2 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 FEATURE BUZZ ference between local riding events that ments of him, he remembered hearing cost $100-a-head or so to attend versus the about how China uses automated Twitter ON events in which some have reportedly paid accounts to spread government propa- as much as $10,000 to schmooze Ontario ganda, and noted how the The Wall Street HEARD THE HILL Premier Kathleen Wynne and other cabinet Journal reported about this kind of Twitter ministers. use by Donald Trump supporters, among BY DEREK ABMA There would appear to be no plans other examples. afoot for Ms. Wynne’s Liberal federal cous- “There were not thousands of people ins to do anything similar. suddenly hating me,” Mr. Perrin wrote. When asked about this, Jean-Bruno “It was someone in their mother’s base- Villeneuve, spokesman for Democratic ment (or work offi ce) using a ham-fi sted Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef, said social media scam to make me think the in an email: “There are existing stringent world was suddenly against me. I’ve never MP Raitt marries rules that govern limits on contributions at laughed so hard.” the federal level.” Mr. Perrin only joined Twitter a few As for future changes, he referred to the months ago. Despite his amusement at mandate later from Prime Minister Justin what happened, he noted how such activity longtime partner Trudeau to Ms. Monsef that directed her to could be really, really bad if it involved a “review the limits on the amounts political cyber-bullying campaign against a young parties and third parties can spend during person. elections, and propose measures to ensure Anyway, for those interested in enter- ects, a book called that spending between elections is subject taining and sometimes-informative Twitter Black Irises, is due to reasonable limits as well.” posts from someone who doesn’t seem to out on Oct. 1. It’s like their old boss that much, his handle is a murder mystery @ProfBenPerrin. with some political Former Harper lawyer intrigue thrown in: a favoured candidate describes Twitter bot Great census, people. in a federal byelec- tion in small-town attack Can’t wait for results Ontario draws suspicions after the Canadians were being congratulated death of a young last week for their high participation rate woman, in a case in this year’s census. that bears similari- Wayne Smith, Canada’s chief statisti- ties to a murder that cian, issued an online note saying that happened decades there was a 98.4 per cent overall participa- before. tion rate in this year’s census, including This follows Mr. 97.8 per cent on the long-form census Delacourt’s 2014 questions, completion for which became book called Ocular mandatory again almost as soon as the Liberals assumed offi ce last November. The Conservative MP Lisa Raitt was set to get married to longtime partner Proof, which is a tale about dark se- prior Conservative government had instead Bruce Wood on Sept. 2. Photograph courtesy of Lisa Raitt crets involving forg- opted for a voluntary national household ery and Nazi threats survey. onservative MP Lisa Raitt tied the knot in relation to the world of high-priced art. This year made for the “best census Con the weekend with Bruce Wood, Before joining the Liberal Research since 1666,” Mr. Smith said in the posting. whom she’s been in a relationship with for Bureau this year, Mr. Delacourt worked Isn’t that great; the best census since ... the last seven years. on the Liberal election campaign last year wait, what year? Surely, that was a typo. I mean, there was no internet, Excel, or even Ms. Raitt and Mr. Wood were to marry and Justin Trudeau’s Liberal leadership Benjamin Perrin was legal counsel for former on Sept. 2 in Cape Breton, N.S., with guests campaign in 2013. calculators back then. Certainly, they had prime minister Stephen Harper. The Hill Times neither the means nor the desire to create making the trip in from places as far away He was in business for himself as a photograph by Jake Wright as Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, and even communications consultant in Toronto for a census. Jacksonville, Fla., to witness the nuptials. the previous few years. And Mr. Delacourt Well, turns out they did. Statistics Benjamin Perrin, who served as a legal Mr. Wood is president and CEO of the did a previous stint on the Hill when he Canada spokesman William Garland told counsel for former prime minister Stephen Hamilton Port Authority. Ms. Raitt is the was former Liberal leader Michael Igna- The Hill Times that 1666 was when the fi rst Harper, received a lot of negative feedback MP for Milton, Ont., though she was born tieff’s director of multicultural outreach census of what is now Canada and was on