Beyak, ‘Outrageous’ Don’t blame Meredith: When Trump comms go For asylum-seekers, NDP slams feds for selling ship says minister wrong that underwent $9-million in Tim Powers, p. 10 repairs in 2009 for $373,000, p.3 p. 5 TWENTY-EIGHTH YEAR, NO. 1419 CANADA’S POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT NEWSPAPER WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017 $5.00 News 2017 Budget News Conservative Leadership Race Bernier’s national membership chair MP Lights, camera, Nuttall was accused of membership fraud in 2010 action: budget BY CHELSEA NASH Conservative MP Alex Nuttall (Barrie-Springwater-Oro Amid unproven allegations Medonte, Ont.) was one of the that Maxime Bernier’s leadership fi rst MPs to support Mr. Bernier’s campaign fraudulently signed (Beauce, Que.) leadership for up members, which Mr. Bernier the Conservative Party. Mr. denies, The Hill Times has learned Bernier appointed him campaign day on the Hill membership chair last fall. his membership chair was accused of using similar tactics in 2010. Continued on page 6 News Transparency Information czar barely keeping up with complaints, despite 30 per cent budget boost to battle backlog Canada’s information commis- Suzanne Legault has already man- sioner has barely managed to put aged to process 60 per cent more a dent in the backlog of complaints complaints, old and new, than it about the government’s handling did in all of the last fi scal year. But of access to information requests, the fl ow of new complaints about despite receiving a 30 per cent access requests—typically made budget increase for that purpose after a government department or earlier this year, statistics from the agency has taken too long to re- commissioner’s offi ce show. lease documents, refused to do so, It hasn’t been for lack of try- ing; the offi ce of commissioner Continued on page 4 News Parliamentary Protective Service Stakeholders and journalists will emerge from a day-long budget lockup at 4 p.m. Wednesday to hear Finance Minister Bill Morneau deliver his second budget speech in the House of Commons. See hilltimes.com for full coverage. The Hill Feds must track language Times photograph by Jake Wright complaints about Hill News Machinery of Government security staff, says NDP MP Publications Mail Agreement #40068926 Bigger workload, shorter timelines a growing BY MARCO VIGLIOTTI on the minister, who is responsible for offi cial languages, to push for Heritage Minister Mélanie the creation of a reporting system to ‘burden,’ says PCO Joly needs to shoulder greater track and address complaints about responsibility for defending ac- the language abilities of Hill security BY PETER MAZEREEUW according to its annual report. for the coming year, under the cess to bilingual services in the staff, as recommended by the offi cial An “increased workload and heading, “Key risks: things that Parliamentary Precinct, says NDP languages commissioner, but she has New priorities created by shorter timelines means an in- could affect our ability to achieve MP François Choquette. only responded by saying it doesn’t Prime Minister Justin Trudeau creasingly heavy burden on exist- our plans and results.” Mr. Choquette (Drummond, fall under her mandate. and his ministers have put the ing resources and expertise,” says Que.), his party’s offi cial languages public service’s hub of support for a section of the Privy Council Continued on page 7 critic, said he has repeatedly called Continued on page 21 the cabinet under growing strain, Offi ce’s (PCO) departmental plan 2 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017 | THE HILL TIMES Environment Minister Catherine McKenna was in attendance HEARD ON THE HILL Friday for the formal announcement by Marco Vigliotti of an outdoor hockey game between the Ottawa Senators and Butts, Byrne laugh Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa’s TD Place in off place in dubious, December. Photograph courtesy of Catherine grammatically-impaired McKenna’s Twitter account list of the richest prompted staff at the Canadian Embassy A major force in Quebec since its in Washington to make a rush order for a inception in the early 1990s, the Bloc has similar cutout to use in their Canada Day seen its share of the vote and seat totals celebrations, emails show. swiftly erode during the past two federal According to the emails, the cutout was elections. After nearly being wiped out in Canadian politicians purchased for $147.79, including $72.80 for the NDP “Orange Wave” in 2011, the Bloc next-day delivery. rebounded from four to 10 seats in 2015, A dubious, However, Global Affairs Canada has two short of offi cial party status, but non-sourced, now ordered its overseas missions to found its share of the popular vote in the poorly-worded stop using the Trudeau cutouts, the CBC province decline to its lowest level ever at story online reported. 