How John Baird Railroaded the City of Ottawa

As we listened to the influence tampering trial of Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien, it brings to mind the complicity of John Baird, who used his own influence to railroad the citizens of Ottawa.

John Baird cannot be trusted
Rational Reasons
January 8, 2007

Apparently, back in October, John Baird, then President of the Treasury Board, went against the advice of his own staff and withheld federal funding for Ottawa's light-rail project for political purposes.

Baird's own professional staff reviewed the contract and the project and found it to be well justified, as did the staff of at least two other departments:

The effect of his interference was twofold. First, it changed the debate of the Ottawa Mayoral race to light rail and taxes, boosting Baird's friend and fellow conservative Larry O'Brien, while damaging the campaign of Mayor Bob Chiarelli, a longtime Baird foe.

Secondly, as a result of this battle, the entire light-rail project was killed by a vote of the new council and Mayor Larry O'Brien, who defeated Chairelli in November. Since a signed contract was already in place, the City has now been opened up to possible lawsuits from Siemens, the company that was to build the LRT, in the nieghbourhood of hundreds of millions.

In other words, our new Environment Minister is personally responsible for the destruction of an environmentally friendly public transit project that would have removed hundreds if not thousands of cars off of the streets of Ottawa (thus reducing pollution and green house gasses) in order to interfere in a municipal election to help elect a fellow conservative.

Baird's rail ruling was political, documents show
Decision to pull back funding made despite Treasury Board, Finance support for project
Mohammed Adam,
The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, January 06, 2007

Treasury Board and Department of Finance officials were satisfied with the City of Ottawa's $880-million commuter rail plan, but federal minister John Baird took it upon himself to ask for a financial audit that led to the delay and subsequent death of the project, documents obtained by the Citizen show.

Documents secured from the Ontario government's cabinet office through access-to-information laws appear to confirm widespread belief in Ottawa that Mr. Baird's intervention in October was done for political reasons.

Among the documents, a confidential briefing note for Premier Dalton McGuinty, chides Mr. Baird for his "unusual" intervention, pointing out that the city presented a "strong justification" for the project.

"Treasury Board and Finance officials did not request a value for money audit, and Transport and Infrastructure Canada officials and the Minister were satisfied enough with the project to sign off on it to go to TB," the briefing note said.

"He (Mr. Baird) is effectively saying that he is a better judge of value-for-money than the experts in the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Department of Finance, and the Treasury Board Secretariat."

Mr. Baird, appointed federal environment minister in a cabinet shuffle Thursday, caused a big stir in the middle of last fall's municipal election campaign when, as Treasury Board president, he delayed approval of the rail project until after the election. Amid accusations he was unfairly interfering in municipal politics, Mr. Baird said a financial audit he commissioned revealed potential cost overruns that he could not ignore as the federal government's financial watchdog.

To ensure public accountability, Mr. Baird said he delayed the project to give the new council the chance for a second look.

However, the new council killed the decade-old project, and many councillors blamed Mr. Baird for its demise. Some rail supporters charged that in an apparent effort to undermine long-time political foe Bob Chiarelli, Mr. Baird diminished the city's economic potential and set it back decades.

But in a year-end interview with the Citizen, Mr. Baird expressed no regrets for his actions and refused to take any blame for the death of the 30-kilometre line from the University of Ottawa to Barrhaven. Mr. Baird said he was doing his job to bring greater scrutiny to public spending and sees nothing to apologize for.

He said the delay "empowered" taxpayers and voters who took the opportunity to speak clearly on the issue through the people they elected to council. The new council made the decision to kill the project and has to live with it.

"I just felt very uncomfortable signing off five weeks before election day on such a big project. I thought a $1-billion project to be delayed for 60 days is no big deal," he said.

However, according to the documents obtained for the Citizen by researcher Ken Rubin, public servants in the Ontario government cabinet office took a harsher view of Mr. Baird's action. While acknowledging the need for the city to make a business case for the project and provide a cost-benefit analysis, provincial officials say the city passed the test. They noted that the project wouldn't even have landed on the Treasury Board agenda without numerous consultations to convince key departmental officials that "the federal government was receiving value for money."

