Politics Briefs: Speaker Election, Senate Reform, Budget

Election of Speaker

On Thursday, MPs will begin the next session of Parliament with a vote on who will keep them in check.

Several MPs are contending for the role of Speaker of the House of Commons, the presiding referee of the often-times rambunctious debates in the House, especially the somewhat notorious antics of question period.

Whoever follows in the footsteps of previous speaker Peter Milliken will have to live up to the standard set by one of the most respected and longest-ever serving Speakers in parliamentary history. Milliken, a Liberal, was one of only two speakers ever chosen from the Official Opposition.

The new speaker will be elected by secret ballot Thursday with the Conservatives’ Andrew Sheer considered a front-runner.

The job comes with noteworthy perks including a $75,000 salary bump from the base $ 157,731, a limo, and an estate in Gatineau Hills complete with gardeners and a $170,000 hospitality budget to wine and dine diplomats, national media, and fellow parliamentarians.

Senate Reform

Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia are asking Prime Minister Stephen Harper to drop plans for Senate reform.

With a majority in the House of Commons and the Senate, Harper is expected to quickly move to pass legislation that would subject senators to term limits and pseudo elections. While the PM would still appoint senators, those appointments would be based on nominees elected by the provinces.

Ontario and Nova Scotia want the Senate abolished, a position echoed by the NDP.

Upcoming Budget

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will release the budget next week. Senior Tories have been saying for weeks it will be nearly identical to the previous budget that failed to see debate when the Tories were defeated by a confidence motion in the House of Commons, sending Canadians to the polls.

Despite global economic uncertainty that has investors jittery about the prospects of the European Union, Flaherty said his previous forecasts still stand.

“We will not be tweaking the forecasts,” he told reporters in Toronto following discussions with private sector economists.

The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer released its first ever medium term economic outlook on Wednesday, saying the PBO wanted to “enhance PBO’s independent analysis on the state of the nation’s finances and trends in the national economy.”

The report notes revenues are increasing faster than expenses but not as quickly as Finance Canada had projected. The report says there is only a 20 percent chance of balancing the budget by 2014-15, and approximately a 35 percent chance of doing so the following year.

Canada Helps Out

International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda announced Canada will be supporting 11 projects in the developing world to help children.

“Our government believes that education is the strongest tool we can provide to children so they can achieve a brighter future,” Oda said in a statement.

Through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Canada will fund eight education programs, one focused on healthcare and education and two that support children’s rights and combating child sex tourism.

“We are very pleased to have the continued support of the Canadian government for our work in Africa and Latin America,” said Patricia Erb, president and CEO of Save the Children Canada, one of the groups that will deliver programs. “Thanks to this funding and the generous donations of Canadians, newborns will survive, youth will learn to protect themselves from HIV, and young people will have an opportunity to learn marketable skills.”

Save the Children Canada will improve the protection, education, and care of more than 100,000 children in Bolivia, Peru, Nicaragua, Kenya, and Burkina Faso, said a statement from Oda’s office.