Despite it being a Wednesday and caucus day, only Thomas Mulcair anchored the chamber. Harper was off in Toronto to host his summit on Maternal and Child Health, and Justin Trudeau off in Quebec City to meet the new premier. Mulcair began by asking about the refusal to fund safe abortions as part of the Maternal and Child Health initiative. John Baird responded that they have done a lot of work on maternal and child health, and got a number of other countries on board. Mulcair noted that they refused to fund the UN Population Fund as part of the initiative because of pressure from anti-choice lobbyists. Deepak Obhrai touted the 1.3 million children’s lives saved by their Initiative. Mulcair changed topics and asked about the Temporary Foreign Workers programme not helping unemployed Canadians. Jason Kenney insisted that they employers had an obligation to seek Canadian employees first. Mulcair insisted that posting jobs for TFWs at minimum wage distorted the free market, eliciting roars from the Conservative benches. Kenney noted that those minimum wage rates were largely in the seasonal agricultural sector and that the prevailing median wage was posted for other jobs. Mulcair again changed topics, and noted the objections of Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner to the lawful access provisions of the cyberbullying bill. Peter MacKay insisted that the bill would protect children and the parents of victims of cyberbullying insisted that they pass the bill — not actually true. John McCallum led off for the Liberals asking about the TFW blacklist, to which Kenney insisted that those employers were no longer eligible to get new workers, and Chris Alexander followed up by claiming they were “cleaning up the Liberal mess.” McCallum found that hilarious and an evasion of responsibility, but Alexander insisted that they were indifferent to abuse and that they brought over exotic dancers “by the hundreds and thousands” with no corner for their welfare.
Tag Archives: GLBT
QP: Asking about the SCC appointment process
It was a rare Monday appearance in QP for the prime minister, given that there is a Maternal, Newborn & Child Health summit in Toronto later in the week that he’s hosting, not to mention that the premier of Turks & Caicos was also in attendance in the Speaker’s gallery. Thomas Mulcair kicked things off by asking why the PM changed his version of events around the call with the Chief Justice. Harper, sounding a bit hoarse, insisted that he had no idea what Mulcair was speaking about, but he knew that there was a potential issue that could go before the courts, so her consulted with independent legal experts. Mulcair tried again, and got the same response. Mulcair asked again, this time in French, and Harper reiterated that they always thought Federal Court judges would be eligible. Mulcair brought up the list of six judges published in the Globe and Mail, but Harper reiterated that they were under the impression that those judges were eligible, and with the Supreme Court having decided otherwise, they would respect that decision. Mulcair then demanded that Harper promise that he would not try to appoint a Federal Court judge for a Quebec seat, and Harper repeated that he wouldn’t. John McCallum led off for the Liberals, and brought up abuses to the Temporary Foreign Worker programme, but Harper insisted that he couldn’t decipher just what the Liberal position was on the issue. McCallum cranked up his rhetorical fire for an English supplemental, demanding that the government adopt his party’s five-point plan. Harper repeated that he couldn’t tell what the Liberal position was, but real job shortages should create an upward pressure on wages which is good for all Canadians. Scott Brison was up for the final question of the round, asking about the numbers of Canadians who have given up trying to even find work, but Harper said that Liberal plans would raise taxes and lose more jobs.
Roundup: A looming second empty Quebec seat
The Chief Justice has written to the Prime Minister to remind him that Justice LeBel will retire on November 30th, which would mean a second Quebec seat vacant on the bench. It’s notable because often a soon-to-retire Justice would retire before the next session began, and just finish off any decisions still in the works on their way out. Instead, Justice LeBel is staying on to the bitter end, likely because the Court is not confident that the PM will have a suitable replacement in time, given the way that they handled the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Fish. Peter MacKay has promised that they’ll have a name for the currently vacant seat (that Justice Nadon was retroactively never appointed to) “soon,” but it’s also a reminder that they’d better get the process started for the next appointment as well. It’s also leading to more calls that the process as it stands needs to be reformed so as to be more transparent, so this might be the impetus to make those changes.
