The Black Rod

Well look at that. It's the end of December, and you know what that means... It's TWO YEARS since the Manitoba Hydro Whistleblower made a complaint to the provincial Ombudsman. Two years and still no resolution. Resolution? Hell, two years and no nothing. Ombudsman Irene Hamilton has managed to botch the first complaint under the NDP's much vaunted Public Interest Disclosure Act so badly it will never be used again. Now there's a legacy. First Hamilton tried to pawn the complaint off to the Auditor General, who, oops, turned out to be a former member of the Manitoba Hydro board of directors, and who announced defiantly she was under no obligation in law to investigate anything. When she eventually acknowledged that the perception of conflict of interest would render moot anything she did with Hydro, the complaint was returned to the Ombudsman's Office. Hamilton then decided to wait to see the results of a report commissioned by the Public Utili...

And you wonder why we call Greg Selinger the dirtiest politician in Manitoba? It's getting so you can't turn over a rock in this province without finding Selinger scurrying away from under it. The latest scandal is how Selinger's wife got a cushy government job. She was, ahem, "appointed" by Selinger's colleagues in cabinet to be the assistant deputy minister of community planning and development, the little-known but powerful branch of provincial government that controls land development in Winnipeg and other municipalities. There's a word for hiring your family members --- nepotism. What's the word that describes hiring your friend's family member?.... Cronyism. It's not illegal, but it stinks. But by now the stench of scandal is so great around Selinger that nobody can notice the difference. James B. is one person who wouldn't be the least surprised to find how Selinger's cronies decided to line his fami...

The heavily-hyped prorogation protest in Winnipeg drew barely 300 people (by the Winnipeg Free Press count) or 438 people (by one participant's count posted on the rally's official website). Organizer Chris Burnett said he was pleased. On Thursday he told the Winnipeg Free Press, "If there are less than 500 I will be disappointed." If only re-setting the bar was an Olympic sport, 36-year-old Chris would have a future. To prove they weren't partisan, the organizers started the rally at the University of Winnipeg, the base of hyper-partisan Liberal Lloyd Axworthy. To demonstrate their political acumen, they marched to the provincial Legislature, which has no connection to Stephen Harper, Parliament or prorogation. To illustrate they knew what they were doing, they walked in a circle and ended up right back at the U of W where they had hot chocolate. The protestors said they were standing up for democracy, not showboating for the Liberals or ...

The first day of the December rump session of the Legislature turned out to be an unexpected day of revelations. Hugh McFadyen revealed why he is the worst Opposition leader in living memory and why he's no threat to the NDP government with or without Gary Doer. And unelected Premier Greg Selinger revealed why the NDP's "historic" Whistleblower legislation is--- and will continue to be--- a farce. McFadyen went on the attack from the start, and promptly fell flat on his face. Why, he asked the Premier, was there no mention of Manitoba Hydro in the Throne Speech, "when Manitobans are seeing their rates go up by 9 percent over two years with the prospect of severe rate hikes into the future." Hon. Greg Selinger (Premier): "The member from Fort Whyte first makes a comment about the rates. Let's remember it was him-it was he that, in the last election, promised to increase rates to full market value and stick it to every single Manitoban with a 40 perc...