It’s not the least bit surprising, but it should remain shocking every time it happens. Jim Flaherty announced yesterday that the fall economic update will be released next week, when the House is not sitting, and will be read in Edmonton and not the House of Commons. In other words, one more slap in the face to Parliament by a government that does its level best to devalue it at every opportunity. Because why not go for the cheap optics of a controlled message and release, instead of ensuring the dignity and sanctity of parliament are upheld.
The news that Treasury Board rules dictates that the three suspended senators still get their pension contributions for the suspension period had Tony Clement spitting mad and vowing to change that, as the spirit of the suspension motion was being violated. Err, except that there is a very big problem with that kind of a move. It would likely mean opening up the Parliament of Canada Act, but plenty of klaxons and warning lights should be going off, because this needs to be handled carefully. The pay of parliamentarians is set out in statue in order to keep it from being abused, such as applying financial pressure if a government doesn’t approve of an MP standing up to them, or if the Senate’s independence gets too much for them. Thus, extending the lack of due process with these three and piling on with the pension issue would certainly appear to be a vengeful government that is abusing the system in order to continue their quest of political expediency. Wallin, meanwhile, says that this suspension is pretty much being expelled for life, because she can’t see that they would let her back in or give her any role if she is. One of Senator Brazeau’s assistants also went on Power & Politics to describe how this has affected her, and she is now losing her job and benefits as well.
The Languages Commissioner released his report yesterday, and finds some erosions in official bilingualism thanks to budget cuts and neglect. A bit more concerning however is his decision to weigh in on the government’s decision to commemorate historical events by warning that they could split the country along linguistic lines. I’m not sure that’s his mandate, and makes me worried that he may be overreaching.
The Estimates were tabled in the House, and shows some $690 million earmarked for disaster relief, such as in the floods in Calgary. But this is, of course, still early with those payments, and these never get fully settled until all of the bills are paid, the invoices submitted to Ottawa for them to deal with.
The government tabled legislation that would see that wounded veterans get first priority for federal public service jobs.
The government has agreed to waive the fees that had been holding up the return of a Libyan refugee and his family from returning to Canada after they were improperly deported and he then faced torture. Their return had been held up because the government wanted him to pay for his removal first, but they seem to have come to their senses, and must be hoping that he won’t sue.
John Baird wrote an op-ed in the National Post that was critical of Iran – “unnecessarily antagonistic” in the words of some experts. Iran responds by criticising Canada, and the tit-for-tat continues. What was it Joe Clark said about the adolescent tone of this government’s foreign policy?
The cluster munitions treaty is in the process of being ratified, but the government left a carve-out that deals with joint operations, as the Americans don’t plan on signing onto the treaty. As it happens, our allies like the UK and Australia also have similar carve-outs (so you can’t simply say this is all Harper’s fault).
The delays with the reference on Justice Nadon’s appointment to the Supreme Court means that we will see the possibility of more tie decisions as the Chief Justice decides to sit eight instead of seven on many of the upcoming cases.
As the Rob Ford five-alarm gong show continues to unfold in Toronto, close family friend Jim Flaherty got visibly upset when asked what he thinks Ford should do.
Dean Del Mastro’s court case for his conduct in the 2008 election has been pushed back to December 4th.
The Trudeau “ladies night” fundraiser evite “controversy” continued to swirl around as NDP and Conservative MPs and partisans took potshots, while the organiser of the event pointed out that nobody complained for a full month until the night before the event when partisan hay was made of it. And the accusations of sexism continue to swirl around…
And Kate Heartfield writes that Harper’s obsession with message control is at the heart of the ClusterDuff affair, and should earn the Conservatives the title of the real “Media Party” in this country.