Tag Archives: Canadian Forces

Roundup: Fanboy due diligence

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The media has acquired the letter that DND sent to Public Works in order to justify sole-sourcing the F-35 purchase. It’s two paragraphs, has amateurish technical specifications like “very, very low observable stealth capabilities,” and makes four references to “fifth-generation fighter,” which is not a real capability but is rather a trademarked slogan. And this is what passes for due diligence in military procurements. My question is which ministers were copied on this, and why they let it go through. And why Public Works thought that this letter – which has many of the hallmarks of a teenage boy’s fanfiction posts on a second-rate website – was at all acceptable is scandalous.

Also on the F-35 file, it looks like Industry Canada has downgraded their expected industrial spinoffs from our participation in the programme, which has the NDP in a lather. Because who needs to worry about due diligence when you’re worried about regional industrial benefits?

Elections Canada is closing in on the identity of “Pierre Poutine,” and has traced his activities to a computer used by the Guelph Conservative campaign, the IP address of which also matches that one campaign worker used for legitimate calls to RackNine.

The Canadian Forces will be reorganising their command structure as part of cost saving measures. They’re also pulling back on the potential cuts to mental health services after pushback. Meanwhile, the process for modernising our fleet of frigates is running into problems and could wind up with delays and operational gaps. The Forces are also testing more unmanned drones in Canada, which could have some unforeseen legal consequences.

Five former Prime Ministers gathered in Toronto on Thursday night to be honoured for their public service.

Paul Wells talks to Justin Trudeau about the Liberal leadership, and lays out the case as to why Trudeau should run. Trudeau says it’s not going to happen. At least not anytime soon.

Here is a look at the sizes of budget implementation bills past.

The final circulation penny has been minted, and will now be off to the Royal Canadian Mint’s currency museum.

And Tabatha Southey imagines a conversation with an NDP volunteer from the future.

QP: Look everyone, Rush!

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With both Mulcair and Rae out of the House, the question hovered as to whether Stephen Harper would even bother answering a question today, as he often won’t bother unless asked by another party leader. But when Megan Leslie, in her capacity as part of the deputy leader trilogy, stood up to ask about that troubling instance of DND retroactively changing a parliamentary report once it had been tabled, Harper did stand up to answer. Well, to say “answer” is a bit charitable, considering he avoided the question all together and shrugged about contracts not having been signed and no money spent on any acquisitions, but didn’t really talk about the issue at hand. And Leslie, incidentally, performed much better than Mulcair on any given day, with minimal checking of notes and clear delivery rather than reading from a lectern. Snaps for that. Jack Harris was up next, asking about cuts to mental health services for the Canadian Forces, but Peter MacKay told him that he was mistaken and that they were moving a clinic to Petawawa for that very issue. Marc Garneau was up for the Liberals, retuning to the question of the contradiction of the Deputy Minister of Defence not accepting the Auditor General’s report when the government does, to which Harper assured him that it wasn’t what the Deputy Minister said, but that he was disputing a specific item. John McKay finished off the round by wondering why the government authorised the release of low-balled F-35 costs in 2010, but Harper answered (actually quite surprisingly) and assured him that they were taking a careful look at those costs going forward.

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Roundup: Retroactively changing the facts

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The Department of National Defence quietly amended a tabled parliamentary report on the F-35s under the guise of a correcting a “typographical error” when in fact they were changing a significant line about the status of the procurement. With nothing more than a quiet amendment notice on the Treasury Board website, they changed the status from “definitions” phase to “options analysis,” which is really significant. And they did it quietly, hoping nobody would notice – because nobody has anything to hide on how badly this whole file has been handled. Meanwhile, the name of the new procurement secretariat has officially been changed so that it isn’t specifically to procure F-35s, but rather is now the “national fighter procurement secretariat.” And University of Ottawa defence analyst Philippe Lagassé wants the opposition to ask better questions about the fighter since they keep getting distracted by shiny things and missing the real point – which of course is why a rigged process was allowed to happen and why due diligence was not followed.

