Tag Archives: Telecom

Roundup: Final debate on the amendments

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While the Commons is not sitting this week, the Senate is, with several bills now on their Order Paper for consideration, most especially the assisted dying bill, which is under a court-imposed deadline (that has already been extended thrice). At issue are the amendments that the government accepted, rejected, and otherwise modified from what the Senate sent back to the Commons a few weeks ago (where the Conservatives then held it up).

The Government Leader in the Senate, Senator Marc Gold, is taking the line that this is a “historic example” of collaboration between the two Chambers that has resulted in better legislation, but I’m not sure just how historic that is, and by “better legislation,” it’s a fairly marginal case because the government reduced the attempt to render this legislation fully compliant with the constitution with one of its famous half-measures that means that people’s suffering will be prolonged as a result, and yet more others will need to embark on yet more court challenges in order to fully access what should be guaranteed rights.

Ultimately it does look like this will pass without sending it back to the Commons again, as most senators are taking the line that the House has had their say, and because they’re democratically elected, it can go ahead now (though there have been instances where the Senate made a second insistence on certain bills in order to make a point – though I’m not sure that will be the case here), and that it could pass and get royal assent before the court deadline. Nevertheless, the amount of time this has taken for something that had court-imposed timelines is a sense of just how vulnerable the parliamentary calendar really is when you had determined opposition to bills, and it’s not over yet because the proposed changes in this legislation will impose a two-year timeline for more consultations on aspects of the law that currently remain prohibited (where that prohibition remains unconstitutional), but that the government is dragging its feet for the sake of politics. Ultimately, nobody comes out of this exercise looking particularly good.

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QP: Not taking yes for an answer on Line 5

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It was yet another day where the Liberals had only a single MP in the Chamber yet again, no matter that there were plenty of other of their MPs in the building, continuing to show their contempt for Parliament as a result. (A second MP joined him for a few minutes, then left again). Candice Bergen led off virtually, and she railed about the threats to Enbridge Line 5, to which Seamus O’Regan agreed that the pipeline was vital and they were working to secure it. Bergen was not mollified and grumbled that the prime minister didn’t answer before demanding he do more to protect it. O’Regan assured her they were working on the file and it served no purpose to conflate it with other issues. Bergen railed that Trudeau had failed under three successive presidents to protect the energy sector, and O’Regan repeated his assurances that they were doing everything possible. Richard Martel took over in French to demand more vaccines, to which Anita Anand first started off by acknowledgement Black History Month and let it be known that she works to reach out to the Black community for procurement needs, before turning to the question and assuring him that there are two vaccine shipments arriving this week. Martel was not impressed and demanded vaccines immediately, and Anand assured him that factories were ramping up production to meet demand.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he demand a guarantee that vaccine deliveries were going to get back on track, to which Anand assured him that a Pfizer shipment was en route. Therrien railed that this was not good enough, but Anand insisted that they shared this priority of getting vaccines to Canadians, and that the overall schedule was not affected. Jagmeet Singh led for the NDP, and in French, he demanded all non-essential flights be cancelled, to which Omar Alghabra reminded him that they have some of the toughest measures in the world, and listed them. Singh repeated the demand in English, and got the same answer,

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QP: Delay, lag, and disingenuous concern

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It was another bleak day for attendance, when there wasn’t even quorum in the Chamber, because who cares about the gods damned constitution? Erin O’Toole led off, in person, mini-lectern on desk, and he worried about what is happening with Enbridge Line 5 in Michigan, and wanted action on this. Chrystia Freeland, via video, assured him that the understand the importance of the energy sector, and they were working with the American administration. O’Toole tried again, got the same answer, and then he switched to the Economist’s problematic prediction for when Canadians would be vaccinated, along with some disingenuous trolling about the misunderstood vaccine numbers out this morning. Freeland assured him that six million doses would still be delivered by the end of the first quarter, but did not explain the confusion around doses. O’Toole repeated the question in French, and got the same answer from Freeland in French. O’Toole tried to be theatrical in his concern in French — and it came off very badly— and Freeland repeated her assurances about doses arriving. Alain Therrien led off for the Bloc, and he complained about people being quarantined while accessing benefits, to which Freeland assured him that they were working to close this loophole and hoped the opposition would work toward that. Therrien was not mollified and demanded people repay benefits they got, and Freeland assured him, in a calm voice, that they were working on this and would be adding additional measures at the border. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, repeated the false reading about the Pfizer vaccine dose numbers, for which Freeland gave her rote reassurances without explaining the numbers. Singh demanded the vaccine plan in English — never mind that the rollout is almost wholly provincial jurisdiction, and Freeland again repeated her memorised reassurances.

