Ottawa

Questionable ethics spare no political party

Tease the day: NDP MP Andrew Cash is the latest parliamentarian in the limelight

How long can a few hundred parliamentarians go without someone being accused of skirting ethics? 2013’s answer is, evidently, not very long at all. This time, neither a Conservative or Liberal Senator, nor a cabinet minister, is in the spotlight. The most recent conundrum has NDP MP Andrew Cash, his party’s heritage critic, on the defensive. Last night, Sun Media’s David Akin revealed Cash’s tricky relationship with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Cash, who apparently earns tens of thousands of dollars a year from the CBC for contributing to the score for Dragon’s Den, regularly defends the corporation at his seat on the Commons’ heritage committee. Akin’s reporting suggests that the conflict of interest commissioner severely limited Cash’s ability to debate the CBC. He says he did nothing wrong. His Conservative and Liberal colleagues on the heritage committee disagree. The NDP is silent. So it goes.


What’s above the fold this morning?

The Globe and Mail leads with the bribery investigation of SNC-Lavalin‘s operations in Algeria. The National Post fronts allegedly fraudulent activity at the McGill University Health Centre involving unnamed managers and SNC-Lavalin. The Toronto Star goes above the fold with belt-tightening at Ontario school boards to help facilitate full-day kindergarten. The Ottawa Citizen leads with 76 truckloads of nuclear waste that will make their way from Chalk River to an American processing site. iPolitics fronts Liberal opposition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s job-cutting strategy. CBC.ca leads with attempted murder charges levelled against the lead prosecutor in the Oscar Pistorius murder case. National Newswatch showcases a Sun News Network story about NDP MP Andrew Cash’s apparent conflict of interest relating to the CBC.


Stories that will be (mostly) missed

1. Navigable waters. The pipeline industry successfully lobbied for controversial changes to federal water legislation in advance of last year’s budget, according to documents. 2. Scientists. A pair of interest groups has asked Canada’s information commissioner to investigate the “muzzling” of federal scientists since the Conservatives won power.
3. Sea Kings. The man in charge of Canada’s air force says he still trusts the country’s 50-year-old Sea King helicopters to do their job, as the military awaits the choppers’ replacements. 4. Patriotism. A poll suggests that, despite all the money spent on celebrating the bicentennial of the War of 1812, few Canadians outside Ontario felt more patriotic because of it.

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