Roundup: Big tent divisions

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There was an interesting and perhaps somewhat revealing interview in The Hill Times yesterday where openly gay MP Rob Oliphant let it be known that despite the outward acceptance of LGBT issues in the Liberal Party, it is not a universally held opinion, and that there are still undercurrents of the “love the sinner, hate the sin” attitude that still reside within some of its members. As an example, MP John McKay – a noted evangelical Christian – was quoted as saying that his feelings about same-sex marriage haven’t changed, even though he considers the issue settled. It’s that line between tolerance and acceptance, and Oliphant rather adroitly points out that the line is still there within his own caucus. It also seems to me to be a kind of oblique explanation for why the government wound up taking such a tough line on the assisted dying bill – to the point that they would rather see it go back to the Supreme Court of Canada in order to suffer a defeat and be “forced” to deal with the issue as it was originally laid out in the Carter decision rather than to go along with it on their own. There are other lines within the party where Trudeau has forced the issue with his candidates and caucus, such as abortion (McKay being an opponent, as was Lawrence MacAulay until Trudeau’s edict), and it would seem that the same line is being threaded with the assisted dying issue. The difference is that with this one, Trudeau did not force the issue with his caucus and insist that this is a Charter issue that they will be whipped on (never mind that the Carter decision very clearly stated that yes, this is a Charter issue and this is why the current law is not adequately ensuring access for these Canadians with grievous and irremediable suffering). And it did seem that it was originally going to be the case where this was going to be a whipped vote on Charter lines, but he backed away from that under some public pressure from the media. How much of that was from push-back from the caucus and the broader party membership remains to be seen, but it would seem that the attempt to create the broadest possible tent is forcing some uncomfortable compromises, and in this case, Trudeau made the calculation that this wasn’t a battle he was willing to fight within his own base, never mind that he had the Charter argument right there. Instead, we are left with an inadequate law that will be challenged again (and one hopes not at the expense of another suffering family), and the reminder that while the public face of the Liberal Party is one of progressivity, there remains a social conservative undercurrent of the party that the leader’s declarations haven’t entirely done away with.

Good reads:

  • The finance ministers of eight provinces came to an agreement on CPP expansion.
  • In order to deal with the high volume of immigration complaints they receive, Liberal MPs have formed regional caucuses to help address their concerns.
  • Commemorative medals for the sesquicentennial were approved a year ago, but the current government won’t confirm that they’ve cancelled them.
  • We’re starting to get a good picture of how campaign spending was breaking down in the last election.
  • The government has promised a top-to-bottom review of the environmental assessment process over the summer.
  • The blood donation ban for gay men will be made less restrictive, but still not fully lifted, as the government had promised to do.
  • Peter MacKay has been shilling for the F-35s lately, and David Pugliese shows why this could be a problem for that cause.
  • Here is more information regarding some of the allegations of Canadian military police actions with Afghan detainees.
  • The Hill Times has a deep dive into the conflict of interest filings that Dominic LeBlanc has to make around his friendship with the Irving family.
  • The Senate has retained a law firm to review its case against seven former senators who haven’t repaid their expenses deemed to be improper.
  • Justin Trudeau will be off to Ukraine next month to sign a trade deal.
  • Kady O’Malley sizes up the new electoral reform committee now that the members have been announced.
  • On the Brexit Debate, Andrew Scheer takes the Leave side, while Bob Rae argues for Remain.
  • Nathan Tidridge calls for greater clarity in the relationship between the Crown and First Nations.
  • Andrew Leach writes a lengthy post about the costs of climate change policy to the broader economy (as well as the costs of inaction).
  • Stephen Gordon reminds us not to fix what isn’t broken about the pension system (while offering suggestions on what to fix).

Odds and ends:

A fundraiser that Bill Blair attended before he declared his intention to run for the Liberals has become a bit of a headache with money laundering arrests.

The Crown won’t appeal the acquittal of Dean Del Mastro’s cousin on electoral financing irregularities.