Today in voter suppression news, an American Republican operative who was convicted and spent time in jail over improper calls says that the various misleading calls here were likely imported American tactics, and that it looks like a systemic and sophisticated operation. Over in the bid to overturn the results of the Etobicoke Centre election, it appears there are missing voter registration certificates, which could point to some improper votes being cast – enough to have changed the outcome. Meanwhile, over in Eglinton-Lawrence, it looks like a flyer was going around trying to get some improper votes cast on behalf of Jewish voters (not that the margin is enough to challenge in court).

DND looks to be set to chop mental health monitors and PTSD monitors. Because that sounds like a genius idea, not to mention totally “supporting our troops.”

What’s that? Major pipeline projects could face lengthy court challenges in the absence of robust environmental assessments? You don’t say!

Liberal Party president Mike Crawley indicates there are likely to be six or seven interested candidates in the upcoming leadership race – whenever it actually kicks off.

Here’s a look at Elizabeth May’s first year in Parliament.

Alison Crawford looks at the use of private members’ business to push through government business – not that it’s what they’re doing with the Woodworth motion.

The Conservatives’ latest proposed elder abuse television spots were panned by focus groups as being “too creepy” and the “worse commercials ever.” Yikes!

And the Procedure and House Affairs committee has tabled its report on the whole Anonymous vs. Vic Toews issue, and basically finds that they can’t do anything about it. Case closed.

Roundup: Splitting up the omnibus bill

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It’s no real surprise, but it is important to note that the opposition wants the government to hive off the environmental portions of the omnibus budget implementation bill into its own separate piece of legislation so that it can be properly studied and debated. Which is more than reasonable, and considering that even young Stephen Harper railed about how undemocratic omnibus bills are, then it only stands to make sense. After all, there are a lot of significant changes being rammed though – which is the point, but that doesn’t make it right. Oh, and when the government crows about keeping greenhouse gasses down in a period of economic growth – it was due to provincial efforts, like shutting down coal-fired electricity plants, and not federal efforts.

The budget implementation bill also includes a section on scrapping the Inspector General’s office at CSIS. Apparently the logic is the duplication with the Security and Intelligence Review Committee – which currently doesn’t have a chair, and which doesn’t really have the capability to produce the same kinds of annual reports that the Inspector General did. Because hey, apparently we don’t really care who’s watching the watchers.

Other cost savings measures the government are considering are the elimination of providing the cost gender reassignment surgery for trans military personnel. Because apparently they want to use the money instead on years of legal challenges instead.

While We The Media obsess about Bev Oda’s orange juice and limousine rides, there are real concerns about the changes being made to CIDA’s funding priorities.

Part three of Huffington Post Canada’s look at reshaping electoral boundaries takes a look at Saanich-Gulf Islands, and what Elizabeth May calls a transparent attempt at Conservative gerrymandering in the riding.

The mayor of Ottawa thinks that if the National Portrait Gallery idea is dead that the government should instead turn the old American Embassy on Wellington into a museum of Canadian accomplishments.

And Tabatha Southey imagines an apology form letter for Conservative cabinet ministers.

Roundup: Prison closures looming

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The government has announced that they are closing down the Kingston and Leclerc penitentiaries, as well as the Ontario Regional Treatment Centre, a mental health facility for inmates within the Kingston facility. But don’t worry, Vic Toews says – they have plenty of capacity in other facilities (which is not exactly true, seeing as there are different kinds of capacity in different facilities, and we have seen a rise in double-bunking), and we haven’t seen the great spike in prisoner population that everyone was afraid of. Err, except they’ve only just passed the omnibus crime bill, and it’ll be a couple of years before that boom will likely happen (and to be fair, the lion’s share of that burden will be borne by provincial institutions, with all of those two-years-less-a-day mandatory minimum sentences). The closure of the ORTC is probably most concerning because as it stands, there is already a gross lack of capacity for mental health services in prisons – and yet psychologists and mental health nurses have been given layoff notices. It’s also concerning that Toews feels that the provinces should be re-institutionalising more mental health patients rather than locking them up in prisons, but provincial health authorities have moved to release more people with mental health concerns into the communities, where they then wind up in prisons. Toews can’t simply wish this vicious cycle away. Suffice to say, Kingston was an ancient facility that was due to close years and years ago, but the fact that there seems to be little in the way of plans to keep up with appropriate capacity, and the fact that the government still hasn’t provided with costing or even detailed plans of their prisons agenda makes this a concerning enough issue.

