Tag Archives: Procurement

Roundup: Telling them nothing of consequence

Posted on by

Yesterday was the big day that the Commons defence committee had been waiting for – prime minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, had volunteered to testify about what she knew about the General Vance allegations, and the moment that she volunteered, opposition parties should have known that she wasn’t going to actually say anything of use to them. (And the fact that she volunteered after the government has been pushing the point for weeks that staffers shouldn’t be testifying because minsters are responsible under our constitutional framework is another problem, not the least of which is that they appear to have given up on being consistent).

And for nearly two hours, full of interruptions, points of order, and a whole lot of preening for the cameras by opposition MPs, Telford basically told them nothing of any consequence. She didn’t of the nature of the allegations, but she reached out to ensure that they weren’t a “safety issue” (i.e. assault as opposed to harassment). But in spite of her concerns, they didn’t learn any details, and on a broader picture, she often looks back in hindsight to wonder if she should have been pushing harder for transformational change in the military, or to look past Vance’s assurances that he was committed to doing that work. We should have expected that there wouldn’t be any sweeping new revelations going into this, and there weren’t. Of course, to the Conservatives, this “proves” that there is some kind of cover-up, but trying to go after Telford seems like a poor use of time when Harjit Sajjan is right there, waiting to be held to account for his numerous failings on this file. There needs to be some accountability on this, but the opposition just keeps flailing around performatively rather than being focused in holding the one person to account who needs it, and it’s not Telford.

Meanwhile, Susan Delacourt equates Telford to someone from the bomb squad in a movie, carefully dealing with possible explosives to ensure the PM doesn’t come to harm. Matt Gurney makes the salient point that it’s hard to fathom why Sajjan or Telford didn’t do more once they learned the PCO investigation was stalled (though I’m not really keen on Gurney trying to police Telford’s feminism).

Continue reading →

Roundup: Ambrose’s bill becomes law

Posted on by

Bill C-3 passed the Senate yesterday and received royal assent. Many of you will know this as Rona Ambrose’s bill to mandate sexual assault training by judges, and it’s been a weird little ride through the parliamentary process, starting with Ambrose’s original bill in the previous parliament, dying on the Order Paper at the election, and the current government resurrecting it in principle, but not the same bill. Why? Because the original bill was blatantly unconstitutional in how it infringed on judicial independence, and was entirely unworkable in terms of how lawyers who wanted to apply to be judges needed to conduct themselves.

In order to make the bill palatable, it had to be rewritten as a hollow shell – essentially a suggestion for future judges, because anything else would be untenable. So we now have a useless but symbolic bill on the books that will do very little to solve the problem that Ambrose perceived, but instead will have new unintended consequences – namely, as former Supreme Court of Canada Executive Legal Officer Gib van Ert outlines here, that it has opened the door to new bills demanding that judges take training on any other area of law or policy that is the flavour of the day, and while they may be important in and of themselves, it is corrosive to judicial independence because it portrays them as being beholden to the whims of the government of the day rather than maintaining a distance and independence from that government’s wishes.

The more concerning aspect of this bill’s particular path however was just how uncritically it was treated by media outlets around the country. Ambrose would appear on the political talk shows every few months to complain that it was being held up by the “old boys’ club,” and not once did anyone mention the list of valid and legitimate complaints and concerns about the bill, in particular its dubious constitutionality. Not once. The first time it happened, I timed myself in that it took me twenty minutes to review Senate testimony at second reading to compile the list of problems that were raised. Twenty minutes of homework, and not one report or producer of a political show bothered to put in the work, and they simply let Ambrose talk about her bill uncritically, and unchallenged. Not one. It’s kind of alarming that something as important as judicial independence was quite literally ignored by every major outlet in the country, because they wanted to promote a feel-good bill about sexual assault training. That’s pretty concerning.

Continue reading →

QP: Getting the minister to stick to his talking points

Posted on by

While we had a couple of leaders present in the Chamber today, the Liberal benches remained largely empty, with only Mark Gerretsen and Francis Drouin present. Erin O’Toole led off, his scripts on his mini-lectern in front of him, and in French, he quoted the Globe and Mail by saying that it was amateur hour on Bill C-10, and selectively quoted Michael Geist’s concerns about freedom of expression, and demanded the bill be withdrawn. Steven Guilbeault read a script that C-10 forces web giants to invest in Canadian and Quebec creators, and the Conservatives, by blocking the bill, were merely shielding web giants. O’Toole repeated the question in English, and got the same answer in English. O’Toole claimed that Guilbeault doesn’t understand his own bill, and he tried to conflate this with media funding, and called it a direct attack on free speech (something none of the experts have actually said), and Guilbeault suggested that O’Toole actually read the bill, because Section 2.1 states that individuals who upload content are not considered broadcasters. O’Toole the switched to French to complain that it was taking longer to approve immigration files in Quebec than in the rest of the country, and Marco Mendicino recited some reassuring lines about the value of immigration and reaching the right levels. O’Toole pivoted again, and in English, demanded action on Line 5, for which Seamus O’Regan noted the importance of the pipeline on both sides of the border, and why they were making that case.