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QP: Going hard on the CanSino conspiracy theory

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It being Wednesday, the prime minister was present and ready to respond to all questions put his way. Erin O’Toole led off, script on his mini-lectern, and he immediately started in on his CanSino conspiracy theory, apparently not understanding how vaccine regulation works, to which Justin Trudeau insisted that they signed on with Moderna and Pfizer before the CanSino deal fell apart, and why they put their eggs in as many baskets as possible. O’Toole said that CSIS was trying to warn the government about CanSino for years, but Trudeau again refuted this. O’Toole quoted an unnamed security analyst to say that China played Canada on the CanSino deal, and Trudeau stated that O’Toole was making stuff up, and that when the CanSino deal fell apart, Canada’s vaccine portfolio went from eight candidates to seven. O’Toole switched to French to claim that other countries will have all of their populations vaccinated by June, but Canada wouldn’t by September, to which Trudeau reminded him that Health Canada was studying four candidates and that there are guarantees for doses for Canadians. O’Toole demanded a plan to give the country “hope,” to which Trudeau said that their plan was to protect Canadians and help the economy weather the storm so that we will emerge from the pandemic in a strong state. Yves-François Blanchet got up next for the Bloc, and he demanded increased health transfers to the provinces, to which Trudeau reminded him that they have been working with the provinces since the pandemic began and have already transferred billions of dollars to them. Blanchet tried again, and got a much more emphatic version of the same answer. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he lamented the lack of a vaccine plan, for which Trudeau reminded him that they have been working with the provinces since the spring to prepare for this. Singh changed to English to decry that the government wouldn’t be able to complete their pledge to end all boil water advisories on time, and read a statement from a First Nations child. Trudeau read a script that they have been working with those communities, and it takes time to overcome decades of neglect.

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QP: Deliberately mischaracterizing the vaccine plans

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While both the prime minister and finance minister were in town and preparing for the fiscal update, neither were present for QP. Gérard Deltell led off, noting that the fiscal update was coming, but that no economic plan would be worth anything without a vaccine plan. Patty Hajdu responded that they have the best vaccine portfolio and that a fourth candidate has begun its regulatory approval process. Deltell then insisted that the government was too invested in the CanSino candidate and was late in other vaccine candidates, to which Navdeep Bains insisted that they supported Canadian vaccine candidates as part of their plan. Deltell then mischaracterised international vaccine plans to insist that Canada was behind, which Hajdu disputed. Peter Kent took over in English and worried about the plan for economic recovery, to which Sean Fraser reminded him that the federal government made the choice to incur the costs of courses rather than putting it on the backs of people. Kent then worried about the deficit — because apparently it’s still 1995 — and Fraser directed him to the statements by the head of the IMF around what Canada has done. Alain Therrien led for the Bloc and he demanded the vaccine plan, to which Hajdu repeated her lines about the portfolio and the fourth candidate seeking approval. On the follow-up, Hajdu read a statement in French about the doses acquired and working with partners. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he regaled the House with the tale of a woman in Gatineau who works three jobs and needs a vaccine, for which Hajdu repeated her usual lines about the portfolio and the regulatory process. Singh switched to English to make the same demand for the plan, and Hajdu reminded him that provinces have the expertise on this.

