Author Archives: Dale

About Dale

Journalist in the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery

Roundup: Four very different by-elections today

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It is by-election day in four ridings, and each of them is going to play out slightly differently. The Liberals are pretty much guaranteed to hold in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount in Montreal, where Trudeau’s friend Anna Gainey is running, but Green deputy/co-leader Jonathan Pednault is also running. There has been a particular dynamic at play there as well around the recently-passed official languages bill, where Anglos in Quebec are particularly concerned about their rights being under attack. They are also likely to hold in Winnipeg South Centre, where the late Jim Carr’s son is running to replace him.

Potentially up for grabs in Oxford in Ontario, where the former Conservative MP has thrown his support behind the Liberal challenger because of the way in which Pierre Poilievre and Andrew Scheer put their thumbs on the scale in the nomination race because they wanted to get one of their insiders a seat, even though he’s from Brampton. That has the possibility of working against them because sometimes these safe rural ridings will still reject a parachute candidate (as evidence by when John Tory tried to run in a safe rural seat in a by-election when he was Ontario PC leader and had his ass handed to him by the local Liberal who was a local). Sometimes rural ridings can be a bit Royston Vasey. And then there’s Portage—Lisgar, where Maxime Bernier is running against the Conservatives, and they are trying to crush him once and for all to prove they can again “unite” the right, and they’re doing that by invoking WEF conspiracy theories, and pandering to convoy supporters, homophobia and transphobia, and anti-abortion sentiment, because that’s exactly what’s going to unite the right.

And there is still one more to come, as Trudeau declared the Calgary Heritage by-election will be held on July 24th. This one had been delayed because of the Alberta election, given that it would be confusion for voters in the riding, and the fact you’re drawing from the same volunteer pool.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Amidst fierce fighting, the Ukrainians have re-taken the settlement of Piatykhatky in the Zaporishshia province. Ukrainians also say that they have destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in Kherson. The UK military assessment of the counter-offensive is that both sides are taking heavy casualties, but the Russian losses are probably at their highest since the peak of their attempt to take Bakhmut. One of the side-effects of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine is that it has uncovered some ancient Cossack archaeological sites that the Soviets didn’t care about flooding when they built the dam, but they will likely be flooded again once the dam is rebuilt.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1670338729007874049?s=61&t=2SHRFoo_xxddaDpzippI_w

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Roundup: Poilievre tries out new tough-on-crime disinformation

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As evidenced in Question Period yesterday, the Conservatives have found a new lie to suit their narrative around the transfer of Paul Bernardo, and it’s citing the former Bill C-83, which allegedly eliminated solitary confinement in Canadian prisons on favour of “structured intervention units.” We can pretty much be assured that the legislation did not do what it said it would, and “structured intervention” is largely still solitary confinement, and the actual problems haven’t been solved, but the underlying notion here was that this bill was in response to the finding of the courts and international human rights bodies that solitary confinement is a violation of human rights. Nevertheless, this is being blamed for the conditions that allowed for Bernardo’s transfer, which again, is not true. It’s not the first time they’ve done this tactic—they also did it with the former Bill C-75 on bail reform, which was about codifying Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence around bail, and actually created several more categories where a reverse onus was needed, which made bail tougher to get. That didn’t stop the lies then, and it isn’t around C-83 now.

In the meantime, here is the Alberta Prison Justice Society with some important context around prison transfers and security classifications, which a lot of people should know (and in some cases, do know but are lying about it in order to drum up outrage, because politics is all about rage-farming and shitposting these days).

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russians struck the settlement of Novoberyslav in the Kherson region, killing a married couple when their house was bombed. The Ukrainian advance continues in the south, while Russians are trying to trying to dislodge Ukrainian positions in the east. Meanwhile, a group of African leaders are visiting Kyiv to discuss Ukraine’s “peace formula” to end the war.

