Is it possible that Flaherty doesn't have a clue?

Tax Changes Hurt Some REITS [July 20, 2011 2:20 PM]

Dennis Mitchell of Sentry Select Capital on BNN states:

"This is kind of the Department of Finance basically acknowledging that they really don't know what they're doing and they have no clue about how the capital markets work."

"...This is incompetence really....you can't keep changing the rules, I am sure Jim Flaherty will say that he is giving the market clarity. If we keep getting clarity every six months nobody will be able to allocate capital properly."

See video clip here

Eric Reguly on: Why doesn't Canada have more top companies?

My posted comment on the Eric Reguly artcile entitled: Why doesn't Canada have more top companies?:

Canada doesn't have more top companies for the simple fact that Canadian companies and CEOs do not know how to compete. Canadian companies and CEOs are coddled at every opportunity by the policies enacted by their closely held and controlled politicians. In the US they have the industrial military complex to worry about, Here we have the CEO-politician complex. What do you possibly think was behind the killing of income trusts, if not to destroy the competition that trusts represented for these coddled CEOs who sought to kill them as competition, (read: Gwynn Morgan, Dominic D'alessandro, Paul Desmarais Jr. etc etc) and which threatened the established order by the placing of shareholders' rights ahead of the greed driven CEOs?

What else did CEO lobbyist John Manley means when he said "you can't have two different structure for the same businesses" in arguing to kill the one structure that was in the best interests of the country, while preserving the one that is rife with abuses and bad for the country in the short, medium and long term?. Too bad dolts like Eric Reguly were too stupid to understand the game that was being played, and how he was being gamed by the CEOs to advance their world of coddled CEOs who are incapable of competing.....even in their own lousy back yard, let alone on a world stage.

Wake up Eric! You're so easily duped and manipulated, you could be a lazy non-competition engendering Canadian Politician like Jim Flaherty yourself some day too!


Why doesn't Canada have more top companies?

ERIC REGULY
Globe and Mail
June 23, 2011

Aren’t we clever? Our Top 1000 lists more than 30 Canadian companies with profits of $1 billion or more in 2010, a remarkable achievement given the worldwide corporate bloodletting since the 2008 financial crisis. Most Canadians know the names of the biggies, from Royal Bank to Rogers Communications, and probably consider them money-spinning proof that we can compete with the best of the best.

When I look at the list, however, my heart sinks. I recognize every one of the top 100, but I can only spot three, maybe four, that: a) compete in the international big leagues, b) have a brand that is known outside Canada and c) are making news. They are: Research In Motion, Thomson Reuters, Bombardier and perhaps Royal Bank or Barrick Gold. A few years ago, I would have put Manulife among that group, but its image has waned in the post-Dominic D’Alessandro years.

Congrats to those four, even though each lacks the “cool” factor that has, for instance, made Apple a supernova. So why doesn’t Canada have more international corporate champions?

Some of the world’s smaller countries, by population, are home to global giants. Australia has BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Macquarie Group. Switzerland has Nestlé, Syngenta, Glencore, UBS, Novartis and Xstrata. The Netherlands has Shell, ING and Philips. Sweden has Volvo, Ericsson and Ikea.

There’s no paucity of excuses from Canada’s political right, middle or left for our poor global showing. Corporate tax rates are too high? They’re among the lowest in the Western world. There’s too much government coddling? There’s too little. Canada is too small? The Swiss wouldn’t buy that argument. Costs are high, and training and education are inadequate? CEOs can’t endure Canada’s winters? Celine Dion intolerance? Blah, blah and blah.

Here’s my reason: epic Canadian investor greed.

I’ve worked as a business journalist in four countries—Canada, the United States, Britain and Italy—and nowhere have I witnessed greed to rival Canadian greed. From 1997 to 2007, I felt all I did was chronicle the eradication of corporate Canada as investors, and CEOs who encouraged them, hit the sell button. Here are just a few of the companies I no longer write about: Inco, Falconbridge, Dofasco, Stelco, Algoma Steel, MacMillan-Bloedel, Molson, Alcan, Ipsco, Gulf Canada, Newbridge Networks, Poco Petroleums and Masonite.

The sellout continues. In February, the successful TMX Group agreed to sell itself to the inferior London Stock Exchange. The TMX should have been the buyer.