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QP: A chance to quote Oscar Wilde

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While the prime minister had committed to being at QP today, he was not in the Chamber — apparently deciding that he needs to set an example for Canadians by working from home. Erin O’Toole led off, script on mini-lectern, and he lied about what Chrystia Freeland said about Canada’s vote at the UN on a motion that some considered anti-Israel, falsely claiming that she compared it to an authoritarian regime. Justin Trudeau, appearing by video, said that the vote was about the right of self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians. O’Toole tried again, raising former Liberal MP Michael Levitt’s objections to the vote before he repeated the slander against Freeland, to which Trudeau repeated his explanation of the vote. O’Toole then changed topics and claimed that the prime minister “admitted” that Canada would be behind other countries in procuring the vaccines, to which Trudeau stated that Canada has the best vaccine portfolio in the world, and that things are still up in the air in terms of which vaccine will be first to get approval. O’Toole repeated the question in French, got the same response, and then O’Toole claimed that the Americans would start getting the vaccine “in weeks,” and got much the same response. Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and repeated the same accusation of later delivery of vaccines, to which Trudeau reminded him that Canada doesn’t have the ability to mass produce vaccines which is why they negotiated broader sourcing. Blanchet was not mollified, and accused the government of lecturing the provinces, to which Trudeau insisted that they were not lecturing, but working with them. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he also repeated the allegation that Canadians would be forced to wait for vaccines, and Trudeau repeated his rehearsed points about our vaccine portfolio and the need to flatten the curve which is why they provided rapid tests and PPE for provinces. Singh repeated his question in English, and Trudeau reiterated that they were working with provinces to ensure a seamless rollout.

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QP: A moral panic competing with hysteria

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While the prime minister was in the building, he was not at QP today, though his deputy was, fortunately. Michael Chong led off, and he worried that Canada voted against Israel at the UN General Assembly earlier in the day, insisting this was contrary to policy. Chrystia Freeland said that Canada stands with Israel, and with Jewish Canadians in the face of rising anti-Semitism. Chong tried again, and Freeland spoke of the worrying rise of authoritarianism in the world, which Canada is standing up against. Richard Martel would took off and listed a number of judicial appointments in New Brunswick which have a connection to Dominic LeBlanc, to which Freeland read a statement about their recent appointment process. Martel raised another appointment who is connected to the justice minister — which media reports show that he was cleared for — and Freeland assured him that the process put into place was transparent and sound. Martel raised another name, who he claimed was denied an appointment because she was married to a Conservatives candidate. Freeland disagreed with the question and reiterated that the process is open and has increased diversity on the bench. Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he demanded support for the Bloc’s bill on requiring knowledge of French for citizenship in Quebec, to which Freeland said that they agree that the state of French in Quebec and Montreal is fragile and that they all need to work together to preserve it. Mario Beaulieu asked the same again, and Freeland reiterated her response, and added an example that they fought for cultural exemptions under the New NAFTA. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he lamented that it took so long for climate accountability legislation, to which Freeland praised their bill’s commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Singh switched to English to repeat the question, to which Freeland asked in return whether they would support the bill.

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QP: Worries about the status of French

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None of the leaders were present in the chamber today, nor was the deputy prime minister present. Candice Bergen led off, and after a litany of false narratives about the state of the economy pre-pandemic, she worried about the state of the Keystone XL pipeline. Paul Lefebvre insisted that the government was unwavering in its support for the project and raised the project in the first call with Joe Biden. Bergen felt this wasn’t good enough and recited some false talking points about the old Bill C-69, to which Lefebvre repeated that Trudeau raised the matter with Biden and that Canada’s current climate plan was a point in their favour. Bergen remained unsatisfied, and repeated the question again, to which Lefebvre quoted Joe Clark slamming the Harper record on the environment. Gérard Deltell was up next, and he chastised something that Montreal MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos made about the decline of French in that city, to which Mélanie Joly assured him that they took the protection of French very seriously. Deltell complained that Official Languages Act had not yet been updated, to which Joly said they would be modernising it in due course. Claude DeBellefeuille led off for the Bloc, and she raised false narratives about judicial appointments, to which David Lametti assured her that they have an independent process based on merit and diversity. DeBellefeuille was not mollified, and repeated the question, and got the same answer. Jagmeet Singh appeared by video from his car, and in French, he demanded national standards for long-term care, to which Patty Hajdu reminded him they are working with provinces and territories on just that, and they gave them more money in the Safe Restart Plan. Singh switched to English to repeat false narratives about the ownership of Revera long-term care homes (they are not actually federally-owned, and insisting otherwise is being utterly disingenuous), to which Hajdu repeated her response.

