Tag Archives: Procurement

Roundup: A dog and pony show at the bar of the House

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There was the extremely rare instance of a private citizen being summoned to the bar of the House of Commons yesterday to be admonished and to be ordered to answer questions—something that hasn’t happened since 1913. The person in question was Kristian Firth, one of the partners of GC Strategies, who was part of the ArriveCan imbroglio, and he was summoned for refusing to answer questions at committee and prevaricating in cases, and was accused of lying to the committee in other circumstances.

As expected, this became a dog-and-pony show from the very get-go, because that’s about the level at which most parliamentarians operate these days. The government didn’t want to ask him questions because he had a doctor’s note explaining he’s being treated for “mental health episodes” and is supposed to avoid extreme stress. Too bad, the Conservatives said, and refused to delay this to another day, and began their own questions, which were theatrical in nature, intended for clip-gathering, and for constructing an alternate reality where the Cabinet was somehow implicated in this whole affair and that Firth was somehow covering for them—something for which there has been absolutely zero evidence, but the Conservatives have absolutely no qualms about lying in order to tarnish reputations and try and paint the government as corrupt, in spite of the fact that there are no links between the political players and what happened on this file. The Conservatives made additional hay when they learned that the RCMP had executed a search warrant at Firth’s home for electronic records in an unrelated case, and they were quick to spread that all over social media along with the clips they had choreographed of this whole exercise. To be clear, nothing new was really learned, most of the Bloc and NDP MPs spent their time soliloquising on the record rather than asking real questions, and nothing has really changed other than the new social content gathered. What a way to run a parliament.

More budget coverage:

Because there weren’t enough stories on Budget Day itself, here are more of the follow-up stories:

  • Here is an explanation of the capital gains changes, and Chrystia Freeland pointing out that this was carefully researched and that the measures help restore fairness.
  • Here are more details on the plans to turn government buildings into housing.
  • The budget promises to redefine what counts as “rural” to qualify for the carbon rebate top-up, but offers no details as to how they’ll do that.
  • There is a measure in the budget about exploring how to make “halal mortgages” more available for Muslim Canadians.
  • The CRA is getting more tools to combat tax avoidance and evasion, including a requirement for more transparency around crypto transactions.
  • Here is a recounting of some of the angry pushback to what’s in the budget (and some of it is complete bunk, others are letting the premiers skate once again).
  • AFN national chief Cindy Woodhouse Neepinak says the budget isn’t sufficient for Indigenous people and wants a first ministers’ meeting on the subject.
  • Disability groups are deeply disappointed with how little the Canada Disability Benefit provides, but government indicates it will go up over time.

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1780726502008512549

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian missiles hit Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, killing at least 17 people, while Ukraine attacked an airfield in occupied Crimea. There was also a Russian drone attack against the Ivano-Frankivsk reg9ion in the country’s west, the debris causing fires. Ukrainian soldiers are also accusing Russia of illegally using tear gas on their trenches.

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Roundup: Budget Day, 2024

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It was Budget Day, and as per usual with this government, any fiscal room that opened up, they spent and kept their deficit figures about the same. (Full document here). There were some minor tax increases on the top 0.1 percent and corporations, but apparently not as bad as some of the business lobby feared, though the way some of them went to bat for trickle-down economics this week was…something.

The overall theme has been about “generational fairness,” which they want to push as the Liberals desperately need to reclaim Millennial and Gen Z voters who are currently flocking to Poilievre, not because he has any policy solutions, but because they like his angry vibe (because that’s helpful, guys). And while that may be the theme, nothing I’ve heard suggests meaningful changes to address that generational fairness other than tinkering around the margins, but that seems to be par for the course, especially for this government.

