Tag Archives: Environment

Roundup: The Chief Justice gives a strong warning

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Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Richard Wagner, delivered his annual news conference yesterday, which had been planned a month ago and the timing was purely coincidental regarding the sudden resignation of Justice Russell Brown. That was not the main topic of his remarks, however—that was about the slow pace of judicial appointments as some eighty or so spots remain unfilled, and it can take up to a year-and-a-half to fill the positions of chief justice or associate chief justice in a province. And Wagner has been pretty vocal about this.

Wagner did note that the prime minister did call him after getting his letter, and said that he was going to do what he could to improve the situation, but appointments are a problem for this government. In fact, the only time they have managed timely appointments are for the Supreme Court of Canada. One of the problems is that right now, a number of Judicial Advisory Committees, which vet prospective candidates, remain empty, meaning they need to be filled before they can get to the work of vetting applications for judges. And it’s not just the courts—nearly one fifth of Senate seats are currently vacant for much the same reason. And it’s not like these vacancies are a surprise—judges typically give six months’ notice before they retire, if they don’t reach mandatory retirement. Senators also age out, the date of which is clearly known and posted, so they have absolutely no excuse for not moving fast to fill upcoming vacancies. And yet they don’t.

As you have no doubt heard me say before on numerous occasions, one of the biggest problems is that this government made the decision to rely on self-nominations for these kinds of positions, while at the same time, committing to diversifying the bench (or the Senate). But when you rely on self-nomination, the kinds of people they want to apply and to appoint aren’t applying because they don’t see themselves in these roles (because the ingrained perception is that judges or senators are old white men), meaning that they need to go out and push people to apply and that takes time. They could instead just go out and nominate people, or have their appointments committees do that work, rather than just passively waiting for applications. To add to that, there is frequently a demonstrable difference in the performance of someone who was nominated (for whom they often see it as an honour to be considered) versus someone who applies (and feels entitled as a result),  But they refuse to see this and do that work, so we’re left constantly waiting for their poor process to play out, with the resulting delays that it entails while things crumble around them.

Ukraine Dispatch:

The Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih—the hometown of president Volodymyr Zelenskyy—killed at least eleven people when it struck an apartment building. As well, Russian missiles struck Odesa, killing at least three people in the early Wednesday morning. As well, independent confirmation is starting to roll in about Ukrainian gains in the counter-offensive.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1668511155160055808

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1668523632266469377

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QP: The Bank of Canada disputes the narrative

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The prime minister was present today, while his deputy was not, but all other leaders were. After a couple of standing ovations for Yvonne Jones for her return to the Commons from cancer treatment, things got underway.

Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and worried about the number of RCMP investigations into foreign interference, and that the former national security advisor was aware of this, before demanding a “genuine” public inquiry. Justin Trudeau said that he tasked Dominic LeBlanc with the task of next steps. Poilievre switched to English to recite his usual illiterate nonsense around deficits and inflation, to which Trudeau quoted the Governor of the Bank of Canada who said that government spending was not standing in the way of taming inflation. Poilievre haltingly tried to return to misquoting Freeland on deficits and inflation, and Trudeau insisted that the budget was responsible and fiscally sound, before reminding him of our enviable economic position. Poilievre then misdiagnosed why housing costs doubled, and this time, Trudeau took up a script to accuse Poilievre of standing in the way of action on housing and looking only to pick fights with mayors rather than doing something about housing. Poilievre returned to French to repeat the same accusation, and Trudeau read a list of measures they are taking on housing.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he demanded public inquiry once again. Trudeau thanked him for submitting prospective candidates to lead said inquiry, and insisted this was too important for partisanship. Blanchet demanded that there be an inquiry and that its leader must be independent of government, and before the end of the sitting. Trudeau agree that they need to move forward quickly, but lamented how toxic this has become.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and in French, he recounted working three jobs in university to make ends meet, and lamented the state of student housing. Trudeau insisted that they have been investing in housing for many years, including programmes to build more, as well as supports for students. Singh witched to English to recount the CBC of the state of student housing in Windsor, and demanded “concrete steps” for the cost of rent for students—which is provincial jurisdictions. Trudeau patted himself on the back for investments made so far.

