Roundup: Two suspensions and a resignation

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Two Liberal MPs – Scott Armstrong and Massimo Pacetti – were suspended from caucus yesterday following complaints of harassment by two NDP MPs. Thus kicked off a firestorm of calls for independent investigations, bringing in the Speaker, and yes, political gamesmanship. There was, of course, a time when this kind of thing would be handled by the whips and party leaders behind closed doors, but in light of the Jian Gomeshi allegations and the conversation the nation is having about sexual harassment more broadly, Justin Trudeau felt he had no choice but to suspend the members pending an investigation, so that justice was seen to be done. But the fact that he didn’t inform the unnamed accusers – who had brought the matter to his attention in the first place – that he was doing this is suddenly bringing up accusations that he “re-victimised them,” as opposed to leaving him open to accusation that he did nothing when he was made aware of the allegations. The details of all of what happened remain sketchy, and the NDP are even more opaque on what happened and won’t confirm the details that the Liberal whip has revealed, and even the allegations are mostly couched in terms of “personal misconduct,” which both suspended MPs deny, Pacetti going so far as to say that he still don’t know what it is he’s being accused of. Aaron Wherry has collected the various letters and statements that were put out from the Liberal Whip, the Speaker, Thomas Mulcair, Trudeau, and the two suspended MPs. Chantal Hébert recalls the kinds of harassment that was on open display when she first arrived on the Hill in the late 70s. The Ottawa Citizen editorial board says that this story, now part of that conversation about sexual harassment an assault in this country, will hopefully start to bring about change. Similarly, Canadian Business discusses the need to stop treating sensitivity training with mocking, but rather as a way to shift reporting away from the victims alone and putting more onus on bystanders.

Perhaps no less shocking is the immediate resignation of Dean Del Mastro in advance of what would have been a vote to suspend him without pay. Indeed, by taking the graceful route of resignation, Del Mastro may in fact have safeguarded his pension (given that it’s unlikely that any legislation to strip errant parliamentarians of their pensions would be retroactive). In his tearful speech, Del Mastro insisted that he would keep fighting the charges that he was convicted of, while the Prime Minister’s officer released a one-line statement saying that they wished Del Mastro and his family well.

Under the banner of “barring barbaric cultural practices,” the government is introducing new rules to bar people in polygamous or forced marriages from immigrating to Canada, and raising the age of marriage to 16 nationally. Never mind that it seems like this is more about optics considering that polygamy is already illegal and that those immigrants in such marriages tend to use other avenues to bring over other wives (such as “aunts” or caregivers) in a way that isn’t so open. It does raise a couple of other uncomfortable questions, like whether they plan to go after the breakaway Mormon sect in Bountiful, BC, or why they are taking a “not my problem” approach to practices they openly abhor.

The Conservatives have started advertising their new childcare tax cuts/income-splitting tax credit, saying they’re “subject to Parliamentary approval.” Didn’t they already get in trouble for doing this very same thing with the Canada Jobs Grant? You would have thought that they’d have learnt their lessons.

John Geddes, meanwhile, tries to sort out who benefits from those tax credits and has a hard time getting any kind of breakdown from the Department of Finance, and even then can’t find a compelling reason why families with children – and most especially two-parent families with children – should benefit the most. Andrew Coyne tries to defend the income-splitting proposal from its critics – but poses some questions to its proponents at the same time.

Incidentally, the government won’t say what kind of calculations they did on the small business EI tax credit either, which makes their claims about its benefits impossible to check.

While the government praises the work of SIRC in the face of demands for better oversight for national security agencies, Thomas Mulcair is letting his objections at the appointments of those SIRC members be known.

As Stephen Harper heads to China, he is expected to meet with Jack Ma, the richest man in China and founder of Alibaba Group, which is a sort of super-sized Amazon.com of China. Liberal trade critic Chrystia Freeland says that the fact that Harper is travelling with a large cabinet and business leader contingent is proof that the old Chrétien-era “Team Canada” trade missions were successful and the Conservatives are finally coming around to seeing it.

The World Health Organization wants the Canadian government to justify its decision to slap a visa ban on those travelling from west Africa, as the measure contravenes the International Health Regulations which we signed onto, and warns that people still trying to travel will find other means which could create a bigger problem.

Despite the fact that it is made up of government appointees, Tony Clement is distancing the government from the Public Sector Pension Investment Board after it was found to have set up a complex offshore tax avoidance scheme.

The three candidates for AFN National Chief will be Perry Bellegarde, Leon Jourdain and Ghislain Picard. The vote will take place December 10th in Winnipeg. Interesting that there are few candidates in this election, no women, and no outsiders.

Youth groups are outraged after taking Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz’s comments out of context and torquing them. Funny that.

As the government announced that they were giving 60 acres of the Central Experimental Farm to the City of Ottawa to build a new hospital campus, here’s a reminder of why the Farm is important for scientific research and why it’s a mistake to start breaking it up.

The late Corporal Nathan Cirillo’s girlfriend thinks that we need to have more of a conversation around mental health in this country,

And Lisa Raitt tells Don Martin that her surgery went off “perfectly.”