Weekly Round-Up: November 15

Each Friday, CIVIX provides a digest of the major events in Canadian politics.

Montreal’s new mayor already on thin ice

Newly-elected Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre was sworn-in yesterday, along with the 102 other city and borough councillors elected on November 3. The mayor will announce his 11-member executive committee on Monday.

Coderre didn’t waste any time getting himself into trouble after being elected. He tweeted last weekend about the poor play of Montreal Canadiens player David Desharnais, and the Canadiens locker room was not very pleased with the tweet. “I really believe this is inappropriate from our mayor,” said head coach Michel Therrien.

Nova Scotia’s ‘Tree for Boston’

The Halifax Explosion occurred on December 6, 1917 when a ship full of ammunition exploded, destroying much of Halifax and killing more than 2,000 people. The American city of Boston, Massachusetts (the nearest major port) was quick to help, sending support and aid.

For the past 42 years, Nova Scotia has sent a Christmas tree to Boston to thank the city for its generosity. “The Halifax Explosion was a dark time in our province’s history, but the people of Boston were there for us, providing much needed support and aid,” said Natural Resources Minister Zach Churchill.

This year’s 15 metre white spruce was donated by Mary Lou Milligan of Mill Cove. Follow @TreeForBoston on Twitter to stay up to date on where the tree is on its journey.

An MP won’t run again, and a certain mayor refuses to resign

Conservative MP Barry Devolin announced Wednesday that he would not be running again in the 2015 federal election. The Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP, and assistant deputy speaker, was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004.

Toronto city council voted 37-5 in favour of a non-binding motion asking Mayor Rob Ford to take a temporary leave of absence after some recent indiscretions. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced on Thursday that the province would only intervene if council was unable to “function as a result of this matter,” and only if the parties in the Ontario legislature were in agreement on removing the mayor from office. Ford has no plans to step down and will run in next year’s municipal election.

Nunavut chooses a new premier

Nunavut’s newly-elected MLAs gather in Iqaluit today to select the province’s new premier, speaker and eight cabinet ministers. Nunavut uses consensus government where there are no parties, so it is up to the MLAs to choose the leader of their government.

Who would you put in your cabinet? CBC has created a cool interactive feature where you can submit your own selections.

Last month’s election race in Rankin Inlet South ended in a tie, and it was announced this week that the by-election would be held on Monday, February 10. The writ will drop 5 weeks before, on January 6.

For ongoing updates, follow us on Twitter at @CIVIX_Canada.

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