Tag Archives: Refugees

Roundup: Talking about the economy sans Harper

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The provincial premiers are meeting in Halifax to talk about the economy, and yet, Stephen Harper won’t be there – despite insisting that the economy is his favourite topic and the one thing that all Canadians really care about instead of any other pesky political problems. Funny that.

New refugee laws come into force next month, which mandate mandatory detention for “mass arrivals” – basically refugees that arrive on boats. Never mind that this has proven to be a costly failure in Australia, Jason Kenney still insists it’ll be a deterrent for false asylum seekers – even though it’ll make things worse off for legitimate refugees.

Northern Gateway environmental hearings have added an additional ten weeks in BC, seeing as a lot of people want their say on the project.

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Roundup: Alerted to mischief days before the vote

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Uh oh. Access to Information documents show that the public were raising concerns about misleading robo-calls to Elections Canada before the election took place, and that Elections Canada was already in contact with the Conservative Party’s lawyer about said mischief. These new clues fit in with the testimony given by the owner of that one phone bank company regarding the calls they were making for the Conservatives in the days leading up to the campaign.

Some 11,000 jobs have been cut so far in the public service, 7500 of them by attrition, says Tony Clement.

There has been some drama in the Senate over amendments to the Cluster munitions treaty.

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Roundup: Things that sound the same but aren’t

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Stephen Harper spent his Remembrance Day in Hong Kong, where 283 Canadian Soldiers are buried. He once again dodged questions about the Last Post Fund to assist poor veterans with their own burials. In a not unrelated story, the Veterans Affairs minister defended his decision to call off an investigation by the Veterans Ombudsman into the privacy breaches in the department, saying that he the Privacy Commissioner was looking into it – never mind that the focus of her investigation is different. Much like how they shut down the office of the Inspector General of CSIS by claiming it was duplicating the work of SIRC (which it wasn’t), the government once again takes two things that sound similar but really aren’t, and cutting one while claiming duplication, where the end result is more secrecy and less oversight.

In Harper’s previous stop in the Philippines, he downplayed the leadership change in China as a likely exercise in continuity, and in looking to boost trade with the Philippines, that country’s president declared themselves to be “open for business under new management,” referring of course to the quest to clean up corruption in that country.

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QP: Democracy costs money! Oh noes!

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With Harper off in India, and a number of other MPs back in their riding for Veterans’ Week activities, the Commons was a pretty sparse place, albeit not quite Friday sparse. Undeterred, Thomas Mulcair read off his first question about the extension of the deadline for the Nexen decision, to which John Baird, in his capacity as back-up PM du jour, mentioned that there were consultations going on as part of the complex decision making. Mulcair was up next, and asked quite simply who Baird would be consulting – but the cadence of the question was off, like he was still reading it off of a script he hadn’t previously read (though it was one of the rare moments when he spoke off-the-cuff in QP while not red-faced in anger). Baird, however, returned to his usual talking points about the “net benefit” test, and so on. Peggy Nash was up next and asked a pair of questions, in English and in French, about how in this time of fiscal austerity, Harper could have deigned to fly his own armoured limousines over to India. Toews responded that this was a judgement call by the RCMP, and he respected their decision. Bob Rae was then up for the Liberals, and in a rather impassioned display, wondered just what exactly changed on Friday that the government, which had been sitting on those Ashley Smith videos for five years, decided they now wanted to allow the investigation to proceed. Three times he tried to get the government to say something, to admit that they had been publicly embarrassed by those videos and had no choice but to let the investigation proceed unimpeded – but Baird simply resorted to the talking points about how they needed to do a better job of keeping people with mental illness out of prisons.

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Roundup: Another embattled minister

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It looks like Intergovernmental Affairs minister Peter Penashue overspent his campaign limit by some $20,000. Seeing that he won by a mere 79 votes, this could be a Very Big Deal. The problem? The penalty for overspending is a fine of $1000, and maybe three months in jail, which would more likely be served by the official agent, it appears. Add to that the number of people chalking this up with the other incidents in the last election with illegitimate robo-calls or the various irregularities in Etobicoke Centre that led to the Supreme Court challenge. We’ll have to see if Penashue faces any real consequences for the overspending, and if he doesn’t, what kind of precedence that creates.

