Tag Archives: Public Health

QP: Taking shots at the Supreme Court of Canada

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Wednesday, caucus day, and proto-Prime Minister’s Questions day. Justin Trudeau was indeed present, as were most but not all of the other leaders. Candice Bergen led off, script on her mini-lectern, and she decried the “failure” to make life affordable, as though the prime minster has magic powers to set world oil prices, or to stop droughts in food-producing regions. Trudeau reminded her that the first thing they did was to cut taxes to the middle class and bringing in the Canada Child Benefit, which is indexed to inflation. Bergen insisted that the Liberals were cheering on high gas prices, and then worried about rising interest rates, as though you can have both low inflation and near-zero interest rates in perpetuity. Trudeau took up a script to list affordability measures like cutting cellphone bills, child care, and increasing the federal minimum wage (which affects only a tiny minority of people). Bergen pivoted to the rise in violent crime and worried that violent criminals would just get house arrest (which is an utter falsehood). Trudeau read a script about how they need a system that punishes criminals but does not target Black and Indigenous people, and that the legislation increases maximum penalties. Luc Berthold took over in French to equate both higher prices and violent crime, eventually getting to a demand to lower taxes (which fuels inflation, guys), and Trudeau read some talking points about affordability measures. Berthold decried the rise in interest rates, and Trudeau extemporaneously pointed to lower child care fees thanks to his government.

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Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he decried the potential federal intervention at the Supreme Court on Quebec’s so-called “secularism” law, and Trudeau said that he must have misheard, that the Bloc insisted that those who want to challenge the law are not real Quebeckers. Therrien insisted this as an internal matter to Quebec, and insisted Canada was trying to “force” religion into their state, and Trudeau took exception to this, saying that minorities have the same across the country, and the federal government would stand up for them.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and listed the number of people who have died from toxic drug overdoses since 2017, and wanted the same decriminalisation approach that BC across the country. Trudeau said this was about working with provinces and municipalities to ensure there is a framework around it, but it was a complex solution. Singh repeated the question in French, and Trudeau gave the same response in French.

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Roundup: Doug Ford broke the fact-checker

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It’s now approximately day ninety-eight of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russian forces have captured half of the city of Severodonetsk in a “hail of grenades,” while fierce street fighting continues. A rocket strike also hit Sloviansk, also in the Donbas region, which killed three and wounded six. As previously mentioned, the Russian strategy seems to be to try and take the Donbas region as fast as possible, before more heavy western weapons arrive, and lo, it looks like the US will be sending medium-range rockets to Ukraine after a promise that they wouldn’t fire them over the Russian border. Meanwhile, here is a look at Médecins Sans Frontières treating civilians wounded in the fighting near Ukraine’s front lines, and how it’s at a scale they have never faced before.

Closer to home, the Toronto Star’s attempt to fact-check Doug Ford for a week wound up being an exercise in misery, as he “broke” said fact-check system. Now, to be clear, the Star’s whole fact-check exercise between the federal and provincial elections has been fairly risible. It’s not a good system where you take everything the leaders say for a week each, and then evaluate them based on number of falsehoods per time spoken. And because it’s done by someone for whom politics is not their regular beat, they don’t have enough context to know whether what is being said is true or not, and a lot of stuff is being given a pass that shouldn’t be precisely because they don’t know enough of what is going on to have a reasonable bullshit detector throughout. This having been established, Ford still broke their system by barely speaking at all, and when he does, it’s largely in generalities that can’t be easily checked, and it makes it easy for him to get caught up in exaggerations that also wind up getting a pass. Still, he did still lie a lot, particularly about the situation he inherited, but the fact-check system is pretty useless, so why bother?

Nevertheless, this is now the second election where Ford has largely been a blank slate, with little in the way of policy other than his previous move of rebating licence plate stickers, and his promise to expand a highway as though it will do anything about congestion (which it won’t because induced demand). There is no contest of ideas because it’s content-free, and nobody wants to call this fact out even though it is utterly corroding our democracy. But it seems to be a strategy that works for him, and which the media in this province seems to be fine with, because they have given him the easiest ride humanly possible, and it’s just so dispiriting. How are we a serious province?

