Thomas Mulcair opened up QP today taking all five slots in the leader’s round, asking whether Harper planned to keep troops in Afghanistan past 2014, despite the House having voted to end the mission. Well no, Harper said – we haven’t had any request to extend the mission (amidst speculation that the Americans would be asking us to extend our Special Operations forces there), and of course he’d ask the House for permission to extend. Err, except this is a big problem. You see constitutionally, deploying the armed forces is a Crown Prerogative, and that’s a means of accountability. Yes, it sounds nice on paper when you have the House agree to put our troops into harm’s way, but when things go wrong, you need that clear line of accountability. Because deployments are a Crown Prerogative, it means that the executive remains responsible when things to wrong. If it’s the House in charge, not only do we find that we have watered down missions full of caveats (like all of those European countries in Afghanistan), but then Harper can turn around and say “Well, the House agreed to the mission, not me, so not my problem.” You see why this is a problem, right? And now that Harper has a majority in the House, he can hold a vote and then say “The House has spoken, we’ll extend,” thus being able to both absolve himself of responsibility while appearing to have it be a “democratic” choice. Not that Mulcair seems to have considered this constitutional reality.
Tag Archives: Environment
Roundup: Hey, big spender!
All eyes may be on Bev Oda’s limousine habit and posh hotels, but it seems that the highest spending cabinet minister is Gerry Ritz, who spent more than a quarter of a million dollars on travel in the past year. But look at all of our agricultural export markets he’s securing! Oh, and take it away, Dame Shirley Bassey.
So, that Michael Ignatieff interview. Which he later said the criticisms of which were taken out of context and is now said to be backpedalling while other Liberals repudiate his words and separatists are revelling in them. But. Having watched the full interview, I will note that Ignatieff does seem to be conflating a lot of the division of powers from the 1867 constitution (where things like healthcare and education are provincial responsibilities) with Quebec’s control over their immigration stemming from a 1968 law, and some of the kinds of concessions that were made post-1995 that weren’t structural. But put this into the context of the last election, where there was a great deal of debate around the NDP proposals for further decentralisation on a selective basis with Quebec (while simultaneously seeking more centralising powers for pretty much every other province), which was the point of the “Sherbrooke Declaration,” and the frustrations that many a federalist politician feels when it comes to the fact that Canada is already the most decentralised federation in existence. Ignatieff did seem to be indicating that the damage from further devolution of powers, in a post-Scottish independence world, would be eventual independence, but that seems to have been lost in most people’s analyses. (Speaking of, here’s a great analysis from @Kyle_a, who puts a whole bunch more context in there).
Conservative MPs from Alberta were hurting a bit yesterday in the wake of the PC victory in Alberta, as most were supporting the Wildrose party. I witnessed two of them yesterday morning conversing where the one said, “I see you were campaigning for the wrong party,” to which the other replied that he had been campaigning for the party that should have won. Oh, well.
Aaron Wherry has a chat with Bruce Hyer, who hints more about some of the internal battles within the NDP that Jack Layton was able to manage, but that Nycole Turmel couldn’t, and Thomas Mulcair isn’t so far.
As was referenced during QP yesterday, a particular poll was entered as part of the evidence for improper calling in six of the seven ridings where the results are in a court challenge. I get the methodology and that it was structured to serve as a comparison and to correct for the inaccuracies of memory, but a poll does seem like thin evidence for a case of this magnitude.
Here’s a look at the proposed changes to the Fisheries Act that critics argue will weaken fish habitat protection in the rush to speed up environmental assessments.
Here’s more about the “media monitors” being assigned to Canadian scientists at a climate conference.
And the man behind the Vikileaks Twitter account went before the Ethics Committee yesterday. Apparently the Conservatives not only don’t understand how the Twitter Machine works, but they believe that he needed a vast conspiracy to make it all happen – while apparently they also believe that a lone operative is behind the misleading robo-calls.
