Tag Archives: First Nations

QP: Why won’t you take the briefing?

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The prime minster, his deputy, and all of the other leaders were present today, which was a nice change of pace. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and declared that nobody believes that the prime minister’s “chalet buddy” David Johnston has to say, accuse him of covering up foreign interference, and demanded the prime minister fire his “Trudeau Foundation Buddy” and call a public inquiry. Justin Trudeau pointed out that Poilievre claims to want the facts but he has refused briefing in order to know them. Poilievre insisted that a briefing was a trap to silence him, to which Trudeau suggested that it was why he didn’t do anything about foreign interference when he was minster of democratic reform. Poilievre gave a tortured recitation about secrets, and suggested Trudeau was so enamoured with Chinese dictatorship that he wants to silence his critics. Trudeau repeated that Poilievre would rather hide behind a veil of ignorance so he that he can carry on making baseless personal attacks. Poilievre insisted that he would have been subject to silencing measures, and Trudeau noted that as a former minister of the Crown, he was already subject to oaths of secrecy and he could handle those, but now he prefers ignorance in order to make personal attacks. Poilievre returned to French to again link Johnston to the Trudeau Foundation and demanded a public inquiry. Trudeau said that this was a clear demonstration that Poilievre has no understanding of how security and intelligence works, and that he is manufacturing reasons to remain in ignorance.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc and listed people calling for a public inquiry, and wondered if Trudeau would listen to David a Johnston or Morris Rosenberg. Trudeau recounted Johnston’s calculation as to why he chose not to recommend one. Blanchet insisted that Johnston and therefore the report had no legitimacy, and Trudeau pointed out that Blanchet was also refusing briefings in order to maintain partisan attacks.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, claimed an “overwhelming perception of bias” and demanded that Johnston stand aside and call a public inquiry. Trudeau sang Johnston’s praise, and that it was too bad the opposition was too busy playing politics. Singh switched to French to demand support for his Supply Day motion on a public inquiry, and Trudeau insisted they took the allegations seriously, which is why they have instituted a number of mechanisms to combat it.

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Roundup: Danielle Smith stays, Alberta still a one-party state

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Well, Alberta has decided that it remains a one-party state, no matter how corrupted that party is, or how completely awful the leader is, and just how utterly unsuited Danielle Smith is for office, and that she has embraced all manner of conspiracy theories, or behaved in ways that imperilled democracy. While I have a full column on this coming out later today, there are a couple of things not mentioned therein that I did still want to mention.

One is that I cannot fathom how the whole “Take Back Alberta” narrative persisted. Take it back from whom? From what? You’ve been a one-party state for nearly fifty years, minus the four-year NDP interregnum that came about as a result of a perfect storm that in no way could be replicated this time around.

The NDP ran a weak campaign, and they are now comforting themselves with the fact that they have the largest official opposition in the province’s history, for what little it matters because Smith still has a majority, and they have no actual leverage to make any particular difference in the legislature. I am feeling some flashbacks to 2011 when the federal NDP formed official opposition and felt like they won the election, when they also handed the Conservatives a majority and they had no actual ability to make change or have leverage.

There is also still a particular ugliness in this election, as exemplified by the fact that the UCP candidate who compared trans children to faeces in cookie batter won by a landslide. Smith claims that she’s out of caucus “for good,” but I don’t actually believe her, and I have no doubt that after a few months in that penalty box, she’ll be welcomed back into the party because Smith believes in forgiveness, or some bullshit like that. And not nearly enough people will do any soul-searching over this, and this ugliness will fester.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Another night, another massive air raid against Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine, with more than 20 drones shot down as of this writing, and at least one high rise is being evacuated as falling debris has caused a fire. The constant nightly air attacks against Kyiv are taking a toll on its citizens (which is of course why the Russians are doing it). Russians did also allegedly hit a Ukrainian air base, plus port infrastructure in Odessa. There was also a Russian attack on the city of Toretsk in the Donetsk region, which killed two and injured at least eight.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1663350609385254912

