Tag Archives: Foreign Policy

Roundup: Redefining status

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The Federal Court has ruled that non-status Aboriginals and Métis should be classified as “Indians” under the constitution, and that the federal government has a fiduciary responsibility towards them. This opens up a major can of worms in terms of the way that policy and duty to consult will have to happen going forward, as well as resources for those individuals based on what the government is obligated to provide, and this will be complicated more because the ruling does nothing to settle how the government will need to exercise this jurisdiction. This will doubtlessly be headed for the Supreme Court, so it may be some years before it is fully settled.

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s boyfriend invites a forensic audit of the band’s finances to prove that there wasn’t any misspending – even though it’s been his job to provide the documentation that’s missing. He also defends his relationship and insists that he reports to the band council as a whole and that Spence doesn’t vote on conflicts of interests. Meanwhile, when Global News sent a crew up to Attawapiskat, they were kicked off the reserve and threatened with arrest – under Spence’s orders – while Spence’s camp on Victoria Island has also banned the media under the rubric that they are “printing lies.”

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Roundup: A damning audit

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Things on the Attawapiskat file got even more interesting yesterday with leaks of the independent audit of the band’s finances – the full report going online later in the day on the Aboriginal Affairs website. The gist – there was almost no due diligence with spending on the reserve, little to no documentation, and no way to tell if any of the money has been spent effectively. And remember that Spence’s partner is the band’s co-manager, whose job it is to handle the money. Spence has also known the audit’s results since August 28th, and has refused to comment to the audit firm about it. While it was due to be released no later than the middle of next week, the PM’s spokesperson denied that it had been withheld deliberately. And Spence? Shut out the media from her Victoria Island campsite while her spokesperson said that the audit was wrong and wondered about the timing of the release. Paul Wells notes that of all the leaders, past prime ministers and would-be leaders who’ve visited Spence, Thomas Mulcair was conspicuously absent, which may have turned out to be a prudent thing. Jonathan Kay parses the lessons inherent in that year-old CBC report on Attawapiskat, and applies them to the current situation. John Ivison looks at the audit, and the context of Theresa Spence’s ever-changing goal posts, while Andrew Coyne looks at the tensions in the Aboriginal community between those looking to modernise with incremental advancements the way the current government is proceeding with, and those who consider those advancements “genocide.”

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Roundup: The continued protests

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Despite the meeting arranged with Stephen Harper, Idle No More protests continued across the weekend, including at border crossings. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin met with Chief Theresa Spence on Saturday and said that she’s an inspiration for many. Spence is continuing her hunger strike until she’s sure that “concrete action” will be taken, which seems to be yet another case of goalposts being moved, each one fuzzier than the last. While APTN checks the math that SunTV did on Attawapiskat’s finances and comes to a few different conclusions, a year-old CBC report from the community reappeared over the Twitter Machine yesterday which shows that there are some serious governance problems on the reserve.

As the Parliamentary Budget Officer turns his gaze to the contract for joint support ships that the Royal Canadian Navy has been planning on building for years now, it looks like that particular process is its own mess, but in a reverse fashion from the F-35s, where the civilian side is taking too much control and there seems to be little regard for what the military’s needs are, while the focus remains solely on costs.

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Roundup: MPs head home while the F-35 storm rages on

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The House has risen, and the MPs are all headed back to their ridings. Not the Senate though – they’re still sitting, and I’ll be heading up their for Senate QP later today.

Okay, so now the big news from yesterday – the KPMG report on the F-35 procurement process. With a cost now pegged at $46 billion over 42 years, the government says that it’s officially pushing the reset button on the process – or is it? The former ADM of procurement at National Defence, Alan Williams, says that it’s meaningless unless the department redraws the Statement of Requirements to make stealth a “rated feature” with a point value rather than a pass/fail and it then goes for open tender. There’s also the problem of attrition and the additional costs of buying replacement aircraft, which is outside of the $9 billion procurement envelope being set. John Geddes rips apart Peter MacKay’s remorseless performance yesterday, and notes that the officials noted that it will be difficult to keep the aerospace contracts for supplying F-35 parts if we don’t end up going with that plane. John Ivison goes through the process and finds that if the Conservatives still end up going with the F-35s, it will look like incompetence. Andrew Coyne takes offence that the government continues to spin the numbers and calls bullshit – it’s not 42 years, but $46 million over 30 years, and that the government tacked on those extra 12 years to cover “development and acquisition,” which costs a few hundred million, but by making it look like a little over a billion dollars a year, the government is trying to make it look more palatable. Paul Wells notes the Conservatives’ tendency toward hubris when they should be listening to their critics, who do have a point. Of course, the US “fiscal cliff” may end up killing the F-35s as it would slash their defence spending.

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Roundup: Making way for double bunking

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Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! iPolitics has obtained documents that show that Corrections Canada is changing their policy to allow for double bunking to be normal policy, and to eliminate rules around maximum capacity. Not only does this violate our international agreements on corrections policy and it’s been proven to be bad for correctional behaviour period, but it’s like an invitation to a return to the era of prison riots. Well done, Vic Toews!