Last year, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan almost became another hollowing-out victim. True, CEO Bill Doyle fought off BHP Billiton, but I don’t think he wanted to keep the world’s biggest fertilizer company in Canadian hands to generate local wealth and jobs. The share price wasn’t to his liking, and as things turned out, the takeover was blocked by the feds.

To be sure, each sellout is a special case. In a few takeovers, such as Falconbridge, the offering price was so huge that sellers would have been foolish not to take the loot and run. But others were just instances of plain, short-term greed. Canadian investors would rather take even a meagre payout today than stick with a company for years to create a world-beater.

Of course, short-termism isn’t uniquely Canadian, but patience often generates even bigger rewards. When Ralph Robins was CEO of Rolls-Royce in the 1990s, he earned no love from British investors and analysts by investing fortunes in jet-engine technology that wouldn’t pay off for years, if at all. But Sir Ralph refused to cave in to the gimme-returns-now mob. Today Rolls is one of the world’s top manufacturers and tech innovators.

That stick-to-it attitude is almost extinct in Canada. Evidence? How about the big push early in the last decade to turn corporate Canada into one monstrous, bloated income trust?

The income trust was a peculiar beast—discouraged or outlawed in many civilized countries—that avoided taxes by paying out almost all cash flow to unitholders. But that left little money for R&D, corporate development or overseas expansion. When Telus and BCE, Canada’s two largest phone companies, announced their intention to convert to trusts in 2006, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty did the right thing and shut down the party. Five years later, investors still moan about that.

In 2008, Don Argus, then-chairman of BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, denounced Canada’s sellout culture. “Canada’s policies are a worst-case scenario,” he said. “Canada has lost more head offices than any other country. Canada has already been reduced to an industry branch office and is largely irrelevant on the global mining stage.”

Policies? I don’t know if there are any. For every buyer, there’s a seller. Canadians love to sell. Yes, we have many companies in safe, protected industries that are making billions in profits. Sadly, most of them are nonentities on the world stage.

Hunt for yield creates new risks: BoC

My posted comment to today's Financial Post article entitled: "Hunt for yield creates new risks: BoC":

Just another of the obvious "unintended consequences:" that CAITI (www, caiti, info) has been talking about since its inception in December 2006. Only took Mark Carney the better part of 5 years to realize the folly of his idiotic ill-conceived and ill-executed actions of killing income trusts ( on the totally false premises of alleged "tax leakage") and the certainty that his actions against yield hungry investors would spawn more Asset Backed Commercial Paper schemes or Manulife Income Plus near disasters to come to pass.

What a clueless idiot we have for Governor of the Bank of Goldman Sachs in the person of Mark Carnage.

Hunt for yield creates new risks: BoC

Barbara Shecter
Financial Post
Jun 22, 2011

The sort of low-interest-rate-driven risk taking that lead to the 2008 global financial crisis is on the rise and posing an increasing threat to the stability of Canada’s financial system, the Bank of Canada said Wednesday.

“The popularity of riskier securities and strategies is growing” both globally and in Canada, the central bank said in its bi-annual Financial System Review released Wednesday, highlighting the boom in lower-grade bonds that is drawing in new investors who may not be aware of the risks.

While stimulative monetary policy is needed to support the global economic recovery,” a long period of low interest rates may fuel excessive risk-taking,” the report said, noting that this risk to the system has increased since its most recent report in December.

The report highlighted the role of misunderstood investments — notably asset-backed commercial paper — in the most recent market meltdown a few years ago.

This “search for yield could cause risk to be underpriced or lead investors to take on exposures that they may not be able to manage” if the global economy falters, the stability report said.

In particular, Wednesday’s report points to the growing popularity of non-investment-grade bonds and the near historically low price of their credit risk relative to government bonds.

“It is uncertain whether all new investors have the ability to adequately manage the risks associated with these securities and investment strategies,” the report says.

The report also cited “covenant lite” loans that delay the pain of likely defaults, and complicated developments in exchange-traded funds in Europe.

Global economic issues including the high risks associated with sovereign debt continue to put pressure on financial stability, edging higher in the most recent period, according to the report which also urged “further moderation in the pace of debt accumulation” by Canadian households.

While economists at TD Bank do no expect interest rate hikes before 2013, that could change if other risks looming over the Canadian and Global landscape were to abate in the coming months. In such a scenario, “the Bank of Canada could very well start to lift rates before the year is up,” a TD report concluded.