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QP: A few last kicks at David Johnston

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While the prime minister was in town, he was not at QP, though his deputy was. Most of the other leaders were also present, for what that’s worth. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, accusing the prime minister of letting China interfere in two elections on his behalf, slandered David Johnston, and with Johnston’s resignation, he said that the Conservatives were willing to work with other parties on a public inquiry and demanded one be called. Dominic LeBlanc said that he appreciates the desire to work collaboratively, that a public inquiry was always an option, and that Johnston’s advice was that it would be difficult because of national security matters, but wanted opposition input on a commissioner, the timeline, and terms of reference. Poilievre pivoted to the rising cost of housing, blamed the prime minister, and demanded a balanced budget (as though there was a correlation between the two). Chrystia Freeland noted that while the country was burning and the government was trying to build a green economy, the Conservatives were block action. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his same nonsense-laden question, and Freeland noted the OECD projections about our strong economic growth before repeating her point about partisan games over a green economy. Poilievre cited the IMF’s concerns about the possibility of a major mortgage default in Canada, and again demanded a balanced budget. Freeland cited IMF praise for Canada and criticised the appalling behaviour of Conservatives blocking budget measures. Poilievre raised a CBC story about the state of student housing, to which Freeland pointed out that the Conservatives were blocking measures to punish Russia for their invasion of Ukraine.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, praised David Johnston for stepping down, and demanded a public inquiry with the commissioner chosen by the House (which is a bad thing) and that it be wide-ranging. LeBlanc said that he looked forward to working with opposition parties on next steps in a responsible manner. Therrien demanded a full public inquiry no matter what, and LeBlanc insisted it was not off the table but there were a lot of things that could not be made public.

Jagmeet Singh worried about mortgage increase and wanted advice for how people could cope. Freeland thanked him for the question, and praised their tax-free first home savings account and the housing accelerator fund. Singh said that doesn’t help a family now and repeated the question in French, with a Quebec figure instead of a Toronto one, and Freeland repeated her response.

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Roundup: LeBlanc wants the opposition to put up

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In the wake of David Johnston’s resignation (and because it happened on a Friday evening when the prime minister was out of the country, we are counting this as being done with spite), Dominic LeBlanc held a press conference on Saturday to try and turn the tables. Yes, they will consider a public inquiry, but the opposition parties need to get together to determine a commissioner, a timeline, and terms of reference, and godspeed to them in doing so. The theory is that the opposition wanted to be in this so badly, and they blew up the last process, so now they need to show up and do the work. I’m…dubious. I mean, I get that he wants to make the opposition leaders eat their words, and it may yet happen, but I’m not a fan of the government just taking their hands entirely off the wheel here because the Inquiries Act determines that this is a government process, and turning over these decisions is laundering the accountability for them, which is always a very bad thing.

Pierre Poilievre said on Sunday that he would be willing to work with the Bloc and the NDP on doing said work, in order to ensure that a commissioner is “independent and unbiased,” but good luck finding someone who is acceptable to everyone, and who is willing to take on the job, considering how much the opposition parties have fouled the well with the spate of character assassination and willingness to outright lie in bad faith about everything in order to score points. (Note that the government is not blameless in that they never should have picked Johnston in the first place, and should have taken more responsibility around the decision of whether or not to hold an inquiry at all instead of outsourcing the credibility responsibility). I expect these negotiations to drag on, and for the government to find the eventual outcome to be so poisonous as to reject them outright, because we are not dealing with serious people who act in good faith any longer.

Meanwhile, Andrew Scheer continues to be the klassy parliamentarian he has always proved himself to be. I would say it’s unbelievable, but sadly, this is who he is, and it’s all too believable.

