Tag Archives: RCMP

QP: Competing misuses of “ironic”

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Neither the PM not his deputy were present today in spite of being in town, and most other leaders weren’t either. Pierre Poilievre was, however, and he led off in French with hyperbolic nonsense about deficits driving inflation (they are not), and worried that Canadians are cutting back to be able to afford to eat, and wanted the government to cancel their “inflationary policies” in their economic update, and called it “ironic” that it would mean cancelling everything they’ve done for seven years, which is neither ironic, nor in any way resembling reality. Randy Boissonnault responded by insisting that the government has a concrete plan for inflation including child care, the GST rebate, and the dental and rental supports, and said that it was “ironic” that the Conservatives voted against these measures, which again, is not actually ironic. Poilievre switched to English to misquote Tiff Macklem and Mark Carney about the domestic drivers of inflation, and then repeated his misuse of the term “ironic,” and once again, Boissonnault repeated his response, and his own misuse of the term “ironic.” (Make it stop!) Poilievre quoted the statistic on food bank usage, and pointed out that one in Toronto had to close because rent doubled, blaming the federal government for that, somehow. Boissonnault recited that this government has lifted people out of poverty, and wondered why the Conservatives voted against measures to help Canadians. Poilievre tried to call out the NDP for supporting the government’s carbon price as home heating bills increase, to which Sean Fraser stood up to take exception to this line of questioning, pointing to the Hurricane Fiona damage that his province suffered, and that most families get more back than they spent on it. Poilievre insisted this wasn’t a climate plan but a tax plan because the government hasn’t hit any climate targets (never mind that this is largely impossible under the sabotage of the previous government on the environmental file). Fraser got back up to insist that Poilievre has been repeating the same false points for years, and keeps being proven wrong.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he decried the story in the Star that claimed the government planned to freeze out certain provinces in negotiations for health transfers, to which Jean-Yves Duclos insisted that all health ministers have the same goals for the same dollars. Therrien shouted that this as about breaking provinces and it was blackmail, but Duclos calmly recited that the federal government has been there for the provinces and listed the billions of dollars transferred to them.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, accused the government of letting people starve while CEOs get rich. François-Philippe Champagne said that this was theatrical, and listed actions he has taken such as calling up the grocery CEOs and getting the Competition Bureau involved. Daniel Blaikie repeated the same in English, hoping for measures in the Fall Economic Statement, and Champagne repeated his response in English.

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Roundup: The wrong way to humanize politics

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I see that Government House Leader Mark Holland was making the media rounds over the weekend about his call for more “humanity” in politics, as he continues to plead for hybrid sessions to continue indefinitely. The problem, however, is that the two are fundamentally incompatible. Do you know why? Because what humanises politicians to one another is to spend time together, face-to-face. Hybrid sittings will keep MPs in isolated bubbles where they have fewer and fewer interactions with their fellow MPs in person, making it harder to see them and treat them as human beings, and we know this because we have seen the decline in civility in real-time since the 1990s when they ended evening sittings in the House of Commons to be “family friendly.” It used to be that three nights a week, MPs would go upstairs at six PM, and all have dinner together in the Parliamentary Restaurant, and at 8 PM, they’d go back to the Chamber, and debate some more. And lo, there was a lot more civility and treating each other in a friendly manner, Question Period theatrics aside, because they spent time with one another as human beings, doing that basic human thing of bonding over food (and yes, booze, because we cannot deny that it was a big part of the culture up until that point, for better or worse). But when they ended those sittings, and MPs no longer ate together, the acrimony got worse, and disagreements got more personal.