Baird's rail ruling was political, documents show:

In particular, cabinet officials took umbrage at the impression left by Mr. Baird that "due diligence" was not done, pointing out that "federal officials have been performing due diligence for two years" on the project.

"This is the only circumstance known of in Ontario where a Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund contract was revisited after being awarded," the documents lamented.

They were prepared in the wake of the controversy that followed Mr. Baird's intervention, to advise the premier on how to respond to questions on the project. Mr. McGuinty was to assure Ottawans that Ontario's $200 million was still on the table and to point out as well that in the three years between 2004 and last year, Ottawa received more than $82 million in provincial gas tax funds.

But the documents also revealed a wrinkle that was not widely known at the time: The extension of the line to the University of Ottawa would have required another, potentially project-delaying environmental assessment.

"Further provincial and federal environmental assessment approval will be required for the planned extension of the LRT line to the University of Ottawa, as this is outside the scope of the project as defined in the original approvals," provincial officials wrote.

Don't Criticize Lisa Raitt or She'll Sue

When Lisa Raitt was in charge of the Toronto Port Authority, a non-profit group, Community Air, dared to speak out against her. Big mistake. Ms. Raitt sued, and the volunteers, without funds to fight, were forced to apologize.

Since when does the Federal Government get to sue it's citizens for speaking out?

In light of recent incompetence, this group was probably right to question her abilities and that of the federal port authority.

That's all I'm going to say on that though because Lisa might be looking over my shoulder.

Port Authority's cynical SLAPP aimed at silencing its critics

The Globe

John Barber

June 21, 2006

Take that! SLAPP -- Shut up! SLAPP -- Pay out!

No political Punch and Judy show worthy of its name -- certainly nothing that involves that skulking and drivelling institutional miscreant known as the Toronto Port Authority -- should proceed without a good Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation these days.

Accordingly the TPA, ever the innovator in dirty politics, has now introduced this brazen U.S. tactic north of the border by launching a $6.8-million lawsuit against the civic gadflies who have dared to criticize its efforts to reindustrialize the Toronto waterfront.

Claiming that the group Community AIR and seven of its directors are "zealous and unbalanced" in their waterfront advocacy, the suit demands that each pay $500,000 in damages for defamation, $250,000 in aggravated damages and another $100,000 in punitive damages to the port authority, its president Lisa Raitt and two others.

The lawsuit also demands an injunction preventing the volunteer activists from making any more allegedly defamatory statements about the federal agency -- a category of speech, according to the wide-open statement of claim the authority filed in court last week, that would seem to include every public statement any of the activists has ever made in this hotly contested, thoroughly aired, public debate.

After failing in its attempt to placate the federal authoritarians by retracting a few of the more fiery comments published on the Community AIR website -- nothing that hasn't been said at a dozen public meetings, or published in more carefully vetted form in this newspaper and others -- the activists are preparing to defend what could be an extremely expensive suit.

"We see this primarily as an effort to shut us up -- and that's not going to happen," said Brian Iler, a lawyer named as one of the defendants. "We will persist."

Writing to TPA lawyer Trisha Jackson of Torys LLP last month, Community AIR lawyer Louis Sokolov denounced the lawsuit as "a transparently tactical use of legal process aimed at chilling legitimate public discourse," adding that its timing, coincidental with a federal review of the authority's dubious activities, is "particularly suspect."

"If ever there were a time for the port authority to attempt to silence its critics," Mr. Sokolov wrote, "this would be it."

Undaunted, Ms. Jackson replied that the authority was determined to sue the group for its "unfounded and defamatory rhetoric" and "invective."But it would be awfully difficult for any ordinary person to find $7-million in damages in the allegedly defamatory statements the lawsuit targeted. They are all contained in a Community AIR memo that sums up the issue with the predictable spin usually applied by port authority critics, presenting it in terms the entire city has heard again and again. Edited as Community AIR offered to do, it is positively anodyne.

In other words, there is no question that this suit is nothing more than a hollow and cynical SLAPP, "in which a corporation or developer sues an organization in an attempt to scare it into dropping protests against a corporate initiative," according to one definition.

