It was a busy news day, with the Fair Elections Act tabled and charges laid against both Senator Patrick Brazeau and former senator Mac Harb. It was a question of which would happen first — denunciations of the bill, or attempting to make a Mac Harb question sound like government business. When QP got underway, Thomas Mulcair first demanded the resignation of Julian Fantino, not that Stephen Harper was going to bite on that one. When he insisted that the veterans service centres be restored, Harper insisted that they had increased services, not cuts. Mulcair moved onto the issue of CSE’s monitoring of airport WiFi and asked who authorised it, Harper assured him that CSE acted within the law. Justin Trudeau was up next, and brought up the elections bill and called it an attack on Elections Canada. Harper insisted that this was simply about ensuring proper independence of the Commissioner of Elections. When Trudeau brought up Elections Canada’s request to have the powers to compel testimony, Harper retreated to the same talking points.
Author Archives: Dale
Roundup: Poilievre’s questionable moves
Being released today is the new election reform act brought forward by the government which promises to reshape Elections Canada. And yes, the opposition is nervous. Already there are questions as to why Pierre Poilievre was selective in his answers to the House yesterday during QP when he said that he had met with the Chief Electoral Officer about the bill. That meeting, however, was before it was drafted, and not about the actual provision or language of the bill, which is kind of a big deal. One of the big questions about the bill is the provision that the new Commissioner of Elections be appointed by the Director of Public Prosecutions rather than the Chief Electoral Officer, and how that will affect his or her independence. Oh, and the most egregious part? That Poilievre is having his press conference to announce the bill before the technical briefing for reporters takes place. You know, so they won’t have time to read it or understand it before asking questions. Because that’s not a cynical move designed to frustrate the media and keep things as opaque as possible.
QP: Sedate questions sans Fantino
Monday in the House, and the benches slowly filled up before QP was about to get started, but Elizabeth May was the only leader present. As well, it was Deputy Speaker Joe Comartin in the Chair, and the Wooden Mace on the table. That left it up to Megan Leslie to lead off for the NDP, wondering about Julian Fantino’s union-bashing rather than supporting veterans. Parm Gill, Fantino’s parliamentary secretary, insisted that veterans would be better off with the new system as there would be more home delivery of service. Leslie moved onto the topic of CSE using airport Wifi to track travellers, to which Rob Nicholson repeated the talking point that the CSE Commissioner found their activities to be within the law. Jack Harris repeated the same again in English, not that he got a different answer. For the Liberals, Wayne Easter carried on with the questions of CSE’s activities, but Nicholson’s answers didn’t change. When Easter brought up the Commissioner’s report in which he stated that some of the activities may have been directed at Canadians in contravention of the law, Nicholson’s answers didn’t budge from their script. Marc Garneau have one last attempt at the question in French, but Nicholson insisted that CSE was in the business of protecting Canadians, and that should have the support of the Liberals.
Roundup: Reorganizing Elections Canada?
It sounds like the election reform bill will be tabled soon – possibly this week – and sources are saying that it will reorganize Elections Canada, removing the Commissioner of Elections from the organisation into its own standalone office. It also sounds like the Chief Electoral Officer has not thus far been consulted on the bill, so we’ll see just how problematic that actually ends up being.
Roundup: One Keystone XL hurdle cleared
The US State Department’s report on the Keystone XL pipeline has been released, and they have determined that it won’t have any significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions, and also gave figures for what would happen if all of that oil were to be transported by rail, which would mean not only more emissions, but also more injuries and fatalities. Energy economist Andrew Leach parses what’s in the report here. Luisa Ch. Savage details the reception in Washington DC to the report and among environmentalists, who continue to remain opposed. Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall thinks the report is a cause for optimism that the pipeline will eventually happen.
Roundup: Overselling change, reaffirming identity
In more reaction to Justin Trudeau’s senate move – which the Liberals are totally overselling in both chambers, incidentally – we hear from Senator Anne Cools, the Dean of the Senate, who fears that it may be unwise and that it doesn’t speak highly of Trudeau’s sense of loyalty. Conservative MP John Williamson says boneheaded things like we should choose senators out of the phone book. Senator Terry Mercer says that while he may no longer be in national caucus, nobody is going to stop him from being a party activist, either at the provincial or federal level. Mercer and fellow Senate Liberal Céline Hervieux-Payette were on Power & Politics, where Mercer said the important change is that there will no longer be whipped votes (but the role of the Whip is organisational), and it’s obvious that Evan Solomon needs to brush up on the constitution (hint: the Senate’s legitimacy is conferred by the constitution). A few other senators are pushing back a little against the move, and the Conservatives in the Senate are now questioning funds to the opposition. A few months ago, Stéphane Dion dismissed the very idea of an appointments commission as elitist and watered down the Prime Minister’s accountability – and he’s entirely right. Laura Payton explains the caucus mechanics and why they’re important. Bruce Hicks gives some history about the kinds of appointments that Sir John A Macdonald promised when the Senate was created.