19.3 per cent. listed Trudeau The cardboard cutouts aren’t unique Then-leader Gilles Duceppe resigned adviser Gerald to Canada. During the Doors Open event after failing to win back his former riding Butts as the in Ottawa last June, attendees welcomed in east Montreal. country’s at the U.S. Embassy were invited to pose richest for photos with cutouts of then-president politician, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, Catherine McKenna despite the along with offbeat props, including U.S.- fact he’s fl ag sunglasses. touts outdoor NHL game never served in Ottawa in elected Martine Ouellet acclaimed offi ce. Decked out in Sens garb, Environment toprichests.com Bloc chief Minister Catherine McKenna (Ottawa screenshot Centre, Ont.) was on hand for Friday’s announcement that the Ottawa Senators would face off against the rival Montreal Canadiens outdoors at Ottawa’s TD Place Stadium in December. The local Liberal MP was also there to announce that the Stanley Cup had been offi cially declared a national historic event, and unveiled a Historic Sites and Monu- ake news may be one of the most Ms. Byrne’s write-up is no better. ments Board of Canada plaque commemo- Fcontentious concepts percolating in the “Jenni Byrne is the Canadian politician rating the trophy. media landscape, but there appears to be and served as the political advisor to the The Stanley Cup, the oldest of the bipartisan agreement in Canada on a bad PM Stephan [sic] Harper from the conser- championship trophies in the four major example of faux reportage. vative political party of Canada,” it reads. North American sports leagues, was com- Jenni Byrne, who managed the Conser- “She is involved in politics at the age of missioned in 1892 and is named after then- vative Party’s campaign in the 2015 elec- 16 and joined the Reform party in 1993 and governor general Lord Stanley of Preston. tion, mockingly tweeted out a link earlier she is also the president of the student’s It was originally awarded to Canada’s this month to a poorly worded story on reforms club in the Ottawa University.” top-ranking amateur ice hockey club, but the website TopRichests.com (yes, spelled Former prime minister Stephen Harper Martine Ouellette was acclaimed Saturday as has been exclusively handed out to NHL wrong) to Gerald Butts, principal secretary also made the list, though his name is the new leader of the Bloc Québécois. Photo teams since 1926. to the prime minister, that listed their net incorrectly spelled Stephan throughout the courtesy of the Bloc Québécois The idea of an outdoor hockey game in worths of being in the millions of dollars. article. the nation’s capital has been in the works In the story, which is rife with spelling The late Jim Flaherty is also on the The Bloc Québécois has a new leader. for months, with the Senators and City of errors and cites no sources for the informa- list, as are Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Martine Ouellet was named the leader of Ottawa tying the event into the year-long tion presented, Mr. Butts’ net worth is listed (Papineau, Que.), NDP Leader Tom Mulcair the sovereignist party on Saturday after no celebrations of the 150th anniversary of as $23-million, while Ms. Byrne is valued at (Outremont, Que.), and Conservative MP other candidates appeared to challenge her. Confederation, as well as centennial fes- $18-million. The two might be infl uen- and ex-cabinet minister Pierre Poilievre A former Parti Québécois cabinet tivities for the NHL, founded in 1917. tial behind-the-scenes fi gures, but would (Carleton, Ont.). minister, Ms. Ouellet currently represents The Senators franchise was pushing to hardly classify as politicians. Former Conservative MP and one-time in- a Montreal-area riding in the Quebec pro- host the game on the front lawn of Parlia- “Hey @gmbutts - I guess our secret is dustry minister James Moore also made the cut. vincial legislature. She has sat as an inde- ment Hill with spectators to be housed in out,” Ms. Byrne sarcastically tweeted to Oddly enough, multi-millionaire pendent since announcing her intention to a pop-up stadium. But federal politicians Mr. Butts’ account along with a link to the Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto seek the top job for the Bloc. squashed that plan in October, citing issues story. Centre, Ont.) didn’t make the list. Ms. Ouellet fi nished third in the 2016 with logistics and security. “Hilarious. If only,” Mr. Butts replied. PQ leadership race where she was the only Originally, the Senators maintained The massive net-worth totals attached to Trudeau cutouts spread candidate to promise that, if elected pre- that Parliament was the sole venue under the backroom fi gures are hardly the most mier, she’d hold a sovereignty referendum consideration for the game, despite the egregious woes in the clickbait article.