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QP: Rota’s return to the big chair

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Not only was the prime minister president for QP, as were most other leaders, but Anthony Rota was also back in the Speaker’s chair, for the first time in months. Before things got underway, he took a moment to thank MPs for their support during his absence, and for the care team for his surgery.

After several rounds of applause, things launched with Candice Bergen at her mini-lectern, and she accused the prime minister of trying to end the energy sector by way of the carbon price, insisting that he wants high gas prices. (Erm, Candice, Europe would like a word about gas prices). Justin Trudeau somewhat haltingly listed programmes that are indexed to inflation, and reminded her of what families in Manitoba get in the carbon rebate. Bergen then pivoted to trying to find fault with both the gun control bill and the bill that will remove mandatory minimums on some gun crimes. Trudeau took up a script to praise his own gun control bill, and to recite that removing mandatory minimums is about keeping Black and Indigenous people for; being disproportionately affected by the justice system. Bergen read some scripted outrage about criminals getting house arrest, to which Trudeau read a script about systemic discrimination or people going to jail because they struggle with addiction. Raquel Dancho took over, accusing the government of being responsible for the rise in violent crime, denouncing the removal of mandatory minimums along the way. Trudeau, extemporaneously, listed the new measures in the gun control bill tabled yesterday. Dancho insisted the government wasn’t doing enough to stop gun violence, inadvertently listing things the government was already doing as her counter to “useless” gun bans. Trudeau dismissed this as parroting talking points from the gun lobby, and noted they did invest in the same tools Dancho mentioned.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he complained that the federal government was ready to go to the Supreme Court of Canada over Quebec’s Law 21 and 96, and he wondered if English was really threatened in Quebec. Trudeau took up a script to raise the woman denied a teaching job because she wears a hijab, and it was his job to defend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Blanchet insisted this was a lie, and that secularism was being attacked, before repeating his question a to whether English was threatened in Quebec. Trudeau, extemporaneously, stated the incorrect truism that French is under threat, and insisted that this was about defending minorities throughout the country.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, he noted that the government agreed to decriminalise small amounts of hard drugs in BC, and wanted support for the private member’s bill on doing this nationally. Trudeau recited a script about the opioid crisis and today’s announcement out of BC. Gord Johns repeated the question in English, and Trudeau read the English version of the same script.

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QP: Torquing the Supreme Court’s rulings

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While the PM was in town and had a press conference scheduled for shortly after QP, he was absent from the Chamber, as were all other leaders, though the deputy PM was present, for what it’s worth. Luc Berthold led off, and he gave a misleading statement about what the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Friday, and demanded that the government do something about this. David Lametti said that the fact they are eligible for parole does not mean they will get it, and the parole board will determine if the Quebec City mosque shooter will get it…in 25 years. Berthold then pivoted to affordability, and mischaracterised the effect of the carbon price, ignoring the rebates, to which Chrystia Freeland recited that inflation is global, but that they were taking action such as dental care, a one-time housing benefit and tax credits. Berthold accused the government of lacking compassion, to which Freeland listed measures to help the vulnerable. Dan Albas took over in English to demand price controls on gas, and Freeland listed benefits that are indexed to inflation. Albas railed about prices rising, and Freeland repeated her list of indexed benefits.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he railed that the federal government would challenge Law 21 at the Supreme Court, insisting this was a matter of democracy (ignoring that liberal democracies protect the rights of minorities). David Lametti lamented the pre-emptive use of the Notwithstanding Clause, and said the government has concerns about provisions in the law. Therrien accused the government of trying to pick a fight with Quebec, roping Law 96 into the conversion, and Lametti reminded him that he too is a Quebecker and that plenty of people have concerns about this law.

Peter Julian rose for the NDP, and in French, lamented that the Deschamps report gathered dust and wanted the Arbour report to be implemented. Anita Anand read a script about accepting the Arbour Report, and having a conversation with the prime minster about it, and that they agree with the significant issues identified in it. Lindsay Mathyssen repeated the question in English, and Anand read the English version of the same script.