Roundup: Wall denies ambitions
From the Manning Networking Conference, we saw presentations by Brad Wall, who wants the country to be both a food and energy superpower (and he insists that he has no federal ambitions, which makes one wonder all the more about his motivations as to why he’s constantly carrying Stephen Harper’s lunch among the premiers), by Jim Prentice, who said that there needs to be stronger environmental connections to achieve their energy goals like Keystone XL, and Jason Kenney announced progress on his Canada Job Grant plan before saying that he not only supports income splitting, but he made a somewhat impolitic statement about “stable families” being the best way to help youth find economic success in adulthood – but then couldn’t answer about his apparent abandonment of kids from “unstable families.” (Also, one supposes that such a statement was also a sop to the social conservative base that he’s courting). The party’s pollster gave grave warnings about how the party’s numbers are doing, and it’s not good, as the Liberal brand has rebounded, something that happened even before Trudeau became the leader. He also found that there’s just no interest in a discussion on marijuana on either side, and suggested that they drop it. Andrew Coyne notes that the Conference is like the real Conservative convention – as opposed to the Harper Party one that happened last fall, and that we’re seeing more people starting to disassociate themselves from Harper and his way of doing politics.
Roundup: Aftermath of a weekend convention
Justin Trudeau delivered his big speech on Saturday, and it was fairly well received, if still light on policy specifics. (Video here, with keynotes from Harper and Mulcair for comparison). He promised no new taxes, which immediately raises doubts about the affordability of his plans, and he landed a few blows against Harper in there, about the person who appointed Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin campaigning on the strength of his judgement, and how his wasn’t the party of Sir John A Macdonald, which was a calculated means of trying to undermine Harper’s base. Part of the speech included a fictional “Nathalie” as Trudeau’s example of an everywoman to showcase his commitment to the middle class, which is a technique apparently used successfully by the Obama camp. The Maclean’s team dissected the speech and what the key points meant, while Paul Wells offers a stand-alone analysis on how Trudeau is the first leader since Chrétien to be automatically accepted by the party without labouring to, and how he’s now knocking at Harper’s door, changing the political dynamics in this country.
Roundup: Mayrand hits back
Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand hit back against Pierre Poilievre’s slam against him that he is somehow wearing team jersey. Mayrand says the only jersey he is wearing are the black and white stripes – the referee – and the changes in the new Fair Elections Act will mean that he’s no longer on the ice. With time allocation on the elections bill looming, the NDP decided to spend the first half of the sitting day yesterday engaged in procedural warfare, trying to delay the debate on time allocation, with a series of votes that eventually delayed QP itself. With those hurdles now cleared, they are proposing a motion in Procedure and House Affairs committee that they travel around all regions of the country to consult with Canadians on the bill, though I have some concerns about some of the groups they want to hear from. After all, Fair Vote Canada is the largest voter suppression organisation in the country (who else goes around telling everyone that their vote doesn’t count?), and Democracy Watch is pretty much run by a crank that doesn’t have a clue about civic literacy. But hey, consultations!
Roundup: Skills mismatch or lack of data?
Despite the government’s talk about the “skills mismatch” that is affecting our jobs sector, there is no actual evidence to support this, says TD Economics. And a big part of the problem is that we don’t actually have good data to track these kinds of things, apparently, nor are we tracking underemployment figures either. It also doesn’t appear that there is a real demand for jobs in the resource extraction sector despite the government’s promises of yet more jobs there – but hey, without the data, they can claim whatever they like. Meanwhile, medical specialists not being able to find jobs upon graduation is another problem being recognised and hopes to be corrected with more data on the part of the Canadian Medical Association as they try to steer students to sectors facing more of a crunch in the near future.
QP: Whither Santa Claus?