Measures in the budget include:

  • The proposals to “unlock” public lands for housing development
  • The Canada Disability Benefit is in there, but it’s a very low level and there aren’t agreements with the provinces about not clawing it back
  • The commitment to investing in AI and data capacity.
  • More money for Indigenous housing and infrastructure, but never enough for the size and scope of what is needed.
  • Long-awaited details on carbon rebates for small business, but not Indigenous groups who were also promised them.
  • A $5 billion Indigenous loan guarantee programme.
  • Former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz is being named to a task force on determining how pension funds can be used to invest more in Canada.
  • Directions for the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada to oversee open banking.
  • There is money for athletes, but not enough for what is needed by Olympians.
  • Higher taxes on tobacco and vaping products to help offset pharmacare costs.
  • Here are ten quick highlights, some of the “winners and losers,” some key numbers and even more highlights.

Meanwhile, some helpful threads about different aspects of the budget:

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1780326465420038220

And here are a few examples of Lindsay Tedds throwing some serious shade at people who don’t understand the capital gains changes. Ouch!

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1780435405021835447

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1780435859806069167

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1780436934340575689

Ukraine Dispatch:

We learned that the destruction of the Trypilska thermal power plant last week was because of a lack of air defence missiles—they intercepted seven missiles, but there weren’t enough for the remaining four inbound missiles, and the plant was destroyed. (Thanks, America!) President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed the mobilisation bill into law, and it should take effect within a month. Here’s a look at the coming battle around Chasiv Yar.

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QP: Bizarre accusations, crying about being shushed

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As the countdown to the budget release was underway, neither the prime minister nor his deputy were present, and while she had the excuse of being in the budget lock-up meeting with journalists, I’m not sure the PM’s excuse. Most of the other leaders were also present, and Pierre Poilievre led off in French, read off his slogans, and then claimed that the “millionaire prime minister’s” friends who never pay for the cost of his spending, but welders and single mothers. François-Philippe Champagne insisted that the Conservatives have no vision and no plan, and nothing but new slogans, while a country that has ambition is one that invests. Poilievre insisted that their vision was to replace his boss, and complained about the size of the debt and deficit. Champagne noted that slogans don’t build homes, pave roads, or create jobs. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his slogans, and railed that seniors and single mothers who foot the bill for the government spending and not their “wealthy friends.” Anita Anand listed supports for people while remaining fiscally prudent. Poilievre listed other “working class” people that he is in support of, and Anand repeated her same assurances. Poilievre insisted that the Liberals are the problem and not the solution, but Sean Fraser took this one, mocked Poilievre’s statements about electricians capturing lighting or welders using their bare hands, and suggested he talked to people with real jobs—as Poilievre walked out during said answer.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, claiming that Quebec was being “cheated” out of housing funds, and demanded they pay their fair share of housing funds immediately. Fraser said that the Bloc are not defining housing policy in Quebec while they have an agreement with the provincial government to build 8,000 homes. Therrien demanded a second time, and this time Pablo Rodriguez got up to rant about the Bloc not doing anything but pick fights.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and praised Biden’s policies in the US, to which Champagne took issue with the premise, and praised their work in fixing competition in the country. Laurel Collins complained that the government wasn’t going to implement a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. Jonathan Wilkinson got up to list the measures they are taking to reduce emissions. 

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Roundup: At least one Speaker is laying down the law

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I will admit that it’s rare that I follow anything happening in the Saskatchewan legislature, but yesterday there were some video clips circulating of the Speaker slapping down two government ministers who had been text messaging him, accusing him of not doing enough to keep the opposition in their place, essentially. The Speaker was not having it. He read out one of those text messages into the record and demanded an apology, which he got from the finance minister.

The House leader, however? Refused to apologise for his texts and his comments about them, and stormed out of the Chamber, at which point the Speaker named him and ensured he was kicked out for the rest of the day.

