The government is updating their citizenship guide, and while people are going to criticise it, I’m going to say that it’s a good thing that they actually devote a page to the fact that we’re a constitutional monarchy, and that they talk about the fact that Elizabeth II is the Queen of Canada. Not enough people realise what living in a constitutional monarchy means, even though it’s at the very heart of our political system. It would also be nice if we could stop acting horrified every time this government points out that basic fact because guess what – we’re a constitutional monarchy, and it’s actually a pretty good system. (It’s also too bad that the reporter in this story referred to Elizabeth II as the “Queen of England” – never mind that there hasn’t been a Queen of England since 1707). As well, they’ve done a pretty good job with the paragraph on the rights of gays and lesbians in this updated guide. Of course, it’s too bad that they’ve also included other bits of politicking with their references to human trafficking, polygamy and marriage fraud – current bugaboos of the government.
Author Archives: Dale
Roundup: Farewell King Ralph
Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein passed away yesterday after a battle with dementia and a chronic lung condition. Harper, Mulcair and Rae respond here, as to Alison Redford and Naheed Nenshi here. Colby Cosh offers a must-read clear-eyed look at his legacy, and cuts through the myths and distortions that grew up around it – and offers something of an explanation for Alberta itself in the process. Don Martin, who covered him during his days as mayor, reminisces about his years covering the former Calgary mayor and premier. Michael Den Tandt writes about Klein’s sense of authenticity, which is sorely lacking from political leaders today. The Canadian Press offers a collection of some of Klein’s more colourful phrases and moments.
Roundup: Heavy hand on the caucus
Today in the Warawa/MPs’ freedom of speech file, the motion was blocked again by the committee, which means that Warawa has the final appeal to the House itself if he so chooses. Meanwhile, other MPs, including Nathan Cullen gave their responses to Warawa’s privilege motion, and most of them resorted to hockey metaphors – because we have no other form of elegant discourse in this country, apparently. Oh, and it was a bit rich for Cullen to decry the partisan attack SO31s when his own party is increasingly doing the very same, and he once again asks the Speaker to rule rather than taking any kind of agency as a party for their own centralising behaviour. The Globe and Mail reports that caucus heard that Harper was explicit during Wednesday’s caucus meeting that he would use any and all means necessary to keep the abortion issue off the table as he has pledged to the electorate. Chris Hall looks at how this is an example of abortion politics masquerading as a free speech issue. Four Liberal leadership candidates respond to the question of what they would do with this situation – and no, Justin Trudeau was not one of the responders. And if you’re curious, PostMedia gives a breakdown of the current state of abortion laws and access in this country.
QP: All in due course
It was Friday-on-a-Thursday in the House, as it prepared to rise for the Easter break. Attendance was lighter than usual, but not as light as a usual Friday, and most unusually, Stephen Harper was present, which I completely did not expect. Megan Leslie was leading off for the NDP, asking about the tax increases in the budget. Harper stood up to list all of the tax increases that he claimed the NDP were in support of (which may or may not reflect reality). For her final question, Leslie asked about a patronage appointment at ACOA of a former ministerial staffer, to which Harper assured her that it had been cleared by the Public Service Commission and there was no ministerial interference. Craig Scott was up next, and with his air of affected gravitas, asked about the Elections Canada report on recommendations to avoid future instances of misleading robocalls, and wondered where the promised bill was. Tim Uppal reminded him that they just got the report yesterday, and that the bill would come in due course. For the Liberals,Ralph Goodale asked about the government pulling out of the UN convention on drought, which has plenty of applications back in Canada as well as abroad. Harper responded that the UN body spent less than 20 percent of its dollars to achieve results, and surely they could spend their funds being more effective elsewhere. Goodale moved onto the robocall report, to which Harper somewhat spuriously claimed that only the Liberals were “convicted” of breaking these laws, and as the the report was only tabled yesterday, they were reviewing and and would take its findings into account. Massimo Pacetti asked the same again in French, to which Harper repeated the same again in French.
Roundup: Loyalty and tight lids on issues
On the continuing Mark Warawa “muzzling” drama, the appeal to the Procedure and House Affairs subcommittee on private members’ business met in camera yesterday, and we should find out their decision this morning. Warawa himself does his best to appear loyal to the PM, and doesn’t want to place the blame for this all on him. Aaron Wherry takes note of the circular logic that the NDP seem to employ when it comes to this debate – how it’s bad that the government muzzles, and yet they should absolutely keep the abortion debate under a tight lid. Bruce Cheadle looks back at caucus divisions over the abortion issue among the past governments of the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives. Chantal Hébert sees the possible seeds of a leadership challenge being sown in this Warawa drama. Andrew Coyne (quite rightly) points to the bigger questions of our parliamentary democracy that are at stake by the heavy hand of the leaders’ offices.
