Industry Minister Tony Clement shrugs while responding to opposition criticism during Question Period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.Adrian Wyld
The morning buzz: What's making news on Parliament Hill
1. Tony Clement: "I'm trying my hardest!" The Industry Minister, emailing from Tel Aviv, was reacting to a report in The Globe and Mail this morning that his Muskoka riding may not be able to accommodate the G20 portion of next summer's international summit. It might have to be moved to Toronto.
"Re: G20 it's just a question of whether it is realistic or not to fit every delegation into a confined space. I'm trying my hardest!" Mr. Clement said in an email this morning from Israel where he is Canada's representative at a water technology conference. He says the G8 portion, which had always been planned for the Huntsville area, will be a "huge success".
"Regarding G20 I'm still working hard to advance the case of Muskoka for the G20 as well as the G8. The latter is coming along nicely," he wrote. "[For the G20]it all comes down to whether 'we' can actually pull it off in a secure & comfortable fashion. As you know, the G8 is more like a G15 & the G20 is more like up to 57 countries & institutions (IMF, WTO, etc). So all I can say for certain is that Muskoka is ready to welcome the world for G8, G20, or any combination."
The summits are to take place next June with the G20 following the G8. The accommodation issue resulted from a decision made last September when world leaders decided the G20, which includes bigger developing countries, would takeover as the key international economic council. And so the Harper government offered to hold it in addition to the G8.
2. Peter Donolo: Ninja. Michael Ignatieff's new chief of staff is being dubbed "The Ninja" by his staff for his "shadowy ability," according to an insider, to get in and out of the Centre Block without being seen. His evasive tactics of disappearing into the limestone corridors is the source of much frustration for CBC reporter Rosemary Barton, whose obsession these days - she's mounted a Twitter crusade - is to get Mr. Donolo on camera. And it is likely the hunt will continue today as the Liberal caucus meets for the first time since Mr. Donolo's dramatic re-organization of the Opposition Leader's Office.
In his re-org, Mr. Donolo put many former senior Chretien/Martin staffers, including francophones (that had been sorely lacking in the previous Ignatieff OLO), into senior positions. It is being viewed positively by Liberals, who have been searching for months for good news. In addition to the OLO changes, an insider says that Mr. Donolo's overall approach will be a "slow and consistent rebuilding to earn credibility and trust."
"I'm glad that we've got some time at last before the next round of election-call nonsense," the senior Grit says. "We've never actually had more than a couple of months of break from election-call nonsense. Maybe it will get people focused again on what needs to be done."
3. The Tory take on the OLO re-org. "New OLO, Same Games: Ignatieff Votes Against Recovery and for Early Election - AGAIN" - that's the headline on the Tory talking points that were landing in Conservative supporters' and MPs' inboxes yesterday. This was the Harper PMO counterspin to the positive spin that has been put on the changes to the Ignatieff OLO.
In their messaging yesterday, the Tories pointed out that the Ignatieff MPs "stood alone on the floor of the House of Commons in voting against" the budget bill, Bill C-51, the Economic Recovery Act. "Defeat of this legislation would have triggered an election." The Tories go on to say that "Ignatieff voted against the recession-fighting Home Renovation Tax Credit that's helping not just homeowners, but everyone from lumber producers to construction workers, as well as hardware and home building supply stores."
Again, they trumpeted the fact - and it has worked well for them given their consistent standings in the national opinion polls - that Mr. Ignatieff is in a "selfish pursuit of forcing an unnecessary and unwanted election that would harm our economic recovery."