Rhéal Fortin led for the Bloc, and he raised the General Vance allegations, and wondered if the prime minister considered it a problem that his defence minister didn’t alert him. Harjit Sajjan insisted that he followed the right procedures, and that they were committed to culture changes in the military. Fortin raised the notion of seeking Sajjan’s resignation and replacing him with a female defence minister, and Sajjan, naturally, disputed this.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and in French, he demanded the government commit to waiving COVID vaccine patents, to which Mary Ng recited that they would participate in these negotiations at the WTO. Singh repeated the question in English, and Ng repeated her response.

Continue reading →

Roundup: PROC needs to grow up

Posted on by

I find myself losing all patience with the state of Commons committees in the current parliament, and the shenanigans happening at the Procedure and House Affairs committee right now are really not helping matters – and to be clear, it’s all sides that are to blame here, with particular blame going to the prime minister himself for starting this particular farcical exercise of tabling a prorogation report and patting himself on the back for it, and then watching it all blow up in his face.

The notion of a “prorogation report” was always stupid. I get that the idea was supposed to be about trying to increase openness and transparency, and finding a way to demonstrate that tactical prorogations would be avoided, and so on, but it was dumb. The better alternative, as I pointed out in my book, was to restore prorogation ceremonies, where the government would have to have a public accounting of what they accomplished in the session and outlining how they felt that they accomplished the goals set out in the previous Throne Speech, before they set out for a new one. You get public accountability, and you get some pomp and ceremony from the Governor General or the deputy reading that speech (and it should be the GG – the practice of it being the Chief Justice is another one of those particular pieces of historical trivia that is infuriating in how it perverted norms that were carried on unthinkingly). But Trudeau didn’t go that route, despite having publicly mused about it, and here we are today.

The fact that the Liberals are filibustering at the committee is everyone’s fault. Yes, Trudeau should appear at committee to testify why he decided to prorogue – it’ll be a useless exercise in him delivering talking points, but it’s his decision and he should be questioned for it if this is the route that he chose to go. But trying to get Katie Telford violates the issue of not calling staffers because of ministerial responsibility, and summoning the Kielburgers and the people who run Speaker’s Spotlight to testify as well is beyond ridiculous, because they have absolutely nothing to say about the prime minister’s decision. Sure, the prime minister quite likely prorogued because of the constant WE Imbroglio circus going on – but those particular figures aren’t going to say anything useful to the committee about the prorogation report, which is what they are supposed to be debating. It’s all about trying to keep the WE Imbroglio in the spotlight for as long as possible, never mind that most Canadians have long since moved on from it, because the opposition parties think they can still use it to score points. Nobody is doing their jobs anymore, the notion of a prorogation report is a sham, and this whole exercise is just wasting parliamentary time, and exhausting the limited resources of hybrid sittings (especially the interpreters). Everyone needs to grow the hell up, and maybe, just maybe, Trudeau will have learned his lesson that this report was a dumb idea and he’ll do the right thing next time and restore the prorogation ceremony instead.

Continue reading →

QP: Spinning a Vance/Norman conspiracy theory

Posted on by

It was a grey day in the Nation’s Capital, but the prime minister was in the Galactic Senate House of Commons for Question Period, along with the other fixture in the Liberal benches, Mark Gerretsen.

Erin O’Toole led off in French, worrying about the message that NACI gave yesterday, deliberately conflating it with Health Canada. Justin Trudeau told him that the most important thing is to get vaccinated with the first one offered to you, as they have all been judged safe and effective by Health Canada. O’Toole asked again in English, and got the same answer. O’Toole then switch to the Vance allegations, and spun an elaborate conspiracy that Katie Telford was friendly with Vance, and wondered if they didn’t pursue the allegations because of the Mark Norman investigation, to which Trudeau offered a simple no. O’Toole insisted that things all seemed a little too cozy, and Trudeau insisted they would support with anyone who came forward with an allegation. O’Toole spun the conspiracy out again, and Trudeau called him out for doing so.

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and worried that victims of CERB fraud were being told to pay now and get reimbursed later. Trudeau insisted that was false, and that the department was working closely on the issues with fraud, and nobody had to pay for it. Blanchet was not able to reconcile the statement, and Trudeau repeated that they were there to help fraud victims.