Given the amount of research capacity that is being cut at Environment Canada, here is a look at how their mandate is going to start changing over the next few years. One of those changes includes the closure of the BC oil spill office, which Peter Kent dismisses as only providing information on sensitive areas and not actually cleaning up oil spills. Seriously. Meanwhile, cabinet is giving itself the veto power over pipeline projects, despite what the National Energy Board may rule on any project, which pretty much makes any pretence of rigour meaningless at this point. But it’s all for the economy, which is still fragile, everyone!

In case you missed it, here is the recap of yesterday’s Public Accounts meeting on how they’re going to handle looking into the Auditor General’s findings on the F-35s. The takeaway – that the Conservatives, by their actions and votes, look like they’re going to use their majority to hold a bare minimum of meetings (say, one hour for the AG, one hour for the PBO, and two blocks of a half-dozen deputy ministers who will each pass the blame around), and the report will come down saying “see, not our fault, blame the bureaucrats. Or maybe I’m being cynical. Meanwhile, The West Block helpfully compiles the F-35 paper trail.

Meanwhile, Peter MacKay has another defence procurement headache at his feet, this time over armoured infantry vehicles, where the process was halted by fairness monitors and now needs to be restarted. How long will MacKay’s Teflon coating resist these mounting, embarrassing, screw-ups on his watch? Or, more importantly, when will the government actually undertake to radically reform defence procurement in this country so that it’s actually a coherent process under a single accountable authority?

And here is Thomas Mulcair’s new shadow cabinet – three deputy leaders and critic roles for almost everybody! Some of the choices are pretty peculiar (Charmaine Borg for digital issues, when she allegedly didn’t even have a cell phone until she was elected? Joe Comartin to democratic reform? Linda Duncan to Public Works? Jinny Sims to immigration?), and I’m especially curious why this was a press release after 5.30 last night. But I’m suddenly picturing a return to scattershot Question Periods where they try to give questions to everyone, and diffuse any momentum that was possible.

Roundup: Affidavits and quashed excuses

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In today’s Robocon revelations, it seems that in at least six ridings where misdirecting robo-calls were reported, there were actually no polling station changes, thus negating yet another Conservative talking point or excuse. Meanwhile, as part of the court challenge trying to overturn the results in those ridings, an affidavit emerges from a former employee of RMG who tells about making misleading calls based on scripts provided. Naturally, both the Conservatives and RMG have disavowed this, and call the affidavit false.

At an open government conference in Brazil, Tony Clement says that the government won’t give details on the full extent of the cuts until the spring of 2013. Seriously. Because this is the most open and transparent government in Canadian history, everybody!

Professor Stephen Saideman looks back at the excuses of interoperability and economies of scale when it comes to deciding to go with the F-35, and how that’s quickly becoming a moot point, while Canada still hasn’t run a competitive bidding process.

The papers to transfer Omar Khadr back to Canada have now been received by Vic Toews’ office. I’m sure they’re not searching for more ways to deny his repatriation under the notion that he’s somehow a grave threat to national security and that he (falsely) confessed to murder.

Thomas Mulcair has officially moved into Stornoway. Plus, here’s some of the changes in his backroom.

Bob Rae writes about the partriation of the Constitution, and lobs a couple of grenades at the NDP over the Sherbrooke Declaration in the process.