I cannot stress this enough—hybrid makes this worse. I know that there is a school of thought that it lets MPs spend more time at home, which gives them more work-life balance, and so on, but to be perfectly frank, the job is in Ottawa. The job is not to be a social worker for constituents filling out passport forms and doing immigration paperwork—the job is to hold the government to account, and doing so by controlling the public purse, meaning scrutiny of the Estimates and the Public Accounts, and debating their legislative proposals along the way. We are straying far from this path, and taking this hybrid makes the slide worse. The job is also face-to-face, because it relies on building relationships, and that doesn’t happen over Zoom. You have heard me time and again saying that the real work happens on the side-lines of committee rooms, in hallways and lobbies, and when you’re talking to ministers while you’re waiting for a vote to happen. This is all in danger of falling away the more MPs move to hybrid (and “virtual” voting is becoming an absolute disaster for MPs being able to approach ministers), and that is not a “more human” approach to politics. It is in fact the opposite, and people need to wake up and realize that fact.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 250:

Russia pulled out of the deal with the UN to allow Ukrainian grain shipments over the Black Sea, likely because their ships were hit by attacks over the weekend, but the UN and Turkey say they are going to ensure those shipments still happen, essentially daring Russia to attack them, so we’ll see how that goes.

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1586779214069407745

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QP: Framing food bank stats for their own ends

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Neither the prime minister nor his deputy were present today, nor were most other leaders, save Pierre Poilievre, who is nearly always present. Poilievre led off in French, worrying that 1.5 million visits to food banks and that this was Canada, but he blamed taxes for this. Randy Boissonnault noted that people are having a tough time, but this government had supports available while the Conservatives would rather see them on their own. Poilievre repeated the statistic in English, adding in a “triple, triple, triple” talking point to that, and this time Karina Gould delivered the same response. Poilievre called the $6000 hotel room in London as a (tortured) analogy about this government and that the party was over, but Gould got back up to point out that the Conservatives would have abandoned Canadians in their darkest hour in the pandemic. Poilievre tried to bring in WE and ArriveCan as examples of waste, and Boissonnault repeated Gould’s point more excitedly. Poilievre raised a media story of a family who over-leveraged themselves on their mortgage and their payments have gone up $2000 and wonders what the hell they do now. (The Speaker cautioned him against this). Ahmed Hussen rose to accuse Poilievre of “gatekeeping” rental supports for those who need it and dental care.

Alain Therrien rose for the Bloc, railed that the dental support was not adequate for Quebec families and wondered why the government just didn’t approach the Quebec government (because federal-provincial agreements are that easy). Pablo Rodriguez chided the Bloc for not caring enough about children. Therrien got even more exercise about this, to which Adam van Koeverden read a statement about the benefit being available to those who need it.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and he too raised the food bank usage figure, but blamed the government for not tackling corporate greed. Gould reminded him that this government has raised more children out of poverty than ever before. Alastair MacGregor repeated the same question in English (Champagne: I called on grocery CEOs to task them with taking action, and I demanded the Competition Bureau investigate the sector).

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Roundup: Contradictions and poor intelligence practices

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There has been a number of competing threads in the ongoing Emergencies Act public inquiry, and a lot of police testimony that is contradictory, and contradicting their own documentary evidence. For example, one senior Ottawa police officer is claiming that they had the tow trucks all lined up and ready to go without the invocation of the Act—erm, except the documents don’t show that at all, and that they needed the Act to secure those services. There has also been a lot of alarming signs about the quality of police intelligence about the make-up of the occupation (which many leaders subsequently ignored anyway). The OPP did see an increasing risk of violence the longer it dragged on, particularly by those in the occupation who felt they were “at war” with the federal government, along with growing anti-police sentiment (presumably because police weren’t doing their bidding to arrest members of the government). The Commission has agreed to hear CSIS’ evidence behind closed doors.

Here’s former CSIS analyst Jessica Davis on the quality of that intelligence, and yikes:

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 245:

Both Russian and NATO forces carried out annual nuclear exercises, while Russia carries on its false narrative that Ukrainians plan to detonate a “dirty bomb” on their own soil in order to blame Russia—information operations entirely. While this was happening, Russian forces targeted 40 towns in Ukraine, killing at least two more people.