Omnibus Budget Bill the Second is being tabled and is likely to begin debate on Friday. Jim Flaherty says there will be no surprises (likely a lot of tax code changes) and yes, it will have MP pensions. And please, for the love of all the gods on Olympus, don’t resurrect the inaccurate talking point about the previous bill being a “Trojan Horse” because it was not. If it was a Trojan Horse, you wouldn’t have been able to read the provisions within the bill, but since they were all in the text, well, it’s time to find a different metaphor.

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Roundup: Beginning the bullying debate

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MPs will be debating an NDP private members’ motion on creating a committee to develop a national strategy to prevent bullying.

A justice department study shows that gun crime costs the country $3.1 billion per year. The study authors did note, however, that the problems are complex and that a costing analysis is not a substitute for policy formulation.

The government has consistently said it’s a myth that the free trade deal with Europe would increase drug prices in Canada, but as it turns out, their own analysis has said that one of the three contested sections could increase drug prices in Canada by up to $2 billion per year. But nothing has been decided, they continue to insist.

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Roundup: Formalising co-locations

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So that whole “shared embassies” thing is being downplayed as far less of a thing than the UK press made it out to be – that it’s simply a Memorandum of Understanding that formalises co-location arrangements that we already have going, so that more of them are likely in the future, given the whole age of fiscal austerity and whatnot.

The Conservatives seem keen on adopting a “buy Canadian” strategy for military procurement whenever possible, rather than solely relying on the usual Industrial Regional Benefits programmes that we usually insist upon. Economist Mike Moffatt decries this as economic nationalism run amok, and notes that it’s the last thing one wants if they’re concerned about the high dollar (as the NDP seems to be). When Andrew Coyne wrote to denounce the idea, the Prime Minister’s DComm contacted him to say that there is no such policy – but it could mean that there’s no such policy yet. It all remains to be seen, apparently.

What’s that? Prison populations are swelling? You don’t say! Meanwhile, Vic Toews’ office continues to insist that the expected wave of new prisoners hasn’t materialised. Funny that.

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Roundup: Another omnibus?

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Here’s a look at what a new omnibus budget bill might contain – things like changes to science and research policies, or minor tax changes. Apparently there is some debate within the caucus about what the changes to pensions should entail, especially around the age of eligibility.

The opposition is concerned that a crackdown on “absentee” permanent residents could negatively impact the investment climate in the country.

We’re signing a nuclear deal with the United Arab Emirates in order to provide uranium to their reactors, and to set an example to Iran, apparently.

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Roundup: Reluctantly opposing exporting carcinogens

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The federal government has reluctantly decided to stop opposing the listing of asbestos as a hazardous chemical product, and is blaming the PQ for the move, as they also announce funding to help the communities around Thetford Mines transition to a new economy. No, seriously – they’re actually put out that they have to stop supporting the export of known carcinogens because Pauline Marois no longer wants to play ball. At least one Conservative MP has broken ranks and is happy about the announcement. Paul Wells offers up his analysis here.

John Baird has made a major policy announcement that lists the rights of women and gays and lesbians as priorities with our engagement with emerging democracies, which is an encouraging sign. Jason Kenney wants you to pat him on the back for making Canada a haven for gay Iranian refugees – while politely ignoring the fact that he’s made it more difficult for gay African refugees.

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Roundup: Detaining refugees versus the Charter

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Apparently an internal report at Citizenship and Immigration says that the government should consider detaining Roma refugees if the new changes to the Act don’t stem the tide of claimants. It’s a bit hard to see how that would be squared with the Charter, considering it would be arbitrary detention and racial profiling, no?

The National Energy Board is now demanding that report from the Enbridge spill in Michigan two years ago as part of the Northern Gateway review panel. Thomas Mulcair, meanwhile, considers the project dead, while still calling the oil sands an “important resource.” Okay then.

Despite Conservative promises that the whole F-35 purchase was going to be frozen and rethought, Lockheed Martin says there’s no change on their end and we appear to be going full steam ahead.

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