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Roundup: Deficit is coming in lower than expected

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It is on or about day ninety-four of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russian forces are claiming that they have captured a rail hub in Donestk, while they continue to pound Severodonetsk, with some 90 percent of the city’s buildings damaged. Ukrainians are calling for Western allies to deliver weapons faster, though there is talk that it looks like this aggressive push by Russia has depleted their arsenal.

The invasion is also not accidental in terms of location or timing—the eastern part of the country are a trove of natural gas and critical minerals, and when Russia invaded, it cut off Ukraine’s exploration of natural gas reserves in the Black Sea, which could have been used to help wean Europe off of Russian oil and gas. Because aren’t all wars really about resources?

Closer to home, the Fiscal Monitor was released, and the deficit figure is coming in much lower than anticipated, because in large part the economy is overheated which is generating a lot of revenue (and inflation does help in terms of collecting higher taxes on higher prices). But as Kevin Milligan points out, this means that the obsession by the Conservatives with the deficit is becoming really misplaced—the massive spending in 2020 to get us through the pandemic is behind us, and we’re not in that situation anymore. Not that facts matter—this is really an exercise in people’s feelings about the deficit, and the perceptions that are not grounded in facts.

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Roundup: Cancelled committees because of the human toll of hybrid sittings

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It is now approximately day ninety-three of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russian forces have shelled more than 40 towns and villages in the Donbas region, while they try to encircle Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. It also sounds like Russia has lifted the age restriction for voluntary military service, which gives you a hint that they need more troops because the invasion has not gone well for them. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is asking Western allies for rocket systems to repel Russian forces from the Donbas, before the cities and towns in the area become “uninhabited.”

Closer to home, it looks like the realities of the finite resource of Parliament are finally starting to hit for MPs and senators, and more and more committee meetings are being cancelled as there simply aren’t enough interpreters to go around, exacerbated by late-night sittings, and more than anything, the fact that they keep finding excuses to extend hybrid sittings no matter that they know full well that the use of Zoom is causing injuries to the interpreters, and most of them know that they can’t simply hire more as there are no more to hire. They literally cannot graduate enough to replace the ones who are retiring or whose injuries are forcing them from the workplace (especially as they risk permanent hearing loss). And MPs simply don’t care. Worse, they passed a motion last week to create yet another special committee, as if they had the resources to do so. Because they don’t care. It’s all about show, whether that’s the Liberals and NDP patting themselves on the back for being “good examples” of working from home, or the Conservatives’ constant filibustering and wasting of time that drags out proceedings, which taxes the interpreters even further (and isn’t helped by the fact that they refuse to wear masks in the Chamber).

I’ve stated this before, and I’ll keep saying this—it is morally reprehensible for MPs and senators to keep demanding hybrid sittings when they know the human cost it takes on the interpreters. They could easily organize themselves in safer ways to have in-person meetings, which won’t strain the interpreters, and that they could have something that resembles normal operations as a result, but they refuse, because too many of them have grown to like the hybrid sittings, so that they don’t have to travel. Who cares if a human being is suffering injuries and facing the possibility of permanent hearing loss? That MP doesn’t have to travel, so that’s what counts. It’s absolutely unconscionable, and they should be shamed for it.

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Roundup: Competing nonsense lawsuits

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It’s now approximately day ninety-one of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk says that Russian forces are advancing from all sides. Another 200 bodies have been found in Mariupol, where Russian forces have been pounding the city to rubble.

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There is also talk about Vladimir Putin having survived an assassination attempt after the invasion began, and Kremlin insiders are discussing a possible successor to Putin as discontent grows with the course of the war. So that’s going well.

Closer to home, I think the situation in New Brunswick is about to do my head in, as two competing lawsuits are colliding—the challenge to the appointment of a unilingual lieutenant governor, and a frivolous lawsuit challenging the fact that the premier violated the “fixed election date” in calling an election. The lieutenant governor suit is going down on appeal because the reasoning in the original decision is a constitutional impossibility (one part of the constitution cannot override another, which the ruling does). And the challenge to the election call is a dead letter because simple statute cannot bind the Crown prerogatives in this way, and Democracy Watch keeps losing this suit every time they attempt it, not to mention that you cannot undo an election. When a legislature is dissolved, it’s dissolved (and no, the UK ruling on prorogation is not the same thing). This is all nonsense and eating up court time unnecessarily, but this is where we’re at.

