The drinking game of the day could have been “We learned today in the Auditor General’s report…” Because for about the first half of QP, nearly every question was prefaced by that statement. Thomas Mulcair started off by reading off a question about cyber-security from the report, who which Harper insisted the report said that they were making progress, and then a pair of questions on the hidden costs of cuts to OAS, which Harper insisted was a misnomer because there were not cuts – just changes coming down the road. Peggy Nash asked a pair of questions about changes to the labour code, to which Tony Clement first gave a bland non-answer about respecting taxpayers and fair changes, before Lisa Raitt answered the supplemental about how these changes gave clear deadlines for payments for employees where they didn’t exist previously. Bob Rae was then up, asking a pair of questions relating to the AG’s report, wondering why our Cyber-security response centre couldn’t be staffed 24/7, to which Harper insisted that they were making investments in cyber-security and had accepted the Auditor General’s recommendations. For his final question, Rae asked about the Correctional Investigator’s report on the skyrocketing number of aboriginal women in prisons, but Harper’s response wasn’t terribly edifying.
Tag Archives: CFIA
QP: Rejecting calls to split the bill
With Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge now tabled, Thomas Mulcair was up first to read out a trio of questions that demanded it be split up – not that Harper really cared, preferring instead to recite some careful lines about “Jobs!” and “Growth!” Malcolm Allen followed up with questions about the problems at XL Foods turned up by routine USFDA audits, but Ritz responded with a call to pass Bill S-11 without haste. Bob Rae was up for the Liberals, asking that the portion of the omnibus bill dealing with MP pensions be split out and its passage hastened – but Harper countered with a demand that they pass the entire bill in short order. For his final question, Rae asked if Ritz himself knew about those USFDA audit results, but Harper insisted that the CFIA took action when they had information.
QP: Crown prerogatives and non-binding votes
It was all hands on deck for QP today, but as Wednesday is caucus day, this is usually the day when nearly everybody is in attendance. Thomas Mulcair was up first, and read off a trio of questions regarding why Gerry Ritz hasn’t taken responsibility for the tainted meat issue, and Harper repeated that CFIA is the responsible authority, since they conduct the inspections. Mulcair then switched topics for the final two questions, asking about that handful of troops over in Afghanistan in combat operations as part of officer exchange programmes. Mulcair wanted them withdrawn immediately because of that non-binding vote in the Commons – never mind that matters of national defence are a Crown prerogative and that the vote was non-binding and really only useful to Harper as a smokescreen for when thins got difficult during the mission, and it allowed him to fob off responsibility to the House rather than be accountable as he should be. Regardless, Harper wasn’t going to bite on this one, and reminded him that the exchange was for less than a dozen people, and it’s standard operating practice. Bob Rae was up next, and first asked about changing the incoming Bill S-11 so that it’s the Auditor General who audits CFIA and not the minister’s office, but Harper responded with bland assurances about how great our food inspection system is. Rae then turned to the issue of the revelations around Peter Penashue overspending during the election, declaring “rather than buying elections, why not a by-election?” Harper declared that the official agent responsible for the spending was no longer on the job, and that the Liberals fired a staffer who then later rehired – because non-sequiturs like that is great cover.
QP: Ritz doesn’t do the inspections
The situation in QP was reversed today – Harper and Rae were present, but no Mulcair. In his stead, Nycole Turmel read out a trio of questions on the tainted beef issue, to which Harper replied that because the minister doesn’t do the inspections, he’s not required to resign. Jack Harris asked about our troops engaging in combat in Afghanistan as part of joint operations, and whether we had other combat operations under the guise of professional development, to which Peter MacKay offered a succinct “No, Mr. Speaker.” Bob Rae then got up to ask that Ritz respect ministerial accountability and resign – but Harper wasn’t going to take that bait either. Rae then turned to the subject of his party’s opposition day motion, which was about respecting Harper’s 1994 position regarding omnibus legislation, but Harper returned to his previous omnibus talking points about them being “comprehensive measures” for the economy.
