Roundup: Craven and unnecessary

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While Andrew Scheer continues his effort to woo Quebeckers to the Conservative cause, he’s apparently decided to start carrying the Bloc’s water for them, and yesterday morning made the “important” announcement that a Conservative government would ensure that there was a single tax form for Quebec. Which…is a problem that the Quebec government created for itself and could put an end to at any time they choose by returning to the federal tax form that all other provinces use. Scheer insists that this is about listening to Quebec, but it’s just a bit more craven than that, and yes, it’s a promise fraught with problems when you get into the details. It’s also interesting to note that his message changed over Twitter over the course of the day, which makes it all the more curious that he seems to be doing this on the fly.

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1011393533343719425

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1011397075932549120

https://twitter.com/InklessPW/status/1011433391986655232

https://twitter.com/InklessPW/status/1011433535368937473

Mental health and Hill staffers

A Liberal Hill staffer, Paul Wernick, went public about a second suicide attempt, brought on by crippling depression and the stress of sixty-hour work weeks that life on the Hill is known for. His story makes some very important points that more Hill denizens should beware of – though he quit drinking years ago, there is a culture of drinking at the myriad of receptions that staffers attend with their bosses, and it can serve to self-medicate the stresses of the job, which is where things can get dangerous. There are resources available for staffers, but they may not be aware of them – Wernick says that he wasn’t, which shows that there’s still work to do when it comes to helping staffers out.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau has announced that he’ll skip Canada Day on Parliament Hill to visit three other cities across the country.
  • RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki promised the MMIW Inquiry that the Force will do better with its relations with Indigenous communities.
  • Apparently we’re not going to meet our female peacekeeper target for Mali, in part because more women are entering the RCAF and Navy than the Army.
  • The Irving shipyards have been leaning on the government to provide more maintenance contracts for the “gap” between shipbuilding contracts.
  • New regulations for plain packaging of cigarettes have been unveiled, and tobacco companies say the timelines are unrealistic and will foster the black market.
  • The RCMP is facing a $1.1 billion class action suit over bullying and harassment, this time not just from female members.
  • While the Conservatives have been howling that Islamic Humanitarian Service has been getting jobs funding, it turns out the Conservatives funded them as well.
  • Here’s a long read about the Blood Tribe land claim going on in Southern Alberta, which includes the history of settlement in the region by Mormons.
  • Police are totally promising shorter lines for Canada Day on Parliament Hill this year despite similar security levels. I’m totally sure that will happen.
  • Here’s a look at an academic paper focusing on countries that legislated gender quotas for their parliaments. (Note that they are mostly PR-based countries).
  • The Toronto Star re-evaluated a few of their Question Period fact-checks, but not apparently the ones where the context was deliberately left out to be misleading.
  • Jagmeet Singh says he can totally turn the listing NDP around. Really!
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column takes on the possibility of a snap election – not likely, but here’s how it could happen.
  • Chantal Hébert calls out Scheer and his Conservatives for lying and distorting about government policies for partisan gain, in the Trumpian vein.
  • Andrew Coyne looks at the calls to reform equalisation, and how they’re full of myths and half-truths.
  • Paul Wells thinks it’s time to stop putting so much focus on Canada Day on Parliament Hill and keeping the focus on local celebrations instead.

Odds and ends:

In this week’s Law Times, I spoke to defence lawyers about the public safety committee report on Indigenous people in federal prisons.

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