Many U.S. states have adopted anti-SLAPP measures that permit wide-ranging debate about issues of legitimate public concern and can be used to derail such suits before they get rolling. Two Ontario courts recently made baby steps in the same direction when they ruled that governments cannot sue for defamation -- potentially important precedents when a federal agency singles out its enemies for the same alleged wrongdoing.

But nothing can stop it from using your money to try -- just as it uses your money to sue other governments, lobby shamelessly and issue soft-soap propaganda about its alleged good works.

If ever there was a time to support Community AIR, this would be it.

Toronto Port Authority sues group for defamation

June 21, 2006
CBC News

The Toronto Port Authority has filed a $3-million lawsuit against a community organization and some of its members for defamation.

In its statement of claim, the federal agency alleges it has been defamed by members of Community Air, a non-profit group that has been highly critical of the dealings of the federal agency over the years.

Toronto Island AirportCommunity Air has fought the port authority on issues such as the expansion of the Toronto Island Airport, which the authority owns, and the building of a fixed link to the Toronto Islands.

The lawsuit concerns a briefing memo sent to the federal transport minister in March, then later posted on the community organization's website.

"At the end of the day, fair comment about the port authority and its activities is welcome, but we're not going to allow untruths and personal attacks to go unchallenged," said Lisa Raitt, the agency's president and one of the plaintiffs.

A lawyer representing Community Air and its members said they plan to fight the allegations.

"We really view this as being a 'SLAPP suit' and that's a type of lawsuit that is carried out against community groups and individuals to prevent them from speaking their minds about issues of public importance," said lawyer Louis Sokolov.

SLAPP is an acronym that stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and refers to a lawsuit with the intention of intimidating or discouraging public participation.

Sokolov also questioned the timing of the lawsuit. Federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon announced a review of the Toronto Port Authority last month.

Senior bureaucrat Roger Tassé, who has been hired to conduct the review, is expected to release a report by Sept. 1.

Careless Lisa Raitt Passes the Buck

In her defense, Lisa Raitt is no more incompetent a Natural Resources minister than Gary Lunn, or more careless an MP than Maxime Bernier; though clearly they are not ringing endorsements.

In further proof that the Conservatives have no idea what they're doing, Raitt left behind a binder filled with sensitive documents after a CTV interview.

OK, she didn't leave them with a biker boyfriend, just the media! (Yikes) But we are talking about nuclear energy here ... stuff that goes boom in the night. How can we trust someone like Lisa Raitt to protect us when she can't even keep track of her own stuff?

Chalk River Crisis - Raitt must go: Opposition

Documents show government will have to spend millions more on isotopes-producing reactor than previously revealed
Jun 03, 2009
Joanna Smith

Toronto Star

Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt is shirking her ministerial duties by failing to resign after a binder full of sensitive documents was inadvertently left at an Ottawa television station, opposition MPs charge.

Raitt rose to her own defence in the Commons this afternoon, saying she offered her resignation to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which was not accepted.

However, Raitt says she did accept the resignation of her own press secretary whom she said was responsible for the documents related to Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (Sorry Lisa, but a staffer IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE DOCUMENTS. YOU ARE!!!)

But that prompted outrage from opposition MPs, who accused the government of making the 26-year-old aide a scapegoat while Raitt, who represents the GTA riding of Halton, ducked her responsibility.

"When she blames her employee, it's despicable. What will the government do about this minister who will not assume responsibility," Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said.
Raitt called it a "serious matter.

"Clear procedures were not followed in this case. Corrective action has been taken," Raitt said.

"I offered to resign if the Prime Minister felt it necessary. He did not accept it. The person responsible for handling the documents offered their resignation. I did accept," she said.

That won her a standing ovation from the Conservative bench but howls of derision from the opposition.

Ignatieff mocked the government response, questioning whether other problems in the department such as the shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear reactor and resulting isotope shortage would also be blamed on the young aide.

"How are we supposed to believe such a fiction? When will this minister take her responsibility seriously?" he said.

But facing question after question, Raitt did not stray from her scripted lines.

CTV News reported documents concerning Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. were left behind at its Ottawa bureau last week.

The network said it waited six days without hearing from her office before breaking the news last night.

"Confidential documents were not handled properly as was clearly the case in this incident; however, it is also clear that this was not as a result of personal actions by the minister, rather proper procedures not being followed on the part of minister's staff," PMO communications director Kory Teneycke said on CBC Newsworld this afternoon.

