Peter Harder is asking the Senate for a budget of $800,000 to hire nine people to assist in his “government representative duties.” While I’m not opposed to the dollar figure, I’m a bit curious about why nine staff, but let’s back up first to the precedent that is guiding this whole exercise, being Stephen Harper’s fit of pique when Marjory LeBreton resigned as Government Leader in the Senate. By that point, Harper was being badgered and hectored daily about the ClusterDuff incident, as well as Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau, and he decided that his next Government Leader, Claude Carignan, was not going to be put into cabinet so as to give the appearance of distance. Of course, it was only the appearance, as Carignan was a minister in every respect but name, including being sworn into the Privy Council (necessary to get the briefing books to answer on behalf of the government in Senate QP). But because he wasn’t a minister, he couldn’t get funding from PCO for staff and needed activities, so Carignan went to the Senate and asked for a bigger budget, and he got it, hiring a staff of 14. With Trudeau now being fairly cute with the way he is handling the “government representative” file – Harder being sworn into Privy Council and able to attend cabinet meetings – the government decided that with the Carignan precedent, Harder can simply ask the Senate for the budget he needs. Now, he is getting some pushback about getting a budget without attendant responsibilities, such as answering in QP. They referred the decision to a subcommittee (that still hasn’t been filled), but I do wonder why nine. I can understand an admin staff, a policy person or two, a comms person, but without a caucus to manage, what exactly is so labour intensive about “shepherding the government’s agenda”? That’s a bit of time management, introducing the odd debate on government legislation, but what else would he be required to do? So perhaps we’ll get some answers, but it does seem a bit odd to me.

Good reads:

• The assisted dying bill was tabled, and it’s very narrow and conservative in nature, leading many to be disappointed. (More on the key players here).
• The Liberal whip apologised to the Commons for leaks of the assisted dying bill (never mind that leaks are a proud, bi-partisan tradition).
• The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Métis and non-status Indians are federal jurisdiction when it comes to negotiation.
• The Privacy Commissioner thinks the CRA should notify Canadians when their information is shared with the IRS.
• The Supreme Court has agreed to look at the issue of expats being banned from voting after five years away.
• Justin Trudeau has been repeatedly defending his corporate holdings after the Panama Papers leak, never mind that they’re above board and transparent.
• Marc Garneau says he’ll share information on dangerous rail crossings with municipalities upon request.
• The revenue minister is being summoned to Finance Committee to talk about the KMPG deal.
• The RCMP unionization bill is now in committee, and there are a lot of people unhappy about it, particularly members as it leaves things off the table.
• Any upgrades to our CF-18s will need to be made within five years if they’re to be economically viable.
• Michael Chong is throwing his hat in the leadership ring, as expected. I anticipate he’ll trumpet the Reform Act and play the role of the Great Reformer of Parliament.
• Stephen Harper’s son Ben co-authored an op-ed about deficits. No, seriously.

Odds and ends:

We now have the list of all of the various groups that nominated the seven new senators for their new positions.

A Senate bill on genetic privacy has passed, and now heads to the Commons.

https://twitter.com/cmathen/status/720733850201141248

https://twitter.com/cmathen/status/720734855613558784