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1663176973793861633

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QP: Not reading the Johnston Report

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While the prime minister was elsewhere in the building entertaining the president of Iceland, most of the other leaders were present today, as was the prime minister’s deputy. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and accused the government of using China to help them win two elections, and demanded they fire David Johnston and call a public inquiry. Dominic LeBlanc responded by pointing out that Poilievre refused a briefing in order to make outrageous comments rather than be serious. Poilievre insisted that he refused to be “silenced,” and repeated his demand. Marco Mendicino repeated the point that Poilievre refused briefings for partisan reasons. Poilievre moved onto the Chinese “police stations” in Montreal that got government funds, and were still active. Mendicino carried on with the retorts that Poilievre was closing his own eyes. Poilievre repeated the question in French, and Mendicino gave his same response. Poilievre then said that he can ask question of any member of the government, and tried to ask Jagmeet Singh demand a public inquiry or end his “coalition.” Mark Holland gave a sanctimonious speech about the Conservatives attacking Johnston, who Harper appointed as GG, for the sake of partisan games.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he called Johnston’s inquiry a farce, and demanded a public inquiry. LeBlanc got back up to tell them that they should let NSICOP do their work rather than casting aspersions prematurely. Therrien repeated his demand for an inquiry, and LeBlanc urged him to speak to his leader and take the briefing on the evidence, along with NSICOP.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he worried about the failing negotiations with Stellantis over their blackmail. Chrystia Freeland assured him they will ensure the deal goes forward and that the jobs stay in Canada, but also that Ontario pay its fair share. Singh switched to French to worry about rising rents in Montreal. Soraya Martinez Ferrada reminded him that they sent $5 billion to Quebec for housing.

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Roundup: Johnston says no public inquiry

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It was David Johnston Day, as his first report was delivered, and he did not recommend a public inquiry for very good reasons—particularly that it could not be necessarily public given the nature of the information, and that it would be window dressing at this stage of the game, considering he had already done a lot of the heavy lifting, and planned to do public hearings as part of his final report. You can read the full report here, but here are the five key takeaways. There was plenty of scathing material in there, particularly to the system of information dissemination within government, but also to the way media stories torqued partial information into falsehoods (the Han Dong allegations were discredited in the report). There is a problem with information culture within government, and while this government has done a lot to fix some things, they are not adapting fast enough to the changing environment, and that is on them. (Check out some of the threads linked below as well).

https://twitter.com/JessMarinDavis/status/1661045080705187842

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1661080153122848781

https://twitter.com/stephaniecarvin/status/1661211717924188161

Johnston’s decision was necessarily a no-win scenario, and everyone is unhappy, but nobody has exactly explained how a public inquiry was going to restore trust in the democratic system—particularly as it comes under attack by bad faith actors who spent the day trying to discredit Johnston and his report (never mind that he did address the alleged conflicts and consulted with a former Supreme Court of Canada justice before accepting the job), and that no matter who would lead either the Special Rapporteur process or a theoretical public inquiry, there would be the same bad faith attacks because they don’t actually want to restore faith in the process. They want people to distrust because they cynically hope to leverage that in the next election. Pierre Poilievre in particular has refused to strike any kind of statesmanlike tone and refuses to be briefed because he knows that the moment he actually knows the intelligence and can’t talk about it, he can’t outright lie and make accusations with wild abandon, and that’s his entire shtick. But this is a fairly classic Canadian problem, where MPs don’t want to know the actual secret information, because then they’d have to stop talking, which they don’t want to do. Remember, ours is no longer a serious Parliament.

