Political Bytes

Is there a glitch in the system? The Conservative Party's much vaunted Constitutent Information Management System (CIMS,) the datatbase that keeps details on millions of voters across the country, might need some refreshing.

CIMS helps identify Conservative supporters the party can hit up for cash. A few weeks ago that led to a phone call to former Conservative MP Bill Casey who was kicked out of the Conservative caucus after he voted against last spring's federal budget, saying the government was breaking its deal with Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Accords.

Casey says he took the call from the Conservative Party thinking, "Maybe they want me back!"

But no such luck. What Casey says he heard was, "There's an election coming up right away, we notice you've contributed to the party in the past, and we wondered if you'd like to make a contribution?"

Prime Minister Harper had already made a point of saying Casey was out of the party for good and that the party will run another candidate against him in the next election.

But apparently Conservatives think Casey's money is still good.

It was standing room only at the House of Commons Ethics Committee hearing today.

That's a story in itself, but it's what happened later that has everyone talking.

The committee is trying to decide what, if anything, it wants to examine in regards to the Mulroney-Schreiber affair.

All the opposition parties want to deal with it and they say they also want to call Karlheinz Schreiber and former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as witnesses to testify about their dealings.

But the committee didn't even get close to that today.

Although there were multiple motions on the table, the chair of the committee, Liberal MP Paul Szabo, wouldn't hear any of them.

He questioned their admissibility and asked members to explain their positions.

That didn't get very far either.

As the clock struck noon (the official end of the committee hearing,) Szabo shut the whole thing down without any motion getting heard at all.

Chaos ensued.

NDP MP Pat Martin threw a pencil across the room and cursed. Bloc Quebecois member Michel Guimond started yelling. Tories quickly left the room. And reporters braced for action.

Martin explained things this way, "We got screwed."

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Schreiber could be deported as early as December 1st, which means if the committee wants to hear from him, they need to get their ducks in a row.

They'll go back at it this coming Thursday.

A sure sign that Christmas is coming is when MPs begin writing out their Christmas cards in the House of Commons.

The trees and lights went up yesterday in the corridors of Parliament and today during Question Period at least three Conservative MPs were working their way through a pile of cards that needed signing.

Don't bank on a good exchange rate.

A Parliamentary Bureau reporter went to the bank today to get some U.S. cash for an assignment overseas.

He asked for $400 U.S. The bank charged him $403 plus some odd cents.

"Wait a minute," thought our intrepid journo. "Isn't the Canadian dollar stronger than the US greenback?"

"Of course it is," the bank teller replied. "But we charge a commission."

How much commission?

Much discussion on the phone. Another consultation with a supervisor.

"Can't tell you,'' the teller replied.

"Proprietary information. Competiitive data. And besides, it changes every seven minutes."

Our reporter took the cash, and the hit, and left.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is fielding a lot of questions these days about the looming extradition of Karlheinz Schreiber. For the most part, he doesn't answer them, citing privacy rules.

This pattern continued at a news conference Tuesday. A reporter asked Nicholson a general question about extradition law: "When was the last time you used your powers of discretion to rescind or suspend an extradition order?" Nicholson responded that while he's "seized" with all requests for extradition, he doesn't discuss particular cases.

The reporter tried again. She pointed out her question wasn't about a particular case, she wanted to know, in general, how often Nicholson has used his powers of discretion. Again, the minister chose not to answer, "I don't get into statistics on this. I'm seized with extradition and as I say I have the best legal team in the country supporting me and I take my responsibilities very seriously."

You spy a lot of interesting things from the reporters' gallery of the House of Commons.

Yesterday, before Question Period, Environment Minister John Baird crossed the floor to talk with Michael Ignatieff, deputy leader of the Liberal Party. He discreetly handled Mr. Ignatieff something. It was a small stuffed puffin.
The two men shook hands and smiled.

Baird, known for his highly energetic and sometimes amusing political barbs, was likely referencing a remark Ignatieff made about puffins last summer. In a joking scrum, Ignatieff suggested the Liberal party adopt the puffin as a symbol, praising the bird for its industriousness and referencing its work at "hiding its excrement" — a comment the deputy leader has had a hard time living down.

Ignatieff tucked the toy bird into his desk that afternoon where it is likely to remain hidden away, unseen.

Canadians don't hear much from Gordon O'Connor these days.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper demoted his former defence minister during last summer's cabinet shuffle. Now as revenue minister, the former Brigadier-General rarely gets questions in the House of Commons. While cabinet colleagues spend much of their time flipping through briefing notes, O'Connor's desk is often bare.

This week though, opposition parties have asked O'Connor to explain a few things associated with the business dealings between former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.

Liberal MP Scott Simms wanted to know how Mulroney managed to cross the border after receiving his third and final envelope stuffed with $100,000 at a New York City hotel. Simms asked the national revenue minister specifically whether Mulroney declared the cash and paid all necessary fees and taxes.

Throughout his question, Liberals yelled: "Atten-shun General, attention!" However, when it became clear that O'Connor had been instructed to stay seated and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson took the questions, Liberals shouted out again — this time: "Stand down General, stand down."

So this is what transparency looks like.

Reporters in Ottawa were called to a late afternoon "technical briefing" at Foreign Affairs headquarters on Wednesday.

The subject: Afghan detainees.

The Conservative government has spent months fending off allegations of abuse in Afghan prisons. But after media reports of mistreatment and torture, human rights groups are demanding Canadian soldiers stop handing over prisoners to Afghan authorities.

Two groups have taken the government to court over the issue.

Yesterday, the government released more than a thousand pages of documents it submitted as part of the lawsuit.

The release came late in the day and was overseen by government spokespersons who could only be identified as "senior officials."

Reporters weren't allowed to see the documents until after the briefing was over.

And what did they finally see?

More than 200 pages completely blacked out.

Entire sections of other pages also blank, leaving descriptions of Canadian interviews with Afghan detainees that read like this: "He went on to state that he had been interrogated by foreigners (BLANK) He also alleged that (BLANK) beat him and gave him electric shocks. He also stated he was bound by his feet and hands and was made to stand for ten days."

The "senior officials" at the briefing wouldn't say how many prisoners Canadian troops have handed over.

The only numbers they would give are that the Canadians interviewed 16 prisoners and seven reported abuse.

Most everything else, it seems, is secret.

As one former prime minister is forced back into the spotlight, another is getting ready to head back into the limelight too.

But Jean Chretien's reasons are entirely different than Brian Mulroney's.

Jean Chretien is set to make one of his first public appearances since having successful quadruple bypass surgery in early October.

Chretien's doctor has given him the green light to start promoting his book and doing some work. So, on Sunday, he will be at Montreal's Salon du Livre to sell books and sign autographs.

The book has done a pretty good job promoting itself already. It is filled with tales of Chretien's time as prime minister and Chretien also settles some old scores with former prime minister and rival, Paul Martin.

And, given that Chretien still follows politics intently, he might just have something to say about everything that is playing out these days.

It used to be a staple image of national politics. The prime minister descending the staircase, smiling as he walked past the cameras into the House of Commons for Question Period. It gave all the television networks at least one daily shot of the prime minister.

But Prime Minister Harper changed that. He rarely descends the front staircase, preferring back hallways and staircases.

Today a reporter heading down the corridor above the Commons, en route to the press gallery balcony, was stopped briefly by security.

Just ahead, the prime minister and his entourage swept by, using that upper corridor to walk the length of the Commons and descend an off limits back staircase to make his way into the House unseen by pesky cameras and reporters who might shout questions at him.