Liberal Senator Joan Fraser.

Fraser told Huff Post just before the one-day meeting that she also believes Parliamentarians could be better informed of the discussions, especially CETA which encompasses tricky areas such as agriculture, technical barriers, investment, government procurement, labour mobility and dispute settlement mechanisms.

“These negotiations are conducted strictly in camera and it’s very difficult to figure out what is going on,” she said.

“It is true that negotiations of this nature cannot work unless they are conducted in camera, you can’t do it in public…But I think it would be possible to have multi-partisan groups of parliamentarians struck to consult the public on these issues, and to be kept informed of what was going on in the negotiations, and feed back to the government,” Fraser said.

The European Union and Canada will continue talks on CETA in mid-October when they meet in Ottawa for week. Sources tell The Huffington Post that the deal is nearly 90 per cent complete but for the first time, market access is on the table. That includes controversial items such as rules of origins, dairy imports into Canada and beef and pork exports to the EU.

Easter said he believes the “federal Parliament of Canada” should be seeing drafts of what is being negotiated.

“We need all that information presented directly to us so we can intelligently comment on the issues,” he said.

“We do know that there has been no net-benefit analysis done by the Government of Canada. But this government is famous for not dealing with facts,” he added.

The Liberal Party is concerned Canada is willing to allow European companies to bid on infrastructure contracts right down to the municipal level, as well as easing agricultural tariffs and pharmaceutical patents that could raise the price of drugs in the country, costing taxpayers $2.3 to $2.6 billion more a year if the provinces can’t buy generic drugs, Easter said.

He acknowledged that the Conservative majority on the international trade committee — the Tories have seven seats, including the chair, and the opposition have five seats — will make passing his motion more difficult. But he implored his colleagues to support a freer exchange of information.

"Good government will allow committees to do their work: allow them to question, to criticize, to analyze government policy and the issues surrounding government policy. That is what democracy is all about," he said. "So we will see if they (the Conservative members) really believe in doing their job as members of Parliament or if they just believe that as members of parliament their whole obligation in life is to take orders from the PMO."

Easter said he also wants to call Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. Gary Doer, International Trade Minister Ed Fast and the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters association to find out why Canada wasn’t ready for the new ‘Buy America’ policy that U.S. President Barack Obama announced and what the impacts will be.

“We need to get to the bottom of why the government was asleep at the switch,” Easter said.

althia.raj@huffingtonpost.com

Ottawa Protesters Hope To Ramp Up Oil Sands Opposition

2011-09-26T14:28:23Z

More than 100 people, including prominent activist Maude Barlow, were arrested on Parliament Hill Monday during a protest against the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, and against the Alberta oil sands in general.

They were among an estimated 400 demonstrators who gathered for what organizers hoped would be a historic showing of mass civil disobedience against the development of the Alberta oil sands.

Protesters took aim primarily at the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which they say will damage fisheries and waterways, and cost Canada tens of thousands of jobs.

Barlow, head of the Council of Canadians, and Dave Cole, president of the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, were among the first to be arrested in Monday's anti-oil sands protest on Parliament Hill when they crossed a police line.

RCMP Sgt. Marc Menard said that just more than 100 demonstrators were arrested and charged with obstructing police. They were released after being issued a provincial offense notice under the Ontario Trespass Act, which carries a $65 fine and a one-year ban from Parliament Hill.

Moving in waves of six, sit-in participants lined up along a concrete pathway before crossing a three-foot fence marking a restricted police zone.

Activist Brigette DePape, the ex-parliamentary page who gained fame holding up a "Stop Harper" sign, was among a series of speakers who addressed the demonstrators during the so-called solidarity rally.

Asking protesters to imagine what the outrage would be "if it was Harper's water made poisoned," or "if the Ottawa river was a tailings pond," she described the sit-in as a last resort.

"We have tried institutional means and they have failed. We know that change won't happen in Parliament and we know that change won't happen by writing policy reports. Change happens when we take action," she told the cheering crowd.