There is a conversation to be had about the role media is playing in undermining the faith in democracy, but you can rest assured there will be no self-reflection around it. Rather, there will be self-justification and rationalization, and sniping that Johnston expects us to take the intelligence he’s seen at face value, which is ironic considering that the media outlets reporting on these leaks are expecting us to do the very same thing, even though there are agendas at play within that reporting.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1661050997936996356

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1661051520018706432

In pundit reaction, Justin Ling gives a fairly balanced summation of the report with some insightful commentary. Susan Delacourt is sceptical of Johnston’s assertion that politicians and media can play their parts in restoring faith in democracy. Andrew Coyne is unhappy with the notion that we are expected to just trust Johnston (ignoring the contradiction made above), and while he credits Johnston with inviting NSICOP and NSIRA to review his findings, the same secrecy problem remains. Matt Gurney despairs at the picture of incompetence the report paints.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Following his return to Ukraine after meetings at the G7 in Hiroshima, Japan, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visted marines on the front lines in the country’s east. Over the weekend, the Russians claimed they overran Bakhmut over the weekend, which Ukraine denies, particularly as they have been reclaiming territory surrounding it. Russians are also claiming Ukrainian “sabotage groups” are crossing the border into the Belgorod region, but it sounds like these may be disaffected Russians, as Ukrainans deny involvement. Russians later claim to have “crushed” these groups.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1660291196030271490

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1660884230174560256

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QP: Misquoting a bad report on fuel standards

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The prime minister was in Japan for the G7, and his deputy was off in Brampton. Most of the other leaders were also absent, save the leader of the opposition, and Elizabeth May. Pierre Poilievre led off, and in French, he tried spin the upcoming fuel standard as a second carbon “tax” that will punish Quebeckers. Steven Guilbeault said that Quebeckers believe in climate change while the Conservatives don’t. Poilievre said that the federal government was preventing Quebec from building more green hydro, and demanded they scrap this “tax.” Guilbeault said that this wasn’t true, and that refineries who made record profits need to do their fair share. Poilievre switched to English to insist this was all according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer (it’s not), to which Guilbeault quoted from a separate section of the PBO report where he said that he was not looking at the environmental costs, which were real. Poilievre insisted that those costs would not be reduced with a tax, and repeated his overwrought math. Guilbeault said that emissions went down beyond the pandemic lockdowns. Poilievre then switched to his bullshit concern trolling on safe supply and demanded it be ended in favour of treatment. Carolyn Bennett said that the deaths are from poisoned supply, and the BC coroner has said there is no evidence that safe supply had led to any deaths.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and insisted that the government was hiding Chinese interference and demanded a public inquiry. Dominic LeBlanc said said that it was hard to consider a public CSIS report to be “hiding something,” and that they have taken measures to counter it. Therrien demanded an inquiry immediately, to which LeBlanc said that Johnston would make his recommendations around an inquiry next week.

Gord Johns rose for the NDP, and he railed about McKinsey and Company and tried to tie it to the opioid epidemic. Helena Jaczek said there are open fair and transparent procurement processes, and there is an integrity regime. Jenny Kwan railed about corporate landlords and demanded the federal government do something that as clearly in provincial jurisdiction, to which Ahmed Hussen recited his usual talking points on rental assistance.

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QP: The “sneaky” fuel standard the Conservatives also promised

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The prime minister was still in South Korea, but his deputy was once again present for the debate. (It’s been a while since we’ve had three in a row), and all of the other leaders were present as well. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and spouts some nonsense about deficits before insisting that Chrystia Freeland was incompetent for not answering at committee the size of debt payments. Freeland insisted that the person who won’t answer questions is Poilievre and what he plans to cut (which is not her job to ask questions). Following an incident of a shouter in the Gallery bellowing out a manifesto as he was removed, Poilievre tried again in English, and Freeland this time straight up asserted that Poilievre plans to cut. Poilievre said he would cut the carbon price, and worried about a “sneaky” second carbon price known as the fuel standard. Freeland said that she was glad to hear the Conservatives talking about climate, because building a clean economy was where jobs are. Poilievre repeated the question, and Freeland said that he doesn’t understand that the need to plan for the green future, and regaled a meeting with an electrician who was excited about electrification. Poilievre tried to riff that this electrician would have to pay more because of the “taxes” of the government, and demanded again how much this second tax (which is not a tax) would cost. Freeland noted this electrician’s wife is an emergency room nurse who is benefitting from this government’s investments, because of course she is.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and raised an issue around contamination on Indigenous land in Quebec, and Freeland noted that Patty Hajdu responded yesterday that she is working with the local Indigenous leaders. Blanchet said that these people were living in fear, and Freeland agreed it was a serious situation that the government was engaged on.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and worried about skyrocketing rental prices, and Freeland praised the child care investments benefitting the single mother raised in the question. Singh switched to French to worry about rising grocery prices, and demanded the government fight it by taxing excessive profits. Freeland agreed that the wealthiest pay their fair share, which is why they raised their taxes and set up the grocery rebate.

