Olivia Chow has garnered enough support to recall the Commons transport committee on Tuesday to hold emergency meetings on rail safety, although I’m still not sure what they’ll accomplish other than the feeling that they’re seen to be doing something, even though there are still very few facts on the table as to what actually happened in Lac-Mégantic. Meanwhile, the Transportation Safety Board tabled their annual report to Parliament, and lamented the lack of expediency by which Transport Canada implements their regulations, something Lisa Raitt is now calling on the department to do.
Tag Archives: Refugees
Roundup: Poor, hard done-by Patrick Brazeau
Global News caught up with Senator Patrick Brazeau as he was moving house in Gatineau, and he insisted that he still hasn’t received any formal notice that his wages are going to be garnished, and he continues to insist that he didn’t do anything wrong or that he broke any rules. He at least knows that he won’t win in the court of public opinion, but insists that he still hasn’t received his due process. Both Brazeau and Mac Harb are expected to have 20 percent of their pay garnished, though the judicial review that Harb has requested may put a spanner in that works.
Roundup: Project Amble under way
The RCMP’s investigation into Senators Mike Duffy and Mac Harb has been dubbed Project Amble, apparently, and they’ve seized documents related to twelve election campaigns that Duffy was involved in, and according to court documents, they appear to be pursuing charges related to breach of trust – which is an indictable offence. And if you’re wondering about “Project Amble,” here’s a look into how the Toronto Police Service comes up with their operation names (not that it’s too illuminating).
On top of that, Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette has asked that the Senate Ethics Officer look into the conduct of Conservative Senator Pierre-Hughes Boisvenu, after he’s been trying to arrange for additional benefits for his former girlfriend/assistant after she got a new job in a Senate administration office. Hervieux-Payette asserts that the former assistant shouldn’t even be working in the Senate because of the relationship, and that he’s trying to get her additional benefits is a breach of ethics, and because nobody would speak up, she wants the investigation launched to protect the integrity of the institution.
Senate QP: Baird’s vacation habits
After Senators’ Statements and Routine Proceedings, Senator Jane Cordy led-off Question Period with the question of John Baird’s stay with six friends in London. Senator Marjory LeBreton, the government leader in the Senate and answerer of questions, insisted that Baird saves taxpayer’s money, and that the government would soon be putting said official residence up for sale in order to save even more money. Cordy was not impressed with the response, and noted that the chief of staff of Minister Oliver was among the six friends vacationing. LeBreton responded that Baird stayed at the personal apartment of the High Commissioner, who pays for it himself. Cordy noted that it seems that Baird vacationed in the official residence of the New York consul general in 2011. LeBreton continued to insist that no taxpayer money was used. Cordy was not satisfied, and said that it was a question of whether or not it was appropriate, especially since he is the boss of the High Commissioner. When LeBreton still repeated her answer, Cordy asked if the stay was registered as a gift, considering that it was valued well over $500. LeBreton decided to take this as an excuse to take a swipe at the Liberals, dredging up the Sponsorship scandal.
QP: What about Saulie Zajdel?
The final Monday of the spring sitting, and while there were a lot of empty spaces along the government front bench, the opposition benches were restless. Thomas Mulcair started off by bringing up last week’s Pamela Wallin interview, where she said that she briefed the Prime Minister’s office about her audit, contrary to Harper saying that he wasn’t briefed — never mind the fact that Wright and Harper are not the same person. James Moore, the designated back-up PM du jour, reminded him that there was an independent process underway. Mulcair then brought up the arrest of former Conservative candidate and “regional advisor” Saulie Zajdel, and he wondered what he was doing for Moore when he worked there. Moore said that the charges were of a municipal nature, and if he or the mayor were found guilty, they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. When Megan Leslie brought up the very same topic, wondering why Zadjel left Moore’s employ, Moore hit back saying back by the justice system works best when people who know of wrongdoing come forward, as Mulcair should have done when he was offered a bribe seventeen years ago. For her final question, Leslie brought up Senator Wallin’s audit, to which Moore decided to go after Trudeau’s speaking engagements. Trudeau was up next, and brought up the cheque from Nigel Wright. Moore insisted that they didn’t have access to any personal cheques, but Trudeau got a cheque from the Canadian Mental Health Commission for a speaking engagement. Trudeau retorted that his party is raising the bar on transparency, before asking if any member of the government had met with Wright post-resignation. Moore kept swiping about Trudeau’s speaking engagements. When Trudeau pressed, Moore responded that no, he hadn’t met with Wright.