I’m not sure if I’m watching in envy, because our own Speaker in Ottawa is timid and doing the bare minimum of decorum, or if it’s just great to see a Speaker acting decisively and taking absolutely no bullshit from members regardless. Nevertheless, it’s good to see a Speaker take the job seriously, and not let the government of the day try and get away with atrocious behaviour.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Russian aerial bomb struck an educational facility in Kharkiv on Monday, killing two and injuring four. Ukraine’s foreign minister has pointed to the success of Israel’s “Iron Dome” when it comes to defending against the Iranian attack, saying his country needs the same, but there are particular differences, one of which is that Russia is much closer which makes the defences less effective. Because of the attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, they had to double electricity imports on Monday, without any capacity to export.

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QP: Another slogan to “fix” the budget

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While both the prime minister and his deputy were in town, they were not present for QP, though most of the other leaders were present. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and listed off his slogans before noting that the government was spending more on interest on the debt than healthcare, and demanded the government take is “dollar-for-dollar” plan to “fix the budget.” Sean Fraser wondered if it was common sense or nonsense to cut programmes to help people. Poilievre took a swipe at Fraser for his alleged incompetence around immigration numbers, which “doubled” housing prices, and demanded the government reduce the deficit and interest rates. François-Philippe Champagne recited that Poilievre only built six affordable housing units when he was “housing minister” (which he wasn’t really), and that they wouldn’t take any lessons. Poilievre switched to English to misquote a Scotiabank report claiming government deficits were adding two points to the interest rates, to which Fraser accused him of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing in his opposition to programmes to help people. Poilievre insisted there was no value in food programmes that don’t exist or the doubling of the cost of housing, and repeated his same misleading declaration about interest rates. Fraser needled Poilievre about the number of affordable units lost when he was “minister” and the number of houses that weren’t built. Poilievre accused Fraser of being incompetent as immigration minister before being named housing minister, and then gave some misleading nonsense about rental prices when he was “housing minister.” Fraser took a shot at the Conservatives for opposing the resettlement of Afghan refugees who had helped the Canadian Forces, and after the Speaker finally restored order, repeated the points about Poilievre’s housing record.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and complained that Quebec didn’t get their fair share of housing funds, to which Pablo Rodriguez talked about the Bloc’s lack of priorities as they keep demanding referendums while the government is investing. Therrien tried his complaint again, and Fraser insisted that they were working with the province to ensure they would get their fair share.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he railed about corporate handouts to companies like Loblaws, and wanted the government to roll back Conservative policies. Champagne thanked him for his help in reforming competition law, but said they still needed support to get the Grocery Code of Conduct passed. Singh switched to French to demand an excess profits tax on grocery giants, and Champagne repeated his response.

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QP: Friday energy on a Thursday

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The prime minister was again absent from QP today, as was his deputy, and all of the other leaders were also away. Melissa Lantsman led off, railing about the carbon levy increase, and demanded the prime minister respect the vote on having a televised meeting with the premiers and on what day it will be. Steve MacKinnon noted that today they are debating their sustainable jobs bill, and that the Conservatives have put forward 20,000 amendments generated by AI, calling them the “robo-caucus” doing “robo-work” and told them to stop gatekeeping opportunities, Lantsman said that was false and not an answer, before she listed food bank stats, and again demanded a meeting. MacKinnon suggested they “plug into the reality channel,” because of the jobs at stake that they are standing in the way of. Lantsman insisted that the prime minister was being defiant and wondered what he was covering for. Anita Anand noted that the invitation is open for premiers to come up with a better plan but they haven’t put any forward, and that Scott Moe even stated this was the most cost-effective plan. Dominique Vien took over in French and listed failures from the government, before citing the premier of Quebec telling the federal government to butt out of its business. Jean-Yves Duclos noted that Poielivre only built six housing units when he was minister, and invited her to visit an affordable housing project in her riding. Vien claimed federal incompetence in fiscal management, and repeated the demand to butt out. MacKinnon got up to point out that she was in Charest’s Cabinet and voted for a carbon price, and now she wants to be hypocritical about housing.