With rumours that the House might rise today, there was the very real possibility that this very well could be the last QP of 2013. Without Harper or Mulcair in the House, it was likely to be another fairly perfunctory day full of Paul Calandra’s classic lines of obfuscation. When things did get started, Megan Leslie decried the failure of an NDP motion at Ethics Committee to look into the once-missing Benjamin Perrin emails, and wondered who in the PMO ordered that it be shut down. John Baird, the designated back-up PM du jour, assured her that PCO took responsibility for the mistake, and the committee was in camera so he didn’t know what happened. Leslie tried again twice to no effect, and Nycole Turmel took over in French to ask if those emails proved there was “no legal agreement” around the Duffy repayment. Baird assured her that the RCMP were looking into things. Justin Trudeau was up for the Liberals, and asked about the funding gap for First Nations education. Bernard Valcourt responded by saying that they ended a comprehensive education regime, which required legislation, and that he remained committed to fixing the system that has failed those children, with funds to flow once the framework was in place. Trudeau moved onto the topic of the replacement of the Champlain Bridge, to which Denis Lebel accused the Liberals of 13 years of inaction on the bridge, but they were committed to a replacement ahead of the original schedule. For his last question, with some rhetorical flourish, Trudeau asked if anyone in the government was embarrassed by the conduct on the ClusterDuff file. Baird responded with a bit of a quip before reverting to the talking point that one person had taken responsibility and only two people were under investigation.
QP: Calandra deflects
It was Friday hours on a Thursday, given the courtesy granted to the Conservatives for their convention, and attendance was only slightly better than any given Friday. The final member’s statement before QP was given to Conservative Corneliu Chisu, who played up his native Transylvanian accent to warn about how scary the Liberal leader and his plans were, which is now a Halloween tradition for the Conservatives. Nathan Cullen started off QP proper by asking how many cheques were written on Duffy’s behalf, but Paul Calandra, after a message about safety on Halloween, gave the usual talking points about how Wright took full responsibility and so on. Cullen asked how many people in the PMO knew about the payment. Calandra decried that the NDP didn’t want to talk about to talk about the economy. Cullen raised the spectre of the Liberal sponsorship scandal, and Cullen reminded him that they wanted to form a coalition government with then. Nicole Turmel was up next, asking when Harper last spoke to Nigel Wright, but Calandra simply insisted that they wanted to talk about more important issues. For the Liberals, Ralph Goodale asked for an itemised invoice from Duffy’s lawyer to demonstrate why they charged $13,000. Calandra brought up the sponsorship scandal and the alleged cheque to Joe Fontana from Public Works to pay for its son’s wedding. When Goodale wanted to know how Harper couldn’t know given how many people in his inner sanctum, Calandra responded by calling the Liberals snakes and accused their senators of standing in the way. When Goodale brought up Duffy’s allegation that he was coached to lie, Calandra mused about what Justin Trudeau thought about Chrsytia Freeland talking about people not having their father’s job.
Roundup: Canada’s newest Supreme Court justice
Stephen Harper has nominated Federal Court Justice Marc Nadon as the newest member of the Supreme Court of Canada. This appointment solidifies the current gender imbalance on the bench, and there are questions as to whether it is really appropriate that Nadon, as a Federal Court justice, really should be a Quebec appointee considering that he is not currently a member of the Quebec Bar. There have been other concerns raised that while Nadon is an expert in maritime law, there is little call for such expertise on the Supreme Court, while there is a need for more expertise in administrative law. Add to that, the ad hoc committee of MPs set to quiz Nadon on his appointment was given a mere 48 hours to prepare (though most of those MPs would have been involved with the short-list selection process, so they would be familiar with his file, but there are yet more concerns that MPs who weren’t involved in that process should be the ones involved). It was also noted that Nadon was a dissenting opinion with regard to the Omar Khadr case with regards to attempts to order the government to have him repatriated, and the Supreme Court later agreed with him – for what it’s worth.