The central bank also warned Wednesday that Canadian institutions could be put at a disadvantage in the global move to regulate derivatives, and made a strong case for a domestic solution to meet G20 commitments to stability-driven central clearing and settlement.

The bank, which is playing an active role in the country’s G20 commitments on the regulation of derivatives, highlighted risks of electing to have over-the-counter derivatives contracts cleared by central counterparties (CCPs) outside Canada.

“Global CCPs may not provide a level playing field to Canadian dealers that are smaller than the global dealers,” the report warned, adding that “offshore clearing may not provide the public sector with sufficient scope for oversight or control to mitigate and manager the effects of a financial crisis.”

Has the entire NDP caucus decamped to Vegas?

PM Harper may call Parliament back 'mid-May,' but NDP MPs say it's too early

With 68 new MPs to swear in, the NDP needs time for training, establishing new offices, constituency offices, hiring and swearing in, among other issues.
By TIM NAUMETZ
Published May 4, 2011 5:49 PM
The Hill Times

[Back to work: NDP leader Jack Layton, pictured in the House in March. The government has not said when Parliament will return this spring.]
The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
Back to work: NDP leader Jack Layton, pictured in the House in March. The government has not said when Parliament will return this spring.

PARLIAMENT HILL—The first tussle between the new official opposition NDP and the majority Conservative government may be on the close horizon—not over legislation but timing of the new Parliamentary session.

NDP whip Yvon Godin (Acadie-Bathurst, N.B.) told The Hill Times on Wednesday he understood—apparently from something Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) said—that the government may intend to call the 41st Parliament to begin sometime in mid-May.

With 68 new MPs to swear in, all but two of them newcomers to Parliament and some not even familiar with politics, let alone federal politics, the NDP needs time for training, establishing new offices, constituency offices, hiring and swearing in, among other issues.

“I think it’s too early,” said Mr. Godin. “The House is not on fire there. To be fair to the democracy, to be fair with the process, leave people to take breathe a little bit. I know what it is, when I got elected in 1997, you want to be fair to your constituents, you want to open an office, people are looking for you.”

But, though the official proclamation from Governor General David Johnston dissolving the last Parliament set May 30 as the date to “summon and call together” the new one, it can be changed at Mr. Harper’s direction. House Speaker Peter Milliken’s office said the pro forma date always set at the dissolution of a Parliament is usually changed by the prime minister following an election, and it can be pushed either back or ahead.

But, other than Mr. Harper’s statement that it will be “soon,” the Prime Minister’s office as of Wednesday said no decision had yet been made.

Andrew MacDougall, Mr. Harper’s press secretary, told The Hill Times in an email, “We will have a spring session. The budget will be front and centre in that session.”

The proclamation dissolving the last Parliament set May 23 as the final date for the return of all 308 election writs from ridings across Canada, but that was only the final deadline.

NDP MP Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh, Ont.) also acknowledged the New Democrats, with 56 of their rookie MPs from Quebec, have a formidable training period ahead of them, as the new caucus band engages Parliament Hill. Mr. Comartin said the party’s normal trainee programs are being expanded.

The first step, Mr. Godin told The Hill Times, is a caucus meeting by telephone on Thursday with the entire caucus, and a full caucus meeting likely sometime shortly before the new Parliament begins. The Liberals hold their first caucus meeting next week.

As Mr. Godin and other veteran MPs fended off criticism Wednesday about the inexperience of many of their new Quebec MPs, some of whom lived in Ottawa and were just names on ballots as far as their new constituents were concerned, the party also absorbed its first round of sniping from the Liberals, now occupying the third party range at the far end of the Commons where the NDP sat until now, for five decades.

Wayne Easter, the feisty Liberal MP from Prince Edward Island, told The Hill Times NDP Leader Jack Layton (Toronto Danforth, Ont.) might regret giving up his influential spot as leader of the third party in a minority Parliament—where he often wrested legislation or other measures from Liberal and Conservative governments—in exchange for opposition leader status where a majority government needs no support, in raw balance of power terms, to pass bills.

Mr. Easter said Mr. Layton is going to learn “you had a hell of a lot more power before this election as a third party than you do as the official opposition. All Stephen Harper needs to say to him is ‘Jack, what are you talking about man, I have 167 seats, I don’t need to talk to you.’”

Mr. Godin, NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, Man.), and House Leader Libby Davies (Vancouver East, B.C.) brushed the Liberal poke off as “sour grapes.”

