Tag Archives: Refugees

Roundup: Between 67 and 159 votes

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The Speaker has whittled down 871 amendments to between 67 and 159 votes, depending. In other words, about 18 to 26 hours of consecutive votes, more or less, which they’re now preparing themselves for. Speaker Scheer also ruled that because there are no firm rules for omnibus bills that this one is permissible, but hey, why don’t you guys lay down some rules for the future over in the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. And so, the votes will take place probably Wednesday, and probably starting late at night since the government also moved to extend sitting hours to midnight every night for the remaining two weeks.

With the ruling on May’s point of order in mind, after QP, Nathan Cullen tried to argue that the omnibus budget bill has become a contempt of parliament because the government won’t release the data on the cuts to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Scott Brison takes to the pages of the National Post to say that the issue of income inequality is not a left-or-right issue, but one that Parliament should be addressing.

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Taking up all the oxygen in the Chamber

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Both major opposition parties summoned the media to the Foyer before the Commons got down to business this morning – the NDP had already booked their usual slot for another edition Monday Morning Sanctimony, leaving the Liberals to book even earlier. The topic of day was supposed to be the Liberal game plan for the Refugee reform bill back before the House this week, and the NDP to report back on what their “consultations” found over the last week.

But that really wasn’t what took up the airspace. No, that was really taken up by the discussions about the imminent back-to-work legislation around the CP Rail strike.

Speaking for the Liberals, Marc Garneau did talk about how they were the “real” opposition, and were working with Elizabeth May to move their 28 amendments that failed at committee at report stage – which May is able to do as an independent – in order to make the point that these changes are important. Both he and May later tweeted that they have approached the NDP to cooperate, but have yet to hear a response. On the omnibus budget bill, Garneau said that they were still planning on moving hundreds of amendments at Report Stage in order to delete many of the controversial clauses, saying that procedurally, this was the better tactic that “hyperventilating and making lots of noise.”

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Roundup: Failed negotiations and procedural delays

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The news that the Conservatives were going to bend ever so slightly and make some very minor amendments to their still massively problematic refugee reform bill yesterday may have buoyed NDP spirits that the government was going to agree to split up the omnibus budget bill – but to no avail. The government decided that no, even if they split it up, the NDP would simply delay seven bills instead of one, so they said no. Nathan Cullen responded by saying they were “afraid” of the debate, and that he would be consulting with his critics about their next steps, but one had to wonder why they didn’t already have that in place considering they were fresh out of a caucus meeting. (Marc Garneau, incidentally, described the NDP as having been slapped in the face by the Conservatives, and that perhaps they had been a bit naïve in believing this government would actually negotiate). So what did the NDP decide to do? Procedural delays, forcing votes in the Commons until time for government orders expired, with no actual debate taking place on said bill for the day. That’s fine, Peter Van Loan said – we’ll simply move your opposition day (scheduled for today) until next Wednesday, after the vote. The Liberals, meanwhile, criticised the NDP tactics as “too cute by half,” since they were only denying debate and not actually changing the voting date considering time allocation (though they fought over that bit of procedure). I guess we’ll see how this plays out over the course of today, because it’s going to mean a lot of procedural tactics if they want to try and delay a full day’s worth of debate, or if they’ll try some other kinds of tactics to prove their point.

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Roundup: Taking another crack at the numbers

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The Parliamentary Budget Officer has been asked to update his cost estimates of the F-35s, and he’s once again asking DND for information, like they wouldn’t give him last time. Meanwhile, here’s a look at what it costs the defence industry in Canada every time a DND procurement goes off the rails. (Hint: They’re not rolling in profit the same way American firms are).

Incidentally, the PBO’s latest report indicates that the government will likely balance the books by 2015-16, but all of their austerity is likely going to lead to slower economic growth. Imagine that. Also, that Parliament needs to do a better job of reporting the financial numbers so that MPs can scrutinise it – you know, like their primary job is supposed to be. But we’ll see if they actually have the will to do it, when they have people like Kevin Page to crunch the numbers for them.

The retired air force fleet manager who was formerly in charge of the CF-18s has come out to say that the F-35s won’t meet our operational needs, and their price tag is likely to keep climbing. So it’s a clean sweep then. And given his credentials, I’m wondering how long it will take the government to ask why he hates our men and women in uniform.

