Paul Martin angry about failure of First Nations education bill

Former Prime Minister Paul Martin says he is "very angry" and other Canadians should be too about the federal government's refusal to talk to First Nations about education except on its own terms.

"Take a look at all the statements of Minister [Bernard] Valcourt of Minister [John] Duncan before him. It's 'our way or the highway.' Well I can understand why the First Nations got their backs up," he said in an interview with host Evan Solomon on CBC Radio's The House.

Former prime minister Paul Martin says he's angry the First Nations education bill has failed, and he doesn't blame the First Nations chiefs for backing out. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

On Tuesday, First Nations chiefs voted to reject Bill C-33, the First Nations control of first nations education act. Of the chiefs, 121 voted in favour, none were opposed, and 60 abstained. They also agreed to demand the government withdraw the bill.

On Friday, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Valcourt, who thought he'd secured a tacit agreement on the bill with the Assembly of First Nations, said the government would not be proceeding with the proposed legislation without its support.

In the interview airing Saturday, Martin told Solomon the costs of not fixing aboriginal education are "huge."

"This is the youngest, this is the fastest growing segment of our population. In parts of Canada they're coming close to being the majority ... And we're an aging population," Martin said.

Listen to Paul Martin on CBC Radio's The House Saturday at 9 a.m. ET

Bill C-33 would have released $500,000 right away for school infrastructure on reserves, and promised $1.4 billion to close the funding gap between aboriginal schools and public schools, with a 4.5 per cent accelerator on overall funding each year.

When the AFN turned thumbs down on the bill this week, it also voted that the $1.4 billion be handed over immediately.

"The federal government is going to withhold the money, they're going to withhold the money from kids whose future lies ahead of them," Martin said.

He also pointed out the bulk of the money wouldn't have materialized until some time in 2016, although he pegged the delay at three years.

"Do you know what that three years is? If you go into Grade 1 that's the three years that if you learn to read and write by Grade 3 then you will have a successful grade school and high school career, and if you don't, then you'll more than likely end up dropping out of Grade 10," he said.

Martin negotiated Kelowna Accord

When Martin was prime minister, his government spent a year and a half negotiating the Kelowna Accord with five national aboriginal organizations. The education portion of the $5-billion agreement was meant to ensure the high school graduation rate of aboriginal Canadians caught up with the rest of the population.

About 35 per cent of aboriginal students finish high school compared to 78 per cent for all other students in Canada. It's estimated about 70 per cent of better jobs — "knowledge jobs" — require some university or college education.

But when Stephen Harper's Conservatives defeated Martin's Liberals in 2006, the Kelowna Accord was killed.

Asked by Solomon how the government could negotiate with the 600 nations the AFN represents if they don't agree with one another, Martin said, "No one ever said they had to negotiate with 600 nations.

"There are different approaches if you're living on the British Columbia coast versus northern Ontario, or if you're a plains Cree versus the Cree in northern Quebec."

It is not a different reality, he said, than dealing with provinces that have different education systems.

So rancorous was the atmosphere surrounding the First Nations education bill, Shawn Atleo resigned as national chief of the AFN at the beginning of May due to the perception among dissenting chiefs that he supported the government's bill.

"Shawn Atleo never accepted federal control over First Nations education," Martin told Solomon.

Bill C-33 would have seen the government create and enforce standards, and allowed it to take control of failing schools.

Martin's put his own money into cause

Since he left politics, Martin has eschewed the standard ex-prime minster's route of joining a law office and engaging in a kind of lobbying, trading on status and connections.

Martin, a wealthy man before he became a politician, put his own money into the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative, founding it as a registered charity in 2008. The organization is dedicated to helping aboriginal students finish high school and continue in post-secondary education.

He also started the Martin Aboriginal Initiative, in partnership with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, to teach financial literacy in First Nation communities.

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Andrew MacDougall, ex PM adviser, tells government to stop hiding behind its inbox

We've all experienced the maddening frustration of not being able to reach a company's customer service staff over the phone when you have an urgent question or problem.

That's if you're lucky enough to find a customer service number, of course; too often you're now forced to email your query into the cyber-void and pray for a response.

A similar kind of frustration is brewing in Ottawa, where political communications staffers are rarely on the other end of the government's 1-800 lines when a reporter calls. Indeed, some communications staff would rather stab themselves in the eye with a fork than pick up the phone and talk to a reporter.

I understand the impulse, having had my eyes gouged out by the press on more than a few occasions. I, too, resorted to email too often. Let's face it, having conversations with veteran reporters like Tonda MacCharles on subjects like the Supreme Court, or Terry Milewski on the F-35, is no one's idea of a good time.

But talking to reporters is part of the gig. And it's in the government's interest to stop hiding behind its inbox.

There isn't much goodwill left between the press and the Conservative government; eight years of trench warfare has left a battlefield full of bad blood and blown relationships. Here's a partial list of why the media's knickers are in a twist:

• Their access to politicians, staff and officials has been limited.
• They no longer get to loiter outside the cabinet room.
• They resent being made to go on lists to ask questions.
• They often wait around all day for answers only to be emailed two talking points that don't address their questions. 

Will any of this change? Nyet, comrades. The government's approach to media relations is set in stone and, say what you will about the particulars, you can't argue with the results at the ballot box.

That said, the government should focus some attention on that last item. Picking up the phone will build relationships, help explain its policy better and generate more balanced coverage. 

The siren song of email

Doing government communications in the 24/7 news environment without email would be impossible. But there are several reasons why email can't be the only tool in the communications toolbox.

Andrew MacDougall, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former director of communications, says political staffers should lay off their email and actually talk to journalists. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

First, email is antiseptic, while political communication is blood sport. Trying to explain complicated policy through emailed talking points is like trying to assemble a car using only an Allen key from IKEA: you might be able to bolt it together, but it won't drive very far.

Second, email breeds superficiality. A talking point is what you want to be clipped saying, it's not everything you need to know. Relying on emailed talking points encourages staff to be an inch-deep, where political issues chart at greater depths.

Third, email is back and white, where politics is shaded in grey. The number 1 job for a political communicator is to add context, whether that's history, motive or contrast. And context is most effectively delivered in person.

Lastly, email is impersonal. You'll never get to know what makes a reporter tick by emailing them. Like all relationships, you have to build trust before you can work well together, and that means @'s and .coms are out and coffees and conversations are in.

The proof is in the pudding

My recollection is that we got some of our best press as a government when we were on international trips, carting around the same Ottawa gallery types who loved to hammer us back home.

The reason? It certainly wasn't the "food" on the Airbus. It was contact. We had to deal with the press face-to-face, in close quarters. If they had questions, we had to get them answers. We lived with them on the road, so avoiding them wasn't an option.

This also meant we had to know our stuff better and we had to apply some emotional intelligence to reporters who were being pressured by their desks to come up with more and more coverage to justify the expense of the trip. In short, the contact built understanding.

'The chances of a reporter getting it wrong are infinitely higher if you don't get in their ear.'- Andrew MacDougall, former PMO spokesman

It also made us better at our jobs. Hard as it might be for today's political staff to imagine, it used to be like that — all the time — when dealing with reporters. If you wanted your side in the paper, you had to get a living, breathing human on the phone and deliver a comment.

You have to play the game

At the end of the day, a reporter has to fill column inches or airtime and they'll do it with or without you.

And if you wait until the end of the day to email answers to a question that hasn't been asked, you shouldn't be surprised when you appear in two lines at the end of the story, or don't appear at all.

You might not like their line of inquiry, but that's when you've got to dig deep in your bag of media relations tricks and fight them to a draw. The chances of a reporter getting it wrong are infinitely higher if you don't get in their ear and whisper your own words of wisdom.

For a government that understands the value of defining others before they define themselves incredibly well (Exhibit A: Stéphane "Not a Leader" Dion; Exhibit B: Michael "Just Visiting" Ignatieff), the current government has, in not engaging constructively with the press, ceded too much of the government's public image to the views of the ink-stained hordes.

"Engaging constructively" doesn't mean giving the press everything they want. It means engaging with them substantively and participating in debate. It's means goading and cajoling, pushing and pulling, pleading and reasoning. Clicking "send" just won't cut it.

So, feed and water the press. Fill the void. You won't win every fight, or even half the fights, but it's a better strategy than taking your ball and going home. If you're going to get killed, you might as well die trying.

Andrew MacDougall is a former director of communications to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He is now the senior executive consultant at MSLGROUP London. Follow him @agmacdougall.

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Ontario election: 2 former premiers talk numbers in PCs' jobs plan

Two former Ontario premiers – one Tory and one Liberal – both seem to suggest that the actual number in PC Leader Tim Hudak's million jobs plan is beside the point. 

But David Peterson and Ernie Eves have very different explanations for their positions.

For Eves, who led a PC government in Ontario in 2002 and 2003, it's just a question of differing interpretations of data, not a case of bad math.

"The fact that some economists may not agree with the way that Mr. Hudak's campaign has calculated certain numbers I don't think is all that disturbing," Eves says on Saturday's edition of CBC Radio's The House.

"What I think is important, is that the policies that he's proposing to implement in the province of Ontario would create jobs. Whether that number is a million or 750,000, or 1.1 million, or whether it's 695,000, I really don't think makes any difference," Eves said.  

"Don't the numbers matter?" asks host Evan Solomon. "If it doesn't add up to a million jobs, then how do you believe he's got a million jobs plan?"