A government official confirmed the aide was Jasmine MacDonnell, press secretary to Raitt.

MacDonnell also worked as press secretary to former natural resources minister Gary Lunn.

MacDonnell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This is not the first time a Conservative cabinet minister has faced trouble over leaving sensitive documents behind.

Conservative MP Maxime Bernier (Beauce) resigned as foreign affairs minister in May 2008 after a former girlfriend with ties to Quebec biker gangs revealed he had forgotten some documents at her apartment.

Teneycke dismissed a suggestion that Harper was being more lenient with Raitt than he had been with Bernier.

"There is a clear difference between personal conduct of handling of documents versus those of others in the department or in the minister's office," Teneycke told CBC. (Huh? What is the difference and why was this responsibility left to a staffer?)

"It's taken very seriously by the government in every instance, but unlike a past experience our government had with this, this is not as a result of the minister's personal actions and so we do draw a distinction between personal handling of documents and that problem of procedures not being followed."

Bernier said today the decision to resign belongs to Raitt.

"I think she has good judgement. She must use her judgment like I did in my circumstance," he said. "I did what I had to do at my time. I assumed my own responsibility. She's going to do what she thinks is good for the country and for her."

CTV said the documents - some clearly marked "secret" - detailed government plans to spend more money on the troubled National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Chalk River, Ont. than previously announced.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. expects the NRU to be out of service for at least three months after discovering a heavy-water leak May 15.

The shutdown is blamed for a looming shortage of medical isotopes crucial to diagnostic tests.

CTV reports that one document titled "Background for discussion with chair of Atomic Energy Canada" lists $72 million in funding for AECL to "maintain the option of isotope production", which was not mentioned in the 2009 budget tabled in January.

The documents also reportedly include a handwritten note listing total funding for AECL at $1.7 billion since 2006 and a memo describing the spending as "cleaning up a Liberal mess".
A federal government employee dropped by the station to pick up the documents today, CTV reports.

Liberal environment critic David McGuinty said Raitt should lose her cabinet post even if it turns out to be someone on her staff who is at fault.

"Ministerial responsibility is ministerial responsibility," McGuinty told reporters as he left the Liberal caucus meeting. "The test has been laid down by the prime minister. He says this is a grave offence. . . just a year ago. He has to decide now whether he wants to be consistent with his cabinet and the Canadian people."

New Democrat natural resources critic Nathan Cullen said a shutdown at Chalk River was the wrong time for this kind of thing to happen.

"It's an incredibly sensitive time, with the whole nuclear file in a mess," Cullen said in an interview.

Cullen said he was surprised by the $72-million figure because he had asked for that information before and had been told it was unavailable.

"The amount of money is just staggering," he said.

In the wake of Bernier's lost papers, an internal government investigation urged tighter controls over sensitive documents.

The probe by the foreign affairs department urged "control measures" to account for "all copies" of briefing books after finding that government policies were not followed.

"Each copy should be numbered, and a record maintained of the official to whom it was issued, against a signed receipt," the report said.

In Bernier's case, he carried background documents related to a NATO summit in the spring of 2008 to the conference in an unlocked briefcase and then left the papers at his girlfriend's house when he returned.

A department investigation later concluded that Bernier failed to follow guidelines for proper storage and transportation of classified information.

And it urged better training for staff in the office of the foreign affairs minister on how to safeguard sensitive information.

"It appears that security briefings to the Ministers' staff should emphasize the need to protect all classified-protected information. They should be made aware of the need to use security equipment such as locked containers to ensure its integrity while in transit," the report said.

CTV Inc. spokesperson Alexis Hood said the network would not comment on the story.
"
Our reporting speaks for itself," she said.

Raitt-gate rocks Tories

Minister avoids the axe while aide takes the fall for misplaced sensitive documents
Jun 04, 2009
Joanna Smith

Toronto Star

Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Jasmine MacDonnell stood outside a popular steak house a couple of blocks from Parliament Hill, having just learned she had made a huge error.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt, or one of her aides, had forgotten a binder full of sensitive government documents concerning Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and the troubled Chalk River reactor at the CTV Ottawa bureau last week.

