Roundup: Crowing over a very little

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The NDP spent an inordinate amount of time crowing over social media yesterday about how they scored a “procedural coup” and “forced” a debate on the report of the special committee on missing and murdered Aboriginal women. The problem is that it’s not really true. Yes, they moved a concurrence motion during Routine Proceedings after QP on Friday, as is their right – but they didn’t surprise the government or catch them off-guard, as Romeo Saganash said during QP that they would be moving such a motion. Giving 20+ minutes notice is not “catching the government off-guard.” And when they forced a 30-minute vote and proceeded to this concurrence motion, the government voted with them and agreed to the debate, which again, puts the “forced” or “coup” narrative to the test. The report itself doesn’t recommend a national inquiry, seeing as it was a Conservative-dominated committee, and while the NDP wanted to highlight their dissenting report appended to it, it still gave the government side plenty of time to discuss their version of said report. So with these facts in mind, you will forgive me if I find the social media triumphalism a bit much.

Speaking of tactics, the NDP continue to block committee travel despite the fact that the Fair Elections Act passed, as was their way of trying to force public hearings on the bill. It’s almost like they think this won’t come around to bite them…

The Royal Canadian Navy has announced that they will be retiring four of their aging vessels – our two remaining supply ships (one of which was heavily damaged by fire), and two of our three destroyers (one of which has been tied up due to extensive rust damage). While we can more or less get by without the destroyers due to the new command & control systems in our upgraded frigates, we will have no resupply vessels, and will be dependent upon allies to fulfil that role for us, and won’t be able to provide that role to our allies. And no, we won’t see new resupply ships until maybe 2019. Maybe.

The CRTC hearings into the future of television had a somewhat tense day with Netflix appearing before the regulator and refusing to give up information, saying that they felt it wouldn’t be treated confidentially – which the Commissioner did not appreciate at all. And while Netflix may not like it, the CRTC still has a mandate to fulfil, and people who think that we have outgrown the need for CanCon regulations on television seem to have an overly rosy view about the economics of television production and the history of Canadian private broadcasters when it comes to living up to their obligations.

Jean Chrétien says that the UK government consulted with him about the Scottish referendum, given his experience with trying to run a “no” campaign in 1995. Here’s an interesting look at the role of the Queen in the whole referendum affair (though the minor quibble is that it’s not necessarily fact that an independent Scotland would have needed a Governor General).

Russian jets flew close to Canadian airspace around the same time as the Ukrainian president was in Ottawa.

John Baird gave some tough talk at the UN about the need to support the fight against ISIS, calling them a “toxic mix of medieval ideology with modern weaponry.” Our contribution remains military advisors and non-lethal aid.

Kady O’Malley looks at the amended Reform Act, and how it will wind up doing very little – not that the original bill was going to be the panacea of our democratic woes and that it was largely unnecessary because most MPs already have the needed powers but tend not to exercise them.

New Liberal MP Arnold Chan articulated some of the democratic and parliamentary reform ideas that the Liberals are actively considering.

And with a Royal Tour by the Princess Royal coming up in November, the government updated their Canadian Crown app with some new photos, just in case you were wondering what you’re missing. (Answer: not much).