Harper 'change' cabinet retains mean face

Prime Minister Stephen Harper tried to hit the reset button with his cabinet shuffle, but he'll have to do better.

As Harper was busy answering reporters' questions about his "change" cabinet, the one question that seemed to get him stuck was what he was going to do to change. He ducked the question.

The cabinet makeover was supposed to be a channel changer, but I'm not sure that it will stop Harper's political slide. While there are some new faces around his cabinet table, he still has significant challenges to overcome if the Conservatives are to get a fourth term and keep him in the prime minister's chair.

Harper's Cabinet Shuffle Was All Sizzle, No Steak

If I had any lingering doubts regarding my decision to resign from the Conservative Caucus to sit as an Independent in the House of Commons, this week's Cabinet shuffle certainly removed them. The facelift did nothing to either restore an appropriate balance between the front and back benches or address the other democratic deficits that plague Ottawa.

Edward Snowden As A Teen Online

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) - Long before he became known worldwide as the NSA contractor who exposed top-secret U.S. government surveillance programs, Edward Snowden worked for a Japanese anime company run by friends and went by the nicknames "The True HOOHA" and "Phish."

In 2002, he was 18 years old, a high-school dropout and his parents had just divorced. On the tiny anime company's website, he wrote of his skills with video games and popularity with women.

Robocalls Poll Evidence Deeply Flawed, Tory Lawyer Says

OTTAWA - A key piece of evidence in the robocalls legal saga is deeply flawed and should be tossed out, says a lawyer representing Conservative MPs whose election wins last year are being challenged in court.

An Ekos Research survey that suggests voter-suppression tactics were widespread in the last election cannot be trusted, lawyer Ted Frankel said Friday.

Kenney names 27 countries as 'safe' in refugee claim dealings

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney today named 27 countries he deems "safe" for the purposes of dealing with refugee claims in Canada.

One day before his omnibus refugee bill C-31 is to be implemented, Kenney on Friday listed 25 countries in the European Union, as well as Croatia and the United States, whose refugee claims have been deemed by the Canadian government as being largely unfounded or "bogus." Romania and Bulgaria are not on the list.

Till marriage fraud do us part: More changes to Canada's immigration rules

Fresh off efforts cracking down on "bogus refugees," Immigration Minister Jason Kenney turned his eye to "bogus unions," declaring on October 25, 2012 that the jig on marriage fraud is over.

For several years now the Conservative majority has deemed marriage fraud a serious threat -- one that has steadily moved from calamity to catastrophe, attacking the very integrity of our immigration system.

The Commons: The PM, the UN and QP

The Scene. John Baird stood and waved to the crowd. The Prime Minister had just identified Mr. Baird as the Canadian official who will be addressing the United Nations this week and the Foreign Affairs Minister—with Mr. Harper still speaking, mind you—rose in his spot and welcomed everyone’s recognition and adulation.

Alas, Thomas Mulcair was not reassured by the promise of Mr. Baird’s presence. “Mr Speaker, he’s busy photocopying his speech at the British embassy,” he chided.

Stephen Harper’s carbon tax smokescreen

The Conservatives could not possibly have made it more obvious that they were itching for a week’s worth of headlines about the NDP’s environmental policy. They could not be happier that the NDP has obliged them. Eventually the NDP will figure all of this out.

On Sept. 2, Ottawa newsrooms received copies of “a memo from Conservative campaign manager Jenni Byrne to the Conservative caucus.” I put that last bit in quotation marks because Byrne, like her predecessor Doug Finley, doesn’t ever “write to the caucus” unless she wants to see what she writes appear in the newspapers. Leaking a “secret memo” is cheaper than buying ad space and guarantees better play.

Harper eager to quash anti-abortion motion

The Prime Minister’s Office is putting heavy pressure on members of the Conservative caucus to vote down a Tory MP’s effort to trigger a legislative review of when human life legally begins.

It’s unusual for a PMO to work against its own MPs’ motions and private members’ bills but Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are anxious to avoid association with any legislative activity that could be characterized by opponents as re-opening the debate over abortion.

MPs are privately being reminded that support for fellow Conservative Stephen Woodworth’s motion would be considered a vote against Mr. Harper’s wishes. Word being spread in the Commons lobby recently by senior Tories – not the PMO – went even further, saying a vote for Mr. Woodworth’s motion is a vote against Mr. Harper.