"That's his goal," Eves replies. "His plan is to try to create a million jobs in the province of Ontario. You can debate these numbers and you'll never get any two economists to agree on anything, let alone the methodology of how they go about doing it."

Critics question PC math

Opposition parties and many economists have charged that the Hudak campaign made a major mistake by confusing a key reference in a supporting document — specifically, by equating person-years of employment with individual jobs. The result, say the critics, is that the PC plan dramatically overstates the number of jobs Hudak's policies will create. Hudak, for his part, stands by the numbers.

Former Liberal premier David Peterson, who led the province from 1985 to 1990, thinks Hudak's million-jobs plan "probably doesn't bear up to intense scrutiny."

But Peterson says the whole flap is "more profound" than just a disagreement over math.

"It speaks to the dramatic oversimplification of politics today and how leaders have to really try to take reasonably complex things and make them simple [to] drive home [their] message," he said.

"I think Tim Hudak has been quite successful at keeping on that message. If you ask him how the weather is, he'll say 'a million jobs.'"

Stark choices

Both former premiers think Ontario voters will have a stark choice to make when they go to the polls on election day. Not surprisingly, they don't agree on what that issue is.

"I think it's going to come down to the economy and whether or not Ontario can get back on track in terms of creating jobs and giving people employment and giving everybody an opportunity in life," says Eves.

Peterson says the election's outcome will hinge more on leadership.  

"Tim Hudak has not enjoyed wide support," Peterson says, contrasting him with Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, who he said is popular "even among people who don't like the Liberals."

"So I think it's coming down to a very interesting choice based on philosophy and based on the quality of the leadership, and they're quite different."

The next major test for Wynne, Hudak, and NDP Leader Andrea Horvath will come on June 3, when the three square off in a 90-minute debate.

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Roméo Dallaire paid back thousands in ineligible Senate expenses

Senator Roméo Dallaire says he was asked to pay back "a couple thousand bucks" in expenses during his nine years in the upper chamber, but Dallaire says those faulty claims were discovered by his own staff or Senate finance officials and had nothing to do with the current audit of senators' spending.

Dallaire spoke with Evan Solomon, host of CBC Radio's The House, after announcing this week he would give up his Senate seat to devote more time to humanitarian work. He revealed that he, like other senators, has filed faulty expense claims while in office.

"You know, I used a credit card for … buying something or acquiring or paying for something while on a trip. And I got back to the office and say no, this one's inappropriate," Dallaire said in an interview airing Saturday.

"So, either we send the cheque immediately with the claim or the finance people come back and say no, you couldn't use it for that. So, we pay immediately whatever it was charged inappropriately to the Crown."

Dallaire could not say how much money he has repaid voluntarily. His office later provided figures showing the senator paid back expenses totalling $3,947 between November 2011 and May 2014. The expenses deemed ineligible included an airline ticket, credit card purchases and personal calls on Dallaire's Senate-issued Blackberry.

There have been errors on both sides, Dallaire said. He told Solomon the Senate paid him back somewhere in the neighbourhood of $18,000 in 2005. The reimbursement came about, he said, because of mistakes in his Senate allowances.

Dallaire repeatedly emphasized that all this is completely separate from an audit being conducted by the auditor general, who is going through senators' books with a fine-tooth comb.

The outgoing senator said he has met with auditors three times and expects another session in the next two weeks. That audit has added extra work and stress for him and his staff. But he said they have been providing auditors with everything requested.

Dallaire said the auditors have not asked him to pay back any money, but added he will do so if mistakes are discovered.

"If you guys, in the end, find that what we did is not appropriate to the rules, then you raise it and I'll pay it back," he told Solomon.

Dallaire spoke about spending rules that were in place prior to the Senate scandal and likened them to an honour system.

"It was very much based on that sort of concept, that you did things right," he said.

"But it didn't mean that you didn't sometimes make mistakes."

Despite all the stress and strain, Dallaire repeated that neither the audit nor the Senate expense scandal had anything to do with his decision to step down.

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Roméo Dallaire paid back thousands in ineligible Senate expenses

Senator Roméo Dallaire says he was asked to pay back "a couple thousand bucks" in expenses during his nine years in the upper chamber, but Dallaire says those faulty claims were discovered by his own staff or Senate finance officials and had nothing to do with the current audit of senators' spending.

Dallaire spoke with Evan Solomon, host of CBC Radio's The House, after announcing this week he would give up his Senate seat to devote more time to humanitarian work. He revealed that he, like other senators, has filed faulty expense claims while in office.

"You know, I used a credit card for … buying something or acquiring or paying for something while on a trip. And I got back to the office and say no, this one's inappropriate," Dallaire said in an interview airing Saturday.

"So, either we send the cheque immediately with the claim or the finance people come back and say no, you couldn't use it for that. So, we pay immediately whatever it was charged inappropriately to the Crown."

Dallaire could not say how much money he has repaid voluntarily. His office later provided figures showing the senator paid back expenses totalling $3,947 between November 2011 and May 2014. The expenses deemed ineligible included an airline ticket, credit card purchases and personal calls on Dallaire's Senate-issued Blackberry.

There have been errors on both sides, Dallaire said. He told Solomon the Senate paid him back somewhere in the neighbourhood of $18,000 in 2005. The reimbursement came about, he said, because of mistakes in his Senate allowances.

Dallaire repeatedly emphasized that all this is completely separate from an audit being conducted by the auditor general, who is going through senators' books with a fine-tooth comb.

The outgoing senator said he has met with auditors three times and expects another session in the next two weeks. That audit has added extra work and stress for him and his staff. But he said they have been providing auditors with everything requested.

Dallaire said the auditors have not asked him to pay back any money, but added he will do so if mistakes are discovered.

"If you guys, in the end, find that what we did is not appropriate to the rules, then you raise it and I'll pay it back," he told Solomon.

Dallaire spoke about spending rules that were in place prior to the Senate scandal and likened them to an honour system.

"It was very much based on that sort of concept, that you did things right," he said.

"But it didn't mean that you didn't sometimes make mistakes."

Despite all the stress and strain, Dallaire repeated that neither the audit nor the Senate expense scandal had anything to do with his decision to step down.

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Davie shipyard's offer of cheaper icebreaker comes too late, Ottawa says

Public Works Minister Diane Finley has firmly rejected an offer by Quebec's Davie shipyard to save the government half a billion dollars on a new icebreaker.

Finley told reporters Thursday that "it's very hard to believe" that Davie could actually build the icebreaker for the budget originally set six years ago. 

"I don't see how any reasonable person could suddenly believe they can do the same job for half the price," she said.

The new icebreaker — dubbed the Diefenbaker — was originally priced in 2008 at $720 million. However, since construction has been delayed for at least 10 years, that figure's been drastically revised to $1.3 billion.

Although no construction contract has been signed yet, the work has been assigned to the Seaspan shipyard in North Vancouver. However, Seaspan requires a $200-million upgrade before it can handle the job, and has also been assigned two new supply ships for the navy.

Since the work on the Diefenbaker won't even begin until those two ships are finished, it's not likely to enter service for a decade at least.

Finley was responding to an offer Davie made six months ago, but made public only this week, to start work on the icebreaker immediately, for delivery in two years. Davie is Canada's largest shipyard and requires no upgrade to do the work, according to Alex Vicefield, the CEO of Davie's parent company. 

Diane Finley, minister of public works and government services, rejected an offer by Quebec's Davie shipyard to build a new icebreaker for $500 million less than the company that's set to build the ship. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Vicefield told CBC News Thursday that his offer is both firm and realistic.

"We'll guarantee the costs. We're not asking for a cost-plus arrangement. We can guarantee the price," said Vicefield.

He added that the reason the government's budget for the job has soared to over a billion dollars is that costs in the shipbuilding industry commonly rise between five per cent and 10 per cent a year. 

"Each year you wait to build the ship, the more expensive it gets."

Finley, however, insists that Davie lost out in the original bidding for the job and that its offer comes too late.

"Davie did not qualify. That procurement is done. It's over. And there's absolutely no reason to believe that those numbers would be credible. We already have a contract in place and we're going to move ahead with that."

When a reporter noted that there is, in fact, no construction contract with Seaspan, the minister added, "Well, we don't have a contract, but we have made an award under that procurement based on the credibility, the viability, the reliability of the companies at the time."

"They had a chance to compete. At the time, they weren't successful."

When the government made that decision in 2011, however, the Davie shipyard was in bankruptcy. Today, Vicefield says that's history, because Davie is now part of a competitive international shipping conglomerate. 

"We're a competitive international shipbuilder today," he said.

"We're building these ships today. We're building similar vessels. What we would do here is, we would add this vessel[(the Canadian icebreaker] into our existing schedule, which maybe helps us to reduce some of the costs as well, compared to other shipyards where you really have to build the shipyard to build the ship. We have it going today."

The Davie yard recently finished a 130-metre offshore construction vessel for a Norwegian customer. Named the Cecon Pride, it was delivered on time for $200 million. The yard is now building two similar ships.

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Julian Fantino told 'we're nothing to you' by veterans wife

Veterans Affairs is spending an additional $4 million on advertising this year — including television spots throughout the NHL playoffs — but ignoring the plight of families who care for injured soldiers, says the spouse of a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.