The network waited until Tuesday night, six days later, to break the story and the 26-year-old MacDonnell's phone started ringing about 15 minutes after it aired.

Those who saw her said she looked quite upset as she stood outside Hy's Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar, where she had been dining with Raitt and Mark Cameron, a senior adviser in the Prime Minister's Office.

MacDonnell was Raitt's press secretary. She was the aide who left those documents behind. She paid for it with her job. Her boss did not.

"This is a serious matter," Raitt said in the House of Commons yesterday, where opposition MPs called for her head. "Clear procedures were not followed in this case. Corrective action has been taken.

"I offered to resign if the Prime Minister felt it necessary and he did not accept it," she continued. "The person responsible for handling the documents offered a resignation, and I did accept it."

MacDonnell could not be reached for comment yesterday.

"I don't like people blaming 26-year-olds," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said.

This is not the first time a Conservative cabinet minister has left sensitive documents lying around, and opposition critics were quick to point out how differently Prime Minister Stephen Harper dealt with the crisis this time around.

Conservative MP Maxime Bernier (Beauce) stepped down as foreign affairs minister in May 2008 when he learned his ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard, who had already got him into trouble because of her ties to Quebec biker gangs, was about to reveal on television that he had left briefing notes at her apartment.

"This obviously is a warning to all ministers," Harper told reporters after announcing he had accepted the resignation, denying it had anything to do with Bernier's ties to Couillard.

A guide for ministers and ministers of state prepared last year says the prime minister holds cabinet members "personally accountable for the security of their staff and offices."

Opposition critics yesterday attacked Harper for sparing rising-star Raitt – and letting a junior staffer take the fall instead – despite the fact Raitt was involved in a similar mistake as Bernier.

"Ministers are always responsible for the security of classified documents," said Geoff Regan (Halifax West), Liberal critic for natural resources. "Who said that? None other than Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It's clear that the Prime Minister must follow his own rules here and hasn't done so."

New Democrat MP Thomas Mulcair (Outremont) said he could not find any "objective reasons" Harper should be more lenient with Raitt than he was with Bernier.

"Word for word in this corridor one year ago today he said that Maxime Bernier had to resign because he is personally responsible for those documents, no matter who left them, no matter what happened," Mulcair said.

In Quebec City, Harper said the difference was he did not believe the breach was the result of the minister's "personal action.''

Raitt, Harper said, "was undertaking employment activity, ministerial activity in the company of her staff who were responsible for these documents and certainly for accounting for these documents later.

"I think she had a reasonable expectation that that would be done."

After Bernier lost his papers, an internal investigation at the foreign affairs department urged tighter controls over sensitive documents.

"Each copy should be numbered, and a record maintained of the official to whom it was issued, against a signed receipt," the report said.

CTV said the documents – some clearly marked "secret" – detailed government plans to spend more money on the troubled National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River, Ont., than previously announced.

AECL expects the reactor to be out of service for at least three months after a heavy-water leak was discovered May 15. The shutdown is blamed for a looming shortage of medical isotopes crucial to diagnostic tests.

CTV reports that one document titled "Background for discussion with chair of Atomic Energy Canada" lists $72 million in funding for AECL to "maintain the option of isotope production," which was not mentioned in the 2009 budget tabled in January that included $351 million for AECL.

Other ministerial communications staffers on Parliament Hill – including one who described MacDonnell as "competent" with a "very sunny disposition" – said she left quietly yesterday.

They were not given any reminders about keeping track of sensitive papers at their morning meeting.

"We all know that's part of the job," one press secretary said.

Taxpayers Foot Bill for Tory Fundraisers

Since the Conservatives first took power in 2006, their governing has been one long political campaign, while constantly finding ways to make Canadians pay for it. From the abuse of mail outs to using the House of Commons for partisan and often personal attacks on their opponents; they stop at nothing.

However, an investigative report by the Toronto Star has revealed another scheme, that helps keep the Conservative Party coffers filled, at taxpayer's expense.

They creatively schedule fundraisers around government trips on our dime. So much for accountability.

