John Ivison

‘Canada needs an upper house that provides sober and effective second thought’

Have we lost trust or is it just not entertaining enough?

John Ivison detects discomfort over the government’s latest back-to-work legislation.

While a number of department officials—including the deputy minister of defence and the assistant deputy minister for materiel—are set to appear before the Public Accounts Committee this morning, Peter MacKay told a Senate committee yesterday that the federal cabinet approved the decision to release a $15-billion projection for the F-35. And John Ivison reports that the “F-35 Secretariat,” created in the wake of the the auditor general’s report, has been renamed.

As noted yesterday, the idea of there being a “contract” to purchase the F-35 seems to have changed. (Here and here are other examples of Mr. Harper using the c-word. And here is Michael Ignatieff using it. And here is Bob Rae using it five months ago.)

Whoever the next leader of the opposition is, he or she will apparently soon receive something of a gift from the auditor general.

John Ivison traces Pierre Poutine to a variety of Ontario area codes.

John Ivison reports tonight that RackNine has figured out who was behind Pierre Poutine.

And it isn’t me! Or Jeff Simpson! No, it’s colleague John Ivison, who does a bang-up job of summarizing the conversation that ensued when UofT president David Naylor came to Ottawa last week, where he ran into freelance provocateur Alex Himelfarb. The topic was brains and money. Ivison’s column is worth your attention.

Canadian Press, April 29. The Tories need to stave off defeat in confidence votes until then and are considering ways to secure support from the NDP and Bloc Quebecois on a case-by-case basis … One senior Conservative said there will be plenty of ways for the parties to work together. “We’re hopeful they’d want to work with us. … Maybe cooler heads will prevail,” he said.