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Roundup: Hybrid sittings are now permanent, and Parliament will suffer

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I knew that this was now inevitable, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not infuriating. After invoking closure and ramming it through with little debate, the government has forced through the changes to the Standing Orders that will make hybrid sittings permanent. The government has ignored all criticisms about this move, and blinkered itself to the supposed benefits to this system that are largely a false economy, because it “feels progressive.” They tried to force this before the pandemic, and they certainly didn’t let a good crisis go to waste.

The biggest losers out of this are the interpretation staff. Working by Zoom is an absolute killer for them, both from acoustic injuries because MPs can’t be arsed to use their headsets properly most of the time, or simply ignore those rules when it suits them (as the Conservatives did when they pretended to have issues with their voting apps), and because the cognitive load from interpreting this way burns them out. The Speaker, meanwhile, can’t be bothered to enforce rules or guidelines, and merely gently chides MPs that they should be nice to the interpreters, but with no consequences, these behaviours continue undaunted. We’re now accelerating toward a crisis of bilingualism in Parliament because they can’t just hire more interpreters. They’re not graduating enough at a rate to overcome attrition even before the injuries, and fewer of them are going to stick around in order to expose themselves to injury and the possibility of permanent hearing loss. It’s morally repugnant and unconscionable that MPs behave this way, treating the interpreters like furniture, but they’re still in the fuck around stage. They’re going to find out really soon, and Parliament is going to be in a genuine crisis, because the Liberals and NDP in particular are too self-centred to look at the harm they’re causing.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian authorities say they’re staging elections in occupied territories as a sign that they’re in control, as the Ukrainian counter-offensive makes progress but faces “tough resistance,” according to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian officials also say they are still advancing on Bakhmut around the north and northwest.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1669255405610909698

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QP: Gesturing to an empty chair

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The prime minister was in town but not present, while his deputy and most of the other leaders were also away. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and asserted that Justin Trudeau has not fired his “misleading and incompetent” public safety minister because he also knew about Paul Bernardo’s transfer and did nothing about it, before he pretended that Trudeau was present and afraid to answer. Mark Holland dismissed the notion that anyone would have sympathy for Bernardo, and that Correctional Services were independent. They each went the same around in English, practically verbatim, before Poilievre insisted that the government had the power to block the transfer, somehow. Holland insisted that they should not politicise Corrections. Poilievre tried to call the absent Trudeau out, didn’t really get cautioned by the Speaker, and demanded that the government pass their bill on ensuring all mass murderers stay in maximum security forever. Holland again tried to insist that they not politicise Corrections. Poilievre gave another plea for unanimous support for that bill (which I doubt is even constitutional), and Holland says they are ready to have conversations about not politicising Corrections, and that they wait for the review of the transfer.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she demanded that they announce a public inquiry before the end of the sitting, to which Marco Mendicino said that he was encouraged by their willingness to work together. Normandin insisted that the Bloc would not let this go, and insisted that a public inquiry commissioner be approved by the House (which is a bad idea) and be completed in a few months (which is literally impossible). Mendicino recited that an option of a public inquiry is on the table.

Peter Julian rose for the NDP, and in French, he listed the number of ministers who are apparently unable to read their emails and worried about re-traumatising Bernardo’s victims. Holland reminded him that it’s important that Correctional Services remain independent. Julian repeated his question in English, and Holland gave him much the same answer.

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Roundup: Mendicino’s future in doubt

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The political future of Marco Mendicino is in the balance as the revelation has circulated that his office was aware of the potential transfer of serial rapist and killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security facility (designed to treat violent sex offenders) for months but didn’t inform him until it happened, made worse by the fact that the prime minister’s office was also informed, and they kicked it to Mendicino’s office to deal with. And by deal with, we’re not talking politically interfering with an arm’s length body, but at least doing something, whether it’s ordering a review or coming up with a communications plan to get ahead of it. But they didn’t.