Ukraine Dispatch:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems to have indicated that the counter-offensive has begun, but offers no details at this particular time, while the Russians counter with disinformation. Ukrainian forces did report recapturing a south-eastern village on Sunday, with reports that Russian forces opened fire on a boat carrying civilians evacuating from flooded areas. Ukrainian forces also advanced some 1400 metres near Bakhmut. Also over the weekend, Russian strikes killed three in Odessa, and killed and wounded others attacking Kharkiv.

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Roundup: Empty threats to sit into the summer

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Because this whole thing is nothing but really bad theatre, Pierre Poilievre went back before the microphones yesterday morning, declared victory from his fauxlibuster that didn’t accomplish a single gods damned thing, and then said that he was prepared to sit through the summer to make sure that the he got his budget demands. But that was another empty threat, because he doesn’t have the votes to block anything.

And lo, after Question Period, the budget bill passed as it was expected to, and is off to the Senate. Poilievre says his senators will try to stall or stop the bill there, but again, they don’t have anywhere near enough votes for that to make a difference, even if they do have a few more procedural opportunities to slow it down a little. Of course, this is a government bill so the Leader of the Government in the Senate can attempt time allocation if he thinks he has the votes to pull it off (and he probably does), so the delays will likely be fairly minimal.

This being said, the Government House Leader also said that he won’t let the House rise for the summer until they pass his motion to make hybrid sittings permanent, which is an abomination that is going to hasten the decline of our already weakened Parliament. (And yes, I have a full column on this coming out later today).

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1666830949420609537

Ukraine Dispatch:

While evacuations are taking place in Kherson as a result of the flood caused by the breached dam, Russians are shelling the area, including evacuation hotspots, because of course they are. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the area to see the flood devastation first-hand. Russians launched another overnight air attack, killing one person in Uman in the Cherkasy region.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1666798523793244162

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QP: What about the sky in New York?

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While the prime minister was on the Hill earlier for the Pride flag raising, he was not in the Chamber for QP, nor was his deputy, or most of the other leaders. Melissa Lantsman led off worrying about the Bank of Canada raising interest rates, and blaming the prime minister for it, and demanded to know what the Department of Finance figure show about how much mortgages will go up as a result. Terry Beech pointed out the strength of the economy, that we have lower inflation and interest rates than comparator countries, and that we can get through global inflation by working together. Lantsman demanded to know how many people would lose their homes because of rising interest rates. Beech reiterated that the Conservative only want to cut instead of help people. Lantsman then pivoted to news that David Johnston fired Navigator and state that they had also been hired by Han Dong, and demanded to know what the hell is going on. Marco Mendicino got up do praise Johnston and demand that Pierre Poilievre take the security briefing. Gérard Deltell got up next to worry about Quebec families who may not be able to keep their homes because of rising interest rates, and demanded a balanced budget. Rachel Bendayan noted that Poilievre talked for hours last night and said nothing about an economic plan. Deltell insisted that they had a plan, and again demanded a balanced budget, to which Bendayan said they found a balance of helping people in need while being fiscally responsible. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and wanted agreement that hydrocarbons cause forest fires. Steven Guilbeault said there was an undeniable link between them, and that they would support the Bloc’s Supply Day motion. Blanchet demanded the government end all direct or indirect funding to oil companies and to send that money to provinces instead, and Guilbeault said that they can walk and chew gum at the same time, and that they are phasing out subsidies while investing.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, worrying about the air quality in New York and that climate change has no borders and demanded action from this government. Guilbeault reminded him they are eliminating subsidies and have been commended as an example to follow. Boulerice railed about Trans Mountain and water bombers not being built in Canada, and demanded investments in renewable energy. Guilbeault reminded him that they already are.

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Roundup: The “filibuster” that wasn’t

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A particular level of self-aggrandisement seems to be taking hold in the Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, as he describes things that are not reflective of reality. Yesterday morning, he summoned the media to a speech he delivered to caucus—something that is not uncommon for the last caucus meeting before the summer break, but we are still two weeks away from that. There, he promised that he was going to rise in the House of Commons at 7 PM and begin a filibuster of the budget bill, and that he wouldn’t stop until the government backed down and acceded to his demands.