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QP: Inflation and opioids

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While the prime minister was away in South Korea, his deputy was present for the second day in a row, as were all other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off, worrying that the deficit was fuelling inflation, and lo, it ticked up last month which was all this government’s fault. Chrystia Freeland noted that it is still coming down, it was 8 percent, it’s now 4.4 percent, and the Bank of Canada forecast it will be down to three percent by the end of the year. Poilievre continued to rail about inflation, noted increasing rent costs in Montreal, and demanded the deficit be slain. Freeland quoted that some good news economic points. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, and this time, Freeland quoted the core inflation figures that were still falling. Poilievre insisted that the deficit was fuelling inflation (it’s not), and demanded it be defeated. Freeland first took a swipe at Poilievre’s cryptocurrency advice before repeating the core inflation measures. Poilievre insisted that the prime minister said his measure was CPI, which is up, and demanded she slay the deficit in order to bring housing prices down (again, not how this works). Freeland took some more swipes at Poilievre’s inability to understand finances, and repeated the core inflation measures falling.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and yet again railed about the “century initiative,” and its supposed plan to eliminate French and Quebec. Freeland said that they are committed to the Quebec Nation. Blanchet railed that the government couldn’t manage 500,000 new immigrants every year, but Freeland listed the investments in things that are priorities for Quebeckers.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and demanded the housing minister answer how much a single mother would have left if she earned an average salary and paid average rent in Toronto. Freeland patted herself on the back for the government’s measures to help people. Singh tried again for Vancouver, and Freeland repeated more back-patting on measures like childcare.

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QP: Freeland finally takes the budget questions

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The prime minister was making a stop in Alberta to survey the wildfire situation before heading off to South Korea, but his deputy was present for a change, as were most of the other leaders. Before things got underway, the Speaker asked MPs to listen during Members’ Statements rather than talking amongst one another so that they don’t inadvertently laugh during sad statements, or anything like that.

Pierre Poilievre led off in English, and tried point to contradictions in things Chrystia Freeland said, and demanded they stop “inflationary” taxes and deficits. (Taxes actually fight inflation). Freeland got up to accuse the Conservatives of talking down the economy, and praised the country’s Aaa credit rating. Poilievre repeated the question in French, and Freeland said it’s important to understand the data, and listed items to show how well Canada is doing among the G7. Poilievre said that the prime minister had fled the country rather than defend the budgets and tried to call out Freeland as well. Freeland noted that she was with G7 finance ministers in Japan, and said that if Conservatives think that they shouldn’t go to these meetings, they should say so. Poilievre returned to English to mock the “important meetings with important people” rather than common people, and accused her again of fuelling inflation. Freeland took exception to the notion that government travel was somehow elitist. Poilievre hammered away at this, to which Freeland reminded him that he lives in Stornaway with a chef and driver and has only lived on taxpayer dollars his entire life.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and railed that the prime minister called by-elections rather than a public inquiry into foreign interference. Marco Mendicino recited the well-worn pabulum about measures they have taken and waiting for David Johnston. Therrien tried again, and this time Dominic LeBlanc says that he shares the concerns about protecting by-elections, and said that they have implemented measures.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he blamed the government for Stellantis blackmailing them over a battery plant, and Freeland insisted that the government always fights for workers and jobs by things like the New NAFTA, the EV tax credit incentives in the US, and the Volkswagen plant. Singh switched to French to complain about rising rents in Quebec. Ahmed Hussen recited his housing benefit talking points in English.