QP: PRISM concerns
With Harper prepping for his trip to Europe, and Justin Trudeau elsewhere, Thomas Mulcair was holding down the fort in the House for QP. He began by asking in Nigel Wright had signing authority for the “secret” party fund. Pierre Poilievre was designated to answer, and he insisted that the fund wasn’t secret, it was controlled by the party, and audited by Elections Canada (which is not exactly true). Mulcair then turned to the issue of the American surveillance programme PRISM, and asked about the Canadian monitoring by the Communications Security Establishment. Peter MacKay answered that the CSE is prohibited by law from engaging in domestic surveillance, and has been lauded for its culture of compliance. Jack Harris asked more of the same, before wondering if CSE was using PRISM data. MacKay noted the policies on foreign information sharing, and that those reports are tabled in Parliament. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, and asked if Benjamin Perrin was aware of the the deal between Wright and Duffy, if not the source of the funds. James Moore was up, belatedly the designated back-up PM du jour, and took swipes at the Liberals over Senators Mac Harb and Pana Merchant.
Roundup: Keystone XL silence
Thomas Mulcair is in Washington DC, and while he didn’t actively lobby against the Keystone XL pipeline down there, he did argue that it would cost some 40,000 Canadian jobs (though I’m not sure where that number might have come from). Joe Oliver, meanwhile, thinks that Mulcair is being hypocritical by remaining silent, since he and his party have already made their position on the pipeline clear (and I’m sure that he would like to hit back at the NDP for lobbying against Canada’s interests if that were the case).
They’ve been in government for seven years, but Peter MacKay still insists that the problems in replacing our fleet of search and rescue planes isn’t the fault of the defence department – despite all evidence to the contrary, with allegations of rigged bid processes (once again).
Roundup: A Métis victory
The Métis of Manitoba won a Supreme Court ruling yesterday that states that the government didn’t fully implement the 1870 promise that led to the creation of Manitoba in the first place. And while there was no remedy attached – so no, Winnipeg, you don’t have to worry about being displaced – it will be interesting to see how this moves forward now that there is this recognition.
Jim Flaherty met with private sector economists yesterday and declared that he was confident in the budget – whenever it may be tabled – thanks to good job numbers.
Jason Kenney says that the lower-than-promised refugee resettlement numbers are due in large part to the civil war in Syria. After promising to resettle a large number of Iraqi refugees who had fled to Syria, well, we can’t process them effectively with a civil war in that country having wreaked havoc with diplomatic missions and resettlement logistics.
QP: Return of the F-35
With odes paid to Stompin’ Tom Connors, and with Ron Paul visiting in the gallery, QP got underway with Tom Mulcair reading off a question about the new reported problems with the F-35 fighters. Harper assured him that after the Auditor General’s report, they had put a new process in place for finding a new next-generation option. Mulcair then asked a somewhat bizarre question about the number of responses by women on behalf of the government — given that tomorrow is International Women’s Day — to which Harper assured him that they had more women in cabinet, their were more women MPs, and in the senior ranks of the public service. For his final question, Mulcair asked about the Correctional Investigator’s report on Aboriginals in prison. Harper responded that they wouldn’t presume to question the judiciary, but they were trying to take a balanced approach to deal with the issue. Jean Crowder carried on the same line of questions, but this time Rob Nicholson delivered a very similar response. Justin Trudeau led off for the Liberals today, and started off with a question about the suspected changes to EI training funds, and how centralising them in Ottawa would be of detriment. Harper assured him that they had consulted and were working with the provinces in order to address skills shortages in the country.
Roundup: Wanton constitutional vandalism
The NDP have decided to spend their opposition day motion on what is basically the endorsement of wanton constitutional vandalism, but in this particular case, trying to put forward the case for Senate abolition. Never mind that their arguments will ignore federalism, bicameralism, and the actual work that the Senate does or perspective it provides – no, it’ll be all specious catchy slogans and intellectually dishonest false comparisons masquerading as substantive debate. It’s like saying that you don’t know what your pancreas does, so why not remove it? Meanwhile, Thomas Mulcair won’t say whether or not he’d appoint Senators if he were to form government in 2015 – never mind that whether he believes in the Senate or not, there is still a constitutionally mandated legislative process that needs to be followed. But you know, details.