Except it was all bullshit.

There wasn’t going to be a filibuster. The House had already passed a programming motion, thanks to the NDP, that laid out just how many hours left of debate there were before the final debate, and Poilievre couldn’t just talk and talk past he expiry of that clock. It was already set in stone. So, after another attempted abuse of remote voting as a procedural tactic (which the Deputy Speaker lost all patience with), Poilievre got up to give his five hours of allotted time. But again, this isn’t actually a filibuster because the leader of the opposition gets unlimited speaking time to certain items on the Order Paper, and this was one of them. He wasn’t filibustering anything. He was showboating.

While Conservatives flooded social media with effusive praise about how he was standing up for defenceless Canadians against the predations of the government, and they kept praising how long he was speaking, he wasn’t actually accomplishing anything other than playing to his own backbenches. It’s not like anyone other than a few shut-ins and reporters who drew the short straw were watching. He didn’t stop the budget bill, because it was already the subject of a programming motion. He just talked for the sake of it, and was even finished before midnight hit, when the time would have expired automatically. There was nothing heroic about this action, and it accomplished exactly nothing at all.

https://twitter.com/a_picazo/status/1666653154694266880

Ukraine Dispatch:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling for international assistance in dealing with the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, as they continue to evacuate people from floods, and local authorities rush things like drinking water to the affected area. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have gained more ground around Bakhmut, but insist that this is not part of any ongoing spring offensive.

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1666417873776959489

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QP: Inflation isn’t burning, the country is

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As the city was blanketed in smoke from the forest fires burning further north, things got underway in the West Block. The prime minister, his deputy, and all other leaders were present for the day, which was always a good sign. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, denigrated David a Johnston and his staff, and demanded a public inquiry. Justin Trudeau said that if Poilievre wants the facts he can get the top secret briefing, but he won’t because he would rather make baseless partisan attacks. Poilievre repeated the demand in English, and this time, Trudeau recited Poilievre singing his praises a decade ago. Poilievre said that it was tragic that the prime minister destroyed Johnston’s reputation, and demanded a public inquiry. Trudeau said that he didn’t hold Johnston’s previous appointments by Conservatives against him, while it was Poilievre’s judgment that was in question because he refuses the briefings. Poilievre pivoted to the topic of deficits and inflation, with all of the attendant misinformation, to which Trudeau decried the Conservative focus on austerity and listed things the Conservatives are blocking in the budget. Poilievre repeated the misinformation-laden demand in French, and got much the same response.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he took his own kicks at Johnston, and Trudeau said that he knows Blanchet looks forward to Johnston’s public hearings, and pointed out that they too are refusing the briefings in order to make unfounded partisan attacks. Blanchet chided that Johnston said that a public inquiry would be too long and too costly, and accused of him being hired to put a lid on the issue. Trudeau said that Blanchet would be more credible if he got the briefing.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he worried about the exploding costs of houses in Toronto, and demanded steps to deal with it. Trudeau picked up a script to pat himself on the back for the action the government is taking on “so many fronts.” Singh switched to French to grouse that Trudeau has official housing which he equated to meaning that Trudeau was out to protect the rich. (How?) Trudeau repeated his list of actions.

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QP: Setting the stage for a filibuster

