Roundup: Frosty relations

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Jennifer Ditchburn remarks on the frosty state of relations between the Liberals and the NDP on the Hill these days, with each side accusing the other of playing dirty politics around the harassment allegations, and from what I’ve heard behind the scenes, even dirtier politics were being attempted but got blunted along the way. The NDP have tended to always have a particular loathing for Liberals, and recent events seem to have made everything worse. That said, I’ve also noticed a certain intensification of enmity toward the Liberals from both the Conservatives and the NDP in venues like Question Period of late. While Harper will respond to NDP questions by chiding them about something or being simply dismissive, with the Liberals he throws out accusations and dredges up irrelevant history. The NDP have increasingly tried to tie the Liberals into questions that are supposed to be directed toward the government, or to invent credit for the good things the Liberals are doing. It’s almost as if both see where the real threat to their fortunes lies.

Good reads:

  • The Privacy Commissioner has concerns about the “cyberbullying” bill post-Supreme Court decision on Internet privacy. The government says there’s no problem, but they would say that.
  • The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of whether or not Métis and non-status Indians should have the same right to programmes and services as First Nations and Inuit.
  • Aaron Wherry annotates the Finance Committee discussion on the EI tax credit that Joe Oliver admitted that he didn’t get a departmental analysis for.
  • The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner found that while Shelly Glover didn’t break the rules outright with that fundraiser in her riding that invited members of the arts community, the rules are vague and need to be tightened up. I’m sure the Ethics Committee will get right on that.
  • Rona Ambrose got all defensive at committee when challenged about the government’s new anti-pot ads.
  • Here’s a bit more on that Ebola vaccine testing issue.
  • Andrew Leach looks at how falling oil prices are affecting the oilsands (hint: not as much as you might think).
  • Remember how the government hiked fees for passports, saying it was necessary for cost-recovery given all of the new security features in them? Well, as it turns out they are making plenty of money from those new fees above cost recovery, and that may actually be a problem.

Odds and ends:

Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella is stepping down next week.

Here are the finalists for the Samara “Everyday Political Citizen Awards”

https://twitter.com/mikepmoffatt/status/535445748037345280

https://twitter.com/mikepmoffatt/status/535445886239645696

https://twitter.com/mikepmoffatt/status/535446146814988289

https://twitter.com/mikepmoffatt/status/535446299240173568

https://twitter.com/mikepmoffatt/status/535446812895621120