The day was already off to a shaky start, where Peter Van Loan spent the NDP’s supply date motion on amending the Standing Orders to have the relevancy rules apply to QP, by arguing that QP shouldn’t be a one-way street and that the NDP should answer the questions they pose back to them. It really was mystifying. No major leader was present in the Commons for QP, where Megan Leslie asked about plans to send CF-18s to Iraq to conduct airstrikes. John Baird said that they were dealing with humanitarian operations over there, but no further decisions had been taken. Leslie demanded a vote on increasing participation, to which Baird insisted that they would hold one on a combat mission. (Wait — it’s a trap!) Hélène Laverdière picked up the same questions I’m French, and asked how many of the planned 69 special forces were on the ground. Baird said that he would get back to her on the number, and reiterated the threat posed by ISIS. Leslie got back up for the final question, and trawled for support for the supply day motion, to which Van Loan assured her that our Parliament has the most accountable Question Period in the world, and that the government should be able to pose questions too. And then my head exploded. Dominic LeBlanc led off for the Liberals, and cited media leaks on extending the Iraq deployment, and wanted more details on the parameters that cabinet was considering. Baird replied that cabinet had not yet weighed in on it. Joyce Murray asked about the time period that they were considering for an extended deployment. Baird spoke with exaggerated slowness to insist that no decision had not yet been made.
Tag Archives: Environment
QP: A few answers on Iraq
Before Question Period got underway, the Speaker rose to make a statement. Scheer gave a reminder about his role as it is laid out in O’Brien and Bosc, and reminded members that the current practice, upheld by successive Speakers, is that he has no authority over the content of answers, quoting Speaker Milliken several times. He reminded them that it is up to MPs to give him those powers, but did caution MPs to be more judicious in their language. When things got started officially, Thomas Mulcair asked about the end date of the engagement in Iraq. With Harper off in New York, James Bezan stood up to tell him that the clock started on September 5th, and chided the NDP for offering no suggestions for stopping ISIS. Mulcair made a dig about Bezan not being a member of government before asking how many soldiers were on the ground at present. Bezan deferred, but when Mulcair pressed, Bezan said that the commitment was for 69 personnel who would provide assistance to Kurdish forces. Mulcair demanded a vote on deployment, and Bezan noted all of the other deployments that they didn’t demand a vote for. For his final question, Mulcair demanded a full public inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women. Kellie Leitch said that families of victims were thankful to the government for coming forward with their Action Plan™. For his question, Justin Trudeau cited a report saying that this generation of Canadians would be worse off than their parents, and wondered what the government was doing to change that. Joe Oliver responded by touting assistance for low-income Canadians. Citing the inter-generational wealth gap, Trudeau wondered if the government would vote for their EI credit proposal, but Joe Oliver responded by reading his previous statement in French. Trudeau pressed on their plans for the vote, but Oliver said that the last thing the Liberals were qualified to talk about was EI.
Roundup: Contempt, tempers, and losing the plot
Thomas Mulcair’s snide exchange with the Speaker during yesterday’s QP continues to resonate around Ottawa, with reminders that Scheer doesn’t currently have the powers to police the content of answers (MPs would have to agree to give him those powers), and musings about this kind of contempt of parliament and remonstrations about how this is what makes people cynical. And the worst part? That even over the Twitter Machine, Paul Calandra continues to play the part. It has also been noted, and I fully agree, that by losing his temper and going after the Speaker, Mulcair made the story about himself rather than Calandra and his utter nonsense.
Media upset with me, gee what am I to do? Tell you what, I will stand up for Israel who are on the front lines fighting terror every day.
— Paul Calandra (@PaulCalandra) September 24, 2014
It's not up to Speaker Scheer to discipline poor answers, and you lose focus on govt stonewalling when you attack the Speaker. #QP
— Bob Rae (@BobRae48) September 23, 2014
QP: Don’t question the Speaker
With Stephen Harper out of the Commons, likely prepping for his trip to the UN, the other leaders were present and accounted for. Thomas Mulcair led off by asking if a statement by James Bezan about the end date for the Iraq, but Paul Calandra ignored the question entirely and accused an NDP fundraiser of saying terrible things about Israel. Mulcair brought the point back to Iraq, while Calandra tried to hammer the fundraiser’s comments. When Calandra tried a third time, Mulcair challenged the Speaker’s neutrality for not shutting him down. Scheer, unimpressed, cut Mulcair’s last two questions and went directly to Justin Trudeau, who asked about job creation. Joe Oliver touted job internship programmes and so on, but didn’t offer much else. Trudeau moved onto Harper’s absence from the climate conference in New York. Colin Carrie dutifully got up to read some prepared statements, much as he did yesterday. Trudeau brought up action taken by premiers for carbon pricing, to which Carrie read another statement.
Roundup: The Tabulator gong show
Over in the New Brunswick election last night, their new Tabulator machines which were supposed to deliver election results faster all pretty much fried and turned into a big gong show, with missing ballots and unreadable results, while the company who was contracted out to run the machines didn’t answer calls. With no results being trustworthy, parties began demanding manual recounts, and with a virtual tie result, the final results likely won’t be clear in the morning. And so, let this once again be a lesson that paper ballots should always be used with manual counts because that’s the only tried and true way with actual accountability.
