Tag Archives: CRA

Roundup: Boxing in the Conservatives on abortion

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It is approximately day seventy of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russian forces appear to be storming the steel plant in Mariupol, after a handful of civilians were evacuated and made it to Kyiv-controlled areas. As well, UK prime minister Boris Johnson addressed the Ukrainian parliament (and I can’t wait for the usual suspects in this country to start demanding Justin Trudeau to do the same, just because).

Closer to home, that US Supreme Court leak about the potential overturning of their abortion jurisprudence has galvanized politicians in Canada in a number of ways. For the Bloc, they decided to engage in mischief by moving a unanimous consent motion after Question Period about a woman’s right to choose, which was explicitly designed to box the Conservatives into a corner, and they dutifully marched into it—right after Candice Bergen sent out orders to the caucus not to discuss it. Of course, several MPs made their comments on their way into the West Block, while most of the leadership candidates made their feelings known.

This raises questions as to whether this could happen in Canada, and it’s theoretically possible, but not under the current configuration of the Supreme Court of Canada. Of course, the more likely course is for a future government to attempt to criminalise it via the Criminal Code, which they have been attempting to in piecemeal form, either via “sex-selective abortion” legislation, or bills that give rights to foetuses, which undermines the Canadian legal jurisprudence that rights begin at birth. The bigger problem in Canada is uneven access, whether between rural and urban areas within a province, or between provinces, particularly in places like New Brunswick and PEI, and the fact that the federal government has been fairly impotent when it comes to clawbacks of Canada Health Transfers related to not providing this service (which Conservatives don’t insist on federally, but Liberals do, when they are in power). I also think it’s an issue that this “feminist federal government” simply refunded the clawbacks from New Brunswick when the pandemic began so that they couldn’t be cast as the bad guy, instead of being seen to stand up for principles and for access. And lo, we may soon need to be providing access to Americans who come to Canada for the procedure, and that may cause capacity challenges, depending on the province. So we have our challenges, but they’re different ones from the US.

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QP: An amazing amount of revisionist history

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While Justin Trudeau was away at Guy Lafleur’s funeral, none of the other leaders showed up in the House of Commons either, never mind the brewing political storm and promise of some mischief after QP. Luc Berthold led off, and he accused the prime minister of doing nothing about the Ottawa occupation before he pulled out the Emergencies Act, whereas this past weekend, those same “protesters” came back and left, and wondered what was different. Marco Mendicino talked about how police were better prepared, but the measures were needed at the time. Berthold tried to downplay the occupation and insisted that if it wasn’t safe, MPs should not have been able to cross it, and Mendicino talked about how Parliamentarians’ experience was not necessarily that of other residents of the city, and and they looked forward to the inquiry. Berthold tried to be cute and wondered how many people were arrested for sedition in relation to the blockade, and Mendicino waved it off, and said they government would cooperate with the inquiry. John Brassard took over in English, and raised that RCMP memo—ignoring that the memo stated there was no evidence to support a charge—and wanted to know if the prime minister was above the law. Mark Holland stood up to sermonise about the opposition was concerned with personal attacks and not the business of the nation. Brassard gave it another go, and Holland pleaded with them to let Bill C-8 pass.

Alain Therrien considered it arrogant that the government wouldn’t devolve powers to Quebec to deal with their own immigration files, and Marie-France Lalaonde cited some figures about the province not managing to fill their entire quotas as it is. Christine Normandin got up next, and gave a paean to a woman’s right to choose, and Chrystia Freeland assured her this government would protect a woman’s rights, and she expressed shock at the news coming out of the United States, and gave a clear defence of a woman’s rights, to an ovation from most of the Commons, but not all.

Jagmeet Singh railed about an alleged tax agreement achieved with a corporation, to which Diane Lebouthillier said that this allegation was examined by a third party and determined there was no wrong doing and that the CRA came out ahead in the arrangement. Singh switched to French to decry the profitability of the oil and gas sector while getting subsidies, and Jonathan Wilkinson gave a bromide about working with sectors including the oil and gas sector.

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Roundup: Incoherent housing plans

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We are now on or about day fifty-eight of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has declared victory when it comes to their siege of the strategic city of Mariupol, and has ordered its troops not to storm the last pocket of resistance there. But hey, they’ve “liberated” the city by shelling it to rubble, so good job there. It is estimated that some 2000 Ukrainian troops remain on site, spread out in a network of tunnels and bunkers, along with several thousand civilians. Of course, this also means that Russian forces are likely going to simply try and wait out those remaining troops and civilians as they run out of food and supplies, and trap them inside.

