Author Archives: Dale

About Dale

Journalist in the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery

Roundup: Veteran protests and shuttered investigations

Posted on by

As we head into the Remembrance Day weekend, here’s the tale of a veteran protesting the government’s inaction on the file, and the tale of how the minister quietly shut down the Veterans’ Ombudsman’s investigation into those privacy breaches. Because you know, they had a Ten-Point Action Plan™ and are taking this problem seriously, etcetera.

The Supplementary Estimates B were tabled, which features demands for more funds for the RCMP, First Nations, and oh, look – more government advertising, this time for their branded Responsible Resource Development™.

With Stephen Harper’s tour now in the Philippines to talk trade and security, here’s a look at the unanswered questions from India, such as why the pace of trade negotiations are so slow, and what was up with those warnings about Sikh extremism? Harper will be in Hong Kong tomorrow to mark Remembrance Day there.

Continue reading →

Sober second thought is not an attack on democracy

Posted on by

News comes from the Senate that they are ready to defeat Bill C-290, an NDP private members’ bill on allowing bets to be placed on single sports matches. It sounds benign enough, and the House passed it unanimously, so everything should be good, right? Well, not really. And herein lies a case where the Senate proves that its sober second thought is a very necessary part of the system.

If you look at the comments these Senators are making to the media, they focus on a very key fact – that it sailed through the House with virtually zero scrutiny. Less scrutiny, in fact, than most other private members’ legislation. If you look it up on LegisInfo, you’ll find that it had a mere hour of debate at second reading – and by “debate” I mean about four canned speeches about what a great idea it was, and that was it. It then received a single hour of study at committee where the only witness, other than the MP who sponsored it, was someone from the Canadian Gaming Association, who wants the bill to pass so that they can profit from it. And then it had twenty minutes at report stage, and twenty minutes of third reading debate. That was it. Not exactly a shining example of study, or hearing opposing points of view, or any of that.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Penashue lashes out

Posted on by

Poor Peter Penashue – under fire, and apparently barely able to recite talking points in the Commons, he attempted to fire back by calling his critics “rude” and “bullish” during QP yesterday. Because you know, it’s not like a) QP is never full of theatrics, ever; or b) it’s the whole point of QP to ask questions of ministers about their activities or lack thereof. Now, it may not be entirely fair to criticise him for not doing much in his role as Intergovernmental Affairs minister because, well, we all know that the real intergovernmental affairs work is handled by Harper in this government, and that Penashue needed a fairly benign role to be stuck into in cabinet because they needed a Newfoundland and Labrador presence in cabinet. That cabinets are federal constructs is a unique Canadian consideration going back to the days of Sir John A. Macdonald, and it has generally served us well. And as for most of the flights going to his riding, well, this government likes to send ministers out to do good news announcements on a constant basis, and he is the cabinet minister for that region, and if it wasn’t him, it would be a Senator from that region instead. But even though it really is starting to feel like a pile-on, he should nevertheless be able to answer a question in the Commons without either having to do it from cue cards of random platitudes, or to hit back at his critics for doing their job.

Continue reading →

QP: A near-outbreak of spontaneous debate

Posted on by

It was a strange kind of place in the Commons this morning – the Chamber was on a Friday schedule so that MPs could head back to their ridings early for Remembrance Day activities, and it was a mostly Friday-vibe in the House, with most front-benchers gone – either mentally or physically – and time distorted into what felt like the longest 45 minutes in history. Despite there being other NDP deputy leaders present, it was Nycole Turmel who was chosen to haltingly read off the lead questions about proposals to privatise certain social services in order to run them like Goldman Sachs – or something like that. (In reality, Diane Finley wants charities and private enterprise to explore “social finance instruments,” not that you could tell from the question Turmel asked.) Kellie Leitch responded with an equally coherent accusation that the NDP want to raise taxes and won’t support the Economic Action Plan™ to create jobs. So really, an edifying start to the day. For her last question, Turmel switched to English and lamented the Service Canada wait times, to which James Moore – apparently the part-time back-up PM du jour – responded that just because they were doing things differently it didn’t mean it was worse, or something that effect. Megan Leslie was up next and denounced this call for ideas as a PR stunt to cover cuts. Leitch responded that they were trying to let local communities tackle local problems. Leslie then switched to ski trails being on the receive end of cuts, but Peter Kent assured her that they were protecting natural spaces, and that they were working with volunteer groups. Bob Rae was then up for the Liberals, demanding to know what caused the government to settle with Ashley Smith’s family in their lawsuit, and what other videos or evidence they had in possession, not only with this case, but with other prison deaths concerning the mentally ill. James Moore repeatedly stood up – despite Toews being in the Chamber – and said that all kinds of information was being provided to the inquiry, but Toews remained in his seat, no matter Rae’s efforts.

Continue reading →

Roundup: 50 officials, few answers

Posted on by

For his one-hour appearance at Finance Committee last night, Jim Flaherty brought along fifty – yes, fifty – department officials to help him answer questions on Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge. Because they were so concerned about the cost of answering Order Paper questions that this exercise was perfectly justified. What made it worse is that the sole hour seemed to be eaten up with either fulsome praise for Flaherty from the government side, and attempts to get him to talk about a future stimulus programme if the US goes off the “fiscal cliff” from the NDP. Nice to see that everyone is taking this seriously.

Here is everything you need to know about Harper’s trip to India, and why our trade deals are stalling.

Despite the strange firing of that local reporter in his riding, Conservative MP James Bezan stands behind his criticism of the CNOOC-Nexen deal. Good to know.

Continue reading →

QP: Our certain economic doom!