“The facts speak for themselves. The Conservatives have a majority so it’s obvious that if they want to jam something through, they’ve got the votes to do that,” said Ms. Davies. “What it does mean though is we will have to be creative, we will have to be tough in being the official opposition, and think of what we do in a variety of ways to keep accountability and transparency and keep pressure on the government.”

Ms. Davies said she feels “tremendous” about the new caucus, especially the young MPs who she said will “learn the ropes” quickly. “New Democrats, we’re political animals, we get into this fast. This is going to change so many things,” she said. “I think it’s a whole new ball game. It’s going to be a whole new kind of politics.”

tnaumetz@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

Mulcair: The Doubting Thomas

Here we have Thomas Mulciar, Deputy Leader of the NDP, doubting the existence of photos taken of the death of Osama bin Laden. This doubting attitude doesn't surprise me at all. The last time I spoke with Thomas Muclair back in 2010, we were discussing the income trust issue and I expressed an opinion derived from my 20 years working as an investment banker on Bay Street, to which Mulcair responded: "You were never an investment banker".

What? How do you respond to that? No Thomas, I am actually lying to you about my profession and impersonating an investment banker, just like Obama is hiding something about the Osama bin Laden event and lying about the existence of photos.

This Mulcair is nuts!


NDP MP Thomas Mulcair questions Bin Laden pictures

Daniel Kaszor May 4, 2011
By Sarah Boesveld and Sarah-Taissir Bencharif

The NDP got its first taste of the perils of prominence Wednesday after being forced to handle two public relations disasters as the newly elected Official Opposition.

While MP-elect Ruth Ellen Brosseau was scrutinized for allegedly filing falsified nomination papers in Quebec, deputy leader of the NDP, Thomas Mulcair, drew gasps when he said he does not believe the United States government has photographs of terrorist Osama bin Laden. He also hinted there may be “more going on,” behind the scenes of his assassination than the U.S. is making known.

“I don’t think, from what I’ve heard, that those pictures exist. And if they do, I’ll leave that up to the American military,” Mr. Mulcair said during an appearance on the CBC TV’s Power and Politics Wednesday.

Asked again whether he thinks the photos exist, Mr. Mulcair said: “No, I don’t think they do. If they’ve got pictures of a cadaver, there’s probably more going on than we suspect in what happened there.”

Twitter immediately flooded with comments about the statement, making the Outremont MP a trending topic on the micro-blogging website. “I almost fell out of my chair when Mulcair said he doubted the existence of Osama bin Laden photos,” tweeted Marc Garneau, the astronaut and Liberal MP for Westmount-Ville-Marie.

In a subsequent tweet, he admonished the deputy NDP leader’s comments. “Sanity check please: Osama bin Laden is dead and photos were taken. To suggest otherwise is a serious lack of judgment.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, said that the incoming Conservative government doesn’t share Mr. Mulcair’s skepticism. “The White House made it clear that pictures exist,” he wrote on Twitter. “Absolutely no reason to doubt that.”

The party scrambled to mount a response to questions over Mr. Mulcair’s statement. In a statement, Paul Dewar, the NDP foreign affairs critics, said the incoming opposition party didn’t question the existence of the photos.

“We have no reason to doubt the veracity of President Obama’s statement,” he said. “I understand that the U.S. government has photos, but decided not to release them as they do not want them used as trophies. This is a legitimate concern. We agree these types of photos shouldn’t be used as propaganda tools.”

Mr. Mulcair’s comments were quickly picked up by dozens of U.S. media outlets.

In the same Power and Politics interview, Mr. Mulcair also came to the defence of Ms. Brosseau, the successful Quebec NDP candidate in Berthier-Maskinongé, famous for vacationing in Vegas in the middle of the election campaign and for boasting less than stellar French skills though she now represents a largely francophone riding.

Trois-Rivieres resident Rene Young said he and his wife never signed Ms. Brosseau’s candidacy papers, although their names are clearly listed on the forms submitted to Elections Canada.

“The signature that is supposedly mine is not mine, and neither is my wife’s. There are two signatures on that form that are not us. We don’t understand how they are on that document that allows her to run for MP,” Mr. Young said in French from his home.

Defeated Liberal candidate Francine Gaudet suggested the NDP did not properly represent the nomination form to residents in the riding.

