Roundup: Shrugging off other harassment allegations

A suit was filed in Ontario Superior Court yesterday alleging harassment by an NDP MP Sylvain Chicoine, according to a former staffer – but it’s not quite the same as the other allegations that have gripped the Hill this week. Instead, it was another staffer in that office that harassed the female staffer who filed the suit, while she alleged that nothing was done because Chicoine acted in a sexist and misogynist manner by doing nothing about it, until he eventually fired her. The party closed ranks around Chicoine by saying that the staffer’s union had investigated and found nothing to be amiss, but were silent about the fact that they offered her a lesser data-entry job in the leader’s office if she agreed to drop her suit. Mulcair tried to claim that it had nothing to do with Chicoine but was simply a dispute between staffers – not true, according to the suit – and even went so far as to opine that as a lawyer, he thought her case was without merit – a rather unusual move for someone who was so concerned about re-victimization of other complainants just a day before. The change in tone between the two incidents is quite something.

Kady O’Malley looks at the previous harassment allegations from the positions of the lack of clear process for handling such cases, and the jurisdictional issues involved seeing as the Hill is a self-governing jurisdiction that is outside of most legislative frameworks (and to reiterate, MPs are not employees so they wouldn’t fall into any kind of conventional process as it is). It is thought that Justin Trudeau took the action that he did because of his experiences working for the sexual assault centre at McGill when he was a student there. Incredulously, Peter MacKay says that he’s never seen any harassment on the Hill. You know, the same guy who referred to Belinda Stronach as a “dog” during QP. Nope, no harassment here.

Andrew Coyne writes about the problem with the allegations themselves being kept anonymous, as well as the NDP’s worries about re-victimization suddenly evaporating once one of their own is accused of sexism and misogyny in the workplace. Stephen Maher offers a few more details in a recap of the situation along with the knowledge that the zero-sum game of politics does colour the reactions. Susan Delacourt writes about the culture of “being a good sport” that allows harassment to fester on the Hill. And in case you needed some reminding of the history of some of this kind of behaviour in Canadian politics, here’s a reminder of John Turner and his habit of patting people on the behind.

A leaked Pentagon briefing says that Canada has signalled that it wants to buy at least four F-35 fighters, which doesn’t make sense that it would be just four for all manner of logistical reasons, and would likely signal a commitment to go into the programme fully, despite the fact that they haven’t held an open tendering process. The government in QP said yesterday that no decision on fighter procurement has been made.

The NDP say that two of their MPs were denied access to the military base in St. John’s despite being invited. When asked about it in QP yesterday, the parliamentary secretary did a bunch of hand-waving about increased security.

Stephen Harper is expected to sign a deal with China that would create a currency trading hub in Toronto that would allow Canadian and Chinese businesses to trade directly, rather than having to convert everything into American dollars first, thus saving billions of dollars. Harper is said to also have raised concerns about violence against religious minorities in China.

Canadian and WHO officials met to discuss Canada’s restriction on travel visas from west Africa, but we can’t seem to get a clear answer as to what was discussed. The government says that the WHO is satisfied that it’s not a general travel ban, but the WHO isn’t saying just what was agreed to, if anything.

The Ottawa Citizen reconstructs the final few years of Ottawa shooter Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

Demand for poppies ahead of Remembrance Day has spiked this year, and over 19 million have been distributed so far – a record-setting number that is well over a million more than last year.

The Canadian Press puts the income splitting tax credit to their Baloney Meter™ and finds that there is no baloney to the Liberals’ accusations that the credit wouldn’t benefit 85 percent of Canadian households.

In advance of her visit to Canada, Princess Anne was in Washington DC to open an exhibit on the Magna Carta.

And Tabatha Southey writes about the Conservatives using the “hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold” trope to sell their anti-prostitution bill, while dismissing the actual experiences of sex workers who wanted the bill dropped, because it fit with their overall narrative.