Jagmeet Singh led for the NDP, and in French, he wondered why they were refusing to implement the Deschamps Report, and Trudeau insisted that they did take concrete measures, and listed a number of federal strategies around things like combatting gender-based violence. Singh switched to English to state that there was a chilling effect for women who complain about sexual misconduct in the Forces, and Trudeau largely repeated his list of measures taken.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Playing chicken with the variants

Posted on by

It’s been such a long and dispiriting week, as many of us in this country live under the rule of murderclown premiers who simply refuse to do their jobs when it comes to this pandemic, and keep trying to blame the federal government for their failures, or to at least distract from their inaction. We’re going through that especially in Ontario right now, where Ford and his ministers keep up this song and dance about the borders, without once recognising their own culpability in the spread of variants.

Dwivedi is absolutely right about the role of the media in this, constantly framing this as “squabbling” or “finger-pointing,” and not “there is clear jurisdictional authority for the province and they refuse to exercise it,” which means that these premiers (and Doug Ford most especially) get to escape being held to account. This is why I object so strenuously whenever I hear another journalist or TV host say “nobody cares about jurisdiction in a pandemic.” Sorry, but that’s not how real life works. There’s a division of powers in the constitution that doesn’t care about your feelings.

Meanwhile, Andrew Leach has a few observations about the situation in Alberta that are just as trenchant as the ones in Ontario.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Offering disinformation in a clownish motion

Posted on by

Yesterday was a Supply Day for the Conservatives, and they decided to push a motion about access to vaccines – but because they are committed to a certain number of narratives that don’t belong in the real world, it was about as cartoonish as one might expect.

Part of the premise of why this so ridiculous is because the notion that sufficient vaccine supply could have been delivered in January and February – let alone right now – belies a belief that we live in some kind of post-scarcity society like in Star Trek: The Next Generation, where replicator technology basically eliminates these kinds of problems, such as supply chain issues, or the time it takes to scale up manufacturing, or the time to actually make the vaccine itself. It also seems predicated on the belief that Canada is apparently the only country in the world suffering from the pandemic, and that we should have some kind of claim to all of the vaccine first (even though we were far less badly hit than many, many other countries). There is a blatant falsehood in the motion where it claims that it was the federal government that recommended that the interval between first and second doses be extended to four months – that was not a federal decision. It was a recommendation by the arm’s length National Advisory Committee on Immunization, and they weigh their recommendations based on the current epidemiology, and it was in there considered opinion that there was a greater good in getting as many people their first dose as quickly as possible given supply constraints, and that the four months is likely to shrink as more doses arrive. More to the point, provinces decide whether or not they will accept NACI’s guidance or not, and not the federal government. The inclusion of this in the motion is pure disinformation designed to stoke anger. Finally, it ignores that the reason there are increasing “lockdowns” (and in most parts of the country, they’re not real lockdowns) are because premiers failed and didn’t properly control spread – most especially in those provinces where they re-opened too early, in spite of warnings that the new variants would cause spread faster, and yet they went ahead and did it anyway. This, again, is not on the federal government and it was always a fallacy that we could have vaccinated our way out of the second or third wave without lockdown measures.

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1387827704204906497

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1387847095357485057

 

Of course, this is happening in the shadow of an oncoming surge of new vaccine deliveries, which has Ontario and Quebec are promising that everyone should be eligible to get a first dose before the end of May, which is not far from what O’Toole and company were demanding in their clownish motion. So, was this is a play to try and claim victory when the vaccination numbers start to climb? Or is this just a play to the base where facts don’t matter when there are emotions? Either way, it’s not the best look for the party that considers itself the government-in-waiting.

Continue reading →

Roundup: The flailing incompetence of Ontario’s new sick days

Posted on by

If there was any doubt that the murderclowns in Doug Ford’s government were flailing incoherently, they announced a new paid sick leave programme yesterday, and wouldn’t you know it, it defies all common sense or logic. The idea is that employees get up to three days of paid sick leave – temporarily, because heaven forbid they stand up to the small business lobby and make this permanent – and employers can claim up to $200 per day for those employees, but they have to do it through the Workers Compensation bureaucracy, for some unknown reason. And we still have no idea what kinds of protections are actually in place for the workers if they use those days, because that’s a very big part of this. Furthermore, this was the province doing the bare minimum – they chose three days apparently because a) it’s what is currently in the Canada Labour Code for federally-regulated workers, and b) after three days, a person could claim the federal sickness benefit (because it pays out for the week), so they’re still trying to fob people off on to a system that was designed for those who can’t access employer-paid sick leave because they don’t have a traditional employer. And possibly the most galling part was how much the provincial labour minister was patting himself on the back for these woefully inadequate half-measures (which people were having to say was a “great first start” through gritted teeth all evening).

