My friend Destine and I have a new episode of the Lord and Smith Commission, where we talk about some of the insanity in Parliament this week – rumours of Trudeau’s leadership bid, co-locating embassies, and the abortion debate.
Author Archives: Dale
QP: In the best interests of Canada
After yesterday’s insanity, the House was still a bit raucous for QP, even with Harper gone. Thomas Mulcair read off a trio of questions about the Nexen takeover, for which James Moore – the back-up Prime Minister du jour – recited that while they haven’t made a decision yet, all decisions they do take are in the best interests of Canada. Well, that’s a relief. Malcolm Allen asked about another beef recall and four cases of E. Coli in Edmonton, to which Gerry Ritz told him that it was two separate incidents that he was confusing. Bob Rae was up next, and hammered away at the question of the food recalls, and reminded the House that members of the Ontario cabinet responsible for Walkerton were now sitting in the Federal cabinet. Amidst the clamour on the government benches protesting this, James Moore first responded with a bland statement that said nothing, before Ritz replied to the two follow-ups, praising the procedures that “bracketed” the contaminated product and ensured it was pulled. Err, except for those four cases, one assumes.
Roundup: A day of resounding nonsense
Yesterday was a day where Canadian politics pretty much lost its mind. First was a rumour that Justin Trudeau might be entering the Liberal leadership race next week (more than a month early), We The Media completely lost it, and wrote actual stories about how he had nothing to announce today, on top of assertions about who his campaign team will be. At least Paul Wells, Susan Delacourt and Steve Murray have a sense of humour about the whole thing.
And then there was the vote on M-312, which was a vote to create a committee to debate the definition of when someone becomes a legal human being (which of course was doomed from the start because Stephen Harper himself would not abide it). The motion was defeated rather soundly, but that didn’t stop the entire political sphere from losing its grip on reality for a while. (Incidentally, CBC has a handy timeline of the abortion debate in Canada).
QP: Variations on EI questions and non-answers
It being a Wednesday, the Commons was a pretty packed chamber, and MPs were riled up from their morning caucus meetings. Thomas Mulcair took advantage of this frisson in the air to read a series of questions listing off Canada’s mediocre economic performance – trade deficit, billions of dollars in “dead money,” tax cuts for businesses not reinvesting it, and so on – and wondering why Harper wasn’t listening to Canadians about the economy. Harper acknowledged that there were great challenges facing the economy, but jobs, exports and growth were up. Peggy Nash brought up the Nexen deal and wondered why they weren’t paying attention to the hollowing out of the resources sector or the concerns of Canadian entrepreneurs. Christian Paradis reassured her about the Investment Canada Act’s criteria, and that those entrepreneurs don’t want a carbon tax either. Joyce Murray was up for the Liberals, and she brought up the Conservatives’ unwillingness to hand over to the Parliamentary Budget Officer data on cuts, to which Tony Clement assured her that they are accountable to Parliament by the regular channels. For her last question, Murray asked about what percentage of foreign ownership of the oil sands the government would allow, not that she got an actual answer from Paradis.
Roundup: Robo-calling on notice
The Chief Electoral Officer says he’ll recommend changes to the Elections Act in light of the whole robo-call mess. Campaigns are relying more and more on this kind of technology for voter outreach, and it looks like it might soon be reigned in.
Paul Wells picks apart the whole “Commonwealth super-embassies” speculation and takes note of the realities of diplomatic office sharing amongst European countries even with the UK in places. But what about the NDP Great British Menace™ talking point?
The low response rate to the voluntary household survey (ie – the replacement for the long-form census) is concerning to Statistics Canada, especially because the low-return rates are from rural and small towns, where that data is necessary for government planning.
QP: The Great British Menace™
With Harper in the House to play off against, Thomas Mulcair opened QP with a question on Nexen and the criteria for foreign takeovers, to which Harper assured him that the changes that were made to the Act ensured a rigorous process, and any decision would be in the best interest of the Canadian economy. Mulcair then asked a question that started with the leak of the Khadr transcripts, veered over to the shared embassy issue, and settled on asking why Harper wasn’t speaking at the UN General Assembly. Harper assured him that Canadian prime ministers don’t speak every year, but that the minister of Foreign Affairs would do a good job in his stead. For his final question, Mulcair went full-on with the Great British Menace™ that apparently going to swallow our foreign policy (because apparently the NDP are still trying to out-Bloc the Bloc to keep Quebec votes), but Harper’s answer didn’t really deviate. Paul Dewar took the remaining pair of slots, chastising Harper for not being at the General Assembly when he was even going to be in town for it, but Baird responded by singing the praises of Harper receiving the Statesman of the Year award. Bob Rae was up next, first asking about income inequality, per the Liberal opposition day motion (and do believe that I need to shake my head at this opposition day motion like I did the NDP’s – while it is substantive in its policy direction, but it doesn’t state why the government should be denied supply; just the opposite, it attempts to legislate from the opposition benches, which is not the role of the opposition, though as the third party, the Liberals are given a bit more leeway to do these kinds of manoeuvres, not that they should be). Harper responded that they take the issue seriously and listed a bunch of measures they’ve taken. When Rae asked why they voted against a motion to study income inequality (which did pass – just barely), Harper said they prefer action to study. For his final question, Rae wondered that because the government is making LGBT rights one of their foreign affairs priorities if they would also start funding major pride parades in Canada and attending them. Harper dodged and talked about advancing rights for everyone, and touted the creation of the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg.
