That line between political and public service got blurred again for a short while on the CIDA website, as op-ed responses from the M-4 Unit – err, Julian Fantino – were posted on the department site. And these were very partisan posts. Within a couple of hours of the cry of alarm being raised, they were taken down, and Fantino’s office blamed the department for putting up the wrong information after they had been told to populate the site. Um, okay. Sure. We’ll totally buy that, even though the government has steadily been trying to politicise the civil service. Thomas Mulcair blasted the incident as breaking all of the guidelines set out by Treasury Board. Kady O’Malley Storify’d the whole afternoon’s craziness here. Meanwhile, National Post columnist Michael Den Tandt doesn’t think Fantino is capable of any cabinet position. Poor M-4 Unit! *sad trombone*
Author Archives: Dale
Roundup: Launching a new Action Plan™
Stephen Harper launched a new Action Plan™ in Montreal yesterday – the Venture Capital Action Plan™, to create Jobs & Growth™ as part of our Fragile Economic Recovery™. Economist Stephen Gordon wonders how this jives with Harper’s reluctance for government control in any industry, or how it benefits anyone other than consultants and lobbyists.
AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo has been ordered by his doctor to take time off because of exhaustion, which given the events of the past couple of weeks is no real surprise. Meanwhile, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence still refuses to end her liquid diet.
Here is a look at some of the projected costs of implementing the new safe drinking water legislation for First Nations reserves, and whether or not the government will fully fund it. Thomas Mulcair has taken to criticizing Harper’s approach to natural resource development, which he says is behind the Aboriginal unrest, and that Harper needs to sit down with the provincial premiers, as they are the key to resource revenue sharing with the First Nations.
Roundup: The post-meeting calls to end the hunger strike
Today in Idle No More news, Thomas Mulcair and the Grand Chief of Quebec Matthew Coon Come are calling for Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence to end her hunger strike because sufficient progress has been made, and the fact that her demand to have the Governor General and the PM at the table together is never going to happen ever. One of the founders of the movement says she supports Spence, but not road blockades or the political process with the AFN. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin criticises Stephen Harper’s handling of the First Nations file. AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo is preparing to meet with Harper again in two weeks, and credits Idle No More for getting the process started.
The Department of Justice has spent $3.6 million on the Ashley Smith inquiry, but is keeping as much of it as the can under wraps.
Roundup: Demands, progress, and walkouts
So, it’s been a busy day. Going into the meeting, the AFN had a list of eight demands. But then a number of Chiefs decided to boycott – in particular, the chiefs from Ontario, Manitoba, the Yukon, and one from Saskatchewan. (You may be pleased to know that the Grand Chief of Northern Quebec quite properly articulated on TV that it was improper to demand that the Governor General be at the table). And so, despite the boycotts and the protests outside, the meeting took place. And out of the eight items, they apparently made some solid progress, so says the PMO and Atleo. But Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence? She’s still not satisfied, and she’s going to keep up her liquid diet. You see, she attended the Governor General’s ceremonial meeting at Rideau Hall, and then walked out – apparently it was “too much of a show” for the person who has created for herself a media circus, and she didn’t feel the honour of the occasion. Oh, and there was something about an improperly handled wampum belt, but nobody seems to be able to figure that one out, but really, it all pretty much amounts to the next round of political Calvinball.
Roundup: The omnishambles of a meeting that may not be
Here is the recap of yesterday’s omnishambles that was the drama over whether or not the First Nations meeting with the Prime Minister was going to happen or not. We’re still not sure. (It was so long that it became its own separate blog post). Here is a primer on some of the issues at play with the meeting, assuming it happens, and some of the broader First Nations discussions going on right now. This was the plan for the meeting – assuming it still goes ahead. The CBC looks at the issue with a group of diverse First Nations voices. Michael Den Tandt looks at Harper’s challenge in the meetings and the Aboriginal issue in the broader context.
Meanwhile, here’s a look at the blank slate that is what we know about Chief Theresa Spence’s history, which suits both her supporters and critics. We have learned that her partner and band co-manager has a history of bankruptcy, and yet he’s the one managing Attawapiskat’s books. Also, he claims to have been training for his CGA designation, and yet there is no record of that.
Spence, the GG, and political Calvinball
It remains to be seen whether or not that meeting between the Prime Minister and the First Nations will happen today because of the omnishambles that the process has become. The day began with the rather amazing feat – that Stephen Harper once again compromised. He asked the Governor General to host a ceremonial meeting at Rideau Hall for the Chiefs after the working meeting, and the GG accepted and extended the invitation. It was a wholly appropriate way of involving the representative of the Queen as the Chiefs were demanding. But then revolt happened. A group of Manitoba chiefs decided that they were going to follow the lead of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and say that unless the GG was at the table with Harper, then no dice. Of course, Chief Spence’s demands have had all the clarity of the rules of Calvinball, and her demands changed again today so that she wanted Harper and the GG at the table at the same time, and the premier of Ontario. You know, the one who’s tendered his resignation and is busy cleaning out his office while his successor is being chosen? Yeah, that one. And never mind that Chief Spence’s credibility has pretty much been reduced to tatters because of her erratic behaviour and demands – her demand that Harper and the GG be at the table together is completely and wholly inappropriate.