QP: Not biting on the resignation demands
With Harper heading home from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bob Rae away elsewhere, it was up to Thomas Mulcair to be the sole leader in the leader’s round of questions. He began QP by reading a trio of questions on the tainted beef issue, his third question including a demand that Gerry Ritz resign. Ritz was up to speak each time – rather than another back-up PM du jour – but spoke about taking food safety seriously and science-based decision, but wouldn’t take the bait on the resignation demand. Malcolm Allen was up next to say that there aren’t enough meat inspectors in the system, to which Ritz replied that the Union said there were. Marc Garneau was up for the Liberals, first asking a pair of questions on reassurances around food safety, to which Ritz took the classy move of blaming previous Liberal cuts for the problems and to tout their government’s “reinvestments” in food safety. For his last question, Garneau asked about the issue of bullying, to which Rob Nicholson replied that the government was taking action, there were two Parliamentary committees studying the issue, as well as funding for RCMP and cyber-tips hotlines.
Roundup: Security warnings
The US House Intelligence Committee is warning that Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is a threat to national security and wants Canada to “find other vendors,” even though Huawei is already doing work with companies like Telus and Bell here in Canada, and the report is apparently short on details. The Canadian government hints that Huawei won’t be allowed to bid on any secure government telecom network projects.
XL Foods says all of their problems are fixed and they should be able to reopen in a few days. But as Martin Patriquin notes, unless we start making some serious structural changes to the way we slaughter and process beef – by making it smaller scale – we can pretty much guarantee that this is going to happen again.
Hey, look – we’ve officially joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks! Let’s all begin a new round of supply management angst, everyone!
Roundup: The clawback climbdown
At 4:26 pm on the Friday before a long weekend, it was time for the government to release something they wanted buried – in this case, backing down on some of the changes to the EI Working While On Claim programme. The government will now allow some claimants to return to the old system that didn’t claw back as much for low-income earners. That said, it’s a temporary short-term fix that won’t do much in the long term for those claimants.
Here’s a bit of perspective on the “largest beef recall in Canadian history.”
Uh oh – it looks like the government is set to miss its deficit reduction targets for last year.
Roundup: Serving Christian prisoners only
I expect tainted meat is going to get pushed off of the agenda today as news broke last night that the government is firing all non-Christian chaplains, in what is a clear violation of the Charter. Given the way they’re patting themselves on the back over their Office of Religious Freedoms, well, expect them to be hoisted on their own petards in QP today.
Speaking of tainted meat, Thomas Mulcair rather predictably called for Gerry Ritz’s resignation yesterday. XL Foods, meanwhile, has finally broken their silence and taken full responsibility for the outbreak.
Also not surprising, the NDP officially declared their opposition to the Nexen deal yesterday.
QP: Absent Harper, enter Ritz
While Stephen Harper had a conveniently-timed press engagement with the President of Tanzania, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was indeed back in the Commons today, and Thomas Mulcair started right out by reading out a short question about whether Ritz is responsible for the system of self-regulation that got into this mess. Ritz didn’t take the bait and explained that self-regulation doesn’t exist in Canada, that CFIA is always involved and uses the CVS or “Compliance Verification System” that was brought in under the Liberals in 2005. Mulcair then asked three more questions to hammer away at Ritz’s credibility before in his fifth and final question, he demanded Ritz’s resignation. Ritz again, didn’t take the bait. Bob Rae was then up and asked detailed questions based on the timeline provided by CFIA, regarding delays and actions on which dates, to which Ritz kept assuring him that they were working based on evidence, and so on.
Roundup: The missing meat inspectors
CFIA says that XL Foods didn’t follow some safety procedures – and then the press conference suffered a meltdown as the minister’s staff shut the whole thing down and offered “one-on-ones” instead – err, except there were some forty reporters in the room. Add to that, during caucus outs, Thomas Mulcair was quoting CFIA cuts in the past tense – err, except that they’re booked for the next two fiscal years and haven’t happened yet. Oops. Meanwhile, the union representing meat inspectors says they can’t find the “700 net new inspectors,” since that figure relates to classification levels, and not job descriptions. In fact, 200 of those “inspectors” are people hired to deal with invasive species of plants.
John Baird is calling for calm after mortar shells were exchanged over the Syria-Turkey border yesterday. Remember that Turkey is a NATO ally, which could bring us into that conflict.