Roundup: Formalising co-locations
So that whole “shared embassies” thing is being downplayed as far less of a thing than the UK press made it out to be – that it’s simply a Memorandum of Understanding that formalises co-location arrangements that we already have going, so that more of them are likely in the future, given the whole age of fiscal austerity and whatnot.
The Conservatives seem keen on adopting a “buy Canadian” strategy for military procurement whenever possible, rather than solely relying on the usual Industrial Regional Benefits programmes that we usually insist upon. Economist Mike Moffatt decries this as economic nationalism run amok, and notes that it’s the last thing one wants if they’re concerned about the high dollar (as the NDP seems to be). When Andrew Coyne wrote to denounce the idea, the Prime Minister’s DComm contacted him to say that there is no such policy – but it could mean that there’s no such policy yet. It all remains to be seen, apparently.
What’s that? Prison populations are swelling? You don’t say! Meanwhile, Vic Toews’ office continues to insist that the expected wave of new prisoners hasn’t materialised. Funny that.
QP: Administrative arrangements
With Harper away, Thomas Mulcair faced off against John Baird instead as QP got underway. Mulcair read his first two questions, about slow economic growth, to which Baird responded with some fairly rote replies about the government’s record on job creation. Mulcair then turned to the burning question of the day – what about those joint embassies? Why did we find out through the UK press? Baird replied that these were simply administrative arrangements – putting a desk in embassies where we the UK doesn’t have a mission, and likewise a Canadian desk in a UK embassy where we’re not represented. Mulcair then suggested that if they’re so concerned about sharing with the UK, why not share armed forces, or combine the Senate and the House of Lords since they’re “the same thing” (at which point I nearly pulled a Naomi Campbell; they are most certainly not the same thing – not in the slightest), and so on, but Baird didn’t take the bait. Bob Rae was up for the Liberals, playing off that question and wondering why, if our foreign policy is so independent and great, was Harper not attending the UN General Assembly this week? Baird noted that Harper was going to be in New York to get a “Statesman of the Year” award, and that we play a leading role in the world. Rae then shifted to the topic of income inequality, which the government wasn’t addressing, but Baird returned to his job creation talking points, and listed off all of the government’s programmes for low-income Canadians.
Roundup: Joint embassies ahead
Apparently we’re going to be part of a network of joint embassies with other British Commonwealth nations, in an attempt to head off the rising influence of European Union diplomats. It’s being billed as a cost-cutting measure, but there already questions about sovereignty being raised, as well as some fairly grossly inaccurate statements about how we’re under the same Queen (which we’re not – the Crowns are separate, even if Elizabeth II wears them all).
Here’s the strange case of an Ottawa communications firm involved with the F-35 blocking media access to aspects of the story. This, of course, while there are more questions as to whether or not the F-35 is really the pinnacle of fighter jet technology that its creators claim.
Thomas Mulcair was in Edmonton over the weekend to attend the provincial NDP convention there (despite saying that he stays out of provincial affairs when asked about happenings in Quebec). There, Mulcair told the audience that they need to boost the Canadian manufacturing sector (in other words, build refineries and upgraders in Alberta and not the Keystone XL pipeline to send said bitumen for processing in the States), while provincial leader Brian Mason claimed that his party were the true heirs to Peter Lougheed’s legacy.
Roundup: Takeovers and security threats
CSIS is sounding the alarm to business leaders around Chinese hackers and cyber-spies as the Nexen takeover bid continues to dominate the headlines. A former assistant director of CSIS says that we need to be aware that espionage these days is more about corporate interests and economic advantage – skewing the level playing field – than it is about government secrets, as it was during the Cold War.
Documents show that the government did study the possibility of private prisons, though Vic Toews has said that he’s dismissed the idea.
The second and final hour of debate on the private members’ motion to create a committee to study the legal definition of “human being” (aka the backdoor abortion debate) took place in the Commons and goes to a vote on Wednesday. And just a reminder that no, this is not an outright attempt to re-criminalise abortions, it’s a non-binding vote about creating a committee to come up with a non-binding report that can then get stuck on a shelf to collect dust because Stephen Harper does not want this issue to be resurrected, and he’s doing everything in his powers to kill it with fire. And for everyone who resumes to think that he should have disallowed the debate in the first place, well, the whole point of private members’ business is that it’s outside of the control of the party leader, the House leader, or the party whip, and any MPs who want the leaders to interfere *cough*Niki Ashton*cough* should really think about what it is they’re asking for, since it would mean curtailing what precious few freedoms backbenchers still possess.