Roundup: A curious silence

Posted on by

After a long weekend of seeing waaaay too much social media abuse hurled at Ruth Ellen Brosseau regarding The Elbowing, and both the Liberals and Conservatives coming to her defence, I am struck that no NDP MP has come forward to take any responsibility for the apocalyptic rhetoric they hurled at the Prime Minister on Brosseau’s behalf that she is now being blamed for, even though she didn’t actually say anything other than to acknowledge that yes, she was elbowed. Also, I remain bemused that people continue to muse about Justin Trudeau’s “anger management issues” and temper when it was Thomas Mulcair who exploded into a rage ball as it all happened, which forced MPs around to separate him physically from Trudeau. Also, amusingly, an Ontario newspaper took the Beaverton fake news article about the NDP showing up the day after The Elbowing in wheelchairs and neck braces as being true. So there’s that. Meanwhile, we’ve got a week for tempers to cool and to see if the House Leaders can come up with any kind of schedule regarding the remaining legislation that needs to be passed while ensuring the opposition feels they’ve had enough time to debate the assisted dying bill, while also noting that it looks like Parliament will sit extra late this year as the Senate contemplates those bills with likely amendments, and keeping in mind that President Obama is due to address a joint session of Parliament on June 29th – which is after the June 23rd date that the Commons was supposed to rise for the summer.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau is at the G7 meeting in Tokyo, and wants to put ransom payments on the agenda, while the Japanese impress upon him the issues in the South China Sea.
  • The government is looking at oral swab tests for marijuana as they contemplate how to deal with stoned drivers post-legalization.
  • CATSA is demanding more money from the government if people want faster airport line-ups.
  • After the issue that the Privacy Commissioner has had with CSE about reporting privacy breaches, it looks like he may have to go through it again with CSIS.
  • The new rules around government advertising don’t stipulate that old Economic Action Plan™ signs be torn down (as that’s the responsibility of project leaders).
  • The government is using a social media campaign around people directing laser pointers at airplanes, as prosecution rarely works.
  • While some Liberal MPs are divided about the party’s proposed new constitution, some riding association presidents want it withdrawn and more consultations.
  • The Conservative grassroots are going pretty much the opposite direction at their own convention, looking to weaken their leader’s powers.
  • John Ivison talks to Kevin O’Leary about his potential leadership bid, and it seems to continue to be a lot of wishful thinking at this stage.
  • Kate Heartfield writes about how MPs like Michelle Rempel and Catherine McKenna change politics when they talk about issues as women instead of partisans.

Odds and ends:

Here are interviews with Senator David Smith with the National Post and Rosemary Barton as he retires.

https://twitter.com/lopinformation/status/734791032735334401