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Roundup: The Chief Justice is not happy about mounting judicial vacancies

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The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Richard Wagner, wrote to the prime minister about the state of judicial vacancies, of which there are currently 88, and that this is causing problems with the criminal justice system. Of course, the problems in the system are multi-faceted—provinces aren’t resourcing courts, and they have provincial judicial vacancies of their own, but this was the Chief Justice, on behalf of the Canadian Judicial Council, pointing out that this is a problem that the federal government has created for itself, and needs to address.

This has been a problem this government has had since the very start—they insist on self-nominations rather than in doing the work of going out and identifying people who are suited for particular vacancies, and tapping them to fill them. It’s not just judicial vacancies either—it’s senators, heads of tribunals, Officers of Parliament, you name it. And because they insist on diversifying their appointments (which is a good thing!) this makes self-nominations even more difficult because the people they want to apply don’t, because they have been conditioned by society not to see themselves in those roles (i.e. they think judges are all old white men, so they don’t apply if they’re not). And the government knows this is a problem. It has been pointed out to them time and again, for years now.

But what do they do? Pat themselves on the back for all of the great appointments they’ve made so far. I wish I were kidding, but that’s their response, and it’s continually their response because a) they don’t like to admit that they’re going about these appointments in the wrong way; and b) they’re justifying their failure to do something about the mess they made for themselves. And it’s not like the previous guys were much better, with decidedly male-heavy appointments, and doing things like appointing Peter MacKay’s wedding party to the bench, because that also was not great. But this inability to learn from their failures is one of this government’s big problems as they get increasingly fatigued, and if they don’t do something about it, it’s going to cost them.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian forces fired 25 cruise missiles at Kyiv overnight on Tuesday, in advance of their Victory Day, of which 23 were shot down, claiming they hit ammunition stores. Their Victory Day parade was pretty spare, given how badly they have depleted their forces in the war. Meanwhile European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv for Europe Day, which is in part a further signal that Ukraine continues in its intentions to turn westward away from Russia.

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QP: Closing those “police stations”

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The prime minister was present today, while his deputy was not, and most of the leaders were present, save Pierre Poilievre. In other words, it was the reverse of yesterday’s attendance. Pierre Paul-Hus led off in French, and he noted that those two Chinese “police stations” in the Montreal area were still operating and wanted the government to account for this. Trudeau said that the RCMP were following up on these, before reading a statement in both languages about the situation in Alberta. Paul-Hus needled that the opposition parties all voted for their Supply Day motion yesterday, before returning to the demand to shut down those stations. Trudeau reminded him that police operate independently, before he read a list of actions taken to date. Melissa Lantsman took over in English, and demanded the government bring in a foreign agent registry, to which Trudeau accused her of being disingenuous because she knows that they are consulting on best way to do it. Lantsman raised those “police stations,” and Trudeau read a statement that the RCMP are currently investigating these two alleged stations. She reiterated her points more angrily, and Trudeau noted that in 2015 when they took office, they took actions that the previous government refused to, such as creating NSICOP and the election oversight panels.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he accused McKinsey of meddling in Canadian affairs because of the “century initiative” and tried to spin a conspiracy theory around it. Trudeau noted that they are protecting French and Quebec already has the power to select its own immigrants. Blanchet railed more about this alleged conspiracy, and Trudeau insisted that they get the uniqueness of Quebec, and reiterate that Quebec sets their own immigration levels.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he demanded a public inquiry for the sake of diasporic communities who face threats. Trudeau noted the appointment of David Johnston who may yet recommend a public inquiry. Singh repeated the question in French, and got the same response.

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