Tag Archives: Public Health

Roundup: Another missed opportunity for the Senate

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A mere day after the House of Commons rose for the summer, the Senate did the same after a marathon day of passing most of the bills on its Order Paper, but leaving several key pieces of legislation to languish over the summer. As I do every summer, I remind readers that it used to be normal for senators to sit for at least an extra week in the summer to clear their Order Paper, and at this particular juncture, it would make even more sense for them to do so because they no longer have to compete with the House of Commons for resources, and most especially interpreters.

The biggest bill in question is the gun control bill, which they sent to committee, where it will sit over the summer. What they should have done was use the time and resources that they have now in order to hold a week’s worth of committee hearings, and do the job of scrutinizing the bill. And sure, you’ll get a certain cohort of senators insisting that it “doesn’t make sense” for them to sit when the Commons isn’t, in case they need to make amendments, to which I will remind them that it doesn’t matter if the Commons has risen. If the Senate wants to propose amendments, they can do the study now, propose them, and send it to the House for when they get back in September. If the Government House Leader on the Commons side wants to bellyache and moan that the Senate wants the House to recall at so many tens of thousands of dollars a day, well, too bad. They don’t have to recall. They can deal with the Senate amendments in September. And I will reiterate—it would make much more sense for the Senate to deal with a bill this big and contentious now, when they’re not competing for resources, rather than letting it drag out for months in the fall like they did with a couple of other big and contentious bills.

This is a better use of the time and resources available, and it shows that the Senate isn’t afraid to work hard when the MPs have gone home. It’s too bad nobody can see this plain and obvious PR win for the Senate that’s staring them in the face.

Ukraine Dispatch:

There were overnight missile and drone attacks, largely targeted to Odesa and Kryvy Rih, hitting homes in the latter. Ukrainian forces are reporting “partial success” in their southeast and east operations, as fighting continues. An explosion has damaged the bridge between occupied Crimea and Kherson province, which is partially occupied. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that their intelligence services have information that Russia is planning a “terrorist” attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and that it will involve the release of radiation, and that Russia is hiding the bodies of those killed by the breach of the Kakhovka dam. Meanwhile, the EU says that Ukraine has completed two of the seven steps necessary for membership, with progress made on other reforms, but tackling corruption remains a concern for Europe.

https://twitter.com/rubrykaeng/status/1671855902830329857

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1671756814814265344

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QP: Countdown to whether a public inquiry will happen before summer

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The prime minister was away in Halifax, while his deputy was present today, though most of the other leaders weren’t.

Things got off to a late start, but when they did, Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he worried about increasing payments for housing and mortgages, and got onto his bullshit about deficits causing inflation (they’re not). Chrystia Freeland asserted that they found the right balance between fiscal responsibility and compassion, and listed measures like child care and dental care while ensuring the lowest deficit in the G7. Poilievre insisted the government raised taxes on food (false) and decried the clean fuel standard as a second carbon price (it’s not), to which Steven Guilbeault raised the fires and floods we are facing but the Conservatives have no climate plan. Poilievre switched to English to ridicule the notion that carbon prices will stop forest fires (absolutely nobody has said this), and Guilbeault tried to ridicule the Conservatives’ plan for technology and that the minister of national resources does more for climate change before his first coffee any day than the Conservatives did in ten years. Poilievre quoted the Liberal premier of Newfoundland and Labrador on carbon prices, and this time Gudie Hutchings stood up to praise the government for making rural economic development a full department. Poilievre cited the false figures around the clean fuel standard and demanded it be axed, and this time Guilbeault said that they listed to the Atlantic premiers and delayed implementation of that standard by two years, two years ago, and that time is now up.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded a public inquiry before Friday. Marco Mendicino said that Dominic LeBlanc was on the case. Therrien demanded the inquiry be announced immediately, and Mendicino reiterate that LeBlanc was engaging with them.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and he decried that the government did nothing about forest fires by not spending enough on climate action. Steven Guilbeault went on a tangent about the pandemic, and that they managed to do more in spite of it. Taylor Bachrach repeated the accusation in English, and Guilbeault recited praise for the national adaptation strategy.

