The House is back this week, though Harper is over in Europe. We will, however, see the first of the new line-up on the government’s front bench, with Joe Oliver taking Jim Flaherty’s place, and Greg Rickford filling in for Oliver. Add to that the NDP’s front-bench shake-up and we’ve got a new dynamic of Nathan Cullen versus Joe Oliver, which I can just imagine will be full of passive aggressive snark from Cullen and impatient grumpiness from Oliver, if previous interactions are anything to go by. It also sounds like we’ll see the budget implementation bill get tabled this week, so we’ll see if that is as crazily omnibus as their previous implementation bills have been of late.
Stephen Harper made his one-day stop in Kyiv and pledged Canada’s ongoing support for Ukraine, as well as expressed his admiration for their restraint in the face of obvious provocations. He is now in the Hague for an emergency G7 meeting to urge tougher actions against Russian president Vladimir Putin. Also going on in the Hague is a Nuclear Security Summit, but for all of Harper’s tough talk, it remains to be seen if European G7 leaders will be willing to listen, as they have more at stake with Russian interests.
In the fallout of the Supreme Court’s decision on Justice Nadon, parliamentary secretary Bob Dechert mused vaguely that the government may still try to get Nadon appointed to the top court when he said that “all options were on the table,” which would be a ridiculous move at this point, and Nadon himself had best state that he agrees with the results of the reference and remove himself from consideration. (I suspect, however, that Dechert wasn’t adequately briefed about what “all options on the table” really meant). Aaron Wherry reviews what MacKay told the Senate committee about the declaratory provisions they passed around the appointments, and tries to parse what Dechert said in a little more context.
In the Quebec election, there was some craziness over the weekend after accusations from the PQ that out-of-province students were somehow trying to steal the election – a conspiracy theory that the province’s chief electoral officer threw cold water on almost immediately. Paul Wells works his way through the various accusations and finds that the election is quickly becoming a referendum against the PQ’s siege mentality, where they fear the world is against Quebec.
Documents obtained by Access to Information show that at the height of the Meech Lake Accord drama, then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney squarely blamed Pierre Trudeau and soon-to-be Liberal leader Jean Chrétien for the Accord’s demise during a cabinet meeting. Mulroney also blamed Newfoundland and Labrador premier Clyde Wells for “breaking his word, “ while ignoring the role played by Manitoba MLA Elijah Harper, who filibustered a vote because Aboriginal chiefs across the country were also staunchly opposed to the Accord.
CSIS is tracking some 80 Canadians who returned home after being abroad for “terrorist purposes.”
John Geddes talks to Stephen Saideman about putting the Afghan War into the larger context of Canada’s participation in NATO.
Dave Hancock has been sworn in as premier of Alberta. And no, he’s not “interim premier” as there is no such thing. He is interim party leader until they choose a new one, but he’s still premier. The Queen doesn’t appoint part-timers to the role.
Susan Delacourt writes that since the government is trying to make so many fundamental changes to the institutions that govern us, be it the Senate, the Supreme Court or Elections Canada, that perhaps it’s time to put it to a kind of referendum and have an election now.
And Scott Feschuk provides a handy FAQ for PQ candidates in the Quebec election, including the rules to Sovereignty Club and imaginary countries.