Roundup: The obtuse Atwal angles

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Because the Jaspel Atwal story refuses to go away, due to equal parts of inept messaging by the government and obtuseness on the parts of both the opposition and much of the media, it seems like we should dig into a few more aspects of it. If you haven’t yet, read John Ivison’s column that threads the needle on just what the senior bureaucrats were warning about with regard to the possibility of “rogue elements” in India’s government, and the invitation that MP Randeep Sarai extended to Atwal while Atwal was already in the country. If more people read this, we would have far fewer of the questions we’re hearing about how both “versions” of the incident can be true. And hey, people familiar with both Indian politics and security services are adding that this is more than plausible.

https://twitter.com/mrmubinshaikh/status/969083935580880896

https://twitter.com/mrmubinshaikh/status/969341369583095808

In the meantime, opposition parties are trying to use their parliamentary tools to continue to make hay of this. Ralph Goodale got hauled before the national security committee yesterday, and he was unable to give very many answers – completely understandably – and suggested that MPs use the new National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians to discuss classified issues like this. It didn’t stop the opposition from trying to call the National Security Advisor to committee, but that was blocked. But as Stephanie Carvin points out below, MPs are not great at this kind of thing, and risk doing even more damage (and We The Media aren’t helping).

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/969329125579161601

https://twitter.com/stephaniecarvin/status/969345972978495489

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/969361059717971980

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/969362336405475328

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/969363708249026585

https://twitter.com/stephaniecarvin/status/969405817609969665

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/969406898700279809

In case you were wondering why the Conservatives dropped their planned Supply Day motion to try and wedge the government over support for a united India as a pretext to bash the Atwal issue some more, they faced an outcry of Sikhs in Canada and backed down (but are insisting that the motion is still on the Order Paper and can be debated on a future Supply Day).

In the meantime, India raised their tariffs on imports of pulses, and suddenly every single Canadian pundit joined the Conservatives in blaming it on Trudeau’s India trip and the Atwal accusations. Not one of them noted that India is having a bit of a domestic crisis with its farmers, and there is a global glut of pulse crops, which is depressing prices (for which India is trying to boost domestic production). But why look for facts when you can try to wedge it into a narrative you’ve already decided on? Cripes.

Good reads:

  • According to the budget, Status of Women is becoming a full-fledged department, while new gender and inclusion statistics will be gathered by StatsCan.
  • An item buried in the budget allows the CRA to share Canadians’ information with authorities from three dozen other countries as a way to fight tax evasion.
  • Donald Trump has announced new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, but we have no idea if Canada will be exempt or not. Those tariffs will affect shipbuilding.
  • DND trying to procure new gas masks ran afoul of the Americans who began a trade action over it, emboldened by the new era of protectionism.
  • Officials from Apple appeared at the industry committee to talk about their battery issues (while MPs got very performative about the whole thing).
  • Different stakeholder groups are pushing the new conspiracy theory that Bill Morneau is compromised on the pharamcare issue because of his former company.
  • Ralph Goodale says that promised gun control legislation will be tabled within weeks.
  • The government agreed to amendments to the Arms Trade Treaty bill, but critics say the US exemption is a giant loophole.
  • The Board of Internal Economy has come up with a new policy on not reimbursing legal fees for MPs whose harassment claims have been substantiated.
  • Saskatchewan wants its climate change funds from the federal government without having to fulfill the strings attached to it, which is adorable.
  • Colby Cosh says that while the campaign against the NRA is laudable, the real problem America faces is the Second Amendment.
  • With the recent Bloc turmoil, Paul Wells reminds us of their history, and whether or not the party was really meant to hold together.
  • Jen Gerson calls out the budget for not doing enough tangible thing for women – like childcare.

Odds and ends:

Here is an interesting look at the history of the Senate seniority board.

2 thoughts on “Roundup: The obtuse Atwal angles”

  1. Where is Randeep Sarai MP in all this, he is the one who created this situation by being more Punjabi than Canadian, another immigration success story.

  2. With respect, Sarai is just the sap who got thrown under the bus. The real culprits, for now, appear to be Daniel Jean and his enablers. Terry Glavin has a couple of dynamite articles in the Post and in Maclean’s.

    This is going to evolve like a John Le Carré novel and won’t end well.

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