Taxpayers pick up Tory tab

When Defence Minister Peter MacKay flew to British Columbia in January, he split his time between government business and two Tory fundraising gigs. tAxpayers footed the bill. When then-Indian affairs minister Jim Prentice flew to Nova Scotia to meet with provincial chiefs, he headlined a conservative fundraising dinner in Prince Edward Island. Taxpayers paid for the trip.

And when Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn jetted off from a Quebec fisheries forum to attend a government meeting in Manitoba, he also guest-starred at a local Tory fundraising banquet. The federal Conservatives – elected on Promises to be squeaky clean – are using government resources to help fill their election war chest ....

Tories' expense records changed on website

The Conservative government has twice altered expense records for international trips after the Star questioned their high cost. The Records in a publicly available website were changed – thousands of dollars removed in one case and a lengthy journey shortened in Another – for trips by then-foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier and Brian Jean, parliamentary secretary to the minister of transport.

The government refused to provide the Star with printed records – tickets, hotel records – that would verify the changes. The travel records are kept on the Federal government's website under the heading "Proactive Disclosure." It's an attempt, begun by the previous government, to make government expense reports and contracts immediately available to the public for scrutiny ....

IS THIS REALLY CONSERVATIVE? IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA?

Harper Exploiting Economy to Push Privatization Agenda

Wink, wink. Of all the Harper ideologies, his goal of privatizing everything, is probably the strongest. During the 2006 election campaign, the media picked up on the fact that every time one of the Conservatives said 'choice' it really meant 'private', so it became kind of a fun game.

Now with the economic crisis, Harper may finally get his wish, as his government looks to sell EVERYTHING. If it's got Canada or Canadian in front of it, it could soon be toast.

Nothing like selling us off in a buyer's market. Mike Harris did the same in Ontario, so Jim Flaherty has experience. In fact, he hid a six billion dollar deficit in the sale of our province's assets.

Ottawa considering asset sales, from VIA Rail to Royal Canadian Mint
'We're not going to exclude anything off the top,' source says, but privatization of such iconic Crown corporations unlikely

STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA

Globe and Mail,

Jun. 02, 2009

No government asset is being spared scrutiny as the Harper government considers auctioning off holdings while it grapples with record deficits, sources say - and therefore those under review include entities such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, VIA Rail and the Royal Canadian Mint.

Sources say while all government assets are on the table for a review first announced last fall, it's unlikely the minority Conservative government would move to spin off "highly iconic elements" such as the CBC or Via Rail in the short term.

"Everything's going to be included. We're not going to exclude anything off the top," the government source said.

"Everything's in."

However, the source said it's hard to imagine CBC or Via Rail being part of a privatization.

The review includes all government assets including Crown corporations as well as billions of dollars in federal land and building properties. The list includes Ridley Terminals, a cash-strapped coal-shipping Crown corporation in Prince Rupert, B.C.

Just last week the Tories announced they will seek buyers for the nuclear reactor business of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Ottawa's flagship nuclear company.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty first announced this asset review last November, although at the time he publicly ruled out selling the CBC. The review process was more formally launched after the Jan. 27 budget and Ottawa aims to generate up to $4-billion through privatizations or sales in this fiscal year.

The Tories are under pressure to generate cash as Ottawa struggles with shortfalls that could stretch for half a decade.

Last week Mr. Flaherty warned Ottawa will run a record $50-billion deficit this year alone and economists have predicted the projected shortfall for next year will rise, too.

Facing criticisms that it would be foolish to sell assets in a depressed market, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged that this process will not lead to a "fire sale" of holdings.

The Harper government is depending on billions of dollars from asset sales as part of its plan to re-balance the books in Ottawa by 2013-14. Many economists though have suggested this deadline for eliminating the deficit is unrealistic without significant tax increases or spending cuts.

As the 2009 budget indicated, the assessment will take into account "the current relevance of the assets to government's core responsibilities, and of their market value."

In some cases, the budget said, the review may decide that "selling an asset to a private sector entity may generate more economic activity and deliver greater value to taxpayers."

It's expected the asset review could take four to five years - with perhaps 20 to 25 per cent of holdings reviewed each year.

Mr. Flaherty hasn't said whether possible saleable properties might also include the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

It's likely, however, that assets headed for the block will include some holdings of the Canada Lands Co., a Crown corporation with a real-estate portfolio totalling about 970 hectares.