Speaking to reporters from the other side of the barricade after being arrested, University of Toronto professor and Greenpeace campaigner Keith Stewart said he was missing his class on energy policy to take part in the protest.

"I think the university understands that acts for causes are important. I think they also understands that climate change is important and doing something about it."

Though organizers had planned to conduct the sit-in in the foyer of the House of Commons, they chose on Monday not to cross another eight-foot fence that had been erected in front of the entrance.

"Rather than having the sit-in in the foyer we were forced for security reasons to have the sit-in on the steps of Parliament," Andrea Harden-Donahue, energy campaigner for the Council of Canadians, told The Huffington Post.

Anti-oil sands advocates have garnered support from within the House of Commons. NDP MP Denis Bevington and Green Party leader Elizabeth May were spotted among demonstrators on Parliament Hill during the protest.

“Today, protests are planned against oil sands expansion & Keystone pipeline,” May posted on Twitter on Monday. “I support peaceful, non-violent acts of conscience.”

During question period on Monday, interim Liberal Party leader Bob Rae used the protest as an opportunity to ask Environment Minister Peter Kent about the government’s energy policy.

“Why is it that the government has failed to develop a coherent approach on climate change, on the reduction of greenhouse gases and on producing a truly sustainable policy?” he asked.

In response, Kent maintained that “cleaner air cleaner water and active stewardship of our great natural spaces remains an active priority of this government, even in times of fiscal restraint,” pointing to the recent World Health Organization report that ranked Canada third in the world in terms of air quality.

This week also marks an important turning point for the Keystone XL project south of the border. On Monday, the U.S. State department kicked off a series of hearings over the proposed pipeline. As The Associated Press reports, the meetings, which are being held in the six states that stand to be directly affected by the project, are being billed as “listening sessions,” with State Department officials inviting residents and environmentalists to voice their concerns.

In Kansas, The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Gov. Sam Brownback defended Keystone XL as a means to growth the economy and jobs.

"We must maintain our access to reliable and affordable sources of energy. And we must improve our national security by shifting American dollars to more friendly nations," he said.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Moti Rieber of the Kansas Interfaith Power & Light, called the pipeline a “moral failure.”

"I consider this project to be a direct threat to Kansas' environmental future,” he said.

As for TransCanada Corp., the Calgary-based company behind Keystone XL, spokesman Terry Cunha maintained that the appropriate environmental safeguards have been taken.

“This project has been under immense environmental review now for three years,” Cunha told CBC on Monday.

In response to concerns about the impact of the project on Nebraska’s Ogallala Aquifer, Cunha noted that the State Department has confirmed that “the route we have selected is the best route.”

“Our Number One priority is ensuring a safe pipeline system that wouldn’t be a threat to the aquifer and this pipeline won’t,” he said.

The Keystone XL Pipeline, which will funnel bitumen from Alberta to refineries in Texas, has already been approved by the Canadian government. The TransCanada Corp. project is currently awaiting approval from Washington.

The protest on Parliament Hill was much smaller in scope than the recent demonstrations against the Keystone XL Pipeline in front of the White House. More than 1,200 people were arrested during the two-week-long demonstration. Celebrities Daryl Hannah, Margot Kidder and Canadian author Naomi Klein were among those taken into custody.

But Harden-Donahue dismissed the notion that the action is small potatoes in comparison.

"The fact that we're looking at 150 or more people crossing that fence and risking arrest, that's not insignificant by any means. This in the context of not being entirely sure of what it would mean in crossing that fence here in Ottawa. So that's actually a very significant thing," she told HuffPost during the demonstration.

"What I'm seeing right now is those sit-in participants, each one of them feeling very passionate in their reasons for crossing that fence," she said. "This is just the beginning."

Canadian actor and First Nations activist Tantoo Cardinal, who was among the celebrities taken into custody during recent demonstrations in Washington, said she would not be among those risking arrest in Ottawa.