An angry Jenifer Migneault chased after Julian Fantino and demanded to speak to the veterans affairs minister following his appearance Thursday at a House of Commons committee hearing.

The spectacle played out before a crush of reporters, television cameras and microphones in a scene reminiscent of Fantino's testy encounter last winter with veterans angry about the closure of federal offices.

"We're nothing to you," Migneault said, throwing her arms up in frustration when Fantino — whose image took a bruising in the last encounter — and his staff chose not to stop and explain the government's position.

"I'm offended," an embittered Migneault said afterward.

"A man like that is supposed to be so proud of my husband's service? C'mon, that's a joke.… We're the ones who live 24 hours a day with their heroes."

'Use that money to talk to us'

The Harper government has poured millions of extra dollars into veterans benefits and services, but the challenges faced by caregivers represent a major funding gap, one that has received little public attention.

Migneault, whose husband, Claude Rainville, was diagnosed with PTSD eight years ago, has tried to raise awareness, but she said she can't get Conservative MPs — including Fantino's parliamentary secretary, Parm Gill — to return her calls.

The spouses of physically and mentally wounded soldiers need training and support to be caregivers, said Migneault.

Most of what she's learned has been on her own, including a 40-hour class to help her better understand when best to simply listen to her husband, and when to intervene.

The money being spent on increased advertising should go elsewhere, Migneault said.

"Please just use that money to talk to us," she said.

"We'll tell you a whole lot about our husbands that you guys don't know about. Spend the money in the right place and you'll see real results."

Nick Bergamini, a spokesman for Fantino, said in an email to CBC News that he couldn't discuss individual cases for privacy reasons, "except to say that we reached out to this veteran two weeks ago to ensure they are aware of all the programs available to them."

Ads needed to dispel 'misinformation'

Jenifer Migneault comforts her husband, veteran Claude Rainville, after she tried to speak with Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino at a House veterans committee on Thursday. (Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press)

During his testimony, Fantino defended the spending increase, saying the ads are an attempt by the government to communicate directly with veterans and dispel what he called "misinformation" surrounding the treatment of ex-soldiers.

"We are faced with the bantering that goes back and forth about what is — or isn't [covered]; what facts and non-facts are; and also the fear mongering, " Fantino told the committee.

He described the information battle as one of the government's "biggest challenges."

Still, neither Fantino nor his deputy minister could say how much the advertising increase is going toward expensive prime-time ads during playoff hockey games — or how much each commercial is costing.

The opposition parties accused the government of promoting itself at the expense of improved programs and benefits.

Ads emphasize transition to civilian life

Liberal critic Frank Valeriote pointed out that this year's federal budget increased transition services for veterans by only $11,000.

"I'm wondering how you can justify for us your department spending more on advertising — a $4-million increase in advertising — and less on the actual programs themselves," Valeriote said.

The TV ads emphasize efforts to move soldiers smoothly from military to civilian life, even though the federal government often relies on independent agencies, such as the Veterans Transition Network and Canada Command, to build those bridges for individuals.

Critics within the veterans community have said the ads are misleading and give the impression the government is doing more than it actually is.

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'If you love your child,' vaccinate your child: Melinda Gates

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he doesn't understand why people in the developed world don't get vaccinated.

Harper, speaking alongside Melinda Gates in an exclusive TV interview with the CBC's Hannah Thibedeau, said vaccinations have been "lifesavers" in our society and elsewhere.

"It's hard for me not to get very emotional about this because we know, we scientifically know, what vaccinations and immunizations have done for us, personally, in our generation and for generations after us," he said on the second day of the government's maternal, newborn and child health summit.

"I frankly don't understand people who are walking away in our society from something that's proven to work."

Gates, whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest in the world, expressed the same sentiment.

Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says meeting the world's goals of reducing maternal and child mortality would take 'very simple interventions.' (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

"As a parent, the responsible thing to do — if you love your child — is to vaccinate your child," she said.

"We so take advantage, take for granted, vaccines in the U.S. or in Canada, that we forget what those diseases were, and what a scourge they were, to children before."

Harper then offered his advice to those who "go off on their own theories and not listen to the scientific evidence."

"Don't indulge your theories, think of your children and listen to the experts," he said.

Vaccinations, they said, will be a key factor in achieving the goal of reducing maternal and child death rates by 75 per cent. It's part of what Harper and Gates describe as "simple" interventions.

Harper said the world has reduced the death rates by about 45 per cent but "one would hope" that with further action, "we would finally achieve that goal" by 2020.

And it wouldn't be difficult.

"Right now, it's vaccinations for children who are under five — hugely effective tool," said Gates.

"But for newborns, it's making sure very simple things — teaching a mother to immediately and exclusively breastfeed, teaching proper cord care — things you all do in Canada — keeping the baby warm, having a $5 mask to resuscitate the baby 'cause a lot have birth asphyxia.

"Those are very simple inexpensive interventions that can cut down that number of children who die in that first month of life," she said.

Thibedeau's interview with Gates and Harper will air tonight on CBC News Network's Power & Politics and on The National.

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Harper won't fund abortion globally because it's 'extremely divisive'

When the Canadian government took on maternal, newborn and child health as its flagship program in 2010, it unwittingly waltzed into the contentious issue of abortion.

And though the government has expressed no desire to talk about abortion, the issue continues to rise, especially amid the inaugural global summit on maternal and child health this week, with critics demanding the government focus more on reproductive health.

in an exclusive TV interview with the CBC's Hannah Thibedeau, Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed why he's choosing not to fund global abortion services. 

"We're trying to rally a broad public consensus behind what we're doing, and you can't rally a consensus on that issue, as you know well in this country," he said.

"It's not only controversial here, it's controversial and often illegal in many recipient nations."

Harper doesn't agree with the suggestion that he is exporting his beliefs abroad to other countries by not funding abortion services.

"We're really not taking a position on that. We have taxpayers' money and we have great needs," he said to Thibedeau.

"And frankly, there's more than enough things that we can finance, including contraception, without getting into an issue that really would be extremely divisive for Canadians and donors."

Melinda Gates, who spoke with the CBC's Thibedeau alongside Harper, asked why women had to be put in a situation where they consider abortion in the first place.

"One of the things we don't invest in enough, as a world, are contraceptives. We put women in that situation because they don't have access and when you talk to them in the developing world, they say, 'I want that tool, I want that shot I used to get,'" she said.

"We can work upstream on these issues to help women where they are, so you don't ever put them in that situation, and to me, that's the smart investment to make."

But many, including Canada's opposition parties, disagree.

New Democratic Party critic for international development Hélène Laverdière challenged the government on its summit theme of "Saving Every Woman, Every Child."

"Well, there's 47,000 women who die each year from unsafe abortions," she said in an interview with CBC News.

"So, if we want to save every woman, we have to address that issue too."

According to the World Health Organization, 21.6 million women experience an unsafe abortion worldwide each year. The 47,000 who die make up about 13 per cent of annual maternal deaths.

As part of Millennium Development Goal No. 5, which aims to reduce the maternal mortality rate by 75 per cent from 1990 to 2015, the United Nations secretary general came up with a global strategy for women and children's health. Among other things, it includes saving the lives of women who experience unsafe abortions.

But the hot button issue of abortion is not what critics are necessarily zeroing in on. Abortion just falls under the umbrella of reproductive and women's rights, which critics said have not been addressed nearly enough by the current government.

In a letter sent to Harper on May 28, the Canadian Association of Parliamentarians for Population and Development called on the government to support a "human rights-based, post-2015" plan that ensures gender equality and sexual education.

"Global parliamentarians recommend that women's reproductive health can only be achieved when the human rights of women, girls and youth are realized. Women do not only need health care when they're pregnant. Their overall health as girls, adolescents and youth determine the outcomes of pregnancy, post-partum and neonatal health and survival," the letter reads.

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Ban Ki-moon, Jim Yong Kim to address maternal health summit

Live

Politicians, experts in Toronto this week for summit on global maternal and child health

CBC News Posted: May 30, 2014 9:26 AM ET Last Updated: May 30, 2014 9:39 AM ET

The chiefs of the United Nations and the World Bank are expected to deliver remarks on the final day of the Canadian government's maternal, newborn and child health summit in Toronto.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is expected to deliver his keynote address starting at 9:40 a.m. ET, followed by the World Bank's Jim Yong Kim 10 minutes later.

CBCNews.ca will livestream their speeches.

Later Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will moderate a panel discussion with aid experts to address the issue of maternal, newborn and child health in the post-2015 development agenda.

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• Soudas and Adams defend themselves against accusations of wrongdoing May. 28, 2014 7:16 AM This week on The House, the Conservative nomination battle in Oakville North-Burlington takes a surprising twist. The party is postponing the vote because both candidates - Eve Adams and Natalia Lishchyna allege the other side has been breaking the rules. Conservative MP Eve Adams defends herself and her fiancé the former Conservative Party Executive Director Dimitri Soudas explains why he's ready to break the rules for love.

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PM’s pick of Daniel Therrien as privacy watchdog alarms NDP

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is firmly rejecting the Conservatives' choice for the next privacy commissioner, sending a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to lay out his concerns about the appointment.

The government has proposed Daniel Therrien, who is currently the assistant deputy attorney general for public safety, defence and immigration.

In the letter to Harper, obtained by CBC News, Mulcair tells the prime minister that he has serious concerns with the choice.