Last November, Mr. Flaherty suggested a selloff might include the CN Tower, but quickly made it clear he was joking.

If the government fails to sell the amount of assets it's hoping to unload, then the federal deficit will grow further - unless Ottawa can find spending cuts elsewhere.

Conservative Joe Preston Does Not Stand up for Southwestern Ontario

This Elgin-Middlesex-London MP, supports Reform Party ideology over issues like abortion and same-sex marriage and voted against Bill C-517, that would have made it easier for student loans to be included in the bankruptcy act.

Preston was also complicit in nepotism when he hired JoAnna Komarnicki, daughter of Saskatchewan Conservative Ed Komarnicki, and refused to respond to a request for comment over the issue.

1. Harper overlooked Southwestern Ontario when he chose his cabinet

Does Stephen Harper have something against Southwestern Ontario? When it comes to cabinet making, it certainly seems so. Chip Martin Harper announced his new 38-member cabinet this week, one of the largest in recent history, eclipsed only by the 40-plus member cabinets of another Conservative, Brian Mulroney.

But the farmlands, towns and cities of Southwestern Ontario that produced a bumper crop of Conservative MPs for him in the Oct. 14, failed to be rewarded with a single seat at his cabinet table.

Preston, the loyal trooper and member of the Harper team, also lauded the appointment of Tony Clement as minister of industry with whom he said he looks forward to discussing the closing of the Sterling Truck plant in St.Thomas. Clement was health minister in the last government and represents Parry Sound-Muskoka, that hotbed of industry -- not.

2. Leaded gas in race cars OK until 2010: Ottawa

OTTAWA -- The Harper government has ignored warnings from Health Canada
and extended a regulatory exemption that will allow race cars and other competition vehicles to use leaded gasoline for two more years. Cabinet renewed the exemption after lobbying from at least one association that organizes racing circuits in Canada and the United States.

It also added a year to the exemption the Environment Department originally proposed last December. Under the change, approved by cabinet late last month, drag and stock-car racers will have until Jan. 1, 2010, to halt the use of leaded fuel, which has been banned for use by all other passenger vehicles in Canada since 1990.

Conservative MP Joe Preston confirmed he lobbied Environment Minister John Baird on behalf of drag racing and stock-car racing enthusiasts in his Elgin-Middlesex-London riding in southwestern Ontario. He said he was also aware of the dangers of exposure to lead ....

3. Joe Preston, chairing closed-door update on divestiture talks, dials down federal funding hopes Cleanup cash in budget unlikely, MP hints

Joe Preston is downplaying expectations Tuesday's federal budget will include major public works money to clean up Port Stanley Harbour.

Stay Tuned:
PORT STANLEY: A report is expected next spring

Harbour focus of study

Tories Break Nepotism Rules to Hire Family Members

For a government that came to power promising accountability, the Conservatives sure don't practice what they preach. In yet another attempt to pull the wool over our eyes, they've found a way to hire their family without hiring their family.

Tory MPs have colleagues' kin on payroll
Leader-Post
Glen McGregor,
May 26, 2008

OTTAWA - The children and siblings of some Conservative MPs have found work on Parliament Hill in the offices of other Tory parliamentarians, a review of government records shows. Under House of Commons rules, MPs are not allowed to employ their spouses or children. But there is nothing to stop MPs from hiring family members of their caucus colleagues and paying them from their parliamentary budgets.

Squeaky clean Vic Toews loves his family so much he gave many of them jobs. And if you doubt that Toews is a family man, he up and started another one with a young staffer, while still married to the mother of his first batch of children. Clearly we're going to have to create new departments to accommodate them all, if he keeps this up.

Other violaters include Maurice Vellacott , Brad Trost, Lynne Yelich, Ed Komarnicki, Joe Preston and Chuck Strahl.

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More Postings on Harper's Patronage, Cronyism and Nepotism

Harper's Cronyism Has Placed Under Qualified People in Key Positions

I think Stephen Harper Has Gone Stark Raving Mad

The New 'Patronage King' Does the Back Step Polka

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

The Patronage King Rides Again Taking Cronyism to a New level

Oh Patronage, Oh Patronage. I Bow to Your Enlightenment