It was a rainy day in the Commons, and one already subject to procedural shenanigans as the NDP had already tried to adjourn the day’s activities in order to avoid the investigation happening in the Procedure and House Affairs committee around their expenses. Stephen Harper was also on his way to Europe for the remainder of the week, so yesterday was all we were going to see of him. Thomas Mulcair began by asking about the fact that the new privacy commissioner nominee gave legal advice to national security agencies — ignoring that he told the committee that he disagreed with the government positions. Tony Clement responded that the candidate had thirty years of experience, and was chosen after a rigorous process. Mulcair asked how many programmes he gave advice on and now many he approved — something that would never be answered given solicitor-client privilege. Clement repeated that he was the most qualified candidate. Mulcair insisted that the nominee wouldn’t be able to see the legislation objectively, to which Clement made a crack about Mulcair’s position going in a mail out. Mulcair changed topics, and asked about regulations on GHG emissions in the oil and gas sector, but Leona Aglukkaq responded that they took action two years ago — except those were on coal, not oil and gas. When Mulcair pressed, Aglukkaq insisted that Canada represents less than two percent of global emissions. Justin Trudeau was up for the Liberals, and reiterated the question, pointing out that our oil and gas sector is our largest source of emissions, as coal is the Americans’ largest sector. Aglukkaq simply repeated her answers, trying to imply that Trudeau did nothing about it. Trudeau asked again more pointedly, to which Aglukkaq reminded him that Michael Ignatieff said that “we didn’t get it done.”
Tag Archives: Procurement
Roundup: The Sona trial commences
Michael Sona’s trial in the case of the misleading robocalls gets underway in Guelph, Ontario, today, Sona has long maintained that there is no real evidence against him other than some questionable testimony that would have occurred at a time when he was out of the country. That said, it is hoped that with other players on the stand that this trial may be the only hope for getting the real story of what happened in Guelph out there. Sona could face five years in jail and a fine of up to $5000 if found guilty.
Roundup: A new $3.5 billion commitment
The government has pledged another $3.5 billion over five years for its Maternal and Child Health initiative, in the hopes of achieving the Millennium Development Goal of 75 percent reduction in maternal mortality by 2020. CBC’s Hannah Thibedeau got a rare interview with the PM along with Melinda Gates, where Harper said that abortion is “too divisive,” which is why they weren’t funding them in developing countries, but the logic there is skewed – should they also not defend gay rights because that’s also divisive and it’s illegal in some countries? Harper also spoke about the settled science around vaccinations – and yet his government is giving tax breaks to naturopaths, which isn’t exactly science. (Also, settled science around climate change, but who’s counting?) Kate Lunau speaks about the need for better statistics including birth certificates in developing countries. Paul Wells savages the PMO’s media control at the summit, and their decision to kick journalists out of the event while trying to make those objections sound like self-obsession.
Roundup: A giant loss for Parliament
With a growing list of international projects on child soldiers, genocide, research into PTSD, and two books being written, and a sense of the unhappiness of the institution at present, Senator Romeo Dallaire has decided that he’ll step down next month, around the same time that Senator Hugh Segal is also due to depart. Dallaire’s departure means the incalculable loss of one of our hardest working and most respected parliamentarians, and one of the people most deserving of a Senate seat where his wealth of experience has immeasurably been a benefit to sober second thought, policy development and drafting the expert reports for which the Senate is known for. Dallaire was also not happy with the way the suspension motions around Senators Wallin and so on were carried out because of the lack of due process, but hey, political expediency and all. And of course, the growing number of vacant seats is creating a bigger problem for the institution down the road.
Roundup: New allegations around satellite offices
Documents suggest that the NDP may have mislead the House of Commons administration with respect to their “satellite offices,” saying that those staffers would be working in Ottawa when they weren’t. This will make for a lot more awkward and/or acrimonious questions when Thomas Mulcair appears before committee to answer questions about this particular setup.
QP: The authorities always seek warrants — really!
On a rainy day, after the various caucuses met, MPs gathered in the House for our daily exercise in government accountability. Of note, it was also Stephen Harper’s 55th birthday, not that anyone expected the opposition to go easy on him because of it. Thomas Mulcair led off and sharply asked who authorized the release of that telecom data of a million Canadians. Harper said that he rejected the premise of the question and assured him that agencies follow the rules and get warrants. Mulcair pressed, but Harper reiterated that they get warrants and that there is legislation before the House to modernize investigative tools. Mulcair insisted that the legislation would exculpate the need for warrants, to which Harper once again reiterated that agencies get warrants when needed. (That might be the key, given that they don’t seem to need them if they get the data for the asking). Mulcair wondered what information the government was seeking, and which telecom companies were cooperating. Harper said that it was not the government seeking the data, but law enforcement agencies, and that there was independent oversight. Justin Trudeau was up next, and brought up the Temporary Foreign Workers intakes for areas which don’t seem to need them, to which Harper gave his usual bland assurances that they had created jobs and they were reviewing the programme. Trudeau reminded him that five years ago, Sheila Fraser warned of the low quality of Labour Market Opinions that were open to abuse, but Harper stuck to his talking points, same again when the question was asked in French, adding that Trudeau himself had asked for a permit for his riding.