"I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Therrien has neither the neutrality nor the necessary detachment to hold this position," Mulcair wrote.

The leader of the Official Opposition points to Therrien's involvement in crafting some of the very pieces of legislation he would have to evaluate as privacy commissioner.

For instance, Therrien was involved in negotiating the privacy rules around sharing information for the Canada-U.S. security perimeter deal.

Mulcair goes on to tell Harper, "It would be imprudent to place a former civil servant in charge of warning the public about policies he helped design and implement." 

The privacy commissioner oversees how government departments and agencies are handling Canadians' private information. The last privacy commissioner and the interim commissioner, who is currently leading the office, have both spoken out in the past about government legislation, along with other privacy issues such as Facebook and Google Streetview.

Earlier this month, interim commissioner Chantal Bernier said the federal government is scooping up data from social media sites and urged the government to sort out its rules for collecting data on Canadians.

The Privacy Act stipulates the appointment must be approved by resolution in the House of Commons and the Senate. 

A news release from the Prime Minister's Office says Therrien has been a lawyer at the Department of Justice since being called to the bar in 1981.

In his letter, Mulcair calls on Harper to reconsider Therrien. The NDP, he says, will not support the nomination.

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Americans Kathleen Wynn, Tim Hudak dragged into Ontario election

The day was May 22, 2013.

It was Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne's 101st day in the premier's office, and the first time 24-year-old Kathleen Wynn from D.C. decided to reply to a few misguided or loose-fingered Canadian tweeters.

(Twitter)

Wynn (not Wynne) has the misfortune of having a Twitter username, @kathleenwynn, that's an underscore and letter "e" away from Wynne's, which is @kathleen_wynne.

The level of tweets directed at her has reached the point where she has set her biography to "I AM NOT A CANADIAN POLITICIAN, NOR DO I CARE ABOUT YOUR CANADIAN PROBLEMS. DO NOT TAG ME IN YOUR RANTS" followed by "AMERICA!"

"I think I had maybe 40 tweets today," she said via Skype on Wednesday night.

"Some people are nice, they're just misdirected and I'm just like, 'Hey, I'm not who you're trying to contact,' and other people are not so nice."

Her tweets are protected, meaning she has to let you follow her to read them — which she did for me. Here's a sample:

(Twitter)

(Twitter)

(Twitter)

I counted a total of 42 tweets correcting someone for tweeting to her instead of the Ontario politician.

Wynn said they started coming in November 2012, the month Wynne launched her campaign for the Liberal leadership, but really picked up around the time the provincial election began.

"I have to charge my phone way more often now," she said, due to the number of Twitter app notifications.

Meet Tim Hudak, a 28-year-old ex-marine

In a strange coincidence, another D.C. resident also shares a name with an Ontario political leader.

Tim Hudak, who tweets as @hoodyhudak, had served in the U.S. military but now works for the government.

And in what may be my favourite wrinkle, Ontario's PC Leader @timhudak is one of @hoodyhudak's 424 followers.

The American Hudak said he has actually talked to his Canadian name twin over Facebook, after several of the politician's friends started sending him friend requests.

"I'll see a post from Tim Hudak on his Facebook page and I'll post something on there that says, 'I'm Tim Hudak and I support this,' and I'll get something like 50 likes on that comment," he said.

However, the D.C. Hudak said he recently started a business and the whole name-sharing circumstance is making it hard to find his company through online search engines. 

A peek into the political life

Wynn said she had considered changing her Twitter name but hasn't, since it's not because of anything she's doing.

And if Kathleen Wynn ever had the chance to talk to Kathleen Wynne?

"I'd say, 'I don't know why you have a Twitter account,'" Wynn said. "'I don't know why you put up with it.'"

Tim Hudak said you can chalk him up as a Tim Hudak supporter.

"I wish nothing but success for him, who would I be to not wish success to one of the few people I know in Canada?" the American Hudak said.

"I hope he goes all the way and one day he'll be asking for me to be his liaison for the United States."

As far as I can tell, there are no Andrea Horwaths or Horvaths out there getting grief directed at Ontario's NDP leader, but I'd love to hear from you if you are.

Here's a Storify

Mobile users click here to see a collection of tweets to @kathleenwynn (the American) and tweet me at @amkfoote if you've got a mistaken identity story of your own.

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Ottawa's maternal health push a key move for post-2015 agenda

As Canada's maternal, newborn and child health summit — the first of its kind — kicks off today, the Conservative government might very well pat itself on the back.

It's the latest opportunity for a government not known for embracing global humanitarian projects to put its best face forward in front of a distinguished audience.

Some of the confirmed speakers include Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete, (with whom Prime Minister Stephen Harper co-chaired a United Nations commission on accountability of maternal health initiatives), Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and the Aga Khan — not to mention the chiefs of major global institutions such as the UN, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

As Canada ardently pushes for improvements on maternal, newborn and child health through the Muskoka Initiative, it might be easy to forget that this is the same government that pulled out of United Nations treaties, lost its seat on the UN Security Council and has generally shunned multilateral initiatives. 

Looking toward 2015 (the year that both the Muskoka Initiative and Millennium Development Goals reach their end), there is the question of whether Canada will wield any influence on the development agenda.

A Haitian mother comforts her son in Port-au-Prince. The federal government's ardent push to improve global maternal health may position it to be a negotiator of the post-2015 development agenda, experts say. (Ana-Bianca Marin/Reuters)

In 2012, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced a 27-member, high-level panel to advise him on what issues should be focused on post-2015. Canada has no one represented on that panel.

But experts say Canada has been playing a role, albeit not a high-profile one.

A need for visibility

"A lot of the action happens late in the day," said Aniket Bhushan, an aid analyst with the North-South Institute in Ottawa.

He said Canada is still deliberating its position, one that it "can stand by publicly" when the time comes to reveal the new goals.

The recent push for maternal and child health also puts Canada at "a very opportunistic position," Bhushan said.

"You can bet your bottom dollar that [maternal, newborn and child health] will be a part of that."

Diana Rivington, a former director in the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), pointed out that Canada is still a member of the UN open working group on sustainable development goals — a forum with about 70 member states. 

She added that the government probably "didn't want to be a part" of the high-level panel.

"We're less likely to engage with this kind of mechanism under this government than when under previous governments," she said in an interview with CBC News.

Stephen Brown, a politics professor at the University of Ottawa, who's edited a book on CIDA and foreign aid, said the government organized this summit out of a need for visibility in international development — an area where "we lack of credibility."

The government, he charged, has neglected the idea of empowering women in favour of painting them as mere victims, calling it a "19th-century approach to charity."

"We're only interested in them insofar as they are walking wombs," he said, pointing to the very name of the summit to illustrate his point — "Saving Every Woman, Every Child."

Brown said empowering women means looking at sexual and reproductive rights, including contraception and access to safe abortions — the latter being a topic that the government and NGOs which receive funding are most keen to avoid discussing. 

A 'principled foreign policy'

According to the World Health Organization, 21.6 million women experience an unsafe abortion worldwide each year. About 47,000 women die from such operations, representing close to 13 per cent of all maternal deaths. 

"Look, the investments that we're making are in prenatal, obstetrical and post-natal care and those are the critical times where we know that the greatest number of deaths occur, either of a mother giving birth or preparing for birth or a child being born," said Status of Women Minister Kellie Leitch in an interview with CBC News on Wednesday.

Leitch, who's also a pediatric surgeon, said the government has a "principled foreign policy" that is epitomized by protecting "the most vulnerable in society — women and children."

"We're making investments in the right places so that we can save as many lives as possible," she said.

Contraception and abortion issues

Amnesty International isn't convinced, saying that the Muskoka Initiative has failed to protect the rights of women and girls because the focus is on mothers, not women. Part of that failure is not funding safe and legal abortions, which would protect sexual and reproductive rights of women who have been forced to marry early and those who have endured sexual violence.

"When we talk about human rights, there is no halfway. Canada cannot pick and choose which human rights to respect and promote. Women and girls must be able to make decisions about their bodies and their lives, and Canada's policies and programming should empower women and girls to make these decisions for themselves," the organization wrote in a blog post on its website on Wednesday.

But Canada didn't always act this way, according to Rivington.

"We used to have more generous positions on access to family planning, use of terms like gender quality, that kind of thing," said Rivington, who spent more than 30 years at CIDA handling human development and gender equality files.

Rivington said that in the past, at forums such as the United Nations, Canada had "major influence on the global conversation on gender equality." 

"We can't participate in that conversation in the same way anymore," she said, a change that was prompted by the current government. 

"We'll still be saving mothers' lives 20 years from now if we don't also work on girls' education, women's human rights, changing legal status and helping government tackle the issue of early marriage," she said. 

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Government surplus auction site sells cars, jewelry, office furniture

In the market for a slightly used RCMP vehicle? Or maybe your needs run more to something in the order of a 2,300 kilogram-capacity forklift?

On the other hand, perhaps an opal ring or a designer bag is something that would interest you?

These items and more are featured on the Canadian government's surplus item auction site, gcsurplus.ca.

A recent scan of the site showed a number of government vehicles for sale, including a white mini-bus formerly used to ferry senators and Senate staff around Parliament Hill.

The front bumper of the bus has a generous dent in it because it had "a minor impact with a security bollard at the Wellington-Elgin entrance to Parliament Hill," a Senate spokeswoman told CBC News.