"I'm going to let other people do that," she told CBC on Monday. "Both the demonstration in Washington D.C. and this one are very well organized. Peace is at the fore. The people who are going to be arrested are in a certain area, and the people who are supporting are in another area."

Jo Wood, a retired university professor, was among the demonstrators who were assembled on the lawn in front of the House of Commons on Monday morning. As she told HuffPost, the protest signals an escalation in the opposition to oil sands development.

"We've tried everything else in the way of trying to get the government to listen to us and they haven't done so,” she said. “So this is just a way of showing that we are just very serious about the whole climate issue and we hope the government will take us seriously."
Travis Ford said he was also prepared to be taken into custody.

“We will go over that fence and try to talk to our MPs and deliver the message to [Stephen] Harper that we don’t support his agenda, but we will probably be arrested as we cross the fence,” said Ford, who travelled from Calgary to Ottawa for the demonstration.

In advance of Monday’s protest, which was organized by Greenpeace Canada and the Council of Canadians, as well as several First Nations groups, about 300 demonstrators were briefed on how to handle confrontations with authorities.

Organizers say that Monday’s demonstration was endorsed by more than 20 environmental and Indigenous organizations, as well as 20 “high-profile individuals” and a dozen Canadian celebrities.

The Official Opposition is planning to fight the proposal in the House of Commons. “There are huge concerns when it comes to this pipeline in terms of both the environment and jobs,” NDP MP Megan Leslie told The Globe and Mail. “The U.S. gets all the jobs and we get the environmental devastations.”

As the demonstration unfolded on Parliament Hill, those on the other side of the debate continued to do battle in the all-important publicity war. In a press release by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Association (CAPP) on Monday, co-founder and former leader of Greenpeace Patrick Moore maintained that the reclamation work underway in the oil sands is environmentally responsible.

The self-described “sensible environmentalist,” who is at the centre of a CAPP-sponsored information campaign, characterized the reclamation process as “necessary” and “staggeringly complex.”

"Evidence shows the land will be reclaimed as thriving ecosystems after oil sands are developed to help meet the world's growing energy needs,” he said.

This story was edited from its original version. It was updated to reflect developments during the course of the day.

The Huffington Post's Althia Raj was on site this morning at the start of the Keystone XL Pipeline protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Here are some of the sights she captured.

NDP Looks For International Allies

2011-09-24T20:16:40Z

Canada's New Democratic Party is looking to forge formal links with Britain's Labour Party and the Australian Labor Party, The Huffington Post has learned.

British Prime Minister David Cameron's speech in the House of Commons Thursday showed the Conservatives plan to use the global economic crisis as a rallying point and social democrats need to join forces to respond to them, NDP advisor Brad Lavigne told HuffPost.

Lavigne, the principal secretary to NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel, is heading to Liverpool this weekend to take part in negotiations with both labour parties during the British party's national conference, which begins Sunday.

The parties will hammer out potential areas of collaboration in the goal of signing a formal arrangement on how they could work together, Lavigne said.

Conservative parties throughout the world have intensified their cooperation, sharing campaign strategies and common policy agendas, he said.

"If we are a going to be responding effectively, to both the Conservatives electorally and on the policy front, we too need to work with our social democratic parties throughout the world," Lavigne said.

Although the global economic crisis, which according to Lavigne has been misdiagnosed and misprescribed, showed "the need has never been greater" for social democrats to work together, he noted the Conservative movement needed to be fought against on other fronts as well.

"Their crime agenda is the same, and wrong. Their approach to the environment is the same, and wrong," he said.

"Because the issues are so important, and global, the work needs to start right away," he added.

Lavigne noted that the Australian Labor Party has signed "memorandums of understanding" which outline how parties can collaborate, send delegations and share policy. And it is this type of document the NDP wants to pursue.

The NDP official said he had met with members of the Democratic National Committee and was also open to working with Democrats in the U.S.