Much ink and many pixels are being spilt over this Iraq announcement yesterday, and I’m not a foreign affairs person, so I’ll leave most of that analysis to people who are. Harper has announced that we’ll be sending six CF-18s, one refuelling jet, two Aurora surveillance aircraft, and that the up-to-69 special forces military advisors will remain on the ground for another six months, and that they are not to engage in combat operations. The air strikes would only be in Iraqi territory unless the Syrian government authorized strikes in their territory as well, which is unlikely (and who wants to be seen to be supporting the Assad regime?) He also worded his motion that he’s presented to the House in such a way that it’s not authorizing the deployment, but that it support the decision to send those forces. (This part is important because it’s less of a trap when it comes to accountability). In response, Thomas Mulcair gave a categorical no, while the Liberals said they can’t support this motion – key distinction there – but they don’t think that the PM has made the proper case for why air strikes are the best tool when we could probably contribute more in other areas, and while Harper says that it’s not an either/or proposition, it could easily be pointed out that the government really lowballed the figures for the Libya mission until the final totals came in, and that those other areas would suffer if we put more eggs into the air strikes basket. Calling our CF-18s aging and casting doubt on their capabilities probably wasn’t the smartest move, however, and insisting that we can do more in a non-combat role does give the impression that the Liberals are becoming pacifistic and shirkers of the heavy lifting that needs to be done. Elizabeth May also made some good points about the road to hell being paved with good intentions, which we have in spades in this situation. David Pugliese gives a Q&A on what the proposed mission entails. Robert Fisher talks about the positive response from the region. Steve Saideman parses the politics of it all, reminding us that this is the land of lousy policy alternatives.
There are suggestions that the holdup on delivering the experimental Ebola vaccine to West Africa has to do with an intellectual property dispute, and that it may be administrative delays. In QP yesterday, Eve Adams insisted that the government owns the doses and the IP, and that they are waiting on coordination from the World Health Organization.
The talk is that the government will start talking tax cuts, if not in the fall economic update then certainly in the spring budget, in order to meet election promises for things like adult fitness tax credits and doubling the children’s fitness tax credit. The announcement that the deficit was lower than predicted last year is leading the speculation that these kinds of things will happen sooner.
The RCMP want to double the size of their Ottawa-based cyber-crime division.
Kellie Lietch has announced $1.1 million to fund eight projects focused on preventing cyber and sexual violence against women.
New e-labelling regulations will open the door for more wearable technologies in Canada, like Apple Watch or Google Glass.
Eve Adams requested a BC winery ship bottles to Ottawa for a Parliamentary wine contest – except that interprovincial trade barriers still exist in Ontario when it comes to wine, even though the federal criminal barrier was removed. Said BC winery was not impressed.
Conservative MP (and former minister) Keith Ashfield says his cancer has returned, but he still plans to run again in 2015.
Here’s a brief piece about the value of committees, and how they can work best when the cameras are off and they are behind closed doors.
The Ottawa Citizen’s Gargoyle column rounds up a number of smaller bits and pieces from around the Hill.
And here’s some video of the divers exploring the wreck of HMS Erebus.