After years spent arguing that it was necessary, the Canadian Forces are closing their west coast intelligence office two years after it was established.

John Ivision delivers a blistering denouncement of the government’s use of secrecy with the environmental changes and the F-35s – and the public’s willingness to swallow it, while Andrew Coyne gives the Liberals some hard truths that many Liberals are acknowledging is a truth they need to deal with.

And Olympic gold medallist Adam Van Koeverden gives an ode to Katimavik, and thanks it for his very existence, as that is where his parents met.

Roundup: A pre-emptive strike on Lawful Access

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The Supreme Court has struck down the ability for police to do wiretaps without a warrant, even in the case of an emergency, because of failures of accountability. Why this is important now is the fact that the Lawful Access bill is under consideration, which also deals with warrantless access to information and communications. This could be a pre-emptive signal by the Court to tell MPs to drop the warrantless provisions, lest they be struck down the way in which these wiretapping laws were.

A number of Air Canada pilots staged a “sick out” yesterday – calling in sick as a job action to protest the way they’ve been treated by management and the government. I spoke to a former conservative Labour Minister about this issue a couple of weeks ago, and small surprise, she’s no fan of this government’s tactics.

CBC’s Terry Milewski goes through the way in which the government took the $10 billion out of its own figures when it publicly said the F-35s were only going to cost $15 billion, even though their own internal numbers, procurement guidelines, and agreements to include operating costs after previous Auditor General spankings – gave the $25 billion figure.

Here’s a look at the current size of the PMO, and the number of staffers in there making over $100,000 per year. Fiscal austerity everyone!

The government’s “back office” cuts at the military includes gutting Defence Research and Development, whose work saves lives in the battlefield. But they’re supporting our troops, everyone!

Here’s a great speech from Senator Cowan about Senator Eaton’s “foreign money” inquiry, in which he notices a few similarities to laws that Vladimir Putin passed in Russia to keep foreign influence out. This targeting of charities is part of the budget, so we can expect more of this kind of targeting to come.

Susan Delacourt looks at the double standard by which political parties are exempt from the same advertising and marketing rules that the private sector is bound by, which includes Do Not Call lists.

If you’re in the mood for a wonkish look at the Elections Act, Kady O’Malley looks at the clause about foreigners campaigning in Canada, and the debate in 1999 where MPs revising the law didn’t do their due diligence.

Also wonkish but very important is this essay from Liberal MP John McCallum on improving the estimates process. It’s refreshing to see an MP who actually understands that his job is to scrutinise spending and exercise control over the public purse.

Here’s an excellent takedown of “conscience rights” as being debated in the Alberta election.

And here’s a look at how it’s Tom Mulcair in English, and Thomas Mulcair in French.

Roundup: Using the same straw man

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With over a thousand borders services personnel on the chopping block, the union representing them has taken a page from Harper’s book and is now warning of the risks of more guns, drugs and child pornography making its way into the country because there aren’t enough agents. Yes, it’s greatly hyperbolic, but you can’t say that the government didn’t ask for it. Meanwhile over at DND, the cuts seem to be creating chaos as the military tries to hold onto hardware as things shake out.

Looking at DND’s own costing guidelines, Colin Horgan finds that the government’s numbers on the F-35 procurement still doesn’t add up properly (possible paywall). Here’s a timeline of questions being asked in the House about the F-35s, dating back to July of 2010, including some video of what MacKay said on TV back then, much of which has been contradicted by the AG, and the motion the Liberals tried to pass about holding a competitive tendering process (which failed when the Bloc voted with the government). Here are the pointed questions being asked in the House back in September of 2010, and the answers that were given then.

We’re cutting aid to twelve poor countries, including Afghanistan, but don’t worry, Bev Oda declares. We’ll still respond appropriately as needed. Meanwhile, we’re trying to convince other countries to help with the West African food crisis, but imagine the message we’re sending by asking for more help while at the same time cutting our own aid budget.