Posted on by

Thomas Mulcair started off today’s QP by reading a question about how Harper, while over in India, spoke about how the fragility of the economic recovery, to which Mulcair wondered why Harper could only tell the truth about our economy while abroad. John Baird, yet again the back-up PM du jour rather than passing the baton to someone else along the front bench, first gave a shout out to Barack Obama’s win, and then extolled Harper’s economic leadership. Mulcair, however, decided that our economy was in crisis, and we were all headed for doom. Doom! Baird sighed and chastised Mulcair for “talking down the economy.” Rosane Doré Lefebvre was up next, demanding an apology from Vic Toews for his Ashley Smith comments yesterday, but Toews was very obviously sticking to his script, and spoke about how they were cooperating with the coroner’s inquest. Bob Rae, however, was unimpressed, and pressed on, wondering about other videos that hadn’t yet been released publicly, and whether those materials would be turned over, which eventually led to a call for a public inquiry. Baird and Toews both answered, each going back to the “cooperating” talking point, though Toews did consider the coroner’s inquiry to already be a public inquiry. Problem solved, apparently.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Re-election and nuclear reactors

Posted on by

Barak Obama has been re-elected as President of the United States. Hopefully we can now stop obsessing about this and get on with our lives. Incidentally, Thomas Mulcair was first out to offer a congratulatory press release, Harper’s was a little later, while MPs from all parties are shocked and dismayed at the ridiculous $6 billion spent over the campaign.

During Harper’s trip to India, a deal has been signed to sell Canadian uranium for their nuclear reactors and they promise not to make bombs out of it this time. The government there also gave Harper a pointed warning about Sikh extremists back in Canada.

Peter Penashue, during his brief and flustered moments in QP yesterday, said he’d been travelling around the country. Kady O’Malley looked into that, and found that almost all of his travel has been to his riding to make government announcements, and that as Intergovernmental Affairs minister, he hasn’t even visited a number of provinces. Meanwhile, he did also briefly speak to the media, and promised that he won’t quit, but he will address campaign financing questions on Tuesday next week.

Continue reading →

QP: Toews attacks, Penashue lost

Posted on by

On the anniversary of the very first sitting of the Canadian parliament in 1867, it was a somewhat heated day in the Commons today during QP, and Vic Toews gave another gob-smacking performance. When the PM’s away, the ministers will balls everything up – or something like that. Thomas Mulcair started off by reading out a question on our impending nuclear agreement with India would include independent verification that the materials were used only for peaceful purposes. John Baird, once again acting as back-up PM du jour, assured him that the government takes nuclear non-proliferation seriously. Mulcair then asked why China was getting better briefings on agreements than Canadians were, to which Baird talked about how the FIPA was signed on the margins of another trade conference, and for his final question, Mulcair recounted his doomsday scenario of China buying up Alberta’s natural resources with nobody to stop them. Baird suggested that Mulcair was wearing his tinfoil hat, and touted the safe environment for Canadian investment that the FIPA would create. Peggy Nash was up next, trying to wrap the PBO’s latest report on spending cuts with the issue of Harper’s armoured limousines in India, but Baird deflected it with a defence of the RCMP’s recommendations. Bob Rae was up next, asking a pair of questions on whether Harper would meet with provincial premiers, given how he likes to travel abroad to meet other world leaders. Baird responded that he regularly meets with premiers of all stripes, and hey, look at all the good work they did together with the Economic Action Plan™! For his final question, Rae quoted the trade minister about the “opaque investment climate” in India, and wondered what we told them about the opaque climate in Canada, given that there is no clarity on what constitutes “net benefit.” Baird instead used the opportunity to recite a bunch of trite talking points about the jobs and the economy, and the fictional NDP “carbon tax.”

Continue reading →

Roundup: BYO-Armoured Car

Posted on by

As the Prime Minister’s trip to India rolls along, we learn that after eight years of negotiation, a foreign investment protection agreement still hasn’t been signed, we’re still haggling out a deal to ship uranium two years later, and Harper brought over his own armoured cars, though that sounds to be more of an RCMP decision rather than his usual case of presidential envy.

A medical journal is warning of increased mental and physical illness as a result of the omnibus crime legislation, as people will be locked up for longer in overcrowded and stressful situations, and will be more exposed to things like Hepatitis C and HIV. The government, of course, doesn’t think the link between violence and overcrowding.

Further to the issue of veterans’ funerals, it seems that the rate has remained unchanged for 11 years. The Liberals are calling for an independent review of the Last Post Fund and its requirements.

Continue reading →

QP: Democracy costs money! Oh noes!

Posted on by

With Harper off in India, and a number of other MPs back in their riding for Veterans’ Week activities, the Commons was a pretty sparse place, albeit not quite Friday sparse. Undeterred, Thomas Mulcair read off his first question about the extension of the deadline for the Nexen decision, to which John Baird, in his capacity as back-up PM du jour, mentioned that there were consultations going on as part of the complex decision making. Mulcair was up next, and asked quite simply who Baird would be consulting – but the cadence of the question was off, like he was still reading it off of a script he hadn’t previously read (though it was one of the rare moments when he spoke off-the-cuff in QP while not red-faced in anger). Baird, however, returned to his usual talking points about the “net benefit” test, and so on. Peggy Nash was up next and asked a pair of questions, in English and in French, about how in this time of fiscal austerity, Harper could have deigned to fly his own armoured limousines over to India. Toews responded that this was a judgement call by the RCMP, and he respected their decision. Bob Rae was then up for the Liberals, and in a rather impassioned display, wondered just what exactly changed on Friday that the government, which had been sitting on those Ashley Smith videos for five years, decided they now wanted to allow the investigation to proceed. Three times he tried to get the government to say something, to admit that they had been publicly embarrassed by those videos and had no choice but to let the investigation proceed unimpeded – but Baird simply resorted to the talking points about how they needed to do a better job of keeping people with mental illness out of prisons.

Continue reading →