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QP: Conspiracies and scrambling the speaking list

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The prime minister was off to Toronto to mark the first day of awareness of gun violence, and his deputy and at least one other leader was away as well. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, insisting that the House of Commons declared non-confidence in David Johnston, said that Johnston’s declaration that he works for the government and not Parliament was part of the problem—never mind that Johnston is not an officer of parliament, and any public inquiry would also report to the government and have its terms of reference set by government, so functionally it would be no different. Bill Blair responded that Johnston was doing the work asked of him. Poilievre switched to English and haltingly asked Blair about the wildfire situation in Nova Scotia, and Blair assured him that they responded immediately to the request for assistance. Poilievre then pivoted to the news that Bay du Nord was being postponed for three years, blaming government “gatekeepers” as he blamed the government for other projects that have not gone ahead (mostly because oil prices didn’t warrant them). Steven Guilbeault said that he did approve the project but they paused it because of market conditions. Poilievre scoffed at the notion of market conditions, and this time Julie Dabrusin said that they have tabled a bill to help Atlantic provinces diversity their economies with offshore energy projects. Poilievre insisted the government keeps suffocating projects, and Dabrusin disputed this, listing mining projects approved. 

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he decried that Johnston reports to the government and demanded a public inquiry. Pascale St-Onge said she was disappointed that the opposition parties were not being responsible about combatting foreign interference or strengthening democracy, and implied them to get the briefings. Therrien was not mollified and tried again, and got the same response. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and worried about the early and severe wildfire season. Blair got up to note the size of the fires but also the federal assistance. Singh switched to French to asked about the opioid crisis, which gave Carolyn Bennett an opportunity to denounce Poilievre’s retrograde beliefs on drug policy.

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Roundup: Johnston carries on with the job

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As expected, all of the opposition parties voted for the NDP’s motion to call on David Johnston to step aside and for the government to call a public inquiry, and it passed. It’s a non-binding motion, and so it doesn’t have much weight, and Johnston put out a reply shortly thereafter saying that his mandate comes from government and not Parliament, so he’s going to keep doing his job. (Of note, only government and not Parliament can call a public inquiry as well, so the notion that Johnston is “not independent” because his mandate comes from government is stupid, illogical, and made in bad faith). The NDP motion also ignores one other crucial bit of reality, which is that there is almost zero chance that there would be a suitable replacement who would actually want to subject themselves to ongoing character assassination and harassment, whom every party leader can also agree to because they have no conflicts of interest, real or invented (and there are a hell of a lot of invented ones at play).

I will note that David Cochrane put these questions to Jagmeet Singh on Power & Politics last night, and Singh just flailed and kept repeating his talking points about the “appearance of bias,” and accusing Johnston’s lawyer of being biased because she has been a Liberal donor (never mind that she doesn’t actually make any decisions here), and kept saying that he wasn’t casting aspersions on Johnston when he obviously was by repeating the false accusations of bias.

Meanwhile, here’s Jessica Davis on how untenable this situation has become, which is why Johnston unfortunately remains the best-placed person to finish the job (click through for the whole thread).

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russians have kept up their air attacks on Kyiv, and at least three people were killed overnight as a result. Russians are claiming that Ukrainians shelled one of their towns, and that their drones struck two oil refineries (the veracity of said claims remains untested).

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1663786012164734977

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QP: Poilievre won’t be gagged, but he will spread vile smears

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On a scorching day in the Nation’s Capital, the prime minister and all other leaders were present, for what was about to come. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he asked how many Chinese-operated police stations were in Canada. Justin Trudeau expounded on how unacceptable it was that this interference was taking place, but the RCMP were investigating. Poilievre reiterated in asking how many. Trudeau repeated that the RCMP were on the case. Poilievre went on about how he admitted they existed and asked again how many. Trudeau reiterated that the RCMP are dealing with them, and said that if he wanted to know more about foreign interference he should take the CSIS briefing. Poilievre switched to English to decry that taxpayer dollars went to work of these organisations hosting the stations, and demanded to know how many more there were. Trudeau repeated that the RCMP were looking into it, and that Poilievre could take the briefing if he wanted to know details. Poilievre demanded the prime minister brief all Canadians right now on how many there were on our soil. Trudeau reiterated that if Poilievre took foreign interference seriously, he would get the facts from the briefing, and that he knows full well the RCMP is conducting their investigations.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and declared the death of democracy in Canada because the prime minster won’t call a public inquiry. Trudeau noted that Blanche has also chosen not to get a briefing in order to get the facts, preferring partisan facts instead. Blanchet insisted that this secrecy was hiding close connections between the government and China, and Trudeau noted that Blanchet complains about secret information when he has the opportunity to see it.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he cited a former CSIS investigator who testified at committee calling for a public inquiry. Trudeau noted that the current leadership have said that a public inquiry is not the best way because all of the secret information needs to remain behind closed doors, before praising David Johnston. Singh switched to French to raise that Johnston’s counsel is a Liberal donor and again demanded a public inquiry. Trudeau listed the actions they have taken to combat foreign interference.