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While the prime minister was in town, he was not at Question Period, but his deputy was. Most of the other leaders were present, and just hours before, the Conservatives announced their plans to filibuster the budget with every tool in the book until they got their demands about a balanced budget and an end to increase on carbon prices. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, worrying that the budget adds fuel to the “inflationary fire” (it actually doesn’t), and demanded a plan for a balanced budget. Chrystia Freeland said that this shows they are completely irresponsible and trying to pick partisan fights, as they are trying to suppress the help that Canadians need, such as the Workers’ Benefit. Poilievre worried that Canadians were the most heavily indebted in the G7 ands worried about higher interest rates. Freeland considered this an adolescent position, and listed actions in the budget to help Canadians. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question around deficits and demanded a plan to balance the budget, and Freeland said that she was “truly appalled by the reckless and irresponsible behaviour” of the Conservatives, preferring adolescent partisan games instead of help for Canadians, adding in a line about “Parliamentary childishness.” Poilievre said that what was reckless as high inflation and interest rates before repeating his demand. Freeland suggested that someone who told Canadians they could opt out of inflation by crypto was in no position to offer advice on finances. Poilievre returned to French to worry about Quebec families impacted by forest fires, and wanted an update on the situation. Bill Blair said that there are 370 forest fires, with 217 out of control, and noted that Canadian Forces are involved in three provinces.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, offering cooperation on forest fires and climate change. Pablo Rodriguez gave a paean about the efforts of firefighters assisting Quebeckers. Therrien then turned over to David Johnston preemptively hiring Navigator, suggesting that he knew off the top that the fix was in. Dominic LeBlanc dismissed this, and said that Johnston did his job thoroughly and reached an independence conclusion.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he cited a survey about people struggling to make housing payments, and demanded steps to bring down the cost of rent (never mind that this is provincial jurisdiction). Chrystia Freeland patted herself on the back for the top-up provided to renters in last year’s budget. Singh railed both the possibility that the Bank of Canada raising rates, and corporations, to which Freeland assured him that the government was on the side of Canadians.

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Roundup: Involving Elections Canada?

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The Chief Electoral Officer is talking about approaching parties about monitoring nomination races, which I have some mixed feelings about. While the impetus around this is of course the ongoing paranoia about foreign interference and the notion that Chinese agents are trying to stage-manage these contests, that’s really the least of our concerns, because more often than not, the real problem is party leaders gaming these races in order to get their own preferred candidates on the ballot. Mind you, that is increasingly becoming a quaint notion as many parties are increasingly just foregoing nomination races entirely, and the leader is simply using their powers to appoint people to nominations, which betrays the whole mechanism of grassroots politics, and the Liberals have become some of the absolute worst about this.

But seriously—Samara Canada did a study on this a couple of years ago, and it’s shocking just how much parties have put their thumbs on the scales of these contests. (It’s actually worse than the report describes because the researchers credulously believed the NDP around their own claims around open nominations, ignoring everything that had been printed about all of their paper candidates who won in 2011, who absolutely did not even visit the ridings they had been assigned to beforehand, let alone face an actual nomination battle). The drama with the current by-election in Oxford is because the retired Conservative MP is outraged that Poilievre and Scheer put their thumbs on the scale to get their friend parachuted and nominated against someone from inside the riding, which is why he’s now supporting the Liberal candidate.

The big drawback, however, is that Elections Canada monitoring these contests is likely to become even more intrusive, because parties are essentially private clubs, which is not an especially bad thing. But we also have a huge volume of registered parties in this country who will never win a seat, and if Elections Canada has to monitor all of their nominations as well, that could be a giant swelling of their bureaucracy in order to have people who can monitor every one of these contests, particularly in advance of an election call, and in the time between the election being called and the cut-off date for names to be on the ballot. I’m not sure how feasible that’s going to be. The way our laws are currently structured were done in a way to explicitly keep Elections Canada from getting involved (which is why we developed a system of leaders signing off on nominations, which in turn became abused and a tool of blackmail). So while I’m cognisant that we have a problem with nominations in this country, I’m not sure that involving Elections Canada is the right solution.

Ukraine Dispatch:

There was another round of fire against Kyiv early on Sunday, which was largely repelled in the city but a regional airfield was hit. Russian forces struck the city of Dnipro, killing a child and wounding at least 25 others in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says have been five hundred child deaths so far. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces keep up their operations around Bakhmut, preventing Russian forces from solidifying gains in the city itself. Russians claim to have thwarted Ukrainian attacks in Donetsk province. This as Zelenskyy says that they are ready to begin the spring counter-offensive. Elsewhere, that survey of air raid shelters across Ukraine found that a quarter of them were locked or unusable, which is resulting in some charges.

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1665267153778401280

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