Claude DeBellefeuille led for the Bloc, claimed that Quebec was being short-changed and demanded higher unconditional housing transfers to the province. Duclos praised an affordable housing project in her project. DeBellefeuille tried the same demand a second time, and Duclos again praised the agreement signed with the province a few weeks ago, which was the largest in provincial history.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and blamed the federal government for rental increases in Montreal and for not building enough affordable housing. (Guess whose jurisdiction that is?) Duclos returned to his talking points about Poilievre’s six units. Lindsay Mathyssen decried inadequate military housing across the country, and Bill Blair pointed out that the work has already begun to build new units on bases across the country. 

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QP: “Intruding” into the competences of the provinces

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Even though Wednesdays are usually the day the prime minister answers all questions in QP, he was absent today, as he was due to begin his testimony at the foreign interference inquiry before QP was likely to end. His deputy was also absent, but not all of the other leaders were present, even though it’s Wednesday. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, listing off a number of falsehoods around things like inflation, and wondered why the federal government was meddling in Quebec’s affairs. Jean-Yves Duclos noted that it was odd for Poilievre to talk about incompetence because when he was housing minister, he built a whole six units, but you called Quebec mayors incompetent. Poilievre then noted that interest rates did not come down today and blamed federal spending, but Duclos kept on with his same points. Poilievre repeated the false point about interest rates, and Anita Anand pointed out that it’s possible to provide supports for Canadians while being fiscally prudent, and listed their measures. Poilievre repeated the false claim that government spending is fuelling inflation, and Anand noted that wages are growing faster than inflation and that the current government has brought down poverty rates across the country. Poilievre gave his Mark Carney lines, and this time François-Philippe Champagne stood up to declare that he would take no lessons from the Conservatives, and listed their plans to help Canadians while the slogans on the other side wouldn’t build homes.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc—even though Yves-François Blanchet was just out in the Foyer answering questions—and accused the federal government of meddling in Quebec’s jurisdiction and demanded they just give them money. Duclos listed investments the government is making to help Canadians. Therrien repeated his same demand, and listed more ways they work with Quebec.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and decried the Indigenous infrastructure funding gap (Hajdu: It was important for the AFN to help us write this report so we can close the gap faster), and then asked about the Canadian Disability Benefit implementation (Kiera: We are on track to deliver the benefit, and we will get it right).

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Roundup: Economists endorse carbon pricing, not the Liberal plan

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Yesterday, a group of leading Canadian economists published an open letter about the facts about carbon pricing and the rebates, and debunked several claims that conservatives around the country have been making. It was a good and necessary corrective, but of course, legacy media headlined it as them defending the Liberal plan, which they weren’t doing, particularly because while the Liberal plan includes the carbon levy and rebates, it also is full of regulation and subsidies, which these economics are explicitly not in favour of. But legacy media loves to make this a partisan fight where they have to be on one side or the other. Liberal Party comms didn’t do themselves any favours either on this one.

To that end, here is energy economist Andrew Leach on carbon pricing, and throwing some shade at the PBO’s rather shite report once more.

Meanwhile, a number of premiers demanded to be heard at the House of Commons’ finance committee about the carbon levy, because they think that’ll do them any good, but instead, the Conservative chair of the Government Operations Committee invited them to testify today. The Government Operations Committee has fuck all to do with this file, but apparently, we no longer care about things like committee mandates anymore, so long as you can put on a dog and pony show, and gather clips for social media shitpost videos, that’s all that matters. This shouldn’t be allowed, but this is the state to which our Parliament has now debased itself. Ours is no longer a serious institution for doing serious work. It’s only about content creation, and I cannot stress enough about how absolutely terrifying this is for the future of democracy.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Ukrainian missile attack struck a Russian naval reconnaissance vessel as well as a large landing warship. Ukraine’s navy says that they have destroyed or disabled a third of the Russian Black Sea fleet over the past two years. Here’s a look at how Ukraine’s burgeoning domestic defence industry is ramping up to provide necessary ammunition for the war. Here’s a great explanation of Ukraine’s use of drone warfare with some excellent infographics.