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QP: The increasing hyperbole meets the wall of pabulum

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The translation system was haywire in the Chamber, which made for a very awkward and very late start to the day. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he started off with the falsehood that  government spending caused inflation (he didn’t), and railed about increasing interest rates as a result. Justin Trudeau got up and said that he would respond in a second but wanted to mark that this is the 40th day since the murder of Mahsa Amini in Iran, and that he stood with the Iranian-Canadian community. Poilievre switched to English to say that people are now paying $7000 more on mortgage payments and wondered who was going to pay it. Trudeau said that the government made the decision to support people in the pandemic, and are now supporting them with the GST rebate, dental care and rental supports. Poilievre trotted out his misquote of Mark Carney and wanted to know how many people would lose their homes because of higher interest rates, and Trudeau pointed out that inflation is a world-wide problem, which is why they have supported Canadians. Poilievre chanted that the cost of government is increasing the cost of living (not true), trotted out falsehoods about ArriveCan and cited a problem with the disclosure from CBSA. Trudeau said that the appropriate ministers are looking into this discrepancy before patting himself on the back for pandemic supports. Poilievre accused the prime minister of personally handing out ArriveCan contracts and then complained about the cost of the hotel in London for the Queen’s funeral delegation. Trudeau reminded him they had a large delegation that went to the funeral and that they stayed in the same hotel and it was expected for us to have a strong presence as a Realm country.

Yves-François Blanchet worried that seniors between 65 and 75 were being discriminated against because they didn’t get the OAS top-up. Trudeau said it’s great that seniors are living longer but those older seniors can run out of savings, so the government was there in a proportionate way for those with the most needs. Blanchet made a dig about King Charles before demanding more healthcare transfers without strings attached. Trudeau said that the law states equitable treatment and the federal government was happy to talk to provinces about getting Canadians the services they need.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he railed about interest rates and demanded action from the government. Trudeau reminded him they are supporting those who need it most. In English, Singh noted that the prime minster’s own former economic advisor was concerned about the increasing interest rates and wanted help for families, and Trudeau repeated his response.

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QP: Admitting to an insincere oath

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While the prime minister was present today, his deputy was not, for what that’s worth. Pierre Poilievre started off in French, where he blamed the federal government for causing inflation with deficit spending (false) and he misquoted Mark Carney about the nature of that inflation, and asked whom people should believe—the current leader or the future one. Justin Trudeau listed some of the global causes for inflation (not mentioning that food price inflation is largely climate-driven), but turned this into a pitch for their dental care and rental supports. Poilievre switched to English to give his facile understanding of how the war in Ukraine affects inflation in Canada, misquoted Carney, and wanted the government to take responsibility for inflation in Canada. Trudeau reiterated that the Conservatives don’t want to help with dental care or rental supports. Poilievre doubled down on his misquote of Carney, calling him the future Liberal leader, and Trudeau repeated his same response. Poilievre insisted that Trudeau was the one who bid up inflation by giving people too much access to easy cash to inflate the housing market (erm…), and Trudeau trotted out his tired “we had Canadians’ backs” line (which really, really needs to be retired) and pointed out that this brought our economy back sooner, and then demanded support for dental and rental. Poilievre then listed a bunch of non sequiturs to blame the deficits on, and Trudeau said that the lesson from the pandemic was that Canadians support one another and we came out ahead as a result, and pitched dental and rental supports one last time.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and trolled for support on his Supply Day motion about severing ties with the “British” Crown (which Canada hasn’t been under since 1931). Trudeau said that of all topics the Bloc could have chosen, they decided to try and open the the Constitution. Blanchet tried to call it a choice between a British monarch and the people or democracy, and Trudeau pointed out that Blanchet swore an oath “to the British Crown” (No! He swore an oath to the Canadian Crown!), and reiterated that there are more important things to talk about.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP and in French, blamed the prime minister for deaths in hospitals for lack of resources (never mind this is the fault entirely of the premiers). Trudeau reminded him that they increased transfers above the usual ones during the pandemic, and they are working with premiers when it comes to future transfers. Singh switched to English to demand that GST be removed from home heating (which disproportionately benefits the wealthy), and Trudeau stated that they have other supports for people and that the climate rebates give more money back to most households.

