Author Archives: Dale

About Dale

Journalist in the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery

Roundup: The fiscal update’s hidden gem

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The fall fiscal update was delivered yesterday – in the House of Commons, it must be noted – and not unsurprisingly there are deeper deficits projected while the government pledges funds to kickstart an infrastructure bank in the hopes of attracting foreign investment. Oh, and “no path back to balance” is the phrase you’re going to hear an awful lot in the coming weeks. Probably ad nauseum. Oh, and “privatization,” as the NDP now consider the infrastructure banks (because hey, we might have to start paying for the roads and bridges that this bank might fund and we couldn’t have that). That having been said, the debt-to-GDP ratio will be the government’s saving grace when it comes to the size of the deficit, as it should remain relatively stable, while still coming in at the lowest in the G7 by a significant margin. So there’s that.

This all having been said, there were other elements in the update that bear mentioning, and which should not be overlooked, which are some of the changes to the way that Parliament operates. They’re going to make the Parliamentary Budget Officer a full Officer of Parliament (which I have mixed feelings about because this solidifies his status as an unaccountable officer for MPs to fob their homework off onto while hiding behind his analyses as “objective proof” of their partisan accusation), they’re adding new independence to Statistics Canada, and they’re going to open up the Board of Internal Economy. But more important than any of that is they’re going to do something about the Estimates cycle.

Why does this matter? Because MPs are supposed to hold the government to account by controlling the public purse, but over succeeding decades, the ways in which they do that – the Estimates and supply cycle – have become so corrupted that they no longer follow the budget cycle, their accounting methods no longer match the Public Accounts so that they can’t track spending, and in many cases, MPs just vote on the Estimates in a series of votes with zero scrutiny (leaving that job up to the Senate – naturally). So if this government is promising to put the Estimates and Budget cycle back in sync, and to clean up the discrepancies between the Estimates and the Public Accounts, that is a Very Big Deal. It means that it will let MPs do their jobs like they’re supposed to do. (We’ll see if any of them do, especially with an empowered PBO for them to fob that homework off onto, but this will certainly help him too). It’s restoring some of the proper functioning of our parliamentary democracy, and we shouldn’t ignore it.

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QP: In advance of the fiscal update

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Just before the fall fiscal update was to be delivered – in the Commons for the first time in a decade, mind you – Justin Trudeau was elsewhere, despite all other leaders being present. Rona Ambrose led off, raising the forthcoming fiscal update and wondering why the government was doubling down on its failed plan. Bill Morneau said that he was looking forward to talking about the long-term impact of their measures. Ambrose noted that the infrastructure plan only got one project going, but Amarjit Sohi disputed that characterization and praised the agreements with the provinces. Ambrose decried tax increases, and Morneau retorted with the tax cuts they put through in the last year plus the implementation of the Canada Child Benefit. Ambrose then tried to equate Trudeau’s cabinet with Kathleen Wynne’s staffers facing provincial charges as a segue to fundraising issues, and Bardish Chagger read her standard response about the federal rules. Ambrose changed to French and raised the Chrétien-era staffer who was found guilty for Sponsorship-scandal related fraud charges, and Chagger simply repeated her response in French. Thomas Mulcair was up next, asking about police surveillance of a journalist in Quebec. Ralph Goodale responded about the gravity of the situation and the values of freedom of the press, which is spelled out in a ministerial directive. Mulcair pressed, and Goodale spelled out the Supreme Court five-part test. Mulcair moved onto fundraising, and Chagger repeated her standard response. Another round of the same got no different answer.

