Roundup: Determining next steps with Meredith

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The Senator Meredith situation heated up fairly predictably yesterday, with the calls from all sides that he do the honourable thing and resign. While he quite quickly stepped away from the Independent Senators Group, he it wasn’t until much later in the day that he said that wasn’t going to resign. This of course, shouldn’t surprise anyone, given how utterly shameless he has been about this whole matter since it first appeared in the news.

While I understand the position of the ISG that they included him in their ranks because they considered him innocent until proven guilty (and you can see the full interview with Senator McCoy here), I would have to say that the Senate knew that this train was coming down the tracks, and I have to wonder why they haven’t really been preparing for this eventuality, which I haven’t seen, unless of course either the Senate Ethics Committee or the Senate Rules Committee have been quietly having discussions that I’m not privy to. Regardless, instead of people like Senator Peter Harder calling media to the Foyer to perform some outrage and sending public letters in the hopes of somehow shaming the shameless, they should be coming up with a plan and a process to do something about side-lining and eventually removing him. The key, however, is that this is going to need to be better than the haphazard and somewhat abusive process that was used with senators Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau with their own suspensions at the height of that bout of madness. The lack of due process there stuck in the craws of many senators and was largely the work of Conservative senators using their majority to bully through a means of trying to avoid Stephen Harper any further embarrassment. If they now want to see Meredith removed from his post and his seat declared vacant, they have to be utterly meticulous about this. Suspension will no doubt be the first step upon their return, and they are best advised to at least give him some kind of opportunity to at least speak to his defence before they suspend him and move onto next steps. Declaring his seat vacant would be unprecedented without a criminal conviction, but not impossible, if they do it right. That, however, is the real trick, and one that that will be difficult to manage, and even more so if senators are simply going about this as performative outrage where they need to be seen to do justice to appease a hungry press rather than ensuring that the laws of natural justice are upheld in the process.

Good reads:

  • The new head of Homeland Security visited Ottawa yesterday, largely telling us that everything is fine, there are no problems, stay calm, etc.
  • Jean-Yves Duclos gave a briefing on the “state of the middle class” as a pre-budget indicator (slides here), before he goes around the country to spread that message.
  • Ontario, Quebec and Alberta signed onto healthcare deals, leaving only Manitoba behind. Here’s a look at the weirdness of it all.
  • While the Americans say they could trigger NAFTA renegotiations in a couple of weeks, it’s far more complicated in reality as this thread demonstrates.
  • Supreme Court of Canada Justice Wagner says that we shouldn’t fear immigrants and refugees, because we have the tools to deal with cultural clashes.
  • Here’s a look at how Canadian diplomats use domestic wines to introduce and promote them to foreign markets.
  • As Conservative membership sales are closing in advance of the leadership race, here’s a look at whether they’ve managed to broaden their tent.
  • Here’s a look at why people candidates aren’t dropping out of the Conservative leadership race (and not because they’re craven).
  • Here’s an evaluation of Michael Chong’s carbon pricing plan and why it may be less effective than he thinks.
  • Kevin O’Leary says he can do battle with Rachel Notley using the power of social media. Erm, okay.
  • Andrew Coyne says that Canada shouldn’t play along if Trump decides to tear up NAFTA.
  • Paul Wells recaps Jean-Yves Duclos’ presentation on the state of the middle class in advance of the budget. Kevin Milligan has a discussion thread on it here.
  • Susan Delacourt talks about the notion of diplomatic silence, and the balancing act of when to speak up and when to shut up in politics.

Odds and ends:

The government put out a discussion paper on reforming the House of Commons procedures, and it’s already being panned. (I’ll write more on this next week).

Tabatha Southey unleashes on Senator Bayek, quite deservedly.