QP: The Bob Rae farewell tour
It was Bob Rae’s last QP as interim leader, while news of some kind of Conservative backbench revolt had fizzled out. With Thomas Mulcair still off in Labrador, it was up to Megan Leslie to lead off QP, asking about the tax increases in the budget. In response, Stephen Harper insisted that the NDP would raise taxes even more — apparently implicitly saying that the increases in the budget are okay in comparison. Charlie Angus was up next, bringing up the finding of the Ethics Commissioner with regard to the finding of Jay Hill. Tony Clement explained that they referred the matter to the Ethics Commissioner in the first place, and they strengthened the law in the first place. And then it was Bob Rae’s turn, for which he got an ovation by the entire House to mark the occasion. Rae hit out at the NDP and their disapproval of Keystone XL, and wondered why Harper wouldn’t lead a “Team Canada” delegation of supportive MPs and premiers to Washington in order to advocate for the pipeline. Harper said that they were already working hard, and that he wished he had such good ideas earlier.
Roundup: Robocall recommendations under advisement
The Minister of State for Democratic Reform is finally getting around to drafting a bill on reforming electoral laws to prevent things like fraudulent robocalls. While Elections Canada is coming with a report on said calls this week, with recommendations about how they would like to see the laws changed, Tim Uppal says that he won’t limit himself to those recommendations. So what kinds of changes is he considering? Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Peter Kent has ordered that the soon-to-be-defunct National Round Table on Environment and the Economy to stop posting on their website, and to turn over all of their files in relation to said site over to his department. While he says this is about transferring those contents to Library and Archives, where they will remain accessible to the public, it is a bit odd that he is actively seeking to keep things like a farewell message from the Governor General from being posted on said site in its final days.
Warawa, centralised power, and Parliament under siege
There’s been a lot of attention paid in the past day about MPs feeling muzzled in the wake of Mark Warawa’s motion on sex-selective abortions being deemed non-voteable by committee, and his being denied a promised Members’ Statement, during which he had planned to raise the issue. Now, of course we know why the heavy hand of the PMO has come down on this issue – because they’re tired of having to defend against the constant accusations that the government has a pro-life hidden agenda, and the opposition parties are happy to keep this agenda off the floor by agreeing that it shouldn’t be voteable, by whichever excuse they find most convenient.
QP: Such a well-received budget
Harper’s first day in the House post-budget, and Thomas Mulcair was not present. Instead, he on his way to Labrador to meet his party’s candidate in the upcoming by-election there. David Christopherson led off for the NDP, and railed against measures contained in the budget. Stephen Harper assured him that the budget has been well received. For his final supplemental, Christopherson angrily denounced the case of the cancer survivor fighting against the government to reclaim her EI benefits. Harper said that the Act had already been changed so that this situation wouldn’t happen again — though he couldn’t comment on this particular case because it is before the courts. Nycole Turmel returned to the same question in French, and got the same response, before she finished off with a boilerplate anti-budget denunciation. Ted Menzies responded by telling the House what the NDP voting against the budget would mean. For the Liberals, Bob Rae asked about the unilateral nature of the Canada Jobs Grant changes in the budget, to which Harper told him that they were trying to address the problem of jobs without people in this country. For his final question, Rae noted that his Harper’s backbenchers were concerned that he wasn’t letting them speak their minds, just as Harper wasn’t listening to the provinces about their concerns about the budget. Harper dodged by sticking to the budget lines.
Roundup: On being anti-trade and avoiding another round of austerity
Economist Stephen Gordon has taken a second look at the budget, and declares that with higher tariffs on more countries, and tighter restrictions on foreign investment in Canada, the government is really more anti-trade than it lets on. He also calls out the logic about how the “preferential tariff” was some kind of a subsidy if its elimination means Canadian taxpayers end up paying more. Over in Hong Kong, Jim Flaherty says that the issue of the increased tariffs have not yet been raised, but closer to home, his plan to return to the issue of a single national securities regulator is still not getting a lot of traction from the more recalcitrant provinces. The NDP, meanwhile, have decided to call in the RCMP about the budget “leaks” that appeared in the media in the lead-up as part of the government communications strategy.