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QP: Demanding support for their carbon price motion

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Even though both the prime minister and his deputy were in town—the PM being in the building—neither were present for QP, and neither were any of the other leaders as well. That left if up to Melissa Lantsman to lead off, and with a script in front of her, she launched into the party’s talking points about inflation (which weren’t true), and then worried about increasing heating costs because of carbon prices, except they don’t go up until April, and the fact that there is no single type of home heating across the country. Nevertheless, she quoted the Liberal premier of Newfoundland and Labrador in opposition to carbon prices, and demanded the government vote in favour of their Supply Day motion to remove the carbon price on home heating. Randy Boissonnault took the question, and used the opportunity to recite his government’s talking points about supporting their bill on the kludge they call dental care, and for rental supports. Lantsman went another round of the same accusations, and Boissonnault recited the government’s record on lowering taxes, which the Conservatives voted against. Lantsman made a third attempt, to which Darren Fisher got up to denounce the Conservatives’ former policy of increasing the age of OAS eligibility for seniors to 67 as proof that the Liberals care more about seniors than the Conservatives. Pierre Paul-Hus took over in French to raise Chrystia Freeland’s new plan to tighten fiscal policy, insisting this was a surprise to the prime minister, that this was an admission that they created inflation (it’s not and they didn’t), and demanded that the carbon price not be “tripled” (that happens over seven years). Boissonnault said the Conservatives are only interested in cutting supports for things like seniors and housing. Paul-Hus insisted that the Conservatives want to cut the carbon tax and demanded the government stop raising taxes (erm, the only actual taxes going up are to corporations and on luxury goods). Boissonnault insisted that he respects his counterpart, but the Conservatives only cut jobs.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and said that the government could simply have enriched the Canada Child Benefit rather than creating their dental care plan, and recited the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report that this benefit “discriminates” against Quebeckers because they won’t get as much money—because they have existing provincial benefits. Jean-Yves Duclos stated this fact—that they already have dental coverage and the federal benefit will enrich it. Therrien repeated his question and called it “majority insurance” rather than “dental insurance,” and Duclos pointed out how much his government has reduced child poverty.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, he read a statement from a doctor who lost a patient, and demanded the federal government do something about the crisis in healthcare. Duclos admitted there is a crisis, but he said they are providing additional funding to provinces to reduce delays, for workers, and for long-term care. Lindsay Mathyssen read her own condemnation of the state of healthcare in English, to which Duclos reiterated his comments, noting that the Canada Health Act has conditions, and that he was work with premiers.

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QP: Politicising a tragedy because of course he did

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For Wednesday, proto-PMQ day, the prime minister was indeed present, and had a binder full of prepared responses, not that he was going to need most of it given how utterly repetitive QP has become in the past number of weeks. Pierre Poilievre led off, and started with condolence for the murder of a police officer in Burnaby, BC, and wanted action on the “crime wave” gripping the country. Justin Trudeau agreed that they need to do more, and spoke about their plans to increase funding for mental health supports. Poilievre then moved to the inflation numbers, and food inflation in particular, accusing the government of raising taxes on food, which of course is not true, and the biggest driver of food price inflation is climate change. Trudeau disputed the characterisation, and raised their GST credit, and wanted support for their other measures. Poilievre cited the figure that average families will pay $3000 more in inflation and interest, and blamed inflation on deficits, which is not the driver. Trudeau repeated that the Conservatives are not supporting measures that will help the households that need it most. Poilievre repeated his questions in French, and Trudeau poked holes in Poilievre’s assertion that inflation is so high that they shouldn’t do anything to help people. Poilievre spouted a bunch of nonsense about food price inflation on things gown in Canada, ignoring that drought wiped out 40 percent of crops last year, and blamed the costs on carbon prices. Trudeau raised the climate rebates that people got on Friday, and that they need to take action on climate change.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and raised both the contracts for a lease near Roxham Road and wanted a better way to accept asylum seekers. Trudeau recited that there is no magic solution and that we need to work with the Americans to find a sustainable solution. Blanchet claimed that the government wanted to use Roxham Road to get cheap labour, and wanted African francophone students instead who are being discriminated against with their visas. Trudeau read a script about having no tolerance for racism and that the minister was looking into the issue.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and first gave condolences for the slain officer, then switched to French to accuse the government of doing nothing about inflation. Trudeau listed their actions and the plans still waiting passage. Singh switched to English, and blamed food price inflation on “greed-flation” (which is not a thing), and took credit for “forcing” the government to study the issue. Trudeau repeated his response about the GST credit and demanding support for dental care and rental supports.