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Roundup: O’Toole claims privilege over foreign interference

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Yesterday in the House of Commons, Erin O’Toole rose on a point of privilege to say that his briefing from CSIS warned of “active” campaigns against him from China in four categories—that they are funding operatives to build propaganda campaigns against him, funding networks to amplify it, using WeChat for that purpose, and run voter suppression against his party and one MP in particular. His claim is that the government’s inability or unwillingness to act on the intelligence of foreign interference impacts his privileges as an MP.

I’m dubious that this constitutes an actual breach of privilege, because frankly, if disinformation campaigns, social media amplification and voter suppression are happening, well, his own party is just as guilty as the Chinese regime of doing exactly the same thing. I also fail to see what the House of Commons can do about addressing this supposed breach of privilege other than vote on sending a strongly-worded rebuke to the regime in Beijing. I also don’t necessarily trust that O’Toole is giving us all of the relevant details because he seemed to be very selective with what he wrote about his meeting with David Johnston on his Substack, and I cannot stress this enough, Erin O’Toole is a serial liar. Unfortunately, because he does it with a solemn tone and not, say, a clown nose and a unicycle, he manages to bamboozle a swath of the pundit class who are convinced that he’s the upstanding guy that they all want him to be rather than who he proved himself to be during his leadership, and that somehow, now that he’s no longer the leader, he’s gone back to being the guy they all want him to be. I don’t get it.

Meanwhile, the NDP used their Supply Day to call on David Johnston to step down so that the government will call a public inquiry. This while Pierre Poilievre is daring Singh to bring down the government, and Singh saying he won’t until trust is restored in elections (which is tactically stupid). The government insists they have confidence in Johnston, but it does raise the point that if everyone but the Liberals vote for this, it becomes politically untenable for the government to maintain the current course of action, even if it’s the right thing to do (because I remain unconvinced that a public inquiry will do absolutely anything more in this situation other than take three years, cost $180 million, and create a media circus with a daily drip of “revelations” that will amount to nothing but will nevertheless fuel said media circus). But this may wind up backing the Liberals into a corner and forcing them to call an inquiry, lest the damage get worse.

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Roundup: Danielle Smith stays, Alberta still a one-party state

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Well, Alberta has decided that it remains a one-party state, no matter how corrupted that party is, or how completely awful the leader is, and just how utterly unsuited Danielle Smith is for office, and that she has embraced all manner of conspiracy theories, or behaved in ways that imperilled democracy. While I have a full column on this coming out later today, there are a couple of things not mentioned therein that I did still want to mention.

One is that I cannot fathom how the whole “Take Back Alberta” narrative persisted. Take it back from whom? From what? You’ve been a one-party state for nearly fifty years, minus the four-year NDP interregnum that came about as a result of a perfect storm that in no way could be replicated this time around.

The NDP ran a weak campaign, and they are now comforting themselves with the fact that they have the largest official opposition in the province’s history, for what little it matters because Smith still has a majority, and they have no actual leverage to make any particular difference in the legislature. I am feeling some flashbacks to 2011 when the federal NDP formed official opposition and felt like they won the election, when they also handed the Conservatives a majority and they had no actual ability to make change or have leverage.

There is also still a particular ugliness in this election, as exemplified by the fact that the UCP candidate who compared trans children to faeces in cookie batter won by a landslide. Smith claims that she’s out of caucus “for good,” but I don’t actually believe her, and I have no doubt that after a few months in that penalty box, she’ll be welcomed back into the party because Smith believes in forgiveness, or some bullshit like that. And not nearly enough people will do any soul-searching over this, and this ugliness will fester.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Another night, another massive air raid against Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine, with more than 20 drones shot down as of this writing, and at least one high rise is being evacuated as falling debris has caused a fire. The constant nightly air attacks against Kyiv are taking a toll on its citizens (which is of course why the Russians are doing it). Russians did also allegedly hit a Ukrainian air base, plus port infrastructure in Odessa. There was also a Russian attack on the city of Toretsk in the Donetsk region, which killed two and injured at least eight.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1663350609385254912

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1663176973793861633

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QP: Misquoting a bad report on fuel standards

