Tag Archives: Fiscal Austerity

Senate QP: An ode to self-guided tours

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Before QP could get underway, the Governor General dropped by the Senate to give royal assent to a number of bills. Not only did the government bills on pooled registered pension plans and the refugee reform bill receive assent, but so did the private members bills on citizen arrests, the flag, an epilepsy awareness day, human trafficking and bring wine over provincial borders. In addition supply bills also got the nod, leaving just two government bills left on the docket for the Senate to pass before they rise, possibly by midnight tonight, likely tomorrow.

When QP finally did happen, Senator Chaput was first up with questions on the cuts to Parks Canada and how that was affecting Riel house in Manitoba, and in particular, interpretation at the site in both official languages. Senator LeBreton indicated that the plan for self-guided tours was actually better than before, because people could see the sites at their own pace rather than be rushed along by guides. When Chaput asked if she could be provided with a list of criteria for the decision to remove the guides, and LeBreton said that she would take it as notice. There was a bit more back-and-forth at this point about the importance of French for the Franco-Manitoban minority in the province, but unlike many a back-and-forth in the Commons, this one was pleasant and civil.

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Roundup: Rumours with dubious evidence

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The Senate is ensuring that three contentious bills get passed before it rises for the summer, fuelling rumours that Harper is planning to prorogue Parliament in the fall and start a new session. The problem with this “evidence” for that theory is that the three bills in question have some external timelines – the budget implementation for obvious reasons (and the Senate traditionally sits until such a bill gets passed regularly, despite this particular bill’s particular circumstances), the refugee reform bill has a deadline of June 30th unless the previously passed refugee reform bill comes into force, which the government is trying to supersede, and the copyright reform bill is at the centre of our negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As far as theories go, the evidence doesn’t actually fit. Nice try, though.

The Military Police Complaints Commission report into the Afghan detainee issue was finally released yesterday, and it absolves the military police of wrongdoing. That said, it was very limited in scope, and it had to devote an entire chapter to the government stonewalling of information and it raised the spectre of the Somalia Inquiry along the way (bonus 1994 CBC video here with Young Stephen Harper again contradicting Prime Minister Stephen Harper).

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Senate QP: Focus on the disaster, not the funding

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As Orders of the Day got underway in the Senate, Senator Vivienne Poy rose to announce that after fourteen years in the Upper Chamber, she has decided to resign her seat to move onto other pursuits. Poy, who was appointed by Jean Chrétien and was the first Asian Canadian to be appointed to the Senate, wasn’t due to retire until 2016. She was also instrumental in getting May recognised as Asian Heritage Month in Canada. Senators from all sides gave her a standing ovation when she was finished, and many went over to speak to her personally afterward.

When Question Period came around, Senator Poulin was first up asking about the tragedy in Elliot Lake, and whether the government would be providing any compensation for the economic repercussions the region would be facing. Senator LeBreton, the government leader in the Senate, who gets to answer all questions, first gave a brief tribute to Senator Poy and her contributions to the Senate before saying that she will express Poulin’s concerns to the government and take the question as notice (by which she means that she’ll provide a written response once she has more information).

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Roundup: The inefficient drive for efficiencies

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Remember how the government was going to offer cash rewards to employees who could make implementable money-saving solutions? Here’s how the process turned out – byzantine, bloated, inefficient, and no one getting any money in the end.

The Conservatives have finally launched a couple of weak sauce attack ads against Thomas Mulcair.

It was the Conservatives versus the Council of Canadians at the Federal Court yesterday arguing about those seven ridings the Council is fighting to get the election results overturned in.

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QP: All over the map before the summer

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The last QP of the sitting could be described in a single word: Scattershot. Apparently everyone was looking to get as many YouTube clips for their MPs’ websites to sustain them through the summer on a variety of topics, so there was very little coherence to any of the debate. Thomas Mulcair asked about F-35s (Harper: We’re rebuilding the Canadian Forces with the equipment our men and women in uniform need!), the cut in funds to minority francophone newspapers (Harper: There’s this funding formula in place, and hey, you ran all kinds of unilingual Anglophone candidates in francophone ridings), and about the myriad ethical lapses of the Conservative front bench (Harper: This was one of the most legislatively productive periods in Canadian history, and you’re an ineffective opposition!). So there. Nycole Turmel then took a turn batting away at those ethical lapses (Paradis: Our government’s done a good job on the economy!) before Bob Rae got up and went after Flaherty’s mortgage announcement earlier in the morning, noting that the new changes return the policy back to where it was in 2006 when the government took office (Harper: We’re being prudent after listening to the experts!). For his final question, Rae noted that it was National Aboriginal Day, and given all of the 1812 celebrations, why hasn’t the government resolved the Six Nations land claims dispute that has been going on since said war. Harper assured him that they were in negotiations, and hey, they have new land claims legislation.

