don martin

Don Martin catches Maxime Bernier being fed his talking points.

A star-studded photo gallery by Mitchel Raphael

Don Martin, Stephen Maher and I chat about Peter Penashue, MP pensions and Pauline Marois.

Don Martin, Susan Delacourt and I discuss the day’s debates.

In an interview with CTV, the Public Safety Minister maintains there’s a difference between saying someone “stands with” child pornographers and saying someone is a child pornography “sympathizer.”

Last week MPs sported orange ribbons to remember Jack Layton.

The fourth annual What a Girl Wants charity dinner held in the Fairmont Château Laurier ballroom raised money for the Canadian Liver Foundation with the help of local firefighters peeling off their uniforms, a fashion show and a performance by Ottawa drag queen Dixie Landers who lip-synced Better Midler’s cover of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Below, Landers with Vancouver Liberal MP Hedy Fry.

The final All-Party Party organized by NDP MP Peter Stoffer packed 200 West Block. The building is scheduled for major maintenance and will be closed for years. Below, Liberal Senator David Smith (left) and Tory Senator Nancy Ruth take to the dance floor.

Folks from all parties packed the Hill Helps Haiti fundraiser organized by the government relations firm Summa Strategies. The event raised over $32,000. Below, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq (left) and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea.

Our friend Don Martin this morning has a column saying Stephen Harper has joined Jean Chrétien as only the second prime minister to govern while the country is $500 billion in debt. Stephen Gordon, over at his aptly-named blog, puts this in some desperately needed perspective. Both Harper and Chrétien come out looking better than in Don’s column. First, a half-trillion dollars is a lot less, in constant dollars and in share of GDP, than it was in 1995. Second, 1995 represents a peak for debt by either measure, because Chrétien inherited a runaway debt train and, within three years, those curves had sharply reversed. Stephen’s graph on this is telling.

And who Janine Krieber will be teaching

Elizabeth May says Stephen Harper brought crib notes to one of last year’s debates