The concrete bollards, which stand about 60 cm high but lower into the ground to let traffic pass, are relatively new additions to Parliament Hill to stop unauthorized vehicles from entering the parliamentary precinct.

The government is also selling a 2009 white Ford Crown Victoria, referred to as a police interceptor.

"Rear doors do not open from the inside," the description of the ex-police car reads. "Vehicle starts with a boost and runs."

The car, which is in Edmonton, also has a cracked windshield and a variety of other scrapes and scratches. The minimum bid is $900.

Among surplus goods for sale is a commercial-sized potato peeler formerly located at the Kingston Penitentiary.

And, If you've ever wondered what exactly a mass spectrometer is, the government auction site is offering up a broken one among some other scientific equipment.

In one lot, available for a minimum bid of $180, the mass spectrometer comes with a cloud condensation nuclei counter and some other items. They're available for pickup only in Toronto, and are being sold for parts.

The goods also include an opal ring, which the site says was seized by the government, and a designer purse valued at $2,200 that has a minimum required bid of $650.

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Brian Mulroney to be named Quebecor chairman

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney will soon take on the role of board chairman at telecom and media giant Quebecor Inc., according to a corporate filing released Wednesday.

"Subject to their election, the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney...will be proposed to act respectively as Chairman of the Board and Vice-Chairman of the Board and Lead Director at the meeting of the Board of Directors to be held immediately after the Meeting," the filing says.

Mulroney, 75, is currently vice-chairman of the board. His promotion could be an attempt by Quebecor to draw a line between itself and the sovereign rhetoric of its former chairman, Pierre Karl Peladeau.

Peladeau stepped down in March to enter provincial politics. The billionaire media mogul was elected to the Quebec legislature in April and is considered the top candidate to take over the fledgling Parti Québécois.

While Peladeau's arrival to the PQ was supposed to bring star status and deep pockets, critics say the Quebecor CEO instead forced sovereignty to the head of the platform when he proclaimed fist-in-air his desire to make Quebec a country.

The party suffered its worst defeat in at least a generation, losing 24 seats in the provincial election, and leader Pauline Marois announced she would step down.

Peladeau, who served as CEO and president of Quebecor from 2003 to 2013, still controls 73 per cent of the voting shares — unsettling for a business with expansionary visions while under the thumb of a man who wants to break up the country.

Quebecor's largest newspaper is in Quebec, the Journal de Montreal, and its French-language television network TVA reaches a huge audience in the province. 

But most of the company's 30-plus paid-circulation dailies are printed in Ontario. And the company is looking to expand its Videotron wireless service outside Quebec, after buying up wireless spectrum in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia in the federal government's auction earlier this year.

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‘Fragmented’ maternal health aid data a step away from accountability

When it comes to the Muskoka Initiative  — Canada's much-lauded effort to push global action on maternal and child health — the Conservative government has endeavoured to be more accountable and transparent than usual, according to a data analyst who's been keeping his eye on foreign aid spending. 

"The initiative was started in 2010, but since then Canada has become one of the leaders in transparency in many ways," said Aniket Bhushan, a researcher with the North-South Institute in Ottawa.

At the 2010 G8 summit, Canada committed a total of $2.85 billion to fund more than 80 international projects related to maternal and child health — with $1.1 billion of new money to accompany the government's $1.75 billion in spending on programs over five years. 

About 80 per cent has, so far, been disbursed ahead of the 2015 deadline.

Following the G8 summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper co-chaired a United Nations commission on accountability and transparency to monitor the progress. Among other things, the commission recommended finding new ways to gather health data and improve ways for civil society groups to provide feedback, as well as then sharing the information with the public.

Data is 'not accountability'

Non-profit organizations that receive funding are required to submit reports to the government on their progress.

"There's a whole cycle of reporting that's required on every program," said Rosemary McCarney, president of Plan Canada, which has gotten more than $30 million of government funding.

A quick scroll through the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development website shows a significant amount of data on the different Muskoka Initiative programs that are in place, as well as the amount of funding individual NGOs have received and quantifiable results of the programs.

But that may not be enough.

"The way I see the overall picture is that the data, to my mind, is not accountability," said Bhushan in an interview with CBC News, adding that it's merely "a prerequisite."

Bhushan, who has spent the past number of years mapping out Canadian aid data, acknowledges the government has done a lot to "put the data out there" (and added "there's a heck of a lot") but said that it's "fragmented" across different types and formats.

Indeed, the Foreign Affairs website has certain data sets on aid programs in less-than-common .CSV and .XML extensions. Bhushan said the information could use some work "so it doesn't require a data expert to translate it every time a journalist has a question."

He said the "dots are there," but the government needs to join them.

"I think it should be within their interest to do the most they can in providing a comprehensive picture to Canadians," Bhushan said.

Muskoka Initiative 'not a straightforward commitment'

Of course, it doesn't help that the Muskoka Initiative is also "not a straightforward commitment," he said, referring to the separation of the $1.1 billion and the $1.75 billion in funds. He said that projects allocated under the $1.1 billion of new funding are being tracked, but it's "a little bit more complicated" to track the existing $1.75 billion in funding for programs allocated before Canada made its high-profile pledge.

Not to mention the sheer brevity of the time frame that makes it difficult to track information. 

For example, one of the biggest health indicators, Bhushan said, is the maternal mortality rate — the number of women who die as a result of pregnancy for every 100,000 births each year. He said the rate changes "quite slowly year on year."

"[The Muskoka Initiative has] only been three years," he said. "How do you know that that change of X per cent in [maternal mortality rate] relates to those thousands of dollars that have been spent and not others?"

Amref Health Africa (formerly the African Medical and Research Foundation) has received more than $15 million in federal government funding for two projects since 2011. One of its projects is to help rural communities in Tanzania access the formal health system by training nearly 4,000 volunteer health workers to go into communities to deliver services, along with creating a model to replicate those efforts in different regions. 

"We are on the right track to achieving a very significant impact," said Festus Ilako, Amref's Tanzania country director.

However, Ilako said that having only three and a half years to carry out such a program is "a bit short."

He said for a development program that needs sustainability and strength, "three and a half years was not enough." 

Thank-yous 'not simply anecdotal'

"The results would not be impressive as it might have been if we had five years," Ilako said. Amref's Tanzania project was shortened to three years out of the possible five because of delays in getting funding from the government.

Ilako said the project wraps up next year, but he's already started to work toward closing up shop. He raised the possibility that if the Muskoka Initiative was to renew and similar funding be obtained for the network of NGOs currently doing work in Tanzania, reducing the maternal mortality rate by three-quarters (as per Millennium Development Goal No. 5) could be achieved "shortly after 2015."

Plan Canada's McCarney said the government funding has done a lot of good. She said it's enabled the organization to have critical outcomes, such as increasing the number of women who obtain prenatal care — visiting a health provider at least four times during pregnancy — by 20 per cent in the countries of Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. She noted Plan achieved that increase in just a year, from September 2012 to 2013.

She said Plan was also able to gather data and have a level of reporting that goes "above and beyond what's mandated" and it's currently sharing the data with other groups as well.

That means the thank-yous and praises the organization gets are not empty.

"It's not simply anecdotal," said McCarney. "It's qualitative data that's supported by quantitative data."

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Stow that dream of retiring in the Turks and Caicos (for now)

The premier of the Turks and Caicos didn't make a plea to join Canada during his visit to Parliament Monday, and Canada is loath to even speak of annexation with its implication of neo-colonialism.

Conservative MP Peter Goldring, who has championed the cause of the Turks and Caicos joining Canada for the past decade, also shies away from the word annexation.

Instead, Goldring, who was reached Monday in Ukraine where he has been monitoring the election, said he'd prefer that Canada offer the Caribbean island chain, now a British territory, provincial status.

Goldring doesn't believe making the Turks and Caicos a province would require a constitutional amendment, citing the example of the former British dominion of Newfoundland, which joined Confederation in 1949 using only the tool of a territory-wide, and very close, referendum.

But the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982 changed the rules so that the Constitution must be re-opened to allow the establishment of a new province. Constitutional talks can be deeply divisive.

NDP MP Malcom Allen, who, as a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, met with Turks and Caicos Premier Rufus Ewing Monday, thinks it unlikely the country could become a "pure" province.

Canada's current territories might balk

"The three territories that are there now would probably not agree," Allen said. Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, each of which has a movement seeking provincial status, might be affronted by creating a new province out of a Caribbean island nation with a population of just over 30,000 people.

As well, if the Turks and Caicos were to become a province, it would have a veto in any constitutional amendment that requires unanimous consent of the provinces, an odd notion for a group of islands with no sense of Canada's history or traditions.

It would be simpler to make the Turks and Caicos another territory, or to do as Nova Scotia did in 2004 and vote to make the islands part of the province.

Although the concept of uniting with the tropical islands is often treated as a joke, or a wishful fantasy, the vote passed unanimously in the Nova Scotia legislature. However, discussions to pursue the notion have not happened.

Goldring said he is uncertain when a merger might be discussed seriously, but said, "We need to dance and start the engagement. It doesn't have to be a marriage."

He pointed out Canada already dominates the Turks and Caicos banking industry, and has built and supplied some of its schools and a hospital. The 40 or so uninhabited islands need causeways, he said, something Canada could construct.