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Roundup: Another six senators

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Six new Ontario senators were named yesterday, bringing the total of new senators up to 15 with another six to go, and yes, all of them look fully qualified on their face (such as Kim Pate, interviewed here), but as Mike Moffatt points out, a region as significant as Southwestern Ontario remains without any representation in the upper chamber, while John Ivison notes that most of these senators are looking pretty ideologically similar in that they’re largely small-l liberals, achieving a particular partisanship without it being nakedly so. More than just it being a form of partisanship, Philippe Lagassé wonders if these new appointments aren’t creating a fundamental change in the institution from one where it is based on a challenge function to the government (by way of sober second thought) into one where its members are so far to the progressive side that they will push the government into taking far more progressive steps than they would have otherwise, and using the Senate as their excuse for doing so (as in, woe, the Senate made us be far more progressive in this legislation than we wanted, and they forced us into it lest they veto the bill). He’s got a point, and I very much suspected that they were going to do that with the assisted dying bill, and then they very much did not, while they both continued to use the Supreme Court as their particular shield to hide behind, making the courts force their hand once again. Will they continue in this way, or will they start using the Senate as their vanguard more often? Well, time will tell, I suppose, but it is something to take notice of.

Meanwhile, Kady O’Malley wonders what will happen once the non-aligned senators have the balance of power in the Senate, and whether it means the demise of a big-O Official Opposition in the Senate. And this is where I think she and I depart ways a bit because I do see value in there still being caucuses (albeit not the same power balance as exists currently) rather than the chamber as a whole as opposition, especially because of the way that Senator Peter Harder has been trying to slowly co-opt those non-aligned senators for his own purposes. Part of why I see the value in caucuses is that when it comes to something like Opposition, it’s more effective to combine strengths (without being thoughtless voting blocs because come on, the last eight years of nonsense by the bulk of Conservative senators was also not exactly edifying) than to just be a bunch of loose fish nibbling around the edges, with dubious effectiveness. But maybe that’s just me.

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QP: Hugging it out

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As is traditional on Halloween, we got a number of tortured metaphors and references during members’ statement. As well, all leaders with the exception of Thomas Mulcair were present, and no one was in costume. Rona Ambrose led off with a question about fundraising — again. Justin Trudeau tried to turn the question on its head, talking about their open engagement and public consultations. Ambrose tried to keep it about the ethical guidelines, but Trudeau kept up his praise for their unprecedented levels of engagement. Ambrose demanded an end to preferential access, and Trudeau insisted that there was no preferential access, and that they were in fact being accused of consulting too much. Ambrose moved onto carbon pricing and how it hurt families. Trudeau noted their middle class tax cut, and made a plug for tomorrow’s fall economic update. Ambrose lamented the lack of job creation, and Trudeau instead took a moment to praise the signing of CETA, giving credit to the Conservatives while he was at it. Romeo Saganash led off for the NDP, demanding the deadline for increasing First Nations child welfare funding. Trudeau noted his commitment to First Nations, and that they were continuing to work on that file. Saganash didn’t get an answer on the deadline, and pressed for one. Trudeau said it was a problem that goes back generations, and that they need to build capacity in the system. Charlie Angus picked it up in English, and Trudeau repeated his response. Angus brought up a particular case where there was a legal battle over the fees, and Trudeau insisted that they were committed to working in partnership on a solution.

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Roundup: CETA got signed

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Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland went to Brussels over the weekend to sign the Canada-EU trade deal (known as CETA), but this was the real signing, as opposed to the several signings staged by the Harper government at much earlier iterations of the process, which they wanted to use to show how pro-trade they were, and how much work they were doing on the trade file. And yes, they did get the ball rolling on CETA, as well as the TPP, and a number of trade deals with a bunch of small countries with tiny economies that do very little trade with Canada, and loudly proclaimed the number (as opposed to the worth of those signed deals). So there’s that. At the signing ceremony, Trudeau also downplayed the delays and praised the democratic way in which it all happened, essentially saying that it’s not a bad thing to raise questions and to have them answered, which is fairly gracious of him (and fits with the overall character of his government to date in acknowledging the challenge function of parliament and the media – though he may want to let his Senate leader, Peter Harder, know, as Harder rather arrogantly doesn’t believe that the Senate needs an official opposition).

Of course, now comes the hard part of implementation, which will doubtlessly have numerous stumbling blocks along the way, and we’ll likely need several reminders about why the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism isn’t actually an attack on sovereignty, and how the improvements that Freeland negotiated to the system are a net positive and will likely form a model for other such systems going forward. We’ll hear yet more cries from the NDP and other left-leaning critics about those concerns, but the deal is moving ahead.