There is a lot of talk about ministerial responsibility and accountability, and what that means in a situation like this. The assumption is always that every offence is a resigning offence, which is wrong, and Mendicino says that he’s taken “corrective action” in his office, but as the minister, the buck stops with him, and in this case, it’s a pattern of incompetence coming home to roost, and it’s not the first time, and he’s been a terrible communicator on a number of the files before him, to the point of framing things in a manner that could be construed as misleading, such as issue of “police advice” on the invocation of the Emergencies Act. Mendicino says he won’t resign, but it’s getting hard to see how “corrective action” in his office can be handled without a head rolling, or someone falling on their sword, and at this point, we are getting to the point where Mendicino should probably consider doing so in order to get ahead of things, and looking like he still has some principles left.

The other thing to consider is that he may be out of this job sooner than later, because the rumours of a Cabinet shuffle are pretty loud, and his name is at the top of the list as someone who isn’t performing well and needs to be out of their portfolio. (Also on that list are Omar Alghabra and Joyce Murray). We are at a point in the life of the government where they need a shake-up in order to try and throw off some of the fatigue that is weighing them down, and to get some new blood in some of their portfolios in order to get fresh perspectives. There’s also a major rotation of staff happening in a number of offices, which is also needed at this point. We’ll see if this situation accelerates Trudeau’s plans for when this shuffle is going to happen, which Mendicino could force by doing the honourable thing. (That said, it might mean that Bill Blair might be tasked with taking Public Safety back on, at least until a new minister can be appointed, and that wouldn’t be a good thing because he shouldn’t have that portfolio for very obvious reasons).

Ukraine Dispatch:

The Russian strikes against Odessa and Donetsk early Wednesday morning killed six and damaged dozens of homes. Ukraine’s counter-offensive is still testing Russian defences, largely in the south, as they have thus far only committed three of their twelve battalions to the operation so far.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1668981197693648898

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1668957867301302275

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1668878494762250241

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QP: Repetitive demands for Mendicino to resign

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The prime minister was away on a Wednesday, which is unusual, as he was in Quebec touring areas affected by the wildfires. His deputy was also in town and had addressed the media earlier, but she was also absent, and with that absence, the Bloc leader also opted not to show up. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and declared that an entire generation of women will need to relive the trauma of Paul Bernardo with news that he has been transferred to a medium-security facility, and that Marco Mendicino was aware for three months, insisting that what he said was false and demanded his resignation. Mendicino said he was shocked by the news because he wasn’t informed until the day after the transfer, that it was a mistake within his office and he will take tangible action and that they always stand up for victims’ rights. Poilievre repeated his over-the-top accusation in English, and Mendicino repeated his same response, noting that there is an review process underway at Corrections. Poilievre accused him of throwing his staff under the bus, but because nobody got fired, he must be lying and needs to resign. Mendicino invited him to repeat the accusation outside of the House, and the Speaker how to call order among the yells that he already did, and when calm was restored, Mendicino accused Poilievre of misleading the House in his assertions. Poilievre insisted that Mendicino was trying to say that his staff forgot to walk down the hall to inform him and claimed he has the authority to designate all mass murders go to maximum security. Mendicino insisted that this question was a prescription for political interference, and that he was going to be issuing new ministerial directives to the Correctional Service. Poilievre again insisted that Mendicino has the power to designate prisoners, and demanded Mendicino be fired. Mendicino repeated that he is issuing new directives to the Service.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded a public inquiry be launched before the House rises for the summer, and demanded clarity and not talk of a “public process.” Dominic LeBlanc insisted that he shares the desire to get to the right process, and that a public inquiry is an option provided they could find the right way to do so. Therrien insisted that they must declare it be an inquiry, and LeBlanc repeated that it could be an inquiry if it can be done the right way.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and returned to the Bernardo question, saying that Mendicino can’t keep his house in order and told him to stop waiting by the fax machine and check his emails. Mendicino said that he corrected the matter in his office. Singh switched to French to point to the testimony about Blair being meant to read the briefing about Chong, and told him to check his emails again. This time Bill Blair stood up to clarify that ministers and their offices don’t have access to the top secret network and that he was not briefed by the CSIS director. 