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The prime minister was in Japan for the G7, and his deputy was off in Brampton. Most of the other leaders were also absent, save the leader of the opposition, and Elizabeth May. Pierre Poilievre led off, and in French, he tried spin the upcoming fuel standard as a second carbon “tax” that will punish Quebeckers. Steven Guilbeault said that Quebeckers believe in climate change while the Conservatives don’t. Poilievre said that the federal government was preventing Quebec from building more green hydro, and demanded they scrap this “tax.” Guilbeault said that this wasn’t true, and that refineries who made record profits need to do their fair share. Poilievre switched to English to insist this was all according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer (it’s not), to which Guilbeault quoted from a separate section of the PBO report where he said that he was not looking at the environmental costs, which were real. Poilievre insisted that those costs would not be reduced with a tax, and repeated his overwrought math. Guilbeault said that emissions went down beyond the pandemic lockdowns. Poilievre then switched to his bullshit concern trolling on safe supply and demanded it be ended in favour of treatment. Carolyn Bennett said that the deaths are from poisoned supply, and the BC coroner has said there is no evidence that safe supply had led to any deaths.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and insisted that the government was hiding Chinese interference and demanded a public inquiry. Dominic LeBlanc said said that it was hard to consider a public CSIS report to be “hiding something,” and that they have taken measures to counter it. Therrien demanded an inquiry immediately, to which LeBlanc said that Johnston would make his recommendations around an inquiry next week.

Gord Johns rose for the NDP, and he railed about McKinsey and Company and tried to tie it to the opioid epidemic. Helena Jaczek said there are open fair and transparent procurement processes, and there is an integrity regime. Jenny Kwan railed about corporate landlords and demanded the federal government do something that as clearly in provincial jurisdiction, to which Ahmed Hussen recited his usual talking points on rental assistance.

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QP: Inflation and opioids

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While the prime minister was away in South Korea, his deputy was present for the second day in a row, as were all other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off, worrying that the deficit was fuelling inflation, and lo, it ticked up last month which was all this government’s fault. Chrystia Freeland noted that it is still coming down, it was 8 percent, it’s now 4.4 percent, and the Bank of Canada forecast it will be down to three percent by the end of the year. Poilievre continued to rail about inflation, noted increasing rent costs in Montreal, and demanded the deficit be slain. Freeland quoted that some good news economic points. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, and this time, Freeland quoted the core inflation figures that were still falling. Poilievre insisted that the deficit was fuelling inflation (it’s not), and demanded it be defeated. Freeland first took a swipe at Poilievre’s cryptocurrency advice before repeating the core inflation measures. Poilievre insisted that the prime minister said his measure was CPI, which is up, and demanded she slay the deficit in order to bring housing prices down (again, not how this works). Freeland took some more swipes at Poilievre’s inability to understand finances, and repeated the core inflation measures falling.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and yet again railed about the “century initiative,” and its supposed plan to eliminate French and Quebec. Freeland said that they are committed to the Quebec Nation. Blanchet railed that the government couldn’t manage 500,000 new immigrants every year, but Freeland listed the investments in things that are priorities for Quebeckers.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and demanded the housing minister answer how much a single mother would have left if she earned an average salary and paid average rent in Toronto. Freeland patted herself on the back for the government’s measures to help people. Singh tried again for Vancouver, and Freeland repeated more back-patting on measures like childcare.

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QP: Pretending to care about history

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The prime minister was present today while his deputy was in Japan for G7 meetings. The other leaders were all present for another episode of the clown show. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and joked that the prime minister heard that there were problems with passports, but didn’t realise that it wasn’t the images but that people couldn’t get them, and then lamented that the image of Vimy Ridge was removed. Justin Trudeau said that the Conservatives used veterans as props when they need them while they cut their funding consistently. Poilievre went again in English, and Trudeau ramped up the dramatics for the same answer. Poilievre lamented other images removed, while Trudeau gave a paean about the measures in his budget. Poilievre pivoted to one of Trudeau’s favourite delis in Montreal closing and blaming food prices, before he railed about the carbon price, to which Trudeau recited his lines about fighting carbon change while sending rebates to Canadians. Poilievre blamed the prime minister for food prices increasing, used his “bring home” line, and railed about the carbon price, and Trudeau went on a tear about Poilievre’s social media and his uses of misogynistic hashtags on his YouTube channel, which was a completely bizarre non-sequitur to the question.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he once again railed about the so-called “century plan,” and the impact on Quebec. Trudeau said that while Quebec controls its own immigration levels, the federal government sets the levels nationally, and they are ensuring economic growth. Blanchet railed that nobody in Quebec wants these levels, to which Trudeau quipped that the levels were released in November, and it took Quebec media until now to create this firestorm.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and raised the number of times pharmaceutical lobbyists met with the government and blamed them for not making changes on PMPRB. Trudeau read a script about the actions they have taken to lower drug prices. Singh read his question again in French, and Trudeau read the French version of his same script.

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