My buddy and CTV News Parliamentary reporter David Akin has an interesting post at the CTV Politics blog (and cross-posted to his own) about a question put on the House of Commons order paper by Ontario Conservative MP Scott Reid. An excerpt from Akin's post:

Q-104 2 — October 17, 2006 — Mr. Reid (Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington) — In each of the fiscal years 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, did any government department, agency, or Crown corporation enter into a professional services contract with a vendor whose name matches a name on the current public list of members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery published at http://www.gallery-tribune.ca , and, if so, for each contract of each vendor: ( a) to which department, agency, or Crown corporation were the services to be provided; ( b) what type of service was to be provided; ( c) what was the start date and final end date of the contract; and ( d) what was the total amount of payments made to the vendor?

After I saw that question on the Order Paper, I called Reid’s office several times to ask what it was he was interested in. Reid never returned my call.

On his personal blog, Akin also has this: Why journalists ought to pay attention to bloggers. An excerpt:

I’ve long argued that journalists ought to establish a routine to monitor blogs and other online sites that are germane to their beat. It’s a great eay to learn more about your beat and to find new sources.

But here’s another good reason: Public relations and communications professionals — the spin masters — are targetting blogs.

Tell me about it. :) (Also see this).

From globeandmail.com:

Torstar Corp. is cutting 85 jobs across its newspaper operations, a move that will save the publishing giant about $5.5-million a year. The company said yesterday it will take a restructuring charge of about $11-million in its fourth quarter because of the cuts, which will be both "voluntary and involuntary." Union representatives said most of the cuts involve voluntary buyout packages, and are not involuntary layoffs. Mike Sullivan, unit chair of the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild, which represents workers at the flagship Toronto Star newspaper, said about 10 people were offered packages at that paper. A small number of managers were also let go, he said. Unionized and non-unionized employees also took voluntary packages at The Hamilton Spectator, The Kitchener-Waterloo Record and at the Metroland community newspaper arm, union and company spokesmen said. TS.B (TSX) rose 1 cent to $19.26.

I speak of none other than Turkmenistan's Sapurmurat Niyazov, who built himself the biggest cult of personality this side of Pyongyang.

Dozens of eyewitness reports indicated that former vice president Al Gore deliberately attempted to raise the earth's temperature in order to boost box office receipts for An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary film about global warming that was released in May.

DESPERATE MEASURES Former vice president Al Gore takes a flamethrower to the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica to boost weekend ticket sales for An Inconvenient Truth.

"We have accounts from concerned citizens that Mr. Gore purchased a Cadillac Escalade SUV several months before [his film] opened in theaters," said Kimberly Blume, spokeswoman for the California-based environmental group Friends Of The Earth. "Not only did Mr. Gore use his new gas-guzzler to make short trips to the grocery store, he also left the vehicle running 24 hours a day in the driveway of his Tennessee home with the air-conditioning on full-blast."

In the weeks following the film's release, witnesses reported additional sightings of Gore engaging in activities such as discharging can after can of 1980s-era, CFC-laden aerosol into the air, and single-handedly clear-cutting over 6,000 acres of Amazon rain forest.

Gore is also rumored to have set a four-acre tire fire outside Akron, OH, and ordered his Secret Service detail to shoot on sight anyone who attempts to put it out.

"It's sad to see a man we thought was a passionate defender of the environment despoiling it for his own monetary gain," Blume said.

From The Onion