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Roundup: The Chief Justice gives a strong warning

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Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Richard Wagner, delivered his annual news conference yesterday, which had been planned a month ago and the timing was purely coincidental regarding the sudden resignation of Justice Russell Brown. That was not the main topic of his remarks, however—that was about the slow pace of judicial appointments as some eighty or so spots remain unfilled, and it can take up to a year-and-a-half to fill the positions of chief justice or associate chief justice in a province. And Wagner has been pretty vocal about this.

Wagner did note that the prime minister did call him after getting his letter, and said that he was going to do what he could to improve the situation, but appointments are a problem for this government. In fact, the only time they have managed timely appointments are for the Supreme Court of Canada. One of the problems is that right now, a number of Judicial Advisory Committees, which vet prospective candidates, remain empty, meaning they need to be filled before they can get to the work of vetting applications for judges. And it’s not just the courts—nearly one fifth of Senate seats are currently vacant for much the same reason. And it’s not like these vacancies are a surprise—judges typically give six months’ notice before they retire, if they don’t reach mandatory retirement. Senators also age out, the date of which is clearly known and posted, so they have absolutely no excuse for not moving fast to fill upcoming vacancies. And yet they don’t.

As you have no doubt heard me say before on numerous occasions, one of the biggest problems is that this government made the decision to rely on self-nominations for these kinds of positions, while at the same time, committing to diversifying the bench (or the Senate). But when you rely on self-nomination, the kinds of people they want to apply and to appoint aren’t applying because they don’t see themselves in these roles (because the ingrained perception is that judges or senators are old white men), meaning that they need to go out and push people to apply and that takes time. They could instead just go out and nominate people, or have their appointments committees do that work, rather than just passively waiting for applications. To add to that, there is frequently a demonstrable difference in the performance of someone who was nominated (for whom they often see it as an honour to be considered) versus someone who applies (and feels entitled as a result),  But they refuse to see this and do that work, so we’re left constantly waiting for their poor process to play out, with the resulting delays that it entails while things crumble around them.

Ukraine Dispatch:

The Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih—the hometown of president Volodymyr Zelenskyy—killed at least eleven people when it struck an apartment building. As well, Russian missiles struck Odesa, killing at least three people in the early Wednesday morning. As well, independent confirmation is starting to roll in about Ukrainian gains in the counter-offensive.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1668511155160055808

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1668523632266469377

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QP: The Bank of Canada disputes the narrative

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The prime minister was present today, while his deputy was not, but all other leaders were. After a couple of standing ovations for Yvonne Jones for her return to the Commons from cancer treatment, things got underway.

Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and worried about the number of RCMP investigations into foreign interference, and that the former national security advisor was aware of this, before demanding a “genuine” public inquiry. Justin Trudeau said that he tasked Dominic LeBlanc with the task of next steps. Poilievre switched to English to recite his usual illiterate nonsense around deficits and inflation, to which Trudeau quoted the Governor of the Bank of Canada who said that government spending was not standing in the way of taming inflation. Poilievre haltingly tried to return to misquoting Freeland on deficits and inflation, and Trudeau insisted that the budget was responsible and fiscally sound, before reminding him of our enviable economic position. Poilievre then misdiagnosed why housing costs doubled, and this time, Trudeau took up a script to accuse Poilievre of standing in the way of action on housing and looking only to pick fights with mayors rather than doing something about housing. Poilievre returned to French to repeat the same accusation, and Trudeau read a list of measures they are taking on housing.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he demanded public inquiry once again. Trudeau thanked him for submitting prospective candidates to lead said inquiry, and insisted this was too important for partisanship. Blanchet demanded that there be an inquiry and that its leader must be independent of government, and before the end of the sitting. Trudeau agree that they need to move forward quickly, but lamented how toxic this has become.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and in French, he recounted working three jobs in university to make ends meet, and lamented the state of student housing. Trudeau insisted that they have been investing in housing for many years, including programmes to build more, as well as supports for students. Singh witched to English to recount the CBC of the state of student housing in Windsor, and demanded “concrete steps” for the cost of rent for students—which is provincial jurisdictions. Trudeau patted himself on the back for investments made so far.

