Tag Archives: The Senate

Sober second thought is not an attack on democracy

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News comes from the Senate that they are ready to defeat Bill C-290, an NDP private members’ bill on allowing bets to be placed on single sports matches. It sounds benign enough, and the House passed it unanimously, so everything should be good, right? Well, not really. And herein lies a case where the Senate proves that its sober second thought is a very necessary part of the system.

If you look at the comments these Senators are making to the media, they focus on a very key fact – that it sailed through the House with virtually zero scrutiny. Less scrutiny, in fact, than most other private members’ legislation. If you look it up on LegisInfo, you’ll find that it had a mere hour of debate at second reading – and by “debate” I mean about four canned speeches about what a great idea it was, and that was it. It then received a single hour of study at committee where the only witness, other than the MP who sponsored it, was someone from the Canadian Gaming Association, who wants the bill to pass so that they can profit from it. And then it had twenty minutes at report stage, and twenty minutes of third reading debate. That was it. Not exactly a shining example of study, or hearing opposing points of view, or any of that.

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Roundup: Breaking it up for study

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Despite the various committees having refused to look at elements of the omnibus budget bill, and the NDP bringing it up in committee, it seems the government had a change of heart after QP, and moved that ten committees would study aspects of the bill. Watch the NDP claim victory for “forcing the government’s hand” tomorrow.

Jason Kenney’s latest immigration changes are to make it easier for foreign students to stay in Canada, which makes a certain amount of sense. It’s too bad we’re not a “top-of-mind” destination for foreign students to head to.

A private member’s bill that makes wearing a mask during a riot an extra offence has passed the House – never mind that it’s a somewhat redundant law, and is ripe for a Charter challenge with its reverse-onus and broad definition of “lawful excuse.” I can’t wait to see the Senate committee dig into it and the language.

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Roundup: Extending the Nexen deliberations

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The government has indicated they will be extending the consideration of the Nexen deal by another 30 days – though this is a fairly common occurrence. Expect the renewed calls for “public consultations” to begin when the House returns on Monday.

Apparently the federal government has been studying ways to change the provincial equalisation programme. Changes to things like the way hydro revenues are calculated could have a major impact on the equalisation that Quebec receives.

Not only have the Conservatives ramped up their advertising spending in an age of fiscal austerity, it seems that over the past five years, they’ve exceeded said advertising budgets by 37 percent. Fiscal discipline, everybody!

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Roundup: Serving Christian prisoners only

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I expect tainted meat is going to get pushed off of the agenda today as news broke last night that the government is firing all non-Christian chaplains, in what is a clear violation of the Charter. Given the way they’re patting themselves on the back over their Office of Religious Freedoms, well, expect them to be hoisted on their own petards in QP today.

Speaking of tainted meat, Thomas Mulcair rather predictably called for Gerry Ritz’s resignation yesterday. XL Foods, meanwhile, has finally broken their silence and taken full responsibility for the outbreak.

Also not surprising, the NDP officially declared their opposition to the Nexen deal yesterday.

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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: Fictional carbon taxes

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The first day back in the Commons, and all anyone can talk about is whether or not the NDP was proposing a carbon tax. Which they weren’t. But hey, why not use this hysteria as a distraction from actual debate? Van Loan laid out what the plans were for the fall – new budget implementation bill, which will likely include changes to MP pensions, RCMP bill, more tough on crime measures – but the Lawful Access bill was notably absent. Amidst the whole Conservative/NDP carbon tax vs. cap-and-trade punch and counter-punch, economist Stephen Gordon lays out the economic differences between the two.

Oh noes! Government backbenchers are showing a bit of backbone and having independent thought. We The Media must immediately crush this by writing “IS STEPHEN HAPRER LOSING CONTROL OF HIS CAUCUS?” stories.

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Roundup: Adventures in Vladivostok

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While at the APEC Summit in Vladivostok, Russia, over the weekend, Stephen Harper and Chinese president Hu Jintao witnessed the signing of the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. Harper and Russian president Vladimir Putin also agreed to disagree on the issue of Syria. While at the summit, Harper also ratcheted up the rhetoric around Iran now that we’ve shuttered our embassy there.

It looks like the new Office of Religious Freedoms may have finally found its ambassador and could be set to open soon. Of course, it was also revealed that the Muslim panellists for their consultations were “not available,” which sounds terribly convenient when you’re trying to assure people that this won’t simply be an office devoted to Christian proselytising.

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Roundup: Grumbling that Harper does his job

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Stephen Harper appointed five new Senators yesterday, including a former ADQ candidate from Quebec and a former Progressive Conservative MLA from Nova Scotia. Predictably the NDP are grumbling that Harper is *gasp!* fulfilling his constitutional duty. You know, one of the few that are actually spelled out in the written constitution.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney says that “Dutch Disease” is not a factor, and high resources prices are an “unambiguous good” for our economy. Economist Stephen Gordon provides some annotations on the speech here.

Canada has closed its embassy in Tehran, and is expelling Iranian diplomats from Canada.

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Roundup: The new Quebec landscape

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Now that she will be attempting to form a government in Quebec, Pauline Marois is vowing to toughen language laws and scrap the tuition hikes – but whether or not she’ll get enough support remains to be seen. And if she wants provincial control over EI, well, Diane Finley’s not keen to give up that power either. In the wake of the shooting at the PQ rally Tuesday night, the federal political leaders have all offered their condolences and condemnation. Paul Wells offers some perspective of previous incidents of violence ostensibly tied to the political debate in Montreal. Jean Charest has stepped down as the provincial Liberal party leader after a 28-year political career. Susan Delacourt remembers her encounters with him.

The shooting incident has several Liberal MPs recalling their own issues with security in the past.

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Roundup: Hiding “Angry Tom”

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NDP leader Thomas Mulcair talks to PostMedia about the upcoming fall sitting, and promises more “proposition” on the way. Um, except that under our system of Responsible Government, that’s not his job. His job is to oppose. Not to legislate, not to propose laws, but to hold the government to account, and you do that by opposing things. Perhaps he needs to look that up. He also says that he’s pushing past the “Angry Tom” label. Um, you have seen Question Period right, when the Conservatives pick at him and he goes completely unhinged? He’s still got a ways to go before he puts “Angry Tom” behind him, and perhaps the progress he has made is because there hasn’t been QP for the past few months. Just a thought.

Seeing as central registries and mandatory ID cards are not going to fly in this country, it looks like we’re stuck with the traditional mandatory short-form census. That said, it looks like they may need to add some new questions to capture missing data now that the long-form census is no more.

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