QP: Unity, focus, and expensive hotels
At the start of the day, new NDP house leader Nathan Cullen gathered the media together to tell us about how the dynamic in Ottawa has changed, that the NDP are a unified and focused team, and that they were going to keep Harper on his toes. Fast forward until Question Period when word hit the wires that NDP MP Bruce Hyer decided to leave caucus, largely because of Mulcair’s heavy hand on the whip when it comes to the party’s position on the long-gun registry. Yes, that’s apparently what united looks like. As for focused, well, I predicted on Friday that everyone’s attempt to get a spot to shine was going to result in a shambolic, scattershot QP. I was not wrong.
Roundup: Prison closures looming
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.
Timelines, jurisdictions, and future court challenges
The natural resources minister, Joe Oliver, unveiled the planned changes to environmental assessments today, and some of effects are going to be pretty significant. As part of their “streamlining” process, the government plans to reduce the number of departments and agencies that conduct assessments from 40 to just three, and shift more of the weight onto the provinces (despite the fact that they continue to insist that the ‘austerity’ budget wouldn’t download costs onto the provinces, though their measures continue to do so).
Now, before you get too excited, I think we need to sit down, take a deep breath, and consider a few things here. I know everyone is talking about weakening the process, and how this is going to mean carte blanche for Big Oil and so on, but that may not actually be the case. Nobody is saying that any of these assessments are going to be just rubberstamps. There is still a process in place, which we can’t forget. But this having been established, there are some things that the government needs to really consider before they move ahead with these changes.
Roundup: No lessons learnt with immigration backlog
Because apparently the government hasn’t learned anything since the last time they tried to impose caps to solve the immigration backlog, the plans to simply legislate it away are likely to open the government up to more court challenges. Meanwhile, language testing is going to become mandatory for certain classes of immigrants, while the government looks to centralise immigrant settlement services.
Here’s a look at how this issue over F-35 costs could impact the way future military procurements are handled, and there are a lot of other procurements on the way. Here’s a look at the way in which military officials told MacKay that the F-35 was the “cheapest option” on the market for future fighter craft, despite the escalating costs. Former Assistant Deputy Minister Alan Williams continues to shred the government’s numbers, including the fact that they were actually planning to buy 79 jets, not 65 (remember those 14 replacement planes that Garneau mentioned yesterday morning? And it this is an example of contract splitting, that’s actually strictly prohibited). And Andrew Coyne takes MacKay to task, and breaks it down that this issue is ultimately not about planes, but about whether we live in a functioning parliamentary democracy, or even want to – which is what we all need to remember when we get bogged down in accounting issues.
About 5500 public service layoff notices were given yesterday, including a big number from Border Services, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and policy positions in Health Canada. Here’s a look at the cuts being made to the military, which includes virtually eliminating parts of our air defence.
The government released its greenhouse gas emissions report yesterday and wow, we’re already a third of the way to our 2020 goals! Err, except that we’ve actually increased slightly from 2009. And while there is a patchwork of provincial plans, we still have no federal plan, despite having been promised one for years, which means that they really had no role to play in any reductions that were made. (More detailed breakdown here, but possible paywall).
There is a good chance the election results in Etobicoke Centre could be overturned in an ongoing court challenge. This is also a warning as to some of the lax training by Elections Canada officials out there.
Conservative MP Bob Dechert touts how religious freedoms “trickle down” to other freedoms in society, rather than you know, focusing on human rights in general and that including religious freedom. Also not mentioned – how creating an office to focus specifically on religious freedoms gives the impression that Canada operates on a hierarchy of rights, privileging religion over other rights in its foreign policy.
Here’s a look at what the demise of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada means at a provincial context – in this case, Alberta.
Joe Clark talks about the Conservatives’ damage to our foreign policy here, with a few observations on the rise of the NDP.
And Bob Rae recalls the debates that brought about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 30 years ago.
Roundup: Distortions and unfollowed guidelines
An American expert following the F-35 debacle asserts that the government’s response doesn’t go far enough. You don’t say! And that General Natynczyk still thinks they’re the best jet for our air force, no matter what anyone says? Get out of town! Meanwhile, here are some of the references around how this was or was not just an “accounting error,” the lifecycle being assessed – which former Assistant Deputy Minister Alan Williams calls “a distortion” – and while Peter MacKay assures us that there’s all kinds of documentation to back this up, the Auditor General repeatedly said there was not. And Andrew Coyne goes to Treasury Board guidelines to take apart MacKay’s argument.
