In the past week, the Senate of Canada–the upper house of the Canadian parliament, the chamber where politicians appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister lend their sober second thoughts to legislation put forward by the House of Commons, has been getting quite a lot of bad press. Two senators appointed by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper have been singled out for apparently abusing the Senate’s housing allowance, claiming that since they live somewhere far from Ottawa they need a special subsidy: Mike Duffy, of Prince Edward Island, hasn’t been seen by his claimed neighbours, while Patrick Brazeau of Québec faces criminal charges of domestic violence and sexual assault on top of housing expense fraud and any number of other tawdry claims ranging from non-payment of child support to stupid fights on Twitter. Continue reading
randyfmcdonald
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City politics in the city of Toronto has been very interesting this week, since a vote Wednesday in Toronto’s city council led to the collapse of the mass transit plans of Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Ford had hoped to concentrate on expanding subway service in Toronto, opting against surface light rail; Ford’s opponents, led by Toronto Transit Commission chair, city councillor, and former Ford ally Karen Stintz won a vote that would instead restore plans for surface light rail routes. Mass transit has been an emotional issue in Toronto, and this vote aside the controversy is likely to continue. Continue reading