Happy anniversary... where's my cake?

OTTAWA -- It was a double anniversary in Ottawa over the last week for the federal Conservatives.

On Jan. 23, Prime Minister Stephen Harper celebrated his fourth birthday as Canada's prime minister. Two days later, his party marked the first anniversary of Canada's Economic Action Plan.

If there was cake, I didn't get the memo.

The Conservatives had more reason to celebrate Friday when the appointment of five new senators to the red chamber gave them more seats than any other party for the first time in more than a decade: 51 compared to 49 for the Liberals.

There are also two Progressive Conservatives, two independents and one senator who describes herself as unaffiliated rather than independent. (She has been both a Liberal and a Conservative in the past).

The plurality gives the Conservatives control of Senate committees but not a majority vote in the chamber itself, so Harper doesn't yet have the makings of an easy ride through the Senate for his justice agenda.

That easy ride may have hit another snag with one of Harper's own recently appointed senators, former Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers. Demers told a Quebec television show he doesn't believe in the Conservative plan to increase jail time for young offenders.

He also said he would have accepted an offer to sit as a Liberal senator had he been approached by a Liberal prime minister first.

Demers didn't hint he has any plans to switch allegiances, but he did show a glimmer of independence, perhaps even defiance, with his statements.

All of this will make the Senate an interesting place to keep an eye on when Parliament resumes next month.

Just a big kerfuffle

On Jan. 25, at 6:06 p.m. Ottawa time, Manitoba regional minister Vic Toews' office responded via email to my inquiry about Manitoba's failed bid for an HIV vaccine pilot manufacturing facility. The email ended up in my junk email box because it did not contain a subject line and was caught by our automatic filters. Because I did not see the response, I wrote in error in a story in the paper Wednesday Toews' office had ignored a request for comment.

The next day, after Toews' spokeswoman pointed out she had not ignored me, I discovered the email in the junk queue. I immediately apologized and posted a correction to the story on our website.

However, in a widely distributed email issued Wednesday, an email that was not sent to me, Toews accused me of wilfully ignoring the response because it "dovetails nicely with the overall political objectives and thrust of the news report."

He went on to say: "Whether the reporter was satisfied with the response is one thing. It is quite another to suggest the request for information is ignored. In fact, the Public Health Agency of Canada also sent out a similar statement. But then this is the Winnipeg Free Press and accuracy is not a priority in its news reports or the editorials based on those reports."

Toews did not send this email to me, as he does not communicate with me. In November 2008, he told me he had nothing more to say to the Winnipeg Free Press and has not since personally responded to an interview request. In fact, my first request to his office for a comment on the subject of the HIV facility was denied and I was told to seek comment from the health minister instead.

The emailed statement I received after my interview request Jan. 25, as Toews acknowledged in his mass email, was similar to the statement provided by the Public Health Agency four days earlier. In fact, it was word for word the same, save for a "We" inserted in place of "The Government of Canada."

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

In my junk mail

For the record, this is the statement I did not properly acknowledge:

"Hi, what I can tell you is that we remain committed to the fight against HIV and AIDS.

"Moving forward, the Government of Canada and the Gates Foundation continue to work together with the aim of accelerating the development of a safe, effective, affordable and accessible HIV vaccine.

"Given the importance of our objectives, we are examining all options and will take the time needed to ensure the direction we take and the activities we choose to support yield the best possible results.

"Thanks."

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 1, 2010 A7