Twitter related to a post he made about in Sydney, N.S. She’s also the former CEO between 2010 and 2011. then New France—with a population of his former boss quitting. Turns out, the sen- of the Toronto Port Authority. He is also the brother of Toronto 3,215 people—was taken. timent was exaggerated through the use of Among those wishing the couple well Star and iPolitics columnist Susan Dela- So, considering the population is more Twitter bots. on social media last week was Don Martin, court. than 10,000 times as large now, we’re not Mr. Perrin explained in an article he host of CTV’s Power Play, who tweeted, A launch party for the book, to be pub- doing too badly. The 2016 census results wrote for The Globe and Mail last week “Well, it’s about time. MP @lraitt is tying lished by Blue Denim Press, is planned for are to start being released on Feb. 8, 2017. how, after Mr. Harper resigned as an MP the knot with super guy Bruce Wood this the Métropolitain Brasserie on Oct. 18. Mr. [email protected] on Aug. 26, he tweeted, “#GoodRiddance- weekend in lovely Cape Breton. Congrats!” Delacourt pointed out that if the party goes The Hill Times Harper is trending in Canada #cdnpoli.” past midnight, which we suspect it might, Ottawa Citizen reporter Jason Fekete it could turn into a one-year anniversary CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS, THE HILL TIMES retweeted this, adding a comment about Novel by Liberal staffer celebration of the Liberals’ election victory Mr. Perrin’s former job, to which Mr. Perrin Re: “Former Citizen bureau chief Kennedy scooped by on Oct. 19 last year. due out next month replied with a link to a CBC article during PMO” (The Hill Times, Aug. 29, p. 23). The story incorrectly last year’s election campaign, in which he said Dwight Duncan was defeated in the 2013 Ontario Being a commu- Ontario government to was quoted as saying the Harper govern- election. He, in fact, resigned. nications director ment had “lost the moral authority to The Hill Times has incorrectly referred to Tuesday, Aug. for the Liberal Re- ban elected offi cials from govern.” 16, several times as the date longtime Liberal MP Mauril search Bureau, one That’s when things got nasty. Someone Bélanger passed away. It was in fact Monday, Aug. 15. might sometimes fundraisers tweeted something negative about Mr. Per- feel constrained by rin, and within an hour it was retweeted or Re: “New medical marijuana regs show need for the requirement to, There was some surprise last week liked more than 100 times, and that num- broader legalization policy, say producers” (The Hill Times, how should we say, when the Ontario Liberal government, ber ballooned to 1,000 by that evening. Aug. 22, p. 1). The story incorrectly stated Tilray’s Philippe deal within reality. which has been criticized for high priced Mr. Perrin said he clicked on the profi le Lucas predicted the global industry could reach up to That’s no “cash-for access” fundraisers involving the of one of his many attackers and found $11-billion. In fact he said $100-billion. premier and others, announced it would problem for John it was a basketball team in Georgia, Re: “Portrait-gallery plan popular as government Liberal staffer John outright ban all legislators from attending Delacourt, who’s for whom a “sudden interest in Canadian consults on fate of old U.S. embassy” (The Hill Times, Aug. Delacourt has written fundraising events. found an outlet for politics seemed odd.” 22, p. 1). The story incorrectly attributed a group handing out his second novel. The The move caught opposition parties alternate truths by After fi nding most of the attacking Twit- pamphlets as being based in Kingston, Ont., when in fact it Hill Times photograph by surprise. Some commentators said it writing novels. His ter accounts were based in the U.S., many was based in Ottawa but with some members from Kingston. by Jake Wright second of such proj- went too far, emphasizing there’s a dif- using identical words in their admonish- Announcing Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s TDDC annonce la tenue de sa ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING 2016 RÉUNION PUBLIQUE ANNUELLE DE 2016 On October 6th, SDTC will hold a public meeting to review our Le 6 octobre, TDDC tiendra une réunion publique pour faire état activities and performance in 2015 funding and supporting de ses activités de financement et de soutien des technologies Canadian clean technology. propres canadiennes et de son rendement en 2015. Please join us for the live webcast: Joignez-vous à nous pour cette réunion qui sera diffusée en Thursday, October 6th at 4PM EST direct sur le Web Le jeudi 6 octobre à 16 h HNE www.sdtc.ca/en/annual-public-meeting www.sdtc.ca/fr/assemblee-publique.