What’s that? The RCMP say that the loss of gun registry records means that it will be harder to trace firearm ownership as part of criminal investigations? And this might be impacting on our international obligations for tracing illicit firearms? You don’t say!

The 30th anniversary of the patriation of the Constitution and the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is coming up this weekend, and how will the government be marking the occasion? With a press release. The Liberals are trying to organise some rallies, but it seems like a pretty big deal considering how much they’re spending to mark the War of 1812 and the Diamond Jubilee (which are both important celebrations, don’t get me wrong).

Harper is off to the Summit of the Americas, where he plans to urge leaders to keep up the War on Drugs, as many of those countries look to decriminalisation and other options while they face devastating drug wars.

And Jean Chrétien is now musing that he should have tried to “unite the left” when he had a chance, but he decided to keep his cabinet small so he didn’t. Err, I’m not sure that the handful of NDP seats that were in play at the time would have really helped the Liberals stay in power, and until you can convince the NDP to adopt the free market system, good luck with that merger.

Decrying MacKay’s “sad spectacle”

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It was the NDP’s turn to talk about the F-35 process, and their defence critic, David Christopherson, and public works critic, Matthew Ravignat, who presented themselves at the National Press Theatre to discuss the situation. Christopherson started off saying that while MacKay had assured the press that the F-35s were the best value, we can never know that since there was never a competitive bid or tendering process. He then veered off to talk about the submarine programme, and decried how MacKay said yesterday that all four subs would be in the water by 2013, and yet responded to an Order Paper question weeks ago saying that the HMCS Cornerbrook will be in drydock until at least 2016, never mind the fact that we don’t have enough trained crews to maintain operational readiness.

Ravignat, however, had somewhat harsher words for MacKay.

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Roundup: Branding Mulcair

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The NDP have launched their English-language ads about Thomas Mulcair, which is mostly a bunch of b-roll people saying how great Thomas Mulcair is, at which point Olivia Chow says that Layton’s vision is in good hands, and Mulcair gives his pledge to “get the job done.” And hey, the party has been buying up some prime ad space too. Mind you, it seems these scripts were done up before the leader was even chosen, but considering how much in “violent agreement” they all were about policy it wouldn’t have affected the outcome much one way or the other.

Good news, everyone! Peter MacKay promises there will be more transparency with the F-35 going forward. Great. Now what about a proper procurement process that isn’t rigged and predetermined? Maybe? No answer. Meanwhile, Laurie Hawn seems to think that the Auditor General doesn’t know how to do his job, while Peter MacKay seems put out that DND will have to actually calculate operational lifetime costs as part of procurement – you know, like Auditors General have been asking for, for years now. The poor little lamb. Oh, and former Assistant Deputy Minister Alan Williams? Is still not buying any of these accounting excuses, for the record.

Another of our submarines is (finally) ready for sea trials, making that two now in the water. Meanwhile, it seems the navy may have some training issues with crews for said submarines, which really can’t be a surprise given how long they’ve been in drydock.

It appears that Canada will be setting up a separate immigration system for skilled tradespeople to deal with all of those labour shortages in places like Alberta.

Here is an accounting of how John Baird picked up the phone eight times to “lobby hard” against a vote for recognition of Palestinian statehood at the UN.

Just like the Manning Centre does for the Conservatives, the nascent Broadbent Institute has a poll that shockingly supports the NDP’s partisan position. I know – I’m just as surprised as you are.

Here’s a glance at the thirteen Senate “hopefuls” in Alberta’s “nominee election.” Note how they’re running under provincial banners for seats in federal caucuses – because that totally makes sense.

Here is a look at just what those cuts coming to the CBC will be, including the closure of foreign bureaux and the cancellation of two current affairs shows.

And one of Michael Ignatieff’s old novels, Scar Tissue, is being given new life as a theatre production in Vancouver.