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1772541600591147503

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QP: Is the PBO right or out of date?

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In spite of the fact that they are both in town, neither the prime minister nor his deputy were present for QP today, and most of the other leaders were absent as well. Andrew Scheer led off, and after rattling off slogans, he raised the story on the cost of the prime minister’s vacation, and got increasingly breathy as he demanded an election. François-Philippe Champagne said that Scheer had become the CIO of Canada—the Chief Inaction Officer, and that he was advocating inaction on climate change and clean growth. This earned him a warning from the Speaker. Scheer then railed about people not being able to afford food and blamed the carbon levy, and again demanded an election. Gudie Hutchings got up to recount the story of a senior in her riding who tracks his expenses, and what happy that he comes out ahead with the rebates. Scheer insisted this was just false, and claimed the PBO stated otherwise, and once again demanded an election. Hutchings recounted more stories from seniors in her riding. Luc Berthold took over in French, took some swipes at the Bloc, and demanded to know what the government promised them for support. Champagne said that it was clear that the Conservatives didn’t believe in climate change while the government takes action and grows the economy. Berthold tried to call out the Bloc on the upcoming vote, and and Steven Guilbeault reminded him that they ran on climate change in the last election, and that just behind him sits a former Quebec minister who brought in Quebec’s system. 

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and decried how much the government says no to Quebec, Pablo Rodriguez listed things they said yes to, and that the Bloc only wants to start fights. Therrien listed more things the government said no to, including the abolition of the monarchy, and Rodriguez gave much the same reply.

Peter Julian rose for the NDP, and in French, decried rent increases in Montreal—which is provincial jurisdiction—and wanted something for renters in the budget, Soraya Martinez Ferrada noted the investments in different types of housing, and their agreement with Quebec. Jenny Kwan appeared by video to give the same question with a BC lens, and Martinez Ferrada gave the English version of the same talking points.

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Roundup: When concerns become confessions

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Yesterday, La Presse published an editorial cartoon that was all the way back to 1930s Germany in terms of its antisemitic tropes about Jews being vampires, and lo, there was controversy and much condemnation. It was pulled not long after, with a half-assed apology from the editor, but what I found particularly interesting was how many people lost their minds about what heritage minister Pascale St-Onge said, in particular that she would be “very prudent” on questions concerning the freedom of the press and refused to pass judgement, and called for compassionate conversations.”

I say this in particular because of all of these very same people losing their minds about the Online Harms legislation, and the frankly false concerns that this is going to be about the Liberals deciding what is and isn’t hate speech, and that they’ll prosecute and censor things they don’t like. And these are also the same people who insist that because the government is offering assistance to the struggling news sector (mostly by way of tax credits for salaries or digital subscriptions) that it means that the government must obviously be exerting control over what the news sector says or does. And then when a newspaper does something clearly antisemitic and the minister doesn’t offer threats, they condemn her for not doing all of the things they are saying the government is going to do and that we should be very, very afraid of them for.

Taking the cake in all of this was Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who taunted St-Onge over Twitter to “pull their government funding. I dare you.” Which pretty much proves the whole gods damned point, doesn’t it? If anything, it certainly makes all of these concerns about government powers—which are clearly structured in a way that they can’t be abused, particularly by codifying the Supreme Court of Canada’s Whatcott standard of what constitutes hate speech so that it’s not arbitrary—sound like projection or a future confession. But that would also require self-awareness on the part of all of these people losing their minds, which they clearly don’t have, and it’s all very telling.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russia has launched a missile attack on Kyiv, while a missile attack on Kharkiv has killed five. Russia says they will add two new armies and thirty formations by the end of the year to Ukraine as they push Ukrainian forces back while ammunition delivers are slowed. Ukraine did launch a drone attack against a bomber base deep inside Russian territory. Here’s a look at why Ukraine has been targeting Russia’s Belgorod regions. Here’s the story of a ballet studio inside of a bomb shelter in Kharkiv.

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