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QP: A refusal to apologise

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With Harper still in Los Cabos for the G20 meeting, and with Jason Kenney in the news over a curse-laden email, it was up to John Baird to again take on the role as back-up PM du jour. And when Thomas Mulcair kicked off QP by asking whether there would be another omnibus budget bill in the fall – giving the oh-so-clever “more like ominous bill” as part of his answer – to which John Baird touted their focus on jobs and growth. When Mulcair turned to the issues of transparency and accountability in respect to the PBO’s search for data on the cuts (Baird: Yay Accountability Act! Oh, and the PBO has overstepped his mandate). Linda Duncan was up next to give a grave and sanctimonious account of Jason Kenney’s email in which he called the Deputy Premier of Alberta “a complete and utter asshole” – though she couldn’t repeat that in the House. Kenney stood up and not only didn’t apologise, but hit back at Duncan and the NDP for not supporting the development of the oilsands and then once again distorted the “Dutch disease” comments. Bob Rae was then up and wondered why Kenney refused to apologise. Kenney continued to not apologise, but touted his government’s “close working relationship” with Alberta and oh, he got 76 percent of the vote in his riding during the last election – as though that gives him a mandate to insult provincial representatives. Rae idly wondered what Kenney would have called him if he got 80 percent of the vote, but Kenney stuck to his non-apology.

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Roundup: Pushback, rhetoric and hyperbole

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Some Conservative ministers are quietly concerned that the pushback over the omnibus budget bill will mean that it will become harder for them to get away with such tactics in the future. Aaron Wherry tries to put it into context with fears in omnibus legislation past, and reminds us that the price for democracy is eternal vigilance. Here’s a look at the rhetoric and hyperbole that has accompanied the bill and the vote-a-thon.

After years of delays, Stephen Harper announced that Canada will be building a new Windsor-Detroit bridge.

A BC Superior court has struck down the ban on assisted suicide. The federal government is reviewing the decision, but will likely appeal, especially as a private member’s bill on the subject was defeated only a couple of years ago (which really isn’t surprising considering how afraid Parliamentarians are of making important decisions and wanting the courts to do it for them so that they can shift the blame for any fall-out).

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Roundup: Moral victory at report stage

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After 22 hours of solid votes, the omnibus budget bill has passed Report Stage. There were no amendments passed, but the opposition still claims moral victory, and they did turn the public’s attention to the bill, which really was the whole point. The question remains, of course, whether the public will still care by September, let alone by 2015?

The Supreme Court has set a date of July 10th to hear the Etobicoke Centre appeal. Looks like Ted Opitz isn’t going to get the summer barbecue circuit after all (not that he isn’t being given an inordinate amount of Members’ Statements and backbench suck-up questions in QP at the moment).

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QP: Power or lack thereof corrupting

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With Stephen Harper back in the House after nearly two weeks away, it remained to be seen how the drama would play out. And, well, there really wasn’t a lot of drama. Thomas Mulcair asked a couple of rote questions on getting Harper to justify the environmental changes in the omnibus budget bill, and Harper responded calmly that there was still going to be a rigorous process for environmental assessment that included timelines for investors. For his final question, Mulcair asked why Harper had such a change of heart when it came to his opposition to omnibus bills. Harper gave a recitation about how it was a bill full of comprehensive measures for jobs and growth, and the economy, and sunshine and rainbows (well, okay, maybe not those last two). Libby Davies was up next to decry the cuts to health transfers to the provinces, and Ted Menzies bet Leona Aglukkaq to the punch and talked about how the transfers were still increasing and included a floor should the economy not grow, though Aglukkaq did respond to the supplemental question, during which she called Davies’ questions misleading. Bob Rae was up next, and wondered if Harper’s change of heart when it comes to omnibus bills meant that he had been corrupted by power. While Harper gave pretty rote responses about the comprehensive measures for his first two responses, on his final response he noted that Rae had promised not to run for permanent leader and now seemed to be changing his mind, which must mean that it’s a lack of power that corrupts. Oh, snap!

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QP: Angry tangents to distracting talking points

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Stephen Harper remained away from the House of Commons today, off in Montreal to address a conference, leaving Peter Van Loan to face off yet again with Thomas Mulcair. Mulcair tried to ask about the omnibus budget bill, and list off all of the items being cut or changed in it, but Van Loan responded with accusations that the NDP want Canada to bail out Europe, and – oh, wow, that set Mulcair off. On each of his first supplemental, it was a bit of a retort, but on the second, after Van Loan kept up the distraction message, Mulcair went off an angry, red-faced tangent about Canada’s place in the world, which he then tried to awkwardly segue to a question about EI changes in his last few seconds, but it just gave Van Loan more opportunity to praise Canada’s fiscal situation. That was almost too easy to goad him, really. When Peggy Nash tried to talk about why the government was worried about cuts instead of job creation, Jim Flaherty accused her of trying to delay a bill that would create jobs. Bob Rae then got up, and first schooled Jim Flaherty on how IMF transfers work before wondering why the government was so sure that Canada was such an island of fiscal stability in an interconnected global marketplace. Van Loan then recited some of John McCallum’s quotes on the European situation by means of a reply.

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