Gateway to the Caribbean

The Turks and Caicos could be come a gateway to the Caribbean, Goldring continued, opening up inroads to the 10-million strong Cuban market that might soon materialize, and provide closer access to Haiti, where Canada with its Haitian diaspora of 82,000 has strong interests.

Allen likes the idea of a deep-water port built by Canadians so that the Turks and Caicos could connect with Halifax's port and facilitate seagoing traffic throughout the area. He explained the infrastructure in the Caribbean tends to be geared towards cruise ships, not container vessels.

"You'd have a stepping stone into the rest of the Caribbean," he said.

Allen said Ewing, who functions as a prime minister, or head of government, of the Turks and Caicos, spoke of the historic ties between his country and the Maritime provinces that date back two centuries. It wasn't just Caribbean rum and sugar that was funnelled to the Maritimes, but also salt from the Turks and Caicos for use in salt-cod which was then shipped back.

"They indicated that there is more that goes on between them and us and them and Britain," Allen said, adding Canada has no formal trade agreement with the Turks and Caicos.

A piece of Canada with a trade wind

For ordinary Canadians, a huge part of the fascination with the chain of islands is the idea of a piece of Canada with an average temperature ranging between 29 C and 32 C degrees, a trade wind and 350 days of sunshine.

The thought of retiring in a tropical island paradise where there's access to the Canadian health-care system and no need for extra medical insurance or a six-month visa is irresistible. It's one reason Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff Ray Novak joked with a reporter Monday, asking if she was considering buying real estate there.

Rufus Ewing, premier of the Turks and Caicos, said his visit to Canada was about seeking a better socioeconomic relationship. (Sean Kirkpatrick/Canadian Press)

And here's the thing. Premier Ewing, good-naturedly taking question after question from reporters about whether his country would join Canada, didn't entirely rule it out.

"I am not closing the door completely," he said, after stressing current discussions were about "mutual interests."

His country looks on Canada as a "big brother or big sister" he said, tossing in the thought that the relationship might evolve into a "relaxation of immigration issues" and "almost seamless borders."

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Bruce Carson says Stephen Harper knew about his past

A former senior adviser to Stephen Harper says the prime minister knew about criminal charges he'd faced, despite Harper's assertion that he would never have hired Bruce Carson had he known about "more recent things."

Carson, who has written a book about his time in the Prime Minister's Office, worked closely with Harper and his then chief of staff Ian Brodie from 2006 to early 2009. The book, 14 Days: Making the Conservative Movement in Canada, talks about the early days of the Harper government.

"I disclosed it on the form that I had to fill in, he and I had a general conversation about my past and I disclosed it fully to Ian," Carson said in an interview with Evan Solomon, host of CBC News Network's Power & Politics.

Carson went from a well-liked backroom adviser to headline news during the 2011 federal election when an APTN news story alleged he lobbied officials at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada about a water purification system.

Reporters soon discovered Carson had a history of financial problems and was convicted of five counts of fraud going back to the 1980s and 1990s before he was hired as an adviser to Harper.

In June 1990, Carson pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud and received a suspended sentence and 24 months probation on condition that he "continue treatment at the R.O.H. (Royal Ottawa Hospital)" and make restitution of $4,000 within 23 months to the car rental company he defrauded. He later declared bankruptcy, which his lawyer said in 2011 was the result of Carson being out of work and juggling two families.

Harper said at the time that he didn't know the extent of Carson's criminal record.

'3rd chance'

"We knew about problems in Mr. Carson's very distant past. We didn't know about more recent things. If I had known that we would not have hired him. I am obviously very disappointed to find out these things now," Harper said in April 2011.

Carson has since been charged with illegal lobbying and influence peddling. His pre-trial on the counts stemming from the water purification work starts Monday, with other charges laid earlier this month. 

Carson says he did "as good a job as one can do" when he was with the Prime Minister's Office.

Some people, he said, are of the opinion that "everybody's entitled to a second and perhaps a third chance. And when I worked for the prime minister in opposition and in government, my past was known to him [Harper] and certainly to Ian Brodie, and I thought we accomplished really good things."

"Regardless of the negative stuff, nobody's attacked what I've been able to do or the kind of work I did as an adviser either to Ian or to the prime minister," Carson said.

"The time I spent with him, it was the best job I ever had, and I really enjoyed it."

Senate, Supreme Court scandals wouldn't have happened

Carson says the Senate scandal wouldn't have happened under him and Brodie.

"Certainly not the way it happened. Neither Ian nor I would have been able to dig 90,000 bucks out of our pockets," Carson said.

Nigel Wright, who was Harper's chief of staff until last May, left the PMO after a news report revealed he'd personally given Senator Mike Duffy $90,000 to repay Duffy's questionable Senate living and travel expenses. Harper has maintained he didn't know about Wright's plan, which emails suggest was discussed with several PMO staffers.

Brodie and Carson also discussed everything with Harper, Carson said.

"Things were different," he said, but, "if [Harper] said he didn't know, I think you have to believe him."

Carson says it's unfortunate Harper is in the midst of a spat with Beverley McLachlin, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, after accusing her of trying to interfere with one of his appointments to the top court.

"I think if I'd been here, if Brodie had been here ... no one would have advised him to take on the chief justice of Canada on anything, especially in a public way. The problem is, as more and more digging is done into the back and forth on the [Marc] Nadon appointment, it just becomes worse and worse," Carson said.

"It's certainly not a fight a prime minister should be picking."

Carson also notes in the book that Doug Finley, who ran the 2006 campaign, said he had a mole in the federal Liberal election campaign who gave the Conservatives the Liberal platform. Finley died a year ago.

Carson says he has no idea who the mole was.

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More subplots in the search for a 'right-minded' Supreme Court judge

It's hard to imagine just who Stephen Harper has in mind to fill the vacant Quebec seat on the Supreme Court of Canada. It's harder still to imagine why anyone would want to accept it.

It's been two months since the country's highest court rejected the prime minister's first choice, Federal Court of Appeal Judge Marc Nadon, ruling he wasn't eligible to represent Quebec because he was neither a judge nor a practising lawyer in the province itself.

But that botched attempt was only the opening episode in this legal drama, which comes complete with an ensemble cast of flawed characters, plot twists and claims of impropriety and betrayal.

The prime minister has accused Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of trying to improperly lobby against Nadon's appointment, a charge her office denies.

Harper and Justice Minister Peter MacKay have also insisted that the two opposition MPs on the judicial selection committee agreed with Nadon's appointment — even though everyone involved in the process is supposed to be sworn to confidentiality.

And if that isn't enough, the Conservatives aren't disputing stories on cbc.ca or in other media that they don't want to appoint a judge from the Quebec bench, viewing the current group as too liberal.

"It seems clear that the prime minister and the justice minister politicized the selection process in order to appoint the judge they thought to be aligned with their Conservative ideology,'' Liberal MP Stephane Dion charged this week.

The government's response is always the same.

"We will respect the process," MacKay told the Commons. "We will respect the needs of Quebec."

An opaque process

Well, maybe. But Quebec's new Liberal premier doesn't sound so sure that is going to happen.

Minister of Justice Peter MacKay says the government will "respect the needs of Quebec." (Canadian Press)

Philippe Couillard told reporters this week that his government now wants a direct say in who is chosen for the three seats on the Supreme Court that are reserved for Quebec.

The question at the moment, though, is who would want the job in the current circumstances.

The Supreme Court is, of course, the highest court in the land, its members among the very best and the very brightest legal minds Canada has ever produced.

But the drawn-out, politically-charged atmosphere surrounding this appointment is a factor that can't be ignored. So is the lack of a formal, transparent process to identify and choose the appropriate candidate.

"I don't understand why it is taking so much time," says University of Ottawa law professor Benoit Pelletier, a former Liberal cabinet minister in Quebec. "If a Federal Court judge is not eligible, there is still a huge group of judges and lawyers in Quebec who can be appointed to fill the Quebec vacancy.''

However, government documents made public Tuesday show there has been no new formal discussions with the Quebec legal community since the last round, even though the seat is still vacant.

No effort to involve the federal opposition parties, no indication whether the government intends to pick another name off the previous 2013 short list that included Nadon, or start all over again.

Pelletier isn't so much worried that no willing candidate will be found, but he is concerned that the debate around the choice is alive with political, rather than legal arguments.

"It should not be a requirement to be conservative-minded to be appointed to the Supreme Court. That is something we are not used to in Canadian judicial culture,'' he says.

A right-minded judge

But there's no dispute that the government went to extraordinary lengths to place a Federal Court judge in one of the court's three Quebec seats. And in Nadon, the government says it found not only a competent judge, but a right-minded one who exercised judicial restraint in the post-Charter of Rights era.

The documents tabled this week, in response to questions from Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, offer some additional subplots.

For example the government is citing solicitor-client privilege in refusing to disclose whether it sought a legal opinion from any Quebec judge before appointing Nadon.

Liberals claim that is an admission the government did just that, and is trying to hide the advice it received inside Quebec about the eligibility of a Federal Court judge to represent the province.

The government claimed no such privilege in releasing a legal opinion by retired Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie — an opinion that supported Harper's view that Federal Court judges are eligible.

NDP justice critic Francoise Boivin, a member of the all-party selection committee, says the PM should think hard about his next Supreme Court choice because it is going to send a message to the Quebec bar. (Adrian Wyld / Canadian Press)

Democrat MP Francoise Boivin was a member of the selection committee that led to Nadon's appointment.