QP: Fantino gives assurances
With things having calmed down on the Hill somewhat after yesterday’s excitement, and only one major leader in the House, it was certainly a much more sedate day in the Chamber. Mulcair opened with a series of questions about the closures of veteran service centres, and wanted to know if the Conservatives would be allowed a free vote on their opposition day motion. Julian Fantino, in his robotic monotone, insisted that there were over 600 points of service that were nearby these veterans, even when it was pointed out that one the nearest Service Canada centre to one the closed veterans centre in Newfoundland is eight hours away. Stéphane Dion led off for the Liberals, and asked about the recent job numbers. Andrew Saxton touted the government’s job creation record. Scott Brison got up to demand a real plan for jobs, but Saxton disputed his figures, and on the supplemental, Saxton read off a list of programmes the government brought in.
Roundup: Reverberations from the Senate bombshell
So, that whole Justin Trudeau expelling senators from caucus thing. It was a very interesting day to say the least. Trudeau’s speech, with all of its populist bilge about the Senate being “broken” can be found here. Senate Liberal leader (as he is now styled) James Cowan posted some thoughts on what the change means and how it’s more about solving the problem of the perception that Trudeau was issuing orders to his senate caucus when he really wasn’t, and you can see him discuss this on Power & Politics here. And yes, there seems to be some differing ideas on what “independent” means – who would have thought? My own column about the move looks at why it’s a problem with respect to responsible government and the loss of experience in caucus. Emmett Macfarlane, whom the Liberals consulted on the move, writes that there is nothing fundamentally unworkable about a “non-partisan” Senate, and that Trudeau’s move is an attempt at a culture change in the Chamber. Here’s more reaction from Paul Wells, John Geddes, and Michael Den Tandt. Senator Joyal is torn about the move and worries about the loss of collegiality, which is a very good point – it’s easier to use the Senate as a punching bag if you don’t have to see senators at caucus meetings. The NDP are making noise that Trudeau opposed their opposition day motion “on the very same thing” back in the fall, but as you can see, it’s not the same thing, especially as the House can’t legislate the Senate’s activities.
QP: Calls for Fantino’s head
While the shock waves of the morning’s bombshell from Justin Trudeau reverberated around the Hill, it was in the Commons where there was the smell of blood in the water. Thomas Mulcair led off with a demand that Julian Fantino apologise for the way he treated those veterans yesterday. Stephen Harper stood up to declare how much his government had done for veterans. Mulcair switched to English, and demanded Fantino’s resignation, but Harper insisted that Fantino had apologised. Mulcair went on to drive home the point about their “support” for veterans by brining up the case of a family of a veteran who committed suicide where the department wanted repayment for benefits. Harper said that once the minister was made aware, he took action. Mulcair carried on about the closure of veterans offices while ministerial staff was being increased, but Harper insisted that the minister took action when the bureaucrats made a mistake, and that it was the unions that didn’t like the closures. For his final question, Mulcair brought up the loss of individual case workers for veterans, but Harper insisted that they were increasing points of service. Justin Trudeau was up next, and rather plainly asked for Harper to fire Fantino. Harper repeated their pledges of support for veterans and the men and women in uniform. Trudeau changed topics and made the suggestion that Harper set his own senators free as he did — to gales of laughter in the Conservative and NDP benches. Harper made a jab about unelected Liberal senators and Senator Cowan’s declaration that little would change.
Roundup: Fantino’s bungled meeting
Oh Julian Fantino – you’ve really done it this time. When a group of veterans came to meet him about the closure of eight service facilities, Fantino was an hour late, sending his parliamentary secretary and two MPs who are also veterans to assure them that the changes won’t really impact them, which just incensed the veterans. And when Fantino did show up, things got heated, and he stormed out saying that he wasn’t going to be finger-pointed to as one of the veterans was emphatically saying “You’re going to promise me that I won’t see any changes in service,” at which point said veterans filed down to the press theatre and denounced Fantino and the government. And it was quite the press conference to watch. To cap it off, Fantino put out a press release to highlight the “roundtable” held and to express his disappointment with PSAC, who brought the veterans to the Hill. Yeah, good job there. On a similar note, Fantino’s department is demanding repayment for $581 from the family of a soldier who committed suicide. No, seriously.