QP: Colin Carrie reads some statements
With Stephen Harper entertaining the president of South Korea just down the hall, and Justin Trudeau, well, elsewhere, Thomas Mulcair was once again the only major leader in the Commons, not that this is uncommon for a Monday any longer. Mulcair began QP with a short question about why the PM is boycotting the UN climate conference this week. Colin Carrie responded by praising the government’s action on GHGs in a ridiculous prepared statement. Mulcair decried the embarrassment of the government withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol, and wondered if the government believed in a healthy environment, to which Carrie read another lengthy statement. Mulcair referenced his time as Quebec environment minister, and wondered if the government would include a right to clean air and water in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Carrie noted that Mulcair once had a smog day named after himself — and read another statement. Megan Leslie was up next, and spoke about the climate March in New York, and asked about regulations on oil and gas emissions. Carrie, undaunted, read yet another prepared statement. Leslie tried one last time to persuade the PM to head to the climate summit, but Carrie reminded her that the environment minister was attending. Rising for the Liberals, John McKay tried to keep up the pressure on the climate summit file, to which Carrie — once again — read a statement prefaced by the fact that the former Liberal leader named his dog Kyoto. Marc Garneau asked again in French, to which Carrie read a statement in French. Scott Brison closed the round asking about the problems with the EI tax credit, and Kevin Sorensen gave Carrie a break by reciting that the Liberals didn’t understand small business.
Roundup: Buh-bye once more, Rob Anders
And it’s buh-bye once again to Rob Anders, as he failed his second attempt at a nomination race, this time in the Southern Alberta riding of Bow Valley. There, the mayor of Brooks won the race, in spite of his questionable choices in haircut, beard and waxed moustache (seriously?), after he labelled Anders a “drop-in candidate.” Anders must have secured the party’s consent to contest a second nomination, but now it remains to be seen what he’ll do next. Oh, and he didn’t even bother to show up at the nomination meeting that he ended up losing in. Apparently Alberta has tired of him and his antics. I just can’t wait for him to denounce that riding as having been infiltrated with liberals and communists, as he tries to find the last vestige of a people who wear their prejudices as proudly as they drive their pick-up trucks.
Roundup: Voices from the past
A number of has-been pro-life (and homophobic) former Liberal MPs sent out an open letter to Justin Trudeau decrying his decree that a woman’s right to choose is a Charter issue and not a matter of conscience. They decried it as “anti-democratic,” never mind the fact that this was the policy voted on by the party’s membership during the policy convention before Trudeau won the leadership. Oops. The pedigree of these former MPs is also worth mentioning, as several of them quit the party to join the Reform Party, while others left over the same-sex marriage issue. Not surprising, most Liberals simply shrugged off the whole thing, while Trudeau tweeted out a fairly decent comeback.
The days when old men get to decide what a woman does with her body are long gone. Times have changed for the better. #LPC defends rights.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 18, 2014
QP: Four new members
The first day back in the Commons kicked off with the four MPs who won by-elections at the start of the summer — two new Liberals and two new Conservatives. When things got underway at last, Thomas Mulcair led off by asking, in both languages in the same slot, how many members of the Canadian Forces were being sent to Iraq. Harper gave a general figure of Air Force members flying in supplies, and “several dozen” members of the Special Forces for an advisory role. Mulcair asked — again in both languages — why there wasn’t a vote on the deployment. Harper reminded him that a government that has the confidence of the Chamber can deploy Forces, and this wasn’t a combat mission. Mulcair switched topic to working parents with poverty, to which Harper reminded him that labour markets were largely provincial responsibility and there was no need to reinstate a federal minimum wage to create two classes of workers. When Mulcair tried to press, Harper reminded him of all the great things they were doing for families. Justin Trudeau was up for the Liberals, and without visibly reading, asked about why the EI tax credit offers more incentives to fire workers than to hire them. Harper insisted he didn’t know what Trudeau was talking about, and when Trudeau spelled it out, Harper fell back to the “45 day work year” canard.
Obligatory note: Newly elected MPS aren't supposed to pretend to resist being dragged into the Chamber. That's just new speakers. #QP
— kady o'malley (@kady) September 15, 2014
Someone shouts "Where's yours, Tom?" #QP #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) September 15, 2014
Roundup: A modest contribution
The NATO Summit is underway in Wales, and Canada is contributing a modest $4 million to assist against Russian aggression – $1 million to helping Ukraine build up its command and control capacity, and the rest to be distributed among three NATO trusts to help strengthen capacities in the Baltic region. Aside from that, it remains unclear what kind of a role Canada will play in the region, and if we will contribute troops to a rapid response force in the area. As for the ISIS threat, the US and UK are discussing potential bombing campaigns, but we’ll see what comes from discussions, though word has it we may be offering military advisors to help Iraqis counter ISIS. The end of the Afghan mission has also been under discussion at the summit.