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Roundup: A question of political accountability

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An issue that I am getting tired of writing commenting on over, and over again, is this story about the supposed political vetting of judicial candidates. The reporters on the story fail to mention the crucial constitutional details underpinning the story, Erin O’Toole lies about what the justice minister has said in response to the constant allegations, and now the president of the Canadian Bar Association is writing to the government to express his concerns that this whole thing threatens public faith in the judiciary. And here I go again.

For the eleventieth time, let me reiterate that the prime minister is politically accountable for judicial appointments under our system of Responsible Government. That means that if another bad one gets through the selection process, he has to wear it politically if things come to light – kind of like what happened around now-former Justice Robin Camp (who you may remembered wondered why a sexual assault complainant didn’t keep her knees together). This is one of the reasons why once the candidates have made it through the initial non-partisan vetting process, that they are subjected to a political screen – to ensure that nobody is aware of any particular skeletons in these potential judges’ pasts that could come around to bite them in the future. Some of the confusion here is because one of the ways in which the government has been doing this vetting has been through their voter identification database, which has been interpreted as seeing if they are donors or had lawn signs – which is a false reading of what these databases do, which is to build voter profiles, and they consume vast amounts of data to do so (which is also why there are concerns that they are not subject to federal privacy laws). But this is being deliberately framed as looking for partisan manipulation. (This is not to suggest the motives of these reporters is partisan – only that they are looking to embarrass the government, and it wouldn’t matter which party is in charge).

I am more concerned by the fact that someone is leaking to the press, and the French press especially seems to be targeted about revelations concerning a particular staffer, which suggests to me some internecine fighting within the Liberal ranks that they are willing to do damage to themselves in order to hurt this staffer in particular. But why worry about motive or the fact that you are being played when you have a potentially embarrassing headline?

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QP: A minister for divination?

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Justin Trudeau was in town and on another “virtual” tour while his deputy was in the Commons in his stead. Erin O’Toole led off with his script on a mini-lectern, and he tried to tease out a contradiction in the status of the pandemic early warning system, to which Chrystia Freeland slowly and calmly stated that it was the time to focus on the second wave, but post-mortems should come later as one should not change the plane’s engine after taking off. O’Toole was not mollified, and tried again, but Freeland was not dissuaded in her calm dismissal. O’Toole tried to delve into news reporting about Freeland disagreeing on closing borders earlier in the pandemic, and Freeland calmly walked through the history of the Canada-US border closure. O’Toole switched to French to decry the terrorist attack in France earlier this morning and accused the prime minister of not taking it seriously, to which Freeland corrected him and said that all Canadians are horrified by the attack and they show solidarity with France. O’Toole wondered what happened to the promised de-radicalisation centres, to which Freeland calmly stated that they never failed to step up and show leadership, and that Canada stands with France. Stéphane Bergeron led for the Bloc, even though Yves-François Blanchet was present, and he demanded an official apology for the October Crisis, to which Freeland reminded him of the period in question and of the family of the Quebec politician who was killed by extremists. Andréanne Larouche tried again, and Freeland gave a paean to democracy and the space for disagreements. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he decried the situation in long-term care facilities but wondered where the national standards were, and Freeland slowly explained that they need to work with provinces and territories as the second wave has hit. Singh switched to English to decry that the worst problems were in for-profit homes, and made an allusion to the falsehood that the federal government owns some of these facilities. Freeland agreed that they can’t turn a blind eye to the conditions in long-term care facilities, and that the country needs to do better.

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