Closer to home, Pierre Poilievre has been unveiling more of his housing platform, but…it’s pretty incoherent, in a lot of ways. There isn’t that much financial leverage that the federal government can wield when it comes to ending NIMBYism and seven decades of market incentives for single-family homes that are unsustainable and which only continue to exacerbate the affordability crisis (not to mention the climate crisis). Oh, and Poilievre is defending his own rental property portfolio, citing that he’s providing affordable rental accommodations to two “deserving families.”

The last point on that list is pretty critical—it would undermine central bank independence, and one imagines could actually create a deflationary spiral in the right circumstances that would create a depression, which is precisely what they were avoiding when they engaged in quantitative easing during the pandemic recession. Jennifer Robson has even more concerns about the incoherence of the plan in this thread. Meanwhile, I would also recommend checking out this thread by Mike Moffatt about just how complex the drivers of the housing situation in Ontario is. It’s not just one thing—it’s a lot of moving parts that got us to where we are now.

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1517214855572320256

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QP: Unhappy with the new emissions plan

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With Justin Trudeau off in Vancouver to give a speech on the government’s new emissions plan for 2030, we did have his deputy present, which was something. Most of the other leaders weren’t present either, and some have become rare sights of late. Luc Berthold led off in French and complained that the emissions reductions plan would cripple the oil sector and that this meant we couldn’t help our friends in Europe get off Russian oil and gas. Terry Duguid stood up to recite some bromides about the plan as announced. Berthold then launched into a rant about how the government doesn’t answer simple questions, and demanded to know if inflation was costing Canadians more. Chrystia Freeland responded that they were sensitive to costs which is why they indexed benefits and introduced $10/day child care. Berthold then railed about the increasing price on carbon, demanding it be suspended, to which Freeland recited the good news about economic growth. Kyle Seeback took over in English, and he misleadingly cited the PBO report on carbon pricing in order to complain that the emissions reduction plan wasn’t going to work. Duguid got back up to recite that the PBO indeed stated that most families would be better off with rebates, and he cited the rebate levels in several provinces. Seeback then railed that the government spent $60 billion on fighting emissions and they still went up—again, somewhat misleadingly because the curve of growth has flattened—and Duguid responded that if the Conservatives were still in charge the emissions would be even higher.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he demanded that the government start chartering planes to get more Ukrainian refugees over here. Sean Fraser insisted people were arriving all the time and they were rolling out programmes to support them. Therrien said that Air Transat was just waiting for the government to charter flights and repeated his demand, and Fraser said that they are discussing with airlines.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP in person, and he called the emissions reduction plan “disappointing,” saying it gives a free pass to the fossil fuel sector. Duguid got back up to recite a number of actions they have taken around the energy sector. Singh repeated the question in French, and Duguid recited some more climate action plans.

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Roundup: Occupation over, emergency orders confirmed

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The occupation of Ottawa’s downtown core by far-right extremists, grifters, and conspiracy theorists is at an end. The police action kept up all day Saturday, and by Sunday, they were into mop-up operations. In total, there were 191 arrests, some 400 charges, and 79 vehicles towed, but it will still be some time before barricades start coming down in downtown Ottawa, because they want to ensure that the same group don’t move right back in once the barricades come down. And indeed, while the occupation may be ended, the emergency measures will likely stick around a little longer in order to prevent a resurgence or similar attempts in other locations, particularly given that many of the participants are lying in wait just outside of the city in makeshift encampments on private property. Trudeau said the emergency orders will likely be lifted in a few days, but they’re awaiting advice from law enforcement.

In the meantime, the debate on the emergency measures carried on through the weekend and into Monday, and while I have a column coming out later today on just how bad it was, there is special mention to Conservative MP Mark Strahl for fabricating a constituent named “Briane” who apparently had her accounts frozen for donating to the occupation before it was illegal. Andrew Scheer went ballistic about how this kind of retroactive application of the orders was unconscionable, erm, except that it didn’t happen because Briane doesn’t exist, and if she does, then it’s someone catfishing Strahl, who is too gullible to check into a clearly bogus tale. To date, 76 accounts have been frozen, either from organisers of the occupations, or those who owned trucks on the streets. That’s it. But the Conservatives are trying to push a narrative that Trudeau is authoritarian and punishing dissent, even though none of this actually bears out in the facts or the political reality of someone in a hung parliament. They’re just so cartoonishly bad and transparent in their lies that it’s hard to actually believe they are that inept. And yet they’ll get away with it, because there are credulous media outlets taking it at face value, and even more that are both-sidesing, and trying to get confirmation no matter that the falsehood is obvious on the face of it.

