Winnipeg Free Press > Opinion > Columnists

Mia Rabson

  • Census replacement costs more, gets less info

    OTTAWA -- Canadians got their first glimpse of the new National Household Survey last week. As expected, the documents were stamped with a warning this new survey is less accurate than the old long-form census.

    View Full Column | 05/13/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Ballot-box blunders 'not unique,' review finds

    OTTAWA -- Confidence in Canada's voting system was further eroded last week when an independent review uncovered more than 165,000 instances of mistakes made ensuring voters were actually eligible to cast a ballot in the 2011 election. The review, called after allegations were raised about voting improprieties in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke Centre, did not find evidence of actual fraud or malfeasance. What it found was the kind of clerical errors that called into question the validity of the 2011 election results in the riding were "not unique."

    View Full Column | 05/6/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Getting to the bottom of 'root causes'

    OTTAWA -- It's not entirely clear how one might go about committing sociology, but the prime minister of Canada apparently thinks doing so is a bad thing, at least when it comes to trying to figure out what motivates terrorists to kill. "I think, though, this is not a time to commit sociology," Stephen Harper said Thursday in the wake of the Boston bombings and the arrests of two men in Canada accused of plotting to blow up a Via Rail train.

    View Full Column | 04/29/2013 3:17 AM | 0

  • Governments like to bait and switch

    OTTAWA -- Many times in politics it's tough to separate the truth from fiction. No more so than when governments are trying to hide or play down something they know voters won't like.

    View Full Column | 04/22/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • NDP, Liberals create chance to get gains over Conservatives

    OTTAWA -- Most people likely spent more time on the weekend wondering if spring will ever come than thinking about politics. But in Montreal and Ottawa, the NDP and Liberals were embarking on changes that could mark a turning point in Canadian political history, with a new confidence instilled in both parties looking ahead to the 2015 election.

    View Full Column | 04/15/2013 9:07 AM | 0

  • Shedding 'socialism' bad move for NDP?

    OTTAWA -- For the third time in as many policy conventions, NDP party brass are pushing to change the NDP constitution to tone down references to socialism and open the door to modern policies on resource development. It is, inevitably, giving rise yet again to questions about whether the NDP is abandoning its roots, walking away from the core beliefs of supporters, in order to become a more palatable, less-lefty option for voters in Canada, the majority of whom sit in the mushy political middle.

    View Full Column | 04/8/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Freedom of thought? Not on Harper's watch

    OTTAWA -- If ever one needed more proof of just how tight the reins are on individual MPs, one need look no further than the events of last week. B.C. Conservative MP Mark Warawa was spitting mad from having a House of Commons committee deem a motion he introduced to condemn sex-selective abortion out of order. Warawa's motion, which would be non-binding, called on Parliament to condemn the practice.

    View Full Column | 04/1/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Federal budget finally buries asbestos industry

    OTTAWA -- If the asbestos industry in Canada was on life-support, last week's federal budget finally pulled the plug. It was hidden midway through the budget papers, amid the more flashy and noticeable cuts to the cost of baby clothes and the "largest long-term federal commitment to Canadian infrastructure in our nation's history."

    View Full Column | 03/25/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Duelling deficits

    OTTAWA -- Six years ago the world was Canada's oyster. Fiscal prudence at home and global economic growth combined to make budget day one of promise and fortune, where the only questions to be answered were how big the surplus would be and where all the new money would be spent.

    View Full Column | 03/23/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Put off byelection until MP's legal status is clarified

    OTTAWA -- Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Peter Penashue stepped down from cabinet and resigned his seat as the MP for Labrador Thursday. But while he and the party say he will run in the byelection that will be called there, a debate rages about whether he should be allowed to be on the ballot.

    View Full Column | 03/18/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Why should women fight assault alone?

    OTTAWA -- A while back, a Facebook friend posted a graphic with a simple message. The woman in the graphic wondered why, instead of teaching women how not to be sexually assaulted, colleges didn't teach male students not to sexually assault.

    View Full Column | 03/11/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Accessing scientific info no easy task in Canada

    OTTAWA -- A scientist discovers one of the biggest holes in the ozone layer ever found is sitting over the Arctic, but after his report is published in a respected scientific journal, the Canadian government won't let him speak and writes his responses to media questions for him. Scientists at an international conference in Montreal are shadowed by government communications staff to make sure they comply with an order not to speak publicly on the issue of polar science.

    View Full Column | 02/25/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Expense issue symptom of what ails Senate

    OTTAWA — Sometimes, one wonders what Queen Victoria might think. Perched as she is over the Speaker’s chair in the Senate chamber, the monarch may well be glad in this case that she’s made of marble.