It shouldn’t have been like this. The easy fix was to simply allow sufficient days (probably up to ten given the current circumstances) under the provincial labour code, and employers could then access rebates either through the federal wage subsidy, as it’s been designed for, or a provincial stop-gap if they’re not currently on said subsidy, and it would have been easier, it would have protected jobs and workers’ rights, it would have been seamless, and we wouldn’t have the same problems that we’re having right now with those trying to access the federal benefit (which was not designed for these circumstances). But that would have angered the business lobbies, and Doug Ford would never want to do that, because they’re whom he considers the “little guy” that he looks out for. So here we are instead, with another badly designed system that seeks to do the bare minimum, and because this was done in haste, and with this government’s usual flailing incompetence, I suspect we won’t be out of problems with it anytime soon – just like everything else that has gone to wrong in this province, because it’s being run by incompetent murderclowns.

In case you were wondering what all of this flailing was trying to cover, it would be the Auditor General’s report on long-term care, which was a not unexpected recounting that there was a woeful lack of preparation, where long-standing problems quickly got amplified, while the ministry of long-term care was not prepared or equipped to deal with those issues. Again, not a surprise, but damning nevertheless. And what did the minister responsible for long-term care do? Blame everyone else including the NDP – who haven’t been in power since 1995 – for “starting the fire,” and she insisted that she was the one who ran into the burning building to save people, which…is a novel interpretation, especially considering that her government reduced the number of inspections and made things worse. Of course, we are in a system of Responsible Government, and she is the minister in charge of the portfolio, and guess what – she is responsible. If she had any modicum of shame or decency, she would tender her resignation for allowing the deaths of thousands on her hands, but this band of murderclowns are absolutely incapable of decency or shame.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1387459497803796481

Continue reading →

QP: Believing a phone call could solve it

Posted on by

On a fairly lovely day in the nation’s capital, the prime minister was present in the House of Commons, with the usual Liberal in attendance, Mark Gerretsen, a couple of rows behind him amid otherwise empty benches.  Erin O’Toole led off in person and in French for a change, and he listed the people who knew about the allegations against General Jonathan Vance, and whether he knew. Justin Trudeau said that they knew there was an allegation but were not privy to details. O’Toole tried again in English, and Trudeau repeated the answer before he embellished with the talking point that when O’Toole himself heard a rumour of allegations against Vance, his staff went to Privy Council Office, and the same process had been followed, while the current government had done more about changing the culture in the armed forces. O’Toole tried yet again, insisting that emails showed that the phrase sexual harassment was used, and Trudeau more forcefully insisted that they did try to investigate but could not go further which was why they were putting more measures into place. O’Toole tried yet again, with more bluster, for which Trudeau started sermonising about doing more for women and marginalised people in the military.

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and insisted that the prime minster could have personally picked up the phone and stopped the Port of Montreal strike, for which Trudeau insisted that if the Bloc wanted to take action on behalf of Quebeckers, and pass the bill so that they can set up a neutral mediation process. Blanchet again insisted that the prime minister needed to pick up the phone, and Trudeau stated that they tried negotiating for two-and-a-half years, and it was for naught, and he demanded support for the bill.

Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he demanded the government withdraw the back-to-work legislation for the Port of Montreal, and Trudeau insisted that they did try negotiations, and that this bill would not impose a contract but rather neutral mediation. Singh then switched to English to demand the government improve the federal sickness benefit — oblivious to what that entails — and Trudeau reminded him that the best leave is the one from employers and that the NDP voted against them implementing it for federally-regulated sectors.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Ontario requests military assistance

Posted on by

We have reached the point in Ontario where things are so bad with the pandemic that the province has requested military assistance, and arrangements have been made for three medical assistance teams to be dispatched by today, along with other Red Cross personnel. As well, nine healthcare professionals from Newfoundland and Labrador, including the premier’s wife, are also being flown to Ontario by means of military transport.

But what is Doug Ford and his murderclown regime doing to help the situation? Absolutely nothing! They voted against another attempt at getting paid sick leave implemented, and they are keeping their focus solely on the border, rather than their need to enforce quarantine measures locally. (Oh, and it’s not just Ford balking at paid sick leave – every premier is doing it, even those in the Maritimes who have had relative success in containing the virus so far).

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1386359274415214598

Meanwhile, there is a bit of good news in that a Federal Court judge refused to grant an injunction to end the hotel quarantine programme, saying it will go to a full hearing in June, and saying that the infringements on freedoms are reasonable in the public health context. Granted, we have enough people who can’t seem to pick a lane between demanding stricter border measures while also demanding an end to hotel quarantines, but since when has consistency been the strong point of political parties or MPs?

Continue reading →