Roundup: Spence versus Responsible Government
It was another fraught day with regards to the whole Prime Minister-First Nations meeting, Chief Theresa Spence, and civic literacy in general. Chief Spence first said that she wasn’t going to go to the meeting because the Governor General wouldn’t be there. And then, briefly, she was going to be there, and then no, no she wasn’t and to add to that, she was going to keep up her liquid diet, and had signed her will because she was ready to die. So really, no dramatics there. But not only that, the continued insistence that the Governor General be there to represent “the Crown” is both wrong and misguided, and yet nobody seems willing to tell Spence that she’s barking up the wrong tree. In fact, she’s decided to write the Queen to have her insist that the GG show up – because the Queen is magic, and Canada is apparently still a colony under direct Crown control. “Oh, but it’s an important symbol that he be there,” Spence’s supporters insist. Except that the only symbolic message that would be sent is that the Queen and by extension the GG are the ones who make public policy in Canada and that the whole 167 years of Responsible Government were all just a dream – like that season of Dallas. Because without trying to be too glib, this is exactly what Spence is demanding. And not to put too fine of a point on it, I’ll add this quote: “Spence is demanding a meeting with a ghost, with a Crown that by 1763 had already ceded much of its discretionary powers to Parliament.” This from a post that explains the metaphors that Spence is trying to interact with on a literal basis. And the fact that people don’t understand that it’s inappropriate to involve the Sovereign or her representative in what is supposed to be a working policy discussion is troubling, because it means that they have no working understanding of what Responsible Government is, let alone that it’s a real thing, a system of governing principles that is the foundation for our democracy. That anyone would honestly suggest otherwise, that the Queen could swan in and make proclamations or declarations at whim, is an indictment of the crisis state of our civic illiteracy, and it really needs to be rectified.
Roundup: Redefining status
The Federal Court has ruled that non-status Aboriginals and Métis should be classified as “Indians” under the constitution, and that the federal government has a fiduciary responsibility towards them. This opens up a major can of worms in terms of the way that policy and duty to consult will have to happen going forward, as well as resources for those individuals based on what the government is obligated to provide, and this will be complicated more because the ruling does nothing to settle how the government will need to exercise this jurisdiction. This will doubtlessly be headed for the Supreme Court, so it may be some years before it is fully settled.
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s boyfriend invites a forensic audit of the band’s finances to prove that there wasn’t any misspending – even though it’s been his job to provide the documentation that’s missing. He also defends his relationship and insists that he reports to the band council as a whole and that Spence doesn’t vote on conflicts of interests. Meanwhile, when Global News sent a crew up to Attawapiskat, they were kicked off the reserve and threatened with arrest – under Spence’s orders – while Spence’s camp on Victoria Island has also banned the media under the rubric that they are “printing lies.”
Roundup: A damning audit
Things on the Attawapiskat file got even more interesting yesterday with leaks of the independent audit of the band’s finances – the full report going online later in the day on the Aboriginal Affairs website. The gist – there was almost no due diligence with spending on the reserve, little to no documentation, and no way to tell if any of the money has been spent effectively. And remember that Spence’s partner is the band’s co-manager, whose job it is to handle the money. Spence has also known the audit’s results since August 28th, and has refused to comment to the audit firm about it. While it was due to be released no later than the middle of next week, the PM’s spokesperson denied that it had been withheld deliberately. And Spence? Shut out the media from her Victoria Island campsite while her spokesperson said that the audit was wrong and wondered about the timing of the release. Paul Wells notes that of all the leaders, past prime ministers and would-be leaders who’ve visited Spence, Thomas Mulcair was conspicuously absent, which may have turned out to be a prudent thing. Jonathan Kay parses the lessons inherent in that year-old CBC report on Attawapiskat, and applies them to the current situation. John Ivison looks at the audit, and the context of Theresa Spence’s ever-changing goal posts, while Andrew Coyne looks at the tensions in the Aboriginal community between those looking to modernise with incremental advancements the way the current government is proceeding with, and those who consider those advancements “genocide.”
Roundup: The continued protests
Despite the meeting arranged with Stephen Harper, Idle No More protests continued across the weekend, including at border crossings. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin met with Chief Theresa Spence on Saturday and said that she’s an inspiration for many. Spence is continuing her hunger strike until she’s sure that “concrete action” will be taken, which seems to be yet another case of goalposts being moved, each one fuzzier than the last. While APTN checks the math that SunTV did on Attawapiskat’s finances and comes to a few different conclusions, a year-old CBC report from the community reappeared over the Twitter Machine yesterday which shows that there are some serious governance problems on the reserve.
As the Parliamentary Budget Officer turns his gaze to the contract for joint support ships that the Royal Canadian Navy has been planning on building for years now, it looks like that particular process is its own mess, but in a reverse fashion from the F-35s, where the civilian side is taking too much control and there seems to be little regard for what the military’s needs are, while the focus remains solely on costs.