The vote itself was not particularly close, given that the NDP had already signalled that they would support the motion, though that didn’t stop the Conservatives from trying to deride them for supposedly turning their backs on how Tommy Douglas voted against the War Measures Act, even though the Emergencies Act is not the same thing and does not suspend civil liberties. There was later some consternation that Trudeau indicated that this would essentially be a confidence vote, which frankly it should be. If you don’t think the government can handle emergency powers, that’s a pretty solid indication you don’t think they should be in power. After the vote, Candice Bergen was already read with procedural mischief to use the portion of the Act that can call for a motion to lift the orders with the support of 20 MPs, so that will go ahead once the sitting resumes in a week. The Senate still has to vote on the emergency order motion, probably later today, so the government is not in the clear just yet.

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QP: In the shadow of the Emergencies Act

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While talk of the imminent imposition of the Emergencies Act swirled, the prime minister was in his office but not in the Chamber for QP. Candice Bergen led off, script in front of her, and quoted Section 16 of the Emergencies Act to ask if he considers the blockades a threat to national security, to which Marco Mendicino quoted the arrests on Coutts this morning for weapons before listing supports the federal government provided to end the blockades. Bergen demanded the government agree with their Supply Day motion to capitulate to the occupiers, and Bill Blair railed about the illegal occupations. Bergen called capitulation “not unreasonable,” and demanded “hope and optimism” for Canadians. Mark Holland said that the Conservatives squandered all attempts at de-escalation, citing their various MPs who have supported it. Luc Berthold took over in French, and repeated the “division and stigmatisation” line before wondering how the government could possibly consider emergency measures. Mendicino repeated his previous answer. Berthold said that nobody wanted to see the army in the streets before demanding capitulation, and Holland repeated his condemnation of irresponsible Conservative statements in support of the occupations.

For the Bloc, Alain Therrien wanted to know how the prime minister planned to use emergency powers, and demanded a detailed plan today. Mendicino read about the support the federal government has offered. Therrien was not satisfied, but Mendicino simply repeated his response.

Peter Julian led for the NDP, and wondered why the prime minister didn’t “show leadership” 18 days ago—as though there were federal powers he could deploy (there weren’t). Bill Blair denounced the occupations and blockades, and stated that they did provide support where requested. Alexandre Boulerice took over in French to lament the same, and Mendicino repeated the script about supports given.

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QP: Quoting Joël Lightbound

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It was an unusual morning, where one of the Liberal backbenchers, Joël Lightbound, decided to torpedo his status as rising star and held a press conference to slam the government’s handling of vaccine mandates, and mouthing a bunch of the same talking points about “divisiveness” that Candice Bergen has been spouting of late. Naturally, every one of the opposition parties was bound to pick up on this and hit the government with it as hard as they possibly could. In the Chamber, most of the leaders were present in person, Jagmeet Singh excepted. Candice Bergen led off, script in front of her, and she raised Lightbound’s concerns and selectively quoted Dr. Theresa Tam, and demanded and end to public health measures (never mind that most of them are provincial). Justin Trudeau acknowledged that people are tired of lockdowns, but Canadians were united in doing what needed to be done to beat the pandemic by following the science. Bergen listed countries with fewer restrictions and demanded an end to them in Canada, and Trudeau repeated that they follow science and that there was a less severe impact than in most of those other countries because we did the right thing. Bergen pandemic one final plea for freedom, and Trudeau doubled down on following science and note their work with premiers to bring in the measures that saved lives, before needling the Conservatives about their support for the occupiers outside. Luc Berthold took over in French to again quote Lightbound to decry “divisiveness,” and Trudeau repeated his points about following science and not politicising it. Berthold screamed that Trudeau was not answering the question, and Trudeau made a pitch for vaccination to end the pandemic.

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, praised the injunction that silenced the occupation, and praised Quebec City’s handling of their protesters, but seemed to ignore that the Ontario government should have a role here. Trudeau said that he would speak with the mayor later in the day, and that they need to show solidarity in getting through the challenge. Blanchet then raised Lightbound before demanding more health transfers for the provinces, and Trudeau reminded him that summits with premiers are not held with the Bloc, before listing investments over the past two years.

Jagmeet Singh appeared by video to raise the blockades at two other border crossings, and Trudeau insisted that they were in touch and supplying resources, before calling out the Conservatives for their inconsistent messages on the occupation. Singh repeated the question in French, and Trudeau repeated his response. 