It cost the public purse $2.3 million for Elections Canada to investigate and take the Conservatives to court over the In & Out affair, for which they paid out a meagre $52,000 in fines.
Here’s a good examination of the meaning of the government’s decision to dismantle the National Roundtable on Energy and the Economy, and the negligible savings to the treasury that will actually result.
The government has also cut all funding to the National Aboriginal Health Association, which will close in June.
Also, cuts to the Canadian Space Agency will likely impact on future projects that Canada will be able to participate in.
Hat tip to Aaron Wherry for finding the speech by John Diefenbaker in 1949 about the role of the Official Opposition, and how they were having the very same doubts about the estimates process and the role of the Public Accounts Committee back then as they are now.
So many communities tried to host a Diamond Jubilee party that the special fund has been “oversubscribed.”
And the NCC is going to start putting up plaques with the statues of the Fathers of Confederation and early prime ministers up on Parliament Hill, so that people know who they actually are and what they accomplished. Which really is long overdue, really.
QP: Attacking a provincial government
As the NDP’s budget filibuster – for lack of a better term – continues, it was little surprise that Thomas Mulcair decided to start off today’s Question Period by reading off a trio of questions about the budget and jobs, careful to mention the Aveos job losses and forthcoming public sector cuts. As Harper was off in Washington for a “Three Amigos” meeting, we were instead treated to Peter Van Loan as designated replacement PM for the day, who touted the focus on job creation and economic growth in the budget, and that the NDP’s plan for higher taxes would kill those jobs. Peter Julian got up to ask about the public service cuts, to which Jim Flaherty replied that Julian should read all about the job creation hiring credit within the budget. Bob Rae stood up to ask a pair of questions about why Flaherty thought it was acceptable to attack the province of Ontario’s finances, but Van Loan did not answer, but simply kept trying to assert that Rae was a terrible premier back in his day. For his final question, Rae asked about the “special allowance” given to retired Prime Ministers, but Van Loan insisted that the budget was clear that MP pensions would be brought into line with those of the private sector.
Round two kicked off with Robert Chisholm calling the budget “mean-spirited” (Flaherty: Look at the long-term growth projections!), Wayne Marston and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe asking about OAS pensions and downloading costs to the provinces (Leitch: We’re acting responsibly!), Libby Davies asked about the so-called cuts to health transfers (Aglukkaq: We’re not cutting transfers), and Hélène LeBlanc asked about the changes coming to the National Research Council (Paradis: We’ve doubled some research funds!). Marc Garneau and Justin Trudeau asked about the suggestions by Conservative MPs of incompetence at Elections Canada at the Procedure and House Affairs committee last week, and about their budget cuts (Uppal: We supported the motion in the House; Van Loan: They assured us they have all the resources they need), and John McKay asking about the forthcoming Auditor General’s report on the F-35s (Fantino: Wait for the report). Matthew Kellway and Christine Moore asked about the F-35 process (Fantino: We need replacement planes), and Jack Harris and Ryan Cleary asked about that search and rescue failure in Labrador (McKay: The Canadian Forces tries to respond to these requests).
Round three saw questions on the Northern Gateway Pipeline approval process, killing the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat, the environmental cuts in the budget (Kent: The budget proves how committed we are to the environment! Yes, indeed it does), Bell planning to double payphone rates to a dollar per call, the letter to Peter MacKay written by a former search and rescue technician about the impact of the changes, unilingual Anglophone IRB judges (Dykstra: Do you want us to fire the unilingual francophone ones in Quebec too?), cuts to the Council of Welfare, and environmental assessments with future airport construction.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jonathan Genest-Jourdain for his grey suit with a white shirt a somewhat whimsical purple tie, and to Lisa Raitt for her tailored black leather jacket with a striped white collared shirt. Style citations go out to Maxime Bernier for a black suit with a yellow shirt and pocket square, with a red tie, and to Linda Duncan for a creation that appeared to be patchwork, but I can’t much describe it beyond that. Glance askance over to Christine Moore, whose love of shiny metallic ensembles was demonstrated today by a top that was comprised entirely of silver sequins.
And in case you missed it, this little rhyme from Liberal MP Roger Cuzner had everyone in the House laughing before QP got started.