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Roundup: Seriously, stop calling it cash-for-access

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Apparently we’re still on this bizarre witch hunt against Liberal Party fundraisers, because I’m guessing we have little else to obsess over right now. Best of all, we’re now inventing conspiracy theories, like how the head of drug company Apotex is apparently fundraising because his company is both lobbying the government (as a drug company does) and because they’re involved in a lawsuit, and no said company head isn’t the company’s lobbyist, but yet these connections are being drawn by both media and echoed by the opposition, and I shake my head wondering people in their right mind think this is some kind of a scandal or breach of ethics. You really think the federal government is going to throw a lawsuit because they got a $1500 donation? Really? Honestly?

That media – and in particular the Globe and Mail continues to characterise this as “cash for access” is bizarre. Sure, your “average family” isn’t going to pay $3000 to meet a minister, but why would they? I mean, seriously? What would be the point? And it’s not like they don’t do other events either, and we’ve previously established that this is a government that loves its consultations, so it’s not like you couldn’t have your say. It’s inventing a problem that doesn’t actually exist. Do you think ministers shouldn’t attend fundraisers at all? Do you think that they can be bought for $1500? How about $500? $100? And they’re not hiding these fundraisers either. VICE asked for the list, and lo and behold, it was provided. But here’s the most bizarre part of all – mere months ago, the Globe declared that the federal system was the best in the country and urged provinces to all adopt it (while in the midst of their zeal against the much more dubious practices that were taking place in Ontario where ministers were soliciting donations from the stakeholders lobbying them, which is not what is happening at the federal level).

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Meanwhile, the president of the Liberal Party wrote a response to the Globe, but they wouldn’t publish it, so it’s on their website. Howard Anglin expands on his criticism of the reporting on fundraisers, and defends our system as being clean on the whole, and seriously, this is getting tiresome.

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Roundup: Nine new senators

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Nine new senators were appointed yesterday, with another 12 appointments to come in the next few days. By the time that happens, the non-aligned senators will have the plurality in the chamber, but that is causing a bit of consternation among some of the existing independent senators. Senator André Pratte sent out a missive decrying that committee seats are not proportional yet, while Senator Claude Caignan groused about the appointment process as being neither open, transparent, nor non-partisan, and insinuated that they were all Liberals in all-but-name and intimated that they would all be “steadfastly loyal” to the Prime Minister for appointing them – you know, just like he was unthinkingly partisan and loyal to Harper since his own appointment.

As for some of the new senators, PowerPlay interviewed incoming senator Patricia Bovey and the chair of the appointments committee, Hughette Labelle, while Power & Politics interviewed Diane Griffin. The Canadian Press profiled Daniel Christmas, who will be the first Mi’kmaq senator.

P&P went hard on the fact that some of these new senators had previously donated to parties – and not all of them to the Liberals – which is irksome because it’s giving this message of a rather unfair level of non-partisanship being expected when donations are part of political engagement in our system, and we should want senators who have at least had some level of engagement and were not completely disinterested in politics. As for the pace at which the modernization to the Senate rules are happening, I would caution against moving too quickly – as Pratte is demanding, Senator Peter Harder is glowering darkly about, and Terry Milewski was being ridiculous in his characterisation of on P&P. If we want an upper chamber that is functional but not dominated by parties, we want to make sure that rule changes are done right and not in haste, and we especially don’t want them to be turning over any swaths of power to Harder as the “government representative,” as he is already empire-building and starting to try and co-opt the non-aligned senators as they organise themselves. If they’re not getting on committees fast enough, that’s in part because the rules are such that committees can’t be reconstituted until a prorogation, but we also want to give these new senators time to get adjusted and settled. Throwing them onto committees too soon will be overwhelming, and if they’re interested, they can still sit in on the committee meetings and contribute – they just can’t vote. The proportions of seats will adjust before too long. A little patience is not a bad thing.