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Roundup: More of the hot seat for O’Toole?

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So it looks like unrest remains the order of the day in the Conservative caucus, as they prepare for their winter caucus retreat next week (which may very well be virtual). Unhappiness with Erin O’Toole’s leadership is still fomenting below the surface—and to be fair, blackmailing your MPs to say that you’ll expel them from caucus if they challenge you by signing a petition can do that—while at the same time being castigated for not providing any actual leadership, so that’s quite something.

In the midst of this, the resistance to O’Toole’s edicts continue. After Conservative senators didn’t follow O’Toole’s orders and expel Senator Denise Batters from their ranks, it looks like the party’s Saskatchewan regional caucus is also defying O’Toole and letting Batters remain a member. So she can’t attend national caucus, but she’s still participating with her fellow colleagues, in the Senate and regionally, which seems to show that O’Toole’s edicts are starting to feel pretty hollow. After all, if he tries to expel the whole of his Saskatchewan caucus for defying him, well, he might as well turn in his resignation at that point.

Batters, meanwhile, has all the time in the world to carry on her campaign against O’Toole, since they didn’t give her any committee work to do. And to that end, she is insisting that the report on the election loss must include O’Toole’s personal failures and constant flip-flops. It also seems that people have been directing former MP James Cumming, in charge of said report, to talk to her, but he hasn’t done so, which could make a person suspicious that this could be a selective report that just might be going out of its way to avoid criticising O’Toole himself. But the signs aren’t good for O’Toole the more this continues to add up.

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Roundup: Boycotting NSICOP for theatre

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Because we cannot trust our current political parties to do their jobs of accountability, Erin O’Toole has announced that he won’t name any MPs to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, citing the Winnipeg Lab documents and completely false insinuations that the committee is a tool of the prime minister’s office to obscure information. It’s bullshit, but it’s bullshit that the party has committed itself to for the sake of political theatre over serious work.

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1473261482624397319

To throw a strop over these documents when a) the committee that ordered them no longer exists and won’t be reconstituted; b) the order the committee gave to produce those documents does not exist; and c) the government has offered other compromises to release those documents, both in releasing the unredacted documents to NSICOP, and in proposing an ad hoc committee duplicating the process from the Harper-era Afghan detainee documents, which the Conservatives also rejected for handwavey reasons. Do you see how none of this is adding up to anything coherent, and why the government’s many attempts to release the documents in an unredacted form that will still satisfy national security requirements keep getting rejected for performative reasons?

If NSICOP were really a tool of the PMO to hide information, then its members from both the opposition parties in the Commons and in the Senate would have resigned in protest long ago, and lo, that has never happened, because it’s not a tool of the PMO. O’Toole’s objections are theatre, and nothing more. It would be great if more people would call this theatre out for what it is, rather than just tut-tutting about secrecy. Our MPs have proven time and again that they’re not serious about accountability over national security and intelligence matters, and that they can’t be trusted with the information, and they have proven that the concerns of our national security and intelligence agencies are right, time and again.

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Roundup: At long last, the mandate letters

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On what turned out to be the final sitting day of 2021 for the House of Commons, the prime minister finally released the mandate letters for his ministers, nearly three months after the election, and two after they were sworn in to their new jobs. I’m not sure how well I can articulate the utter absurdity of the situation, because there is really no excuse why it took this long (let along why it took him as long as it did to swear in his Cabinet or to summon Parliament). The fact that they were released after the House agreed to rise at the end of the sitting day means that there can be no interrogation of these letters by the opposition until January 31st, which is way too long.

As for the letters themselves, there is a theme among them about building a more inclusive and fair country, and for tangible results to be better communicated to Canadians (you think?). Some of the highlights include:

  • Ordering several ministers to take a harder line on trade tensions with the US
  • Resurrecting legislation on CanCon requirements for the internet and having web giants pay news outlets, as well as modernising the CBC
  • Renewed action to fighting systemic racism, along with a number of initiatives directed toward the Black community
  • Implementing UNDRIP in all decisions
  • Developing a new cyber-security strategy

No doubt more attention will be paid to these letters over the coming days, and we’ll see how much misunderstanding comes from them (recall the line about not creating new permanent spending programmes from Chrystia Freeland’s previous letter which people took to mean all rather than in the context of COVID supports). It also looks like we’re getting talking heads grousing about inclusivity as though it were somehow a distraction from economic growth when inclusive growth is where the country needs to be headed to head off economic challenges plaguing us since before the pandemic.

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1471544703212404736

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