The news had the NDP crowing, but it’s a lot of sound and fury signifying almost nothing. Over in Saskatchewan, Brad Wall’s government decided to repeal their senate “nominee election” legislation, and pass a motion to declare that they are calling for Senate abolition. Which is all well and good, but that legislation was of dubious constitutionality since the Senate is federal jurisdiction, the selection of Senators explicitly spelled out in the constitution as a Governor-in-Council appointment, not to mention that Wall refused to actually hold these “elections” because Ottawa wouldn’t pay for them. And then there’s the fact that abolition would require the unanimous consent of the provinces to achieve. So Brad Wall set out a marker, for what it’s worth – but it’s hardly going to get any ball rolling, especially before the Supreme Court hears the reference case.
In the fallout of the suspension-without-pay of Senators Wallin, Duffy and Brazeau, the PEI Guardian gets a copy of the speech that Duffy would have given had he been well enough to show up at the Senate yesterday. Much of it is about the “good work” he did for PEI and proclaiming his innocence, for what it’s worth. His lawyer, meanwhile, is complying with RCMP requests and turning over all of those emails that he referred to in the lead-up to the suspensions. All three suspended senators, meanwhile, have lost their access to the Hill and their offices, and had their government credit cards and mobile phones cancelled or deactivated, but now there are questions about their pensions – does this time in suspension count towards it or not (as all three are not yet eligible)? Wallin threatens a lawsuit if hers is threatened, though it would almost certainly be laughed out of court, as would any attempt to due for wrongful dismissal, as the internal rules of the Senate are non-justiciable, not to mention that they are office holders and not employees. Duffy may also be eligible for disability because of his medical condition and the leave he was planning on taking before the suspensions went ahead. The other question has to do with Brazeau’s repayments, which were being garnished from his wages, and since he won’t be receiving those any longer, it remains an open question. Liberal Senate leader James Cowan, quite astutely, notes that the Conservative senators are making this up as they go along. Former Prime Minister Joe Clark worries that this sets a bad precedent, not so much for bad behaviour, but for when senators simply exhibit independent behaviour that the government of the day doesn’t like. Progressive Conservative senator Elaine McCoy is moving a motion at the Senate’s Rules and Procedures committee to ensure that any future disciplinary actions are dealt with in a manner more consistent with the Charter.
Paul Wells revisits the Conservative convention and Harper’s dud of a speech, which nevertheless played the greatest hits that made the base feel better and kept Harper from talking about the things he doesn’t want to talk about. Ken Whyte notes that the part of Senator Irving Gerstein’s speech at the convention that everyone else ignored was the fact that it confirmed that the era of Bay Street money playing a role in federal politics is now well and truly dead.
Departmental Performance Reports were tabled this week, and they show underspending at Transport Canada despite strained resources, concerns about service levels at Fisheries and Oceans in the face of budget cuts, and Parks Canada having issues with risk mitigation in the face of natural disasters.
Jason Kenney says the fact that some provinces and territories haven’t been fully spending the job training grants they’re being given is proof that they proposed Canada Jobs Grants programme is needed instead. Some of those provinces have responded by saying that they needed to develop parameters and to establish training programmes in their communities first, which is why their spending was going to be back-loaded.
A UN report says that greenhouse gas emissions continue to reach record levels, and will almost certainly miss 2020 targets, which may make it difficult to halt climate change before it reaches an increase of two degrees Celsius.
The federal government wrote off some $4 billion in debts last year, most of it from income tax files that could no longer be collected because of things like personal bankruptcies and avenues where collection has been “exhausted.”
Conservative MP Ted Menzies is retiring from politics, effective immediately. He previously announced he wouldn’t he running again and was not included in the cabinet shuffle as a result. He apparently has a new private sector opportunity in the works, and has had it cleared with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
Independent MP Brent Rathgeber gives his thoughts on the death of the rule of law in the Senate in the wake of those suspensions. He argues – quite correctly – that these senators may have fallen afoul of Officially Induced Error – that those expenses had been cleared by Senate Finance because of the nebulous rules, while the suspension of their pay likely goes against the Parliament of Canada Act, which seeks to protect parliamentarians from the kind of abuse of process witnessed. Not that such things matter for the show trials of political expediency. Kady O’Malley notes how Rathgeber has been flexing his independence in the Commons as of late (and it really has been a heartening sight to see someone take up the cause of Responsible Government so well).
Over in Toronto Centre, NDP candidate Linda McQuaig took aim at Justin Trudeau’s position on the Keystone XL pipeline after a debate on climate change was cancelled for non-participation. This has prompted the NDP to use today’s opposition day motion to denounce the pipeline, never mind the dodgy economics of their position. Some Liberals say that this will simply give Trudeau a chance to bolster his credentials out west. Meanwhile, a fundraiser that Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland is holding with a focus on women’s issues is facing derision for its patronising advertising.
And Andrew Coyne takes apart the “framework agreement” on pipelines between Alberta and BC, and sees it for what it really is.