She won't discuss that process, or how Nadon came to be chosen. But she has no problem warning Harper to think twice about the new choice he's about to make.

In particular, Boivin, who is a Quebec lawyer herself, says the PM should consider the impact of choosing a lawyer rather than a sitting judge to fill the Quebec vacancy.

"If he goes to the barreau [bar association] it better be one of the most brilliant legal minds because that's going to send the Quebec courts a signal — the message is that we don't want you.''

Harper's vowed to respect the letter and the spirit of the Nadon ruling. But the prime minister also made it clear that he disagrees with the court's decision, arguing it makes Quebec members of the Federal Court second-class judges.

Still, many legal observers believe the delay in choosing someone to replace Nadon, and the absence of a formal nomination process, is a sign that the choice will be Stephen Harper's, and his alone.

And both he, and the successful candidate, will be judged accordingly.

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Justin Trudeau's Liberals 'follow Conservative direction': NDP

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Liberals voted with government to extend House hours, limit opposition ability to trigger votes

CBC News Posted: May 28, 2014 8:53 AM ET Last Updated: May 28, 2014 9:05 AM ET

Nettled, it seems, by the lack of support from the Liberals during Tuesday's debate over extended sitting hours, New Democrat House Leader Peter Julian will hold a pre-caucus press conference to "expose the decision" of the third party to "sell out the legitimate rights of opposition parties, and help the Conservative government pass its legislative agenda."

ON MOBILE - Watch NDP House Leader Peter Julian here.

Some background, for those who missed the preceding procedural skirmish: The New Democrats voted against the government's proposal to add an extra shift to the parliamentary workday -- not, as its members made clear during the debate, because they don't want to sit late, but because they objected to a provision that will limit their ability to move motions and trigger votes outside regular House hours.

The Liberals, in contrast, voted with their Conservative colleagues, prompting much grumbling amongst their fellow travellers on the opposition side of the Chamber -- and, it seems, this morning's efforts to "expose" their decision by the New Democrats.

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The House

• Soudas and Adams defend themselves against accusations of wrongdoing May. 28, 2014 7:16 AM This week on The House, the Conservative nomination battle in Oakville North-Burlington takes a surprising twist. The party is postponing the vote because both candidates - Eve Adams and Natalia Lishchyna allege the other side has been breaking the rules. Conservative MP Eve Adams defends herself and her fiancé the former Conservative Party Executive Director Dimitri Soudas explains why he's ready to break the rules for love.

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Dufferin-Caledon nomination race features familiar Tory face

UPDATE – After what has been described as surprisingly close vote on Friday evening, veteran Conservative MP David Tilson eked out a narrow victory over local challenger Paul Hong.

The long-time Conservative strategist behind Natalia Lishchyna's bid to beat Eve Adams in Oakville North-Burlington is helping out another nomination challenger angling to oust a sitting MP.

In addition to his activities in Oakville, John Mykytyshyn is backing Paul Hong's efforts to win the right to run for the party in Dufferin-Caledon, a seat currently held by veteran Conservative MP David Tilson.

That vote is scheduled to take place tonight — and, unlike that other nomination, there's no sign that it will be hit with a sudden postponement due to cross-candidate complaints flooding Conservative headquarters.

But don't take Mykytyshyn's double duty on the southern Ontario nomination campaign trail as evidence of an anti-incumbent bias.

As he tells it, at least, that's just the way it worked out.

"I've known Paul for many years," Mykytyshyn told CBC News.

"I first met him at a campaign training session while he was a student. It was pretty clear back then that he was special."

He also worked on Hong's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to win the local provincial Conservative nomination in 2007.

"Frankly, in my 30 years of helping get people elected, Paul is one of the very best I've ever supported."

'Respectful race'

Since joining Hong's team, Mykytyshyn said he's been lending a hand where needed, but he stressed that the candidate is the one running the show.

"Paul is the guy calling the shots and he has really impressed me," he said.

"From day one, [Hong] was determined that he was going to run a respectful campaign," Mykytyshyn said.

"He's never taken shots at David, and I have to tell you, after the other race I'm involved with, it's been really refreshing to see such a respectful race take place."

Even without Mykytyshyn's support, Hong would be a formidable contender.

His online biography lists degrees in business, law and war studies, as well as 13 years in the Canadian Armed Forces Naval Reserve.

On the political front, he claims close to 20 years of experience on the hustings.

Hong worked for Baird, Kenney

Hong has also served under three former and current foreign affairs ministers — David Emerson, Lawrence Cannon and John Baird — and worked as a policy adviser to Jason Kenney.

Kenney even makes a cameo appearance on Hong's official website, which prominently displays the praise he heaped upon Hong during his 2007 provincial run.

"Paul Hong is one of the most principled and effective young Conservatives I've ever met," the website quotes Kenney as having said at the time.

"[H]e represents the future of the conservative movement in Canada."

Like all Conservative caucus members, Kenney is barred from publicly supporting any candidate challenging a sitting MP, but that rule does not, it seem, cover past remarks.

In response to a query from CBC News, spokeswoman Alexandra Fortier made it clear that her boss is not endorsing anyone in the current race and pointed out the quote is from the 2007 provincial run.

Hong praised by other prominent Tories

Kenney isn't the only prominent Conservative to make an appearance on Hong's webpage.

Several other familiar names show up — most notably, Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay, an author, lawyer and human rights activist who also happens to be married to Justice Minister Peter MacKay.

There are also approving comments from former Kenney staffer Kasra Nejatian and  PMO communications director Sandra Bucker.

Tilson, in contrast, doesn't even have a dedicated campaign website, and the twitter account under his name has yet to send out a single tweet.

He did, however, defend his record in an interview with a local community newspaper last month.

"In the 2011 election we led in every poll and had 59 percent of the vote." he told the Orangeville Citizen via email.

"I would say it is unnecessary to challenge me now when I have proven myself to be a strong representative in Ottawa," Tilson continued, adding that Dufferin-Caledon residents and local Conservatives "echo that thought."

Tight race predicted

For his part, Hong told CBC News that he's "very proud" of the campaign that he's run.

"We have run an energetic, honourable, clean campaign — one that is respectful towards David Tilson," he said via email.

"I am very much looking forward to tonight, and to having an opportunity to speak with Dufferin-Caledon conservatives about our need for renewal."

Asked for a prediction on the outcome of tonight's vote, Mykytyshyn was cautiously optimistic.

"Defeating an incumbent is a really tall task," he noted.

"But Paul's worked his butt off. It'll be a tight one, but I am hopeful ... he'll pull it off."

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Eve Adams, Dimitri Soudas fight fraud allegations after nixed vote

The Conservative nomination vote in Ontario's new federal riding of Oakville North-Burlington may be at a standstill, but a heated battle rages on as the campaigns of MP Eve Adams and local chiropractor Natalia Lishchyna ratchet up their accusations against each other.

Adams and her fiancé, Dimitri Soudas, say the allegation that her campaign paid for party memberships in order to build up support ahead of the nomination is false. 

While not illegal under Election Canada regulations, it's against Conservative Party rules for someone to pay for another's party membership.

In an interview on CBC News Network's Power & Politics, Rosemary Barton asked Soudas if he paid for any membership cards himself.

"Oh my goodness, absolutely not," he said. 

Conservative MP Eve Adams is denying allegations made by her nomination opponent Natalia Lishchyna in the Ontario riding of Oakville North-Burlington. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

He referred to a specific incident in which he visited a family who agreed to sign up as Conservative Party members. But because they didn't have the money on them at the time, Soudas said he agreed to pick it up at a later date.

"The reality is we processed more than 1,500 memberships, and the specific case of this family, when we discovered that they had not paid and we had not collected the money from them, we actually asked the party, proactively, to remove them from the membership list before it was even public knowledge," he said.

"We ran a super-tight campaign here and administrative errors … sometimes do happen."

CBC News has also learned new details about complaints made by the Lishchyna campaign against Adams's team.

Family 'harassed' by Soudas

According to sources, Soudas called a family of five in the riding and pressured them to sign up for Conservative Party memberships.

The family told him that they were Liberal supporters, but that didn't stop Soudas from pushing ahead, sources said. He told them that it was OK for them to take out Conservative memberships and vote for Adams in the nomination race. He then allegedly said the family could discard them and vote Liberal in the general election. 

The family told the party they felt "harassed" by Soudas. It has been confirmed to CBC News that the number calling the home was indeed Soudas's, made when he was still the director of the party.

Soudas was fired from the Conservative Party in March after it was made known he was trying to interfere in his fiancée's nomination battle.

This incident is among a number of complaints that Lishchyna's campaign director, John Myktyshyn, sent to the party about two weeks ago. The Lishchyna team said they have so far uncovered 38 cases of alleged membership fraud.

In a statement released on Friday, Lishchyna said she accepted that the campaign "would not be an easy road to travel" but didn't expect to witness "such unethical activity."

"It is more than distressing to see a sitting member of Parliament conduct her campaign in such an unscrupulous, unethical and unnecessary manner while she seeks the party nomination in a riding other than the riding she currently represents," she said.

Adams brushed off the comments.

Complaints vs. complaints

"You know what, this campaign has really been marked by the fact that we've taken the high road from Day 1," she said.

"I haven't been disparaging another Conservative in public. I adhere to Ronald Reagan's great adage, 'Thou shalt not speak ill of another Conservative,'" she said.

