Roundup: Mulcair stands firm (for now)

Posted on by

The caucus meeting ran well overtime as Thomas Mulcair met with his MPs – assuming you call them “his” any longer, given the vote on Sunday – and when they did all finally emerge and faced the media, they put on a big show of solidarity, where they all got behind him in the Foyer. Mulcair announced that he was staying put for the time being, that they were united in this decision, and he was going to remain the caretaker until the new leader is chosen. Not that every MP felt quite the same, and perhaps none of them was more courageous than Don Davies, who bucked the trend of solidarity and it being unseemly to dissent in public, who openly said that while they were united, it wasn’t uniform. And here we are – Mulcair continues to be abrasive and snide in QP, and probably will for the foreseeable future, since he no longer has to care about appealing to anyone as he is on the slow departure. Meanwhile, Jason Markusoff writes about the party’s existential crisis in the wake of the convention, while Paul Wells reminds us that the NDP has been in existential crisis for years. John Geddes writes that the party had pretty much found its new leader – Megan Leslie – but she doesn’t want the job, and it doesn’t look like she’ll be convinced otherwise. (I would of course add that while Leslie ticks most of the requisite boxes, she also lacks enough of a killer instinct for political leadership, which would likely hobble her eventually). So we shall see how this all transpires going forward, but for now, Mulcair is digging in for the long haul, whether his caucus likes it or not.

Good reads:

  • The assisted dying bill gets tabled today, and debate can get underway before the court-ordered time limit expires.
  • The Governor General talks to Peter Mansbridge about things like refugees and the niqab debate, and skirts pretty close to the line about what is appropriate.
  • Stéphane Dion is promising to release more documents related to those Saudi LAVs, but also promises to cancel the export permits if they are misued.
  • Rick Hillier talks about how the Candian Forces are “fragile” in not getting the money and resources they need.
  • The Conservatives want the CBC to turn over the Panama Papers data, because there’s no problem with the government co-opting journalistic sources, right?
  • Three more senators have repaid their questionable expenses.
  • The Senate Liberals have invited the new senators to join their caucus if they so wish.
  • It looks like MPs’ travel expenses have declined sharply, possibly due to the scrutiny in the wake of the Senate expenses issue.

Odds and ends:

Huffington Post GIFed an epic eyeroll from Liberal backbencher Nick Whalen in response to Cheryl Gallant’s question on the military yesterday.

Outrage! The Prime Minister was out to dinner and a book launch while the emergency debate on Attawapiskat was taking place with the relevant ministers.