    View Full Column | 02/19/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • No place for politics as ridings change

    OTTAWA -- There was a whole lot of shouting last week over whether there is something nefarious at play in the redistribution of Saskatchewan's 14 federal ridings. The opposition smelled blood after the Conservatives had to admit the party was behind a robocall aimed at rousing public anger against proposed changes to Saskatchewan's ridings. The party's spokesman, Fred Delorey, and Saskatchewan MP Tom Lukiwski, denied the party was behind the calls, which claimed the changes betrayed "Saskatchewan values."

    View Full Column | 02/11/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Criticisms of chief cross the line

    OTTAWA -- Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau is a colourful character. He tends to speak his mind and almost as often as not, he speaks with one foot jammed into his mouth.

    View Full Column | 02/4/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Another female premier in office

    OTTAWA -- There may be a lineup for the ladies' room the next time Canada's premiers get together for a meeting. With Kathleen Wynne's victory as the new Liberal leader in Ontario Saturday, Canada now has six female premiers, responsible for governing more than 87 per cent of the population in five provinces and one territory

    View Full Column | 01/28/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Feds' privacy breach inexcusable

    OTTAWA -- Somewhere out there, nearly 600,000 people are wondering if their identities might be at risk. In one of the biggest -- if not the biggest -- breaches of personal privacy the federal government has ever experienced, the personal information of 583,000 former clients of the Canada Student Loan program has been lost. About 18,000 of them currently live in Manitoba.

    View Full Column | 01/21/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • There's a way to liberate First Nations

    OTTAWA -- It was a shocking yet powerful development in the ongoing tensions between First Nations and the rest of Canada. After an audit of the Attawapiskat First Nation was leaked to the media -- an audit that showed the reserve did not have the documents to account for more than 400 financial transactions between 2005 and 2011 -- the welcome mat to Chief Theresa Spence's compound on Victoria Island was pulled away.

    View Full Column | 01/14/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Tough times overseas hit home

    OTTAWA -- Just six days into the new year, the headlines were already gloomy. Europe's debt crisis sparks fresh jitters screamed one newspaper on Jan. 6, 2012.

    View Full Column | 12/28/2012 1:00 AM | 0

  • Look for 2013 to be full of surprises

    OTTAWA -- Ah 2012. We hardly got to know you, and you're already leaving. When the new year was ushered in almost 12 months ago, we had, as usual, no idea what was in store for Canada, much as 2013 largely remains a mystery. It was a year when the abortion debate came back to Parliament Hill, when Pierre Trudeau's oldest son went from backbench media darling to leadership frontrunner, mostly thanks to a few lucky punches in a charity boxing match. It was a year that saw the NDP elect a new leader in Tom Mulcair, and a $16 orange juice at a swanky London hotel prove to be the downfall of a cabinet minister. Here is a list of five issues that seemed to resonate all year long and which will carry over into 2013 and beyond.

    View Full Column | 12/24/2012 1:00 AM | 0

  • Majority must not shut down opposition MPs

    OTTAWA -- If House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer were Santa Claus, government House leader Peter Van Loan would likely be on his naughty list. And it's not just because Van Loan had a hissy fit in the House of Commons recently and marched across the floor to toss an f-sharp and a few finger wags at his compatriot, NDP House leader Nathan Cullen.

    View Full Column | 12/17/2012 10:44 AM | 0

  • Rising aboriginal frustration palpable

    OTTAWA -- As far as First Nations are concerned, it is fitting that Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Canada had approved the Chinese takeover of two Canadian oil companies from the room on Parliament Hill known as the Aboriginal People's Committee Room. It was just another sign the natural resources First Nations should be benefiting from were being sold off under their noses without their input.

    View Full Column | 12/10/2012 6:50 AM | 0

  • Native-education logjam helps no one

    OTTAWA -- Last year at this time, there was a rare emotion swirling between the federal government and Canada's First Nations. Hope.

    View Full Column | 12/3/2012 1:00 AM | 0

  • How Harper Tories, Selinger NDP the same

    OTTAWA -- According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, at 10:19 p.m. Saturday night, Canada's national debt hit $600 billion. It has never been that high and it's growing at a rate of $74.6 million a day.

    View Full Column | 11/26/2012 1:00 AM | 0

  • Here's an IKEA: Let's find money for traffic woes

    OTTAWA -- When Winnipeg South Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge flew back to the city from Ottawa earlier this month, he figured he'd have an easy drive to his constituency. It was a Thursday morning before the lunch hour and the weather was clear.

    View Full Column | 11/19/2012 1:00 AM | 0

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