Author Archives: Dale

About Dale

Journalist in the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery

Can’t we just get things done?

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Possibly the safest bet that you can make these days is on the first day that the House comes back after a break is for the likes of Nathan Cullen to come out and talk about how the caucus us “united and determined,” and how they’re going to be “proposition not opposition,” and gems like “we were sent here to get things done, not turn every issue into a political grenade.” And yet, it’s a pretty dangerous rhetorical game to start saying things like that without actually understanding what they mean.

If you ask the government, “getting things done” would mean having the opposition roll over and immediately pass everything. And if you ask the NDP, “getting things done” means that the government should abandon its agenda, see the light, and realise that the NDP have all of the answers and they’ll adopt their agenda whole-heartedly. But as we all know, reality doesn’t work that way. Everybody wants to “get things done.” The problem is deciding which things need to get done. And surprise, surprise, there are differences of opinion and belief as to which of those things need to be accomplished. It’s like it’s a democracy or something.

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Roundup post: Parliament’s back!

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Hey everyone – Parliament is back today! Yes, I’m quite giddy with excitement. The Conservatives are gearing up to attack the NDP quite aggressively. Thomas Mulcair, incidentally, wants Harper to get the Conservatives to stop lying about his supposed “carbon tax” plan.

The CNOOC-Nexen deal is exposing some fault-lines in the Conservative party, going right up to the cabinet level, between those who recognise the need for better trade deals, and those anti-communists suspicious of the Chinese regime.

Some Conservative MPs are dealing with the fallout out budget cuts in their ridings, and hoping to change a few minds in cabinet.

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Roundup: Reluctantly opposing exporting carcinogens

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The federal government has reluctantly decided to stop opposing the listing of asbestos as a hazardous chemical product, and is blaming the PQ for the move, as they also announce funding to help the communities around Thetford Mines transition to a new economy. No, seriously – they’re actually put out that they have to stop supporting the export of known carcinogens because Pauline Marois no longer wants to play ball. At least one Conservative MP has broken ranks and is happy about the announcement. Paul Wells offers up his analysis here.

John Baird has made a major policy announcement that lists the rights of women and gays and lesbians as priorities with our engagement with emerging democracies, which is an encouraging sign. Jason Kenney wants you to pat him on the back for making Canada a haven for gay Iranian refugees – while politely ignoring the fact that he’s made it more difficult for gay African refugees.

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Roundup: Farewell, Peter Lougheed

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Former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed passed away last night at age 84, in the hospital that bears his name. Lougheed started the reign of the Progressive Conservatives in the province, which has kept on for more than 40 years. He was one of the premiers at the centre of the patriation of the constitution, and fought for provincial rights. Here are some statements from Stephen Harper, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, and his ultimate political successor, premier Alison Redford.

Looking ahead to the return of Parliament next week, there will be another budget bill this autumn that promises to be pretty contentious as well.

Here is a good summary of the whole issue between the House of Commons and the Auditor General on that Access to Information issue.

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A primer for Joan Crockatt on a backbencher’s job

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Over in the forthcoming Calgary Centre by-election, there is some grumbling about the choice of Conservative candidate, former Calgary Herald editor Joan Crockatt. But despite what everybody might feel about Crockatt’s credentials, or the fact that she was given a waiver that enabled her to run despite not having been a party member for six months before the race began, I have to say that I was completely dismayed – though not entirely unsurprised – by one of the comments she made to the Globe and Mail today:

“If I’m a backbench MP, I’m just fine doing that,” Ms. Crockatt said. “To me, the job is to support the Prime Minister in whatever way that he thinks.”

No. Just…no. That is not the job of a backbench MP, government or opposition. In fact, it’s pretty much the exact opposite of what a backbencher’s job is. A backbencher’s job, in government or in opposition, is to hold the government to account. That means that backbench MPs control the purse strings that the government wants to use in order to implement their programme. That’s why it’s their job to scrutinise the estimates, and ask tough questions about the spending programmes, and why the opposition has days set aside for the express purpose of demonstrating why the government should not be granted supply. It’s called accountability. You know, the whole reason that Parliament exists.

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Roundup: Calls for “swift justice” in Libya

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In the wake of the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, John Baird is calling for “swift justice.” (How does that fit in with the rule of law and a fair trial? Just wondering.) We’ll also be reviewing the security of our embassy in Tripoli. This Reuters report seems to indicate that the attack was planned, and not the work of an angry mob.

Julian Fantino wants you to donate to the West African hunger crisis relief funds as a way of thwarting terrorism.

On the case of the Commons blocking that Access to Information request, the Speaker’s office says they are duty-bound to protect the privileges of the House until such time as the House decides otherwise.

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Roundup: Blocking the Auditor General

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The House of Commons (as its own entity rather than its occupants) is taking the Auditor General to Federal Court to block an Access to Information request around his correspondence for his committee appearances. The House says this is about parliamentary privilege, and the AG says that privilege doesn’t extend to his office. Kady O’Malley delves further into this, but it does seem unlikely that the Courts could even weigh in on this, and there is also that wee little fact that Parliament is a court in and of itself. Both the PMO and the Liberals say that they’re willing to waive privilege in this case. It was later revealed that the NDP were the originators of said ATIP request, which just makes this all the more curious.

Iran has responded to our embassy closures, and calls it “unwise, uncivilised, and hostile.” Brian Stewart looks at some of the possible intelligence that may have prompted the pullout, and wonders if it wasn’t threats on Canadian soil that they were more concerned with. The ousted Iranian charé d’affairs insists that they did nothing wrong. Meanwhile, Thomas Mulcair seems to be distancing himself from some of Paul Dewar’s comments regarding the embassy closures.

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Roundup: Fraudulent citizenship alert

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Jason Kenney announced that the government is revoking the citizenship of some 3100 Canadians after an investigation showed that they were fraudulently obtained. The fact that a large number of those contacted about their pending revocation aren’t contesting the fact is probably an indication that there is an acknowledged problem, though I’m not exactly sure that we can take Kenney’s assurances that this will save us money in the long run at face value, since a lot of resources are going into these investigations while the backlogs aren’t getting any additional resources to be cleared. Also, apparently the department is also “rigorously” scrutinising any Iranian immigrants for any links to the regime there.

A Quebec superior court judge has ruled that the province has a right to its long-gun registry data, which has Vic Toews completely apoplectic.

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Roundup: Adventures in Vladivostok

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While at the APEC Summit in Vladivostok, Russia, over the weekend, Stephen Harper and Chinese president Hu Jintao witnessed the signing of the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. Harper and Russian president Vladimir Putin also agreed to disagree on the issue of Syria. While at the summit, Harper also ratcheted up the rhetoric around Iran now that we’ve shuttered our embassy there.

It looks like the new Office of Religious Freedoms may have finally found its ambassador and could be set to open soon. Of course, it was also revealed that the Muslim panellists for their consultations were “not available,” which sounds terribly convenient when you’re trying to assure people that this won’t simply be an office devoted to Christian proselytising.

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Roundup: Grumbling that Harper does his job

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Stephen Harper appointed five new Senators yesterday, including a former ADQ candidate from Quebec and a former Progressive Conservative MLA from Nova Scotia. Predictably the NDP are grumbling that Harper is *gasp!* fulfilling his constitutional duty. You know, one of the few that are actually spelled out in the written constitution.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney says that “Dutch Disease” is not a factor, and high resources prices are an “unambiguous good” for our economy. Economist Stephen Gordon provides some annotations on the speech here.

Canada has closed its embassy in Tehran, and is expelling Iranian diplomats from Canada.

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