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Roundup: Enjoy your Victoria Day

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It’s now approximately day eighty-seven of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russia says that they now have full control of the steel plant in Mariupol, and by extension the whole city. That means Russians are starting to pull back forces from the area to redeploy elsewhere in the Donbas region, and it looks like fighting is intensifying in the Luhansk region.

Closer to home, it is Victoria Day this weekend, which is the official birthday of the Queen of Canada. So be sure to raise a toast to the current Queen, and Canada’s first Queen (and maybe while you’re at it, the Queen of the North).

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Roundup: Theorizing about Kenney’s slow-motion demise

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It is now on or about day eighty-six of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russia claims that some 1700 Ukrainian troops have surrendered from the steel plant in Mariupol, which Kyiv won’t confirm. Kyiv is also hoping to negotiate prisoner exchanges, but Russia sounds like they want to prosecute this troops as part of their “de-nazification,” which is complicated by the fact that this particular battalion does contain some of the far-right troops fighters that have blackened the reputation of Ukrainian forces. It also remains to be seen if Russia will respect their obligations around prisoners of war, and given how much they have broken international law so far in this invasion, that is a very fraught question indeed. Speaking of trials, the Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian is asking the widow for forgiveness. (She said she wants a life sentence, unless he’s part of a prisoner swap for the Ukrainians captured from Mariupol).

Closer to home, it has been decided that Jason Kenney will stay on as premier and party leader on a caretaker-ish basis, until the party choses a new leader (which, apparently, he has not ruled out running in again, either out of arrogance or self-delusion). Either way, he’s not going away anytime soon, and despite his insistence that this is about “uniting” the party, I am left with the recollection of what a bitter Thomas Mulcair did to the NDP once he was pushed out, but stayed on as a caretaker leader while their leadership process took an interminable length of time.

This has nevertheless had some conservatives, federally and provincially, doing a bit of soul-searching as to what it means that Kenney got things wrong. While my own thoughts about this will be in my weekend column, Ontario conservatives are insisting that it’s because Kenney embraced his right flank while Doug Ford kicked his out and is still surviving. (Ford also didn’t need his to the same extent Kenney does). Some federal Conservatives are warning against panicking, while others are warning against polarised politics, and still others see a movement afoot in the party that caters to siege mentality, fuelled by American right-wing media, that causes them to see everything in oppositional terms.

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QP: Pretending the pandemic is over

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Despite the prime minister being in town and having chaired a Cabinet meeting hours before, he was absent from QP, as were every other leader. Luc Berthold led off, and in the spirit of his party’s Supply Day motion, insisted that it was time to lift mask and vaccine mandates because “enough is enough.” (Erm, when did the pandemic end? Asking for a me.) Adam van Koeverden read that we know more about the pandemic than we used to, and that vaccines work. Berthold was not mollified, and demanded the measures end to speed lines at airports. van Koeverden read that they have tools to detect variants of concern and to prevent transmission. Berthold listed all of the files that he accused the government of being in “chaos” over, to which Karina Gould recited her lines about working to speed processing of passports. Melissa Lantsman took over in English, and demanded an apology to travellers who missed flights because of “incompetence.” Annie Koutrakis read that CATSA has hired 400 new screening officers in various stages of training, and that they are working with airports to relieve bottlenecks. Lantsman insisted that there was some kind of secret advice the government was following that no other government was, to which Gould repeated her lines about passport processing delays.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he was worried that the government plans to appeal the court decision in New Brunswick around the appointment of the lieutenant governor (which is a bad ruling because of what it does for executive appointment powers and constitutional incoherence) while three Liberals spoke out against it. Ginette Petitpas Taylor state that they would ensure future bilingual appointments for the province. Therrien was incensed that the Bloc were being considered radicals, to which Pablo Rodriguez launched into his particular rant that the Bloc are not the only real Quebeckers in the Chamber.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, he railed about inflation, and demanded an excess profit tax on oil companies and to give more GST refunds. Randy Boissonnault reminded him that they indexed benefits to inflation and raised taxes on the top one percent. Daniel Blaikie took over in English by video and made the same demand, and Boissonnault repeated his same answer in English.

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