As expected, the confidence vote on the government as it ordered a combat deployment to Iraq went ahead last night and passed with little trouble, and not without a great deal more political posturing on all sides. I’m not going to say we’re going to war, because that gives ISIS too much credit, but it does escalate Canada’s role in the region, though we’ll see how long any airstrikes will be effective for. The NDP are grumbling particularly about the door being opened to combat in Syria, while Liberal MP Irwin Cotler put out a release to state his reason for abstaining from the vote, which was eloquently stated when it comes to needing to engage in some form of combat against ISIS, but not agreeing with the way this government has gone about it. In the region, Matthew Fisher notes the logistical challenges that will mean it may not be until the end of the month before our CF-18s can begin making any airstrikes. Terry Milewski notes the divisions among those opposed to the combat mission, including former Liberal voices that want it to go ahead, while Michael Den Tandt looks at the way in which the Liberals were squeezed in this debate. Paul Wells goes back to the archives to find the ways in which the Liberals handled Iraq deployments in the past, and finds the curious ways in which history repeats itself.
The Environment Commissioner released her report yesterday, saying that the government has been dragging its feet on emissions reductions and it’s pretty much impossible to meet even the lower Copenhagen targets (never mind the more stringent Kyoto targets). This while Leona Aglukkaq pats herself on the back for all of the supposed efforts the government has made to date, which will amount to pretty much nothing seeing as nearly all of the reductions we have seen came from Ontario shuttering their coal-fired electricity plants. Meanwhile, there is no long-term plan for Arctic navigation, with outdated maps, survey data and navigational aids in the region. The Coast Guard also isn’t responding to the needs for those navigational aids in the area as well, which will be more used the more that Arctic ice breaks up. Incidentally, Alberta’s own Auditor General released his own report on the joint federal-provincial oilsands monitoring project, which is, in a word, lacking.
The Official Languages Commissioner also released his report yesterday which said that on the whole things are pretty good but certain institutions keep violating the rules year after year – Air Canada and CBSA being the worst offenders, followed by National Defence, Canada Post, and the CRA.
Janice Charette took over as Clerk of the Privy Council on Monday, with a lot on her plate, including trying to re-invigorate and modernize the public service.
The government has refused to say how much it cost to move the Election Commissioner out of Elections Canada and under the auspices of the Director of Public Prosecutions, first saying that it was a cabinet confidence, and later, during QP, that no costs had yet been incurred.
Bloomberg has a cracking read about the Energy East pipeline being the way around the stalled Keystone XL pipeline, and how it brings the Alberta oil companies into contact with the Irvings of New Brunswick for the first time, and the various and sundry dynamics that play out there.
The European Union has decided not to label oilsands oil as “dirty” after all, which means that the government can now declare victory about the whole thing.
The French government’s special envoy on climate change has found an ally in Thomas Mulcair, and earned the enmity of Stephen Harper, who has refused to meet with said envoy.
And a Sea King helicopter on a training flight was forced to land in a field in Nova Scotia and had to be towed back to base. Because it’s a Sea King, obviously.
https://twitter.com/nicki_doyle/status/519233711037243392