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Roundup: O’Toole’s farewell hypocrisy

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Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole gave his farewell speech to the House of Commons yesterday, and it’s been a while since I’ve heard something as grossly hypocritical as that. Using his sombre voice (which has the benefit of completely beguiling the pundit class), he decried “performance politics,” where they chase social media algorithms, using the Chamber to generate clips, and fuelling polarisation, and replacing discussion with “virtue signalling”—which is his way of whataboutery to insist that the Liberals and NDP are just as bad. He also decried the use of conspiracy theories around things like the United Nations.

The problem? He hired a professional shitposter, Jeff Ballingall, to chase those very social media algorithms he is decrying. He fully used the Chamber to generate clips, he fully endorsed a number of conspiracy theories, whether it was about the firing of the scientists at the Winnipeg Lab, or around the United Nations when he was pretending to be a “true blue conservative” during the leadership. And while this has been seen by some as a rebuke of Poilievre, there was absolutely no contrition about any of what he did, from the serial lying, to his autocratic power games at the end of his leadership. The most he said was “too many members on all sides of this Chamber, and from time to time I have been guilty of it myself, are becoming followers of our followers when we should be leaders.” That was it. That was his contrition to how much he has done all of the things he is decrying as he exits, the bravery of someone who no longer has to live with the consequences of his actions.

https://twitter.com/dwjudson/status/1668484357089099777

It amazes me that the pundit classes, who have been falling all over O’Toole’s speech, keep memory-holing the entire tenure of his leadership and what an absolute lying, tyrannical disaster that he was throughout. Ignoring who he proved himself to be in favour of the image that pundits so desperately want him to be is a choice. And as he heads off to spend more time in his basement podcast studio, it would be great if we could be clear-eyed about just who O’Toole is, instead of just falling for his sombre-voice trick.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukraine says it has liberated seven villages in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia provinces, as the counter-offensive gets underway. Russians, meanwhile, have been shelling Kharkiv, as well as nine towns and villages in Donetsk. They also launched an overnight attack against the central city of Kryvyi Rih, and there are reports of dead and wounded.

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1668246754540630017

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QP: A few last kicks at David Johnston

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While the prime minister was in town, he was not at QP, though his deputy was. Most of the other leaders were also present, for what that’s worth. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, accusing the prime minister of letting China interfere in two elections on his behalf, slandered David Johnston, and with Johnston’s resignation, he said that the Conservatives were willing to work with other parties on a public inquiry and demanded one be called. Dominic LeBlanc said that he appreciates the desire to work collaboratively, that a public inquiry was always an option, and that Johnston’s advice was that it would be difficult because of national security matters, but wanted opposition input on a commissioner, the timeline, and terms of reference. Poilievre pivoted to the rising cost of housing, blamed the prime minister, and demanded a balanced budget (as though there was a correlation between the two). Chrystia Freeland noted that while the country was burning and the government was trying to build a green economy, the Conservatives were block action. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his same nonsense-laden question, and Freeland noted the OECD projections about our strong economic growth before repeating her point about partisan games over a green economy. Poilievre cited the IMF’s concerns about the possibility of a major mortgage default in Canada, and again demanded a balanced budget. Freeland cited IMF praise for Canada and criticised the appalling behaviour of Conservatives blocking budget measures. Poilievre raised a CBC story about the state of student housing, to which Freeland pointed out that the Conservatives were blocking measures to punish Russia for their invasion of Ukraine.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, praised David Johnston for stepping down, and demanded a public inquiry with the commissioner chosen by the House (which is a bad thing) and that it be wide-ranging. LeBlanc said that he looked forward to working with opposition parties on next steps in a responsible manner. Therrien demanded a full public inquiry no matter what, and LeBlanc insisted it was not off the table but there were a lot of things that could not be made public.

Jagmeet Singh worried about mortgage increase and wanted advice for how people could cope. Freeland thanked him for the question, and praised their tax-free first home savings account and the housing accelerator fund. Singh said that doesn’t help a family now and repeated the question in French, with a Quebec figure instead of a Toronto one, and Freeland repeated her response.

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