Earlier this week, Soudas filed his own complaint to the CRTC and Elections Canada on behalf of the Adams campaign.

The Adams team alleges that the Lishchyna camp badgered Conservative supporters with repeated phone calls by a telemarketing firm. They complain that the firm did not say it was working for Lishchyna, and thus violates telecommunications rules. 

But sources tell CBC News those calls aren't illegal, because the Lishchyna camp had hired a firm to do surveys via live calls. 

The party is currently investigating the complaints. It called a random sample of more than 10 per cent of the new members (1,500 to 1,800 new members have been signed up). The party made 150 to 180 calls and found that the complaints were almost all about Adams's campaign.

The Conservative Party National Selection Committee will look at the results of the investigation and then proceed to make a recommendation to Fred DeLorey, the director of political operations

Sources tell CBC News there could potentially be four results:

1. The status quo could be maintained and the race goes on.
2. Adams could be told she can't run in Oakville North-Burlington and must instead find another riding.
3. Adams would not be able to run at all.
4. The race would continue, but some of the new party members would be disqualified from voting in the nomination.

Sources say these are still uncharted waters and there is no time frame for the completion of the investigation.

Damage to Conservative brand?

This is just the latest instalment of the saga of Oakville North-Burlington Conservative nomination battle, which some say could reflect on the party. 

When asked if Adams was worried about the damage such mudslinging would cause to the Conservative brand, she said the constituents of the riding wouldn't get caught in it.

"You know, voters here in Oakville North-Burlington are pretty smart and savvy and they've seen through this. They know I'm the one that's showing up on their doorsteps to discuss issues with them," she said to Barton.

Soudas, who before getting fired from the party was a close confidant to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, also weighed in.

"The only people who have damaged the party in this process is Ms. Lischyna and her campaign manager, John Mykytyshyn," he said.

Last month, the Conservative Party warned Adams to behave and to concentrate on her current position as a member of Parliament and on her role as parliamentary secretary to the minister of health.

Adams is the MP for the neighbouring Mississauga-Brampton South riding, which is to be split among several new ridings in 2015 when Elections Canada adds another 30 electoral districts to the Canadian map.

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Dimitri Soudas would 'breach any contract' for fiancée Eve Adams

Ah, the things you'll do for love.

Dimitri Soudas says it was his loyalty to his fiancée Eve Adams and his support for her nomination battle in the Ontario riding of Oakville North-Burlington that led him to leave his post in the Conservative Party.

"You know what? I'll rip up any contract that says I can't help my family. I will breach any contract that says I can't help my family," he said to Evan Solomon on CBC Radio's The House.

"If there's one thing about me, it's my loyalty. For decades, I was extremely loyal to the prime minister. And in this case, I could no longer do my job as executive director of the party — recusing myself from anything to do with the nomination," he said.

Soudas was forced out from his top staff position with the party at the end of March, after it was made known that he tried to interfere with his fiancée's Conservative nomination battle. 

Sources had told CBC News that Soudas angered many in the party — including some Conservative MPs ​— by getting involved. Longtime party organizers expressed frustration with the situation in Oakville-North Burlington, pointing out that Soudas was their ultimate boss.

When asked about why he left his position with the party he served for the past 20 years of his life, Soudas said he chose his "family over politics."

"I chose to give my loyalty to the woman that I love and I came in a moment where she was incapacitated. I sure hope you would do exactly the same thing for your wife and I'm sure your wife would do the exact same thing for you," Soudas said to Solomon. 

Adams has been recovering from a concussion from a fall earlier this year. 

Adams is the MP for the Mississauga-Brampton South riding, which is to be split among several new ridings in 2015 when Elections Canada adds another 30 electoral districts to the Canadian map.

She is seeking the nomination for the nearby, newly created riding of Oakville North-Burlington, a race that has seen its fair share of mudslinging and accusations of wrongdoing — including allegations that the Adams campaign paid for the party memberships of some of their supporters in the new federal riding. 

Adams's team also allege that Lishchyna's campaign made illegal calls badgering constituents without divulging on whose behalf those calls were being made.

However, Adams said that "the mud does not go back and forth."

"I've sat here and taken the high road. What I've done is I've gone out and met with voters on their doorsteps in the snow, in the rain, and I talk to them about issues," she said to Solomon.

Both the Adams and Lishchyna camps have filed a number of complaints to the party, the CRTC and Elections Canada.

The nomination vote was originally set for Sunday, but the Conservative Party announced the vote would be delayed indefinitely while it investigates the complaints. 

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How Stephen Harper's inner circle has changed

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's inner circle is contracting, maybe not in size, but in terms of experienced advisers with backgrounds in law, business or academia. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Harper's inner circle is shrinking, not in terms of size, but in age, life experience and links to the professions, some critical observers say.

The paucity of sage advice might have come to the fore when Prime Minister Stephen Harper publicly attacked Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin after the Supreme Court's rejection of his hand-picked candidate for a seat on the top bench.

A former staffer wonders if the savvy lawyers who were once his closest advisers would have bluntly told him it wasn't a good idea to go after a Supreme Court judge.

Tom Flanagan was Harper's campaign manager and chief of staff until 2004. In an interview, Flanagan, who admits the prime minister doesn't talk to him anymore, said, "He's lost so many people, it's kind of sad. We were good friends. When I would come to Ottawa I would stay at Stornoway."

In earlier years, Harper's staff often included lawyers, professors and business executives. Others had worked for previous prime ministers, and possessed an institutional memory of Parliament and a well-honed sense of what to learn from past political mistakes.

Flanagan listed a series of "very able people" who have passed through Harper's team. "Ken Boessenkool, Ian Brodie, Geoff Norquay, Bruce Carson — whatever his personal problems, are he's a very capable adviser —  Keith Beardsley, Guy Giorno,  Nigel Wright, David Emerson, Michael Fortier."

Some left after scandals, others just to make more money. Death took others: his former campaign manager, Senator Doug Finley, and former finance minister Jim Flaherty, who was not afraid to stand up to Harper and deem his income-splitting policy wasteful.

Flanagan continued, "Now I think the PMO [Prime Minister's Office] is filled with younger people who are not well-known for outside accomplishments."

A big loss was former prime minister Brian Mulroney, almost a mentor, whom Harper publicly shunned after the Karlheinz Schreiber scandal. 

"It's unfortunate that his advice has not been available. He has a sense of history and he has a sense of strategy and he has a sense of tactics that very few people have," said one former adviser who didn't want his name used.

Harper's habit of not just distancing himself from once close people who have displeased him, but outright banishing them, has led to an increasing isolation, some observers feel, forcing a reliance on hyper-partisans.

'The boys in short pants'

"So the team has then contracted," said Flanagan. "There's all these jokes about the boys in short pants."

Keith Beardsley, a former adviser to Harper, first coined the phrase "boys in short pants" to describe what he says are young staffers in the PMO who have a habit of "bossing around MPs of 20 years' experience and telling them how to do politics."

Beardsley wonders why Harper won't occasionally reach out to people who once worked for him. "Why not call Flanagan and say, 'Hey Tom.' You might totally disagree with the answer you get. Mulroney was famous for doing that, you know, picking up the phone and calling people."

Another former adviser said of Harper, "He has strong views. If you feel it's necessary to take them on, take them on. And if he shouts, shout back. And I did. And it worked just fine."

Beardsley, a former high school teacher and Montreal city councillor who left the Prime Minister's Office in 2008, doubts current staffers get into yelling matches with Harper "because of the youth, the intense partisanship." He added, "He can be an intimidating guy when he gets going. These are the rah-rah troops."

Harper is now on his 14th chief of staff, after a long line of people with previous luminous careers, such as Flanagan and Brodie, both professors, and Giorno and Wright, both lawyers..

His current right hand is 37-year-old Ray Novak, so close to Harper he once lived above the garage at Stornoway when Harper was Opposition leader, and was treated as a family member.

Flanagan describes Novak, whom he taught at the University of Calgary, as "one of the smartest students I ever had."

Jenni Bryne, the same age as Novak, is a co-deputy chief of staff, and painted by Flanagan as "a warrior who would walk through a wall for you. Whether it's the right thing to do or not, she will do it."

Both Byrne and Novak, said to be exceedingly loyal and intense workaholics, have never worked outside politics, except for Novak's stint at the National Citizens Coalition, which can function as a holding pattern for Conservatives looking for a place to land.

"The range of advice that's around him [Harper] in his office is less than it was then at its peak," Flanagan said.

Not attracting 'top-drawer' people

Beardsley thinks Harper isn't attracting what Flanagan calls "top drawer" people because of rules in place since 2008 that prohibit lobbying for five years following a job as a designated public office holder.

"People aren't going to come up for one or two years. It's not worth it to them financially and career-wise."

An exception was the Harvard-educated Wright, whose self-made wealth and idealism about public service prompted him to take on the chief of staff job without a salary. But after he personally repaid Senator Mike Duffy's expense claims, rightly or wrongly, Harper felt Wright had betrayed him.

Currently, Beardsley said, many of the PMO staff come out of the parliamentary intern program. "They're all young and basically of one mindset," he said.

That mindset, said Beardsley, is something former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff references about his time in politics.

"We've blurred opponent with enemy," Ignatieff said, in a speech last year to a law school audience. "Belonging matters more than confidence, expertise or trustworthiness."

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