“We’ve found what could be irregularities,” she said in French. “Mr. Rene Young confirms that his wife’s signature on the nomination form is grafitti. So we’re expecting justice to be served in all this.”

While Ms. Gaudet said Elections Canada should investigate the issue, local Liberal riding president Louis-Victor Sylvestre said further action is necessary. “The only thing left for Ms. Brosseau to do is to step down,” he said. “You can’t get elected based on deceit.”

Conservative candidate Marie-Claude Godue told local media a byelection should be called. Ms. Brosseau swept the riding by 6,000 votes Monday night.

Anyone wishing to contest Ms. Brosseau’s candidacy must bring the complaint before the courts, in this case the Quebec Superior Court, said Elections Canada spokeswoman Diane Benson. As it stands, the race was legitimate and the result stands, she said, adding that all 100 signatures required of the candidate in order to be considered part of the race were approved by the returning officer in the local riding.

The NDP also defended the legitimacy of the papers, saying voters clearly knew who Ms. Brosseau was.

“These signatures were collected on a door-to-door basis; we have some of the neighbours from before, some of the neighbours from after, there could be no question that those were the signatures obtained by those people,” Mr. Mulcair said on Power and Politics. “I will make the following commitment to the people in Berthier-Maskinongé — they will have an MP who will be able to speak to them in fluent French before the end of this two-year term to make sure everything is done to provide full service to the riding.”

Ms. Brosseau, he said, is currently taking French classes.

Another spokesperson for the NDP said that signing the nomination form does not necessarily mean you support the candidate.

“A signature is not a vote,” said Karl Belanger, press secretary to NDP leader Jack Layton.

National Post, with files from Tamsin McMahon

NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair lit up the twitterverse with his comments casting doubt on the existince of U.S. photos of Osama bin Laden’s body. He quickly began trending on the social media site, which adopted the hashtag #thingsTomMulcairbelieves to unleash its outrage and sarcasm on the party’s most senior Quebec MP. Here is an exerpt of some of the reponses:

Dimitri Soudas, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s spokesman:
PMOSoudas Dimitri Soudas @CBCPolitics the White House made it clear that pictures exist. Absolutely no reason to doubt that. #cdnpoli

Liberal MP Marc Garneau:
Marc Garneau Sanity check please: Osama Bin Laden is dead and photos were taken. To suggest otherwise is a serious lack of judgement

Conservative MP and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney:
Wonder if Mr. Mulcair has discussed his OBL pic doubts w/ Richard Bergeron, the 9/11 conspiracy theorist he endorsed to be Mayor of Montreal.

Edmonton-St. Albert Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber:
Brent RathgeberThomas Mulcair on Bin Laden photos shows how the NDP in Official Opposition constitutes amateur hour!

@wxwatcher66 Darren Ibsen
And in other news Thomas Mulcair Says there is no picture of the easter bunny the tooth fairy or little green men.

cherylfougere Cheryl Fougere
RT @CdnPolitico: Elvis, Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe are alive and living in Detroit

@apaulgill Paul Gill
@@charliesheen Check out the #mulcair – this Canadian socialist is saying there was no pictures – comment on #bush not going to ground zero?!

@andrew_black Andrew Black
@maktiga Most would agree that, with so many rookies, we didn’t expect #mulcair to make the first big gaffe

Mira458 Stella Campbell
NDP Mulcair’s 1st interview. #fail

Posted in: Canada, Canadian Politics, Posted Ta

Alf Apps does a 180. Things must really be desperate!

In his letter, Mr. Apps also appealed for the party to be more inclusive through this renewal process and to “respect the honestly held viewpoints of each party member, including all in our deliberations.”

WOW, that really would be a change! Why don't I believe it?


Liberals urged to take stunning blow on the chin
JANE TABER
OTTAWA— Globe and Mail Update
Published Wednesday, May. 04, 2011 5:51PM EDT

Calling their election defeat “a deeply personal experience,” Liberal Party president Alfred Apps is appealing to all Liberals now to put that behind them, regroup, assign no blame and begin the long process of rebuilding.

“Our future as a party will depend, more than ever, on preserving our unity, broadening our vision and keeping clear and cool heads over the coming weeks and months about what we need to do,” Mr. Apps wrote in a two-page letter to Liberals, released Wednesday.