Here is your rough guide to the remaining stages of Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge in the Commons.

Ruh-roh! New documents show that the government was being briefed about the cost overruns of the F-35 fighters in advance of the Auditor General’s report. How much of this is just bureaucratic ass-covering is a question, but nevertheless, it looks like they knew more than they were letting on.

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Roundup: Flaherty wants to stay put

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Newsflash: Jim Flaherty says he wants to keep his job as Finance Minister until the budget is balanced, which likely means spring of 2015, in advance of a new election. While it’s unlikely that Harper will shuffle him out before he does his promised major re-shuffle a little closer to the next election, there have been some questions as to how long Flaherty will be sticking around as he’s been looking pretty tired and acting downright cranky the past couple of months.

Peter Kent is patting himself on the back for cancelling a proposed shallow gas infill project in Alberta, despite the fact that this was a decision that took seven years. Even more laughably, Kent is claiming the Orwellian-named “Responsible Resource Development” legislation from earlier this year as the reason for the cancellation – despite, as we mentioned, the fact that this has been a seven-year process.

As the government and the military continue to back away from the F-35s, General Tom Lawson now says the term “Fifth-generation” is unhelpful. Or should I say Fifth Generation™, since it’s a trademarked marketing term and not an actual description of capabilities.

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QP: Schrödinger’s contingency plan

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While Thomas Mulcair was back in the Commons today, Harper was off meeting the President-elect of Mexico, who is currently visiting Ottawa. So while Mulcair opened QP by reading off a trio of questions on whether or not the government had any contingency plans for another fiscal downturn, it was Jason Kenney’s turn to be back-up PM du jour, and he responded that there was a line in each budget for unexpected expenses. Oh, and the NDP would raise taxes. Peggy Nash then asked what the government was going to cut in order to meet its election promises, to which Ted Menzies batted back about the fictional “carbon tax” and reiterated their intention to get the budget in balance within the current parliament. Bob Rae demanded an apology from the Conservatives for their engaging Campaign Research for their reprehensible calls into Irwin Cotler’s riding, to which Peter Van Loan (correctly) pointed out that this wasn’t about government business, before he went on to say that the Speaker had already settled this issue.

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Roundup: Trudeau apologises! Let’s obsess some more about it!

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Our long national nightmare is over – or is it? Justin Trudeau apologised for his comments about Alberta, saying he meant Conservatives when he said Albertans. Well, then. And so we continue to obsess over it all. Trudeau’s camp tested the sincerity of the apology by immediately putting out a fundraising letter to help them counter the Conservative attack machine. Martin Patriquin dissects the pandering in fantastic style. Andrew Coyne examines the comments and apology alongside those made by David McGuinty, and concludes that in their proper context, McGuitny’s were downright admirable for calling out parochialism, whereas Trudeau’s makes one question the breadth of vision required to govern a country such as ours.

The Premiers concluded their meeting and are talking about collaborating on energy issues, skills training, trade, and infrastructure. Also, Redford and Clark didn’t get into a catfight, and Marois apparently acquitted herself well for her first time out, in case anyone was wondering.

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QP: Pursuing peace and human rights

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It was all hands on deck in the Commons today, for the first time in what seems like ages. Even the Bloc leader, Daniel Paillé was present – albeit from his perch in the diplomatic gallery, as he doesn’t actually have a seat. Thomas Mulcair kicked things off by reading off a question about the leaked proposed foreign policy plan, whereby the government would be abandoning their pledge not to sacrifice human rights on the altar of the almighty dollar. Harper stood up and in his usual shrugging manner, said the document wasn’t official policy and that his government always works to pursue peace and human rights. Mulcair went on to talk about the violence happening in the Congo, and the fact that Harper was just there talking about trade in the region. Harper disputed that characterisation, however, by saying that he did meet with opposition groups and expressed his concern over human rights abuses while at the Francophonie Summit in that country. Peggy Nash was up next, and wondered why Harper didn’t want to meet with the premiers when they were going to be discussing the economy. Jim Flaherty took this question, and pointed out that Harper regularly meets with the premiers. Bob Rae was up for the Liberals, and asked if Harper would consider doubling the flow of the gas tax to the municipalities by the next budget, so that they can engage in some long-term planning for infrastructure. Harper pointed out that they are consulting, but it was his government that made the gas tax transfers permanent, before the two of them had some back-and-forth over who can take credit for the gas tax revenues flowing to the cities.

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Roundup: Incoming vote-athon, part deux

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The battle for Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge is on. The Liberals have delivered three thousand amendments to the finance committee, in the full knowledge that there won’t be enough time to deal with them before it has to go back to the House, but in the hopes that procedurally, they’ll be able to deal with them there at report stage. The NDP proposed far, far fewer, but Peggy Nash says they’re more “substantive.” Elizabeth May is planning on tabling some 100 amendments of her own back in the House. Prepare for another vote-athon!

The CBC has obtained a draft copy of the government’s new foreign policy plans. Basically we want to do business with other countries at all costs, seeing as we’re being left behind. So remember the whole “we won’t sacrifice human rights on the altar of the almighty dollar” talk? Yeah, that’s now out the window.

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