Roundup: Protection through body cams

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One of those bizarre incidents that happens from time to time overtook the conversation last night as Conservative MP Peter Goldring put out a statement at the end of the day declaring that he wears a body-mounted camera to protect himself from people who would otherwise abuse their authority or hide behind a cloak of anonymity – making clear connections to the current harassment allegations on the Hill – and suggests that others do so. A few hours later, the PMO sent out a statement claiming that Goldring was having trouble sending a statement of his own, but that he retracted it because it was ill-thought, and that was that. While people have been poking fun at Goldring all night – and equally being horrified that he would basically accuse the complainants of making up the allegations in order to trap the accused MPs, apparently – much of Goldring’s obsession with body-mounted cameras has gone ignored. I interviewed Goldring a couple of months ago (paywalled) after he put out a different release calling for the RCMP to all be issued body-mounted cameras, talking about all of the cost savings in court time that would be a result because there was a visual record and not just a notebook written in pencil that police officers could change at will. Most of this stems from this 2011 arrest for failing to provide a breath sample, for which he was cleared in 2013, but Goldring is now promulgating a notion that police routinely lie, and that video evidence is the answer to everything. These harassment allegations against those two suspended MPs seem to have pushed Golding over the edge, it would seem. Goldring, incidentally, is not running in the next election.

https://twitter.com/laura_payton/status/537807683743940608

https://twitter.com/inklesspw/status/537825035529244672

Good reads:

  • Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella has now retired – two days before aging out – and today, Senator Pierre Claude Nolin will be named the new Speaker. Curiously, Nolin is a proponent of marijuana legalisation and a vocal critic of the war on drugs.
  • The NDP appear to be warming to the idea of an independent investigation into those harassment claims.
  • The Conservatives are doubling down on the accusations against the Liberal candidate in Banff–Airdrie, despite the fact that someone else admitted to making the comments about income splitting.
  • Paul Wells writes about last weekend’s Halifax Security Forum.
  • Conservative phased out incandescent light bulbs, and were going to make the recycling of compact fluorescent bulbs mandatory because they contain mercury – but they’ve since backed away from that in favour of voluntary codes.
  • The Canadian Forces are having some difficulty meeting their diversity targets.
  • Much like the Conservatives’ promise of balanced budget legislation, their Red Tape Reduction bill looks to be unenforceable.
  • Pundit’s Guide updates the nomination races around the country.

Odds and ends:

New Brunswick has finally lifted their abortion restrictions.

On Tuesday, some interpreters in the Commons chatted with one of the microphones still open, and it was a good time.