Canada's Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff waves as he and his wife Zsuszanna Zsohar (R) leave after announcing his resignation as Liberal leader during a news conference in Toronto May 3, 2011. Ignatieff is leaving politics after losing his seat in Monday's federal election.

Many Liberals fear that the election result has now divided the country more sharply between left and right, leaving little room for a party of the centre.

But Mr. Apps is not giving up on Liberalism. He says it’s not “dead in Canada.”

“Far from it,” he wrote. “Our commitment as Liberals remains to a resolutely centrist political party, to a program that blends and balances fiscal responsibility with social compassion. … We must not now surrender to tired ideologies, whether of the right or left, in search of what can work in the real world to make the lives of Canadians better.”

The Toronto lawyer, who was one of the troika to travel to Cambridge, Mass., to encourage Michael Ignatieff to quit Harvard University to join the Liberal Party – with the idea of him eventually becoming leader – is now warning about falling into the trap of finding an easy fix.

“This is not the time for making rash judgments or speedy conclusions,” he said. “This is not the time for Liberals to be seduced by political expediency or parliamentary convenience.”

He said, too, it was not a time to point fingers or for hand-wringing. Rather, “we need to move forward to a reasonable period of constructive stability and collective reflection.”

Mr. Ignatieff announced his intention Tuesday to resign as Liberal leader after the disastrous outcome Monday that saw the party reduced to a mere 34 seats. Mr. Ignatieff lost his own seat in Toronto, where the once-mighty Liberal fortress there collapsed.

It was a humiliating loss.

Mr. Ignatieff’s announcement means yet another Liberal leadership convention; every election, it seems, there is a new Liberal leader. It will be the fourth since Paul Martin took over from Jean Chrétien in 2003.

Liberal caucus is to meet next week to decide on an interim leader; the national board of the party will have to decide on a date for a future convention – the earliest possible date would not be until next year.

In his letter, Mr. Apps also appealed for the party to be more inclusive through this renewal process and to “respect the honestly held viewpoints of each party member, including all in our deliberations.”

This is no time for the “faint-hearted,” he wrote, asking those who want to help to “dust” themselves off and commit to work.

Bev Oda's understudy

Rookie NDP MP-elect accused of falsifying nomination papers

by Sarah Boesveld and Sarah-Taissir Bencharif
National Post
May 4, 2011

Two days after her surprise win in the Quebec riding of Berthier-Maskinongé, NDP rookie Ruth Ellen Brosseau and her team are being accused of falsifying her nomination papers.

Liberal candidate Francine Gaudet, who came in a distant third after the Vegas-vacationing Ms. Brosseau scooped the riding by almost 6,000 votes, says two residents whose signatures appear on the nomination form deny signing anything that pledged their support for Ms. Brosseau.

Trois-Rivières resident René Young and his wife saw their names on the candidacy form but do not remember signing them, Ms. Gaudet said.

NDP party spokesperson Karl Bélanger said the allegations are “not true.”

“The signatures were collected legitimately by our campaign workers going door to door,” he said. The signatures — 100 are required for a legitimate run at office according to Elections Canada rules — were approved by the election’s returning officer, he added.

“Madame Brosseau is thankful to the people of Berthier-Maskinongé for supporting her and helping her get elected. All the signatures were collected legitimately and if some people don’t remember signing it, well, that will be for them to explain.”
Related

Ms. Brosseau has been a controversial candidate ever since the media learned she spent part of the April’s campaign on vacation in Las Vegas. The single mother and, until recently, assistant manager of Oliver’s Pub on the Carleton University campus in Ottawa, has very poor French skills, the NDP admits. A local radio station interviewed Ms. Brosseau during the campaign (her only interview) but did not air it because she could not be understood in French.

Ms. Brosseau lives in Gatineau, Que., a long drive away from her riding. It is unclear whether she’s actually visited Berthier-Maskinongé.

Despite the NDP’s denial of any falsifications on the nomination forms, Ms. Gaudet said she will ask Elections Canada to investigate.

“We’ve informed our party’s legal advisors about this situation and we’ll see in the next hours what our next actions will be, based on Elections Canada’s response,” Ms. Gaudet said in French.

Elections Canada records show Ms. Brosseau was not originally chosen to run as the NDP candidate in the riding — Julie Demers won the nomination in Berthier-Maskinongé, but was moved to the riding of Bourassa where she ultimately lost against Liberal Denis Coderre.

National Post
sboesveld@nationalpost.com