QP: Stronger inspections, a stronger blacklist
After a two-week break, MPs were in good spirits, though the front benches were a little thin. Thomas Mulcair led off and immediately launched into prosecutorial mode around the Temporary Foreign Workers Programme. Jason Kenney responded that they had expanded the powers of inspectors and strengthened the blacklist provisions. Mulcair insisted that Kenney had known of problems for six years, but Kenney said that Mulcair was conflating a number of programmes into one whole, where those few incidents of abuse were being dealt with. Mulcair changed gears, and wondered why the Commissioner of Elections couldn’t get the power to compel testimony or produce papers like the Competition Bureau has. Poilievre insisted that they could get a court order. Mulcair didn’t press, but moved onto the topic of allowing the Chief Electoral Officer, but Poilievre carried on about Information to Obtain orders and demanded an apology for the robocall allegations. Mulcair said that the Federal Court said that calls were made — not actually asking a question. Poilievre pointed this out, and carried on demanding that apology. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, and demanded the Auditor General look into the Temporary Foreign Workers programme, to which Kenney assured him that the AG controls his own destiny and touted the changes they had made. Goodale carried on listing problems and repeated the call for the AG, though Kenney repeated his answer, making a dig at the previous Liberal government. Goodale said that the government needs to increase the number of pathways to citizenship, to which Kenney listed off a number of programmes that his government had implemented.
Roundup: Precious illusions and appeals to reason
As part of their campaign against the Fair Elections Act, the NDP have taken to a number of…precious tactics, from Craig Scott writing to Pierre Poilievre to ask him to withdraw the bill in order to start over with all-party consultation (good luck with that), to targeting individual MPs and ministers to vote against the bill, Michael Chong and Bal Gosal thus far. Chong may seem like fair game considering his new role as the so-called “champion of democracy” with his Reform Act bills, and his curious defence of the elections bills thus far (or at least his evasion of taking a stand until they are through the committee stage). But if they think that Gosal is going to break cabinet solidarity on a government bill, they’ve really lost touch with our contemporary reality, and it makes one wonder how they feel about one of the most important conventions about how we form governments under our system of Responsible Government. Would an NDP government not speak with a single voice? I doubt that very much, which makes this particular tactic all the more eye-roll inducing.
Roundup: No charges for Wright
News from the ClusterDuff file last night as the RCMP announced that they won’t be seeking criminal charges against Nigel Wright – not that it doesn’t mean that he didn’t do anything wrong. It just means that they didn’t have enough evidence to that they felt that they could secure a conviction, which is a long way off from exoneration. The end of the RCMP investigation means that Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson’s investigation into the activities can now restart, which doesn’t mean that Wright is free and clear (not that those sanctions will be too severe – a slap on the wrist and/or being named and shamed tends to be the extent of it). It also means that he is now free to be a witness in any other ongoing investigations, such as the one into Mike Duffy himself. Wright did put out a brief statement by way of his lawyer that said that he always knew his actions were lawful – but it’s still a stretch based on this turn of events to make that kind of a declaration. It also means that Harper can’t hide behind the excuse of an RCMP investigation when asked questions in the House – unless he tries to use the investigation into Duffy as the smokescreen, which I wouldn’t put past him. CBC put together a special At Issue panel to discuss this turn of events.
Roundup: A damning pre-study report
All day long yesterday, word had it that Conservative senators will be recommending changes to the Fair Elections Act as a result of their pre-study, and that Senate Liberals will be recommending even more changes in a minority report. The nine major ones, however, have unanimous support. Pierre Poilievre said he’d “carefully consider” their ideas, which is pretty non-committal. Of course, if the House passes the bill unamended without having considered the Senate recommendations, it could set up for a confrontation between the two Chambers if the Senate decides to make an issue out of it. That of course, remains the danger – that the Conservatives in the Senate will buckle under the pressure of the PMO, as there are still too many operating under its influence. Incidentally, it seems that even if the bill passes and the sections on the robocall registry are unaltered, they may not be implemented in time for the next election.