Roundup: Camembert and clutched pearls

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In the media feeding frenzy yesterday morning, appetites whetted by unconfirmed reports by CTV that some 40 senators got additional letters from the Auditor General looking for further clarifications on expenses audited, one particular senator got swarmed while waiting at an elevator. Senator Nancy Ruth, who is a character who shoots from the hip and a pretty deadpan sense of humour, expressed her concerns about the Auditor General not understanding the role that a senator plays – in her case, as a feminist activist who brings a gender analysis lens to the work she does in the Upper Chamber – and then noted that the auditors were getting really picky to the point of being weird, like asking why her assistant expensed a breakfast when she should have eaten on the plane on her flight from Toronto to Ottawa. Nancy Ruth, deadpan, said that airplane food was awful, with “ice cold camembert and broken crackers.” But immediately We The Media clutched our pearls that she made such a quip. Camembert? That sounds awfully fancy! Why, normal Canadians would only eat blocks of Kraft cheese, thank you very much. And suddenly it became held up as a symbol of the Senate’s problems, and its members’ “entitlements.” There is this terrible strain of petty cheapness in our media – we’re aghast that things cost money (look at the renovations to Parliament Hill, much of which had been allowed to deteriorate because of the optics of spending money), and if someone puts up a dollar figure without context, it’s all the more fodder. If someone makes a legitimate expense, well, “ordinary Canadians” don’t get these expenses (err, except they do), so we try and shame them for claiming things that are within the rules. The moral panic around taxpayer dollars can be terribly provincial because it tends to be so very petty, this enviousness that some people are rewarded for doing long and difficult work – and make no mistake, the life of a senator is far less glamorous than people like to make it seem, particularly if you have a gruelling travel schedule to a lonely city like Ottawa and back. And it is a lot of work, both on Senate files and the kinds of projects that Senators take on because they have a position and a platform by which to champion them. But rather than acknowledge it, we begrudge it and we try to make everyone resent it too. Is it any wonder there is such cynicism about politics in this country? We stoke it at every opportunity. Maybe the problem is us, and our inability to roll with a quip or a joke, too busy clutching at our pearls instead.

https://twitter.com/jordanowens/status/583346556625154048

https://twitter.com/jandrewpotter/status/583450918303232000

Good reads:

  • The Chief of Defence Staff had to clarify explicitly that no, Canada is not the only American ally with smart bombs, and so Jason Kenney took responsibility…by blaming bad briefings. Err, that’s not how responsibility works.
  • A day after it was deemed “classified,” Jason Kenney revealed that the Iraq and Syria mission would cost $528 million by next year, while the baseline DND budget keeps shrinking.
  • CBC tries to look at which party leaders are eligible for which family tax cut.
  • His bill on reforming Access to Information defeated, Justin Trudeau has vowed to make it an election issue. (Oh look – another policy plank).
  • Philippe Lagassé argues that Parliament still exerts influence and is not entirely irrelevant as some would claim.

Odds and end:

The NDP have been granted a brief reprieve in repaying for their satellite offices until the April 21st Board of Internal Economy meeting, as the committee has opted not to begin collecting until then.

Pundit’s Guide catches us up on where the parties are at with nominations.

And unbound from caucus, James Lunney went full bore on trying to defend his “intelligent design” views while decrying “crowd shaming.”

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/583353345353584643