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QP: Building a conspiracy theory

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Even though Justin Trudeau was not off to Europe for the CETA signing, he was not in Question Period, nor was Thomas Mulcair. Rona Ambrose led off, demanding transparency on the mission in Iraq, saying that the training mission has changed (never mind that it was always billed as “advise and assist.”) Marc Garneau answered, somewhat unexpectedly, and noted that it was advise and assist by that they needed operational security because Daesh was sophisticated. Ambrose tried again, and Garneau repeated the response, but added that a new medical facility in Iraq was being installed. Ambrose then moved onto fundraising and raising the spectre of the lobbying commissioner investigating, but it merely merited a recited response on the strict federal rules. Denis Lebel was up next and raised the issue of a veteran who faced discrimination for her sexual orientation, and Garneau reminded her that society had changed and they were working on a whole-of-government response. Lebel then moved onto the PBO report on the labour market and the loss of jobs reported. Jean-Yves Duclos noted that they were working on job creation. Tracey Ramsey led off for the NDP, decrying the EU trade agreement and the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. Chrystia Freeland read her astonishment at the lack of NDP support for a progressive trade agreement. Alexandre Boulerice asked again in French, raising the spectre of Quebec dairy farmers and drug prices, but Freeland’s answer didn’t change. Boulerice then raised the fundraising rules, Chagger gave her rote response on federal limits, and Tracey Ramsey gave another go in English for the same response.

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Roundup: Questions about ordered repayments

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Conservative-turned-independent Senator John Wallace is asking questions around the decision to withhold Senator Mike Duffy’s salary to repay inappropriate expenses that were uncovered as part of his court case, and in particular, whether the Internal Economy Committee’s three-member steering committee has been exceeding its authority in making decisions without the full committee signing off. The steering committee after all is supposed to be limited to some administrative matters, but in cases of “emergency,” they can do more. So was this an emergency? There is the argument that the decision was made over the summer when the full committee could not meet, and it was in accordance with rules laid out as part of the broader expenses issue and dispute resolution process, which Duffy did not avail himself of, his lawyer insisting that he was “fully exonerated” by the judge in his court case (which is not what the judge said, but rather that what he did simply didn’t meet the threshold of being criminal, and yes, there is a vast difference). With a case as high-profile as Duffy’s, the fact that inappropriate expenses have been flagged meant that the appearance of doing something about recovering those expenses was a very real consideration for the continued public legitimacy of the institution whose reputation has taken a beating, and letting Duffy get away with those inappropriate expenses would continue to damage the institution in the eyes of the public. But, that having been said, was this a decision that could or should have waited for the full committee to decide up on in the fall, and is this a case of procedural unfairness or worse, of a lack of any kind of due process, as has happened on more than one occasion as this whole expenses issue has reared its head? I’m not sure, but it does bear asking. I do think that something needed to be done to address the issue in a timely manner because the Senate has to rebuild its public image after senators like Duffy have done so much to muddy it, but whether what happened was right, well, that’s not a question I can answer.

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QP: Demanding a technical briefing

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For a second day in a row, all leaders were present in the Commons, ready to go for QP after a morning of caucus meetings. Rona Ambrose led off, asking about the secrecy over whether our Forces were on the front lines in Iraq. Justin Trudeau said that their role in assisting and training was important and dangerous but necessary work. Ambrose worried that the lack of transparency with no technical briefings, and Trudeau noted the need for operational security. Ambrose asked again in French, got the same response. From there, Ambrose went onto fundraising and tried to link ministers going to fundraisers with the former system in Ontario, and Trudeau reminded her that there are strict and transparent rules. She pressed again, but Trudeau responded a bit more forcefully. Thomas Mulcair kept up the fundraising questions, calling activities “unethical” and wanted tougher rules into law. Trudeau reiterated the strict federal laws, and they went another round of the same in French. Mulcair then moved onto funding for First Nations children, demanding support for their Supply Day motion on the subject tomorrow. Trudeau spoke about respect and working in partnership and the noted the investments to date. Mulcair asked again in English, and got much the same response.

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