Roundup: A very big repayment demanded

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The Commons Board of Internal Economy has ruled, and the NDP have been determined to owe some $1.17 million for those improper mailings, $36,000 of which is owed to the House of Commons, the rest they need to work out with Canada Post for the abuse of their Franking privileges. The NDP, of course, are spitting mad, calling it the work of a hyper-partisan kangaroo court, and declaring that they will seek judicial review of this decision in the Federal Court. This is also before there is any decision made about their “satellite offices,” which could mean that they will wind up owing even more money, and I’m sure there will be even more threats of lawsuits and judicial review, none of which serves anyone’s purposes, though the NDP’s status as paragons of virtue is certainly being tainted by all of this. If nothing else, they are now sounding very much like another party that got in trouble for being cute with the rules – unless you have forgotten about the whole “In & Out” affair.

Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, tabled his Private Member’s Bill for the current parliament, which will legislate a default transparency for the Board of Internal Economy, and aims to make some changes to the Access to Information regime, including doing away with any fees above the nominal $5 charge per request (though one wonders if that segment may make the bill one that requires the spending of funds, given processing costs for some of those requests, which would in turn mean a Royal Recommendation). While it will likely see debate sometime in the fall or in the New Year, it could also serve as a template for a bill by a future Liberal government if it doesn’t pass this time around (not that I’m a fan of parties that do this with private members’ business, as it defeats the purpose of such bills). And yes, there are similarities to some attempted NDP bills in the past. Thomas Mulcair was “delighted” by the proposal but felt that the Liberal should walk out of the Board meeting to make a point, which of course does more to serve NDP interests than Liberal ones. The NDP tried to move a non-binding motion in the Commons to open up the Board, but that failed, which was not unexpected. I do wonder about the unexpected consequences of opening up the Board of Internal Economy, which may make matters of Commons administration even more partisan once the cameras are on them, rather than allowing them to be more collegial as they tend to be when attention isn’t focused on them. Not that more transparency isn’t a good thing, but there is a pattern for the way things go when the cameras are on.

Laura Payton enumerates five political dirty tricks that were aired during the Sona/misleading robocalls trial in Guelph.

Former TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond put out a report yesterday that calls out the government for its poor quality of labour market information, which makes all labour decisions, from education to immigration, difficult because provincial aggregate numbers can’t give anyone an accurate picture. Jason Kenney has promised that the government would launch two new labour force surveys to help identify some of those areas where there are shortages, and to hopefully help with the issue of temporary foreign workers.

Former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge is questioning the wisdom of a single-minded focus on paying down the deficit, saying that there is a place for government to invest in improving competitiveness and growth.

The OECD says that Canada’s urban housing markets are overvalued, which is increasing inequality. They recommend limiting CMHC mortgages, which seems to slowly be happening already.

A broken generator aboard the submarine HMCS Windsor has wound up costing $18 million in various repairs to the boat.

Aaron Wherry writes about the Conservatives’ talk of leaks with the Supreme Court nomination process, and is reminded of the party policy of a vote in the Commons ratifying appointments – one of the worst proposals because it launders the Crown prerogative of appointment and muddies the accountability of the Prime Minister.

Because we’re still talking about this, Justin Trudeau said that abortion shouldn’t be left up to male legislators to decide. Now can we please let it go?

Senator Elaine McCoy writes about why she won’t be supporting the Fair Elections bill.

Jim Flaherty’s will shows that his assets were relatively modest, totalling under a million, which reinforces that his decision to retire did have a lot to do with returning to the private sector to boost his earnings.

Alheli Picazo writes about the futility of the “decline your vote” movement that people are trying to start in Ontario, and makes the important point about the need to get involved in the process. I tweeted a couple of added thoughts in response.

And Wendy Mesley has a twenty-minute documentary about a former political fixer from Quebec, who ran false campaigns provincially, and helped to fix the race for Mulroney. It’s pretty amazing to watch, that this was how politics was done in the era without the rules we have today.