The government has reduced the amount of time that the public can give input into the process for redrawing the electoral boundaries. Because what is public input in the face of speedy timelines?

Elections Canada is now digging into phone records to try and get more information about misleading live phone calls directing people to the wrong polling stations in ridings other than Guelph.

The government’s new $8 million witch-hunt of charities that engage in political activities will really only be looking at less than one percent of all charities out there. That said, if they’re looking into charities engaging in political activities, perhaps they should broaden the scope to include churches, who also get tax breaks? Just saying…

Under the guise of deterring abuse by “bogus” claimants, the government is scaling back health benefits given to refugee claimants – you know, people who had to leave everything they had in order to flee for their lives. Just more rhetoric about how “generous” our refugee system is.

Small surprise, but the government announced yesterday that it would be appealing the Bedford decision on brothels to the Supreme Court.

And here’s a video of Liberal MP Scott Brison’s speech yesterday on his Private Member’s Motion about getting the Commons finance committee to study income inequality in Canada, and says that it’s a discussion that needs more than just reductionism and accusations of “class warfare.”

QP: An unreserved apology

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With all of the leaders back in the House, it was a question of what would be top of mind for the day. Thomas Mulcair started off with a brief question – was it okay for a minister to knowingly mislead Parliament? Harper insisted that ministers tell the truth all the time. So why, Mulcair wondered, did the minister say that “no money has been spent” on the F-35s when in fact millions have already been spent. Well the minister was referring to acquisition costs, Harper insisted. And thus the accounting excuse remained trotted out. Peggy Nash was up next and asked just how much the government expected to save by changing the eligibility date for OAS, and Diane Finley insisted it wasn’t an issue of savings, but the long-term viability of the system. Bob Rae returned to the question of misleading figures around the F-35s, but Harper insisted that the Auditor General asked to review the figures, and they’ve a commitment to do just that. For his final question, Rae asked about CIDA staff being laid off while Bev Oda is swanning about in expensive hotels and limousines. Oda herself stood up and said that it was unacceptable, that the expenses shouldn’t have been charged to taxpayers, that she’s paid them back (well, except for the limousines) and that she apologised unreservedly. And that was the last we heard from her.

Round two kicked off with Charlie Angus and Alexandre Boulerice asking again after Oda’s spending (Van Loan: She’s apologised) and the ongoing Robocon investigation (Del Mastro: These are sweeping allegations with no facts; Poilievre: A Liberal poll is not a replacement for an election), Guy Caron and Peter Julian asked about Christian Paradis’ latest ethical investigation (Van Loan: The Ethics Commissioner will provide a response to this Liberal letter), Niki Ashton asked about the government taking steps to address the sexual harassment in the RCMP (Toews: We’re taking it seriously, but there is litigation so we can’t comment). Mark Eyking asked about Oda’s chauffeurs (Van Loan: She repaid her costs – err, except for the costs of the limousines), Joyce Murray asked about that EKOS poll on robocalls in those seven ridings (Del Mastro: Baseless allegations), and Stéphane Dion asked about availability of search and rescue services in French (Ashfield: There will be no impact on safety). Closing off the round, Olivia Chow asked about railway maintenance (Lebel: We’ve set aside all this money for rail safety and service!), and Brian Massey asked about CBSA cuts allowing more for more smuggling (Toes: You voted against increasing their budget, so why are you complaining if it gets cut?).

Round three saw questions on scientists being muzzled, gutting fisheries habitat protection, food inspection cuts, cutting washing stations that prevent contaminated soil from infecting food-producing regions, Aveos workers, the true net savings of closing the Kingston penitentiary, punishing refugees under the current system and the proposed new one, and why it’s okay for Cuba to be excluded from the Summit of the Americas while China gets a free pass in Canada (Harper: It was agreed upon years ago to only include democratically elected governments).

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Marc Garneau for a smart grey pinstripe suit with a pink shirt and tie, and to Lisa Raitt for a smartly cut black top and jacket. Style citations go out to Isabelle Morin for her boxy white jacket with a terrible black and gold floral pattern across it, and to Alex Atamanenko for a grey jacket, maroon shirt, forest green tie and brown trousers.