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Roundup: A potential recruiting ground

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It was outgoing Ottawa mayor Jim Watson’s turn to present to the Emergencies Act public inquiry yesterday, and it sounds like he was also caught up in the thinking that the occupation would fizzle by the first Tuesday, as the previous protest convoy had done. The most interesting part was a transcript of a call between Watson and Justin Trudeau where Trudeau accused Doug Ford of hiding from his responsibilities, given that he checked out of this process early on, and that he was doing it for political reasons. There was also concern that the OPP and RCMP had not sent as many people as they promised. In response to the reported comments at the inquiry, Ontario’s current solicitor general sent a huffy missive to media outlets saying that they don’t interfere with police operations and ensured that they provided tools for Ottawa, which clearly, they did not. Of course, Watson also said that he feels the federal and provincial governments have “equal responsibility” for policing in the occupation context, which…is not how this works.

We also learned that CSIS didn’t believe the occupation had the involve of foreign actors, but they were concerned that this was going to be a recruiting ground for harder-edged, violent far-right groups (which is a pretty coherent concern that unfortunately seems to be growing).

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 237:

Approximately one-third of Ukrainian power stations have suffered damage from Russian attacks, either from missiles or kamikaze drones, as the regime tries to demoralise the Ukrainian people.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1582285715970613248

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Roundup: City officials detail police incompetence

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The day at the Emergencies Act inquiry was spent with city officials, and in particular the city’s top bureaucrat and the mayor’s chief of staff. There was a lot of discussion about police believing it would be over in a few days in spite of the occupiers saying they intended to occupy the streets, and booking hotels for at least 30 days, but the police kept treating this like a non-issue until it was too late. They also insisted that the Ontario government rebuffed their calls for more police resources. At a press event in Ottawa that morning, Doug Ford professed that he supported the use of the Emergencies Act, but the testimony on display was that he was nowhere to be found in managing the crisis, having dropped out of tripartite calls, and his solicitor general shrugged and said that she can’t direct police. Out of desperation, those city officials turned to the offer from Ford’s former chief of staff, Dean French, to try and negotiate with the occupiers about moving trucks away from residential streets, and packing more of them on the Hill. Well, the Parliamentary Protective Service was outraged by that deal, particularly after they had done bomb assessments with regard to those trucks. The most hilarious revelation of the day was that city officials wanted the occupiers to park their trucks outside of downtown and to take the LRT into the city centre to protest. Laughable, and unfortunately not satire. Literally unbelievable.

Meanwhile, the CBC has a profile of Justice Rouleau, leading the commission. In pundit reaction, Matt Gurney notes that the Ontario government is not being summoned to the Emergencies Act public inquiry, in spite of their complete dereliction of duty. Susan Delacourt makes a similar observation, and in particular how Doug Ford is now presenting himself as being in lockstep with Trudeau on the invocation. Paul Wells gives his take on the day’s testimony, and what he reads into the responses.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 236:

The Russians continue to launch suicide drones on Kyiv, some of which seem to be targeting the city’s heating infrastructure. Because those drones are Iranian in origin, there is pressure on Israel, who has expertise on tackling the Iranian drone programme, to join the US and EU in providing military technology to Ukraine to fight those attacks.

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