Roundup: A (likely) electoral false alarm

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There were a few eyebrows raised in the Parliamentary Precinct yesterday when news came from the Procedure and House Affairs committee that the Chief Electoral Officer said that they intend to be ready for an election by the end of April, never mind that the fixed election date is October, and suddenly there was a renewed (but brief) round of election speculation fever (which was then suffocated by the Kavanagh hearings south of the border). Stéphane Perrault noted that they can basically run an election anytime under the previous contest’s rules, but they need lead time for future changes, which puts a clock on the current bill at committee if they want to have a chance for any of the changes to be implemented by next year’s election – and that assumes fairly swift passage in the Senate, which they may not get (particularly if the Conservatives are determined to slow passage of the bill down in committee as it stands).

Of course, I’m pretty sure that a spring election is not going to happen, simply because Trudeau’s agenda still has too many boxes without checkmarks – which is also why I suspect that we haven’t had a prorogation. And looking at how Trudeau has organised his agenda, so much of it has been backloaded to the final year, with plenty of spillover for him to ask for re-election in order to keep it going. (Things are also delayed, one suspects, because NAFTA talks have derailed things in the PMO, and sucked up much of the talent and brainpower. Suffice to say, I’m not taking any talk about an early election with any seriousness.

Meanwhile, more eyebrows were raised when Conservative MP Michelle Rempel claimed that she was being told to prepare for a fall election, which we’re 99 percent sure is just a new fundraising ploy, for what that’s worth.

Good reads:

  • While Donald Trump took (oblique) shots at Chrystia Freeland (we think), Ambassador Kelly Craft says the US respects her.
  • The EU trade commissioner has also come to Freeland’s defence, for what it’s worth.
  • The Canadian ambassador to the US is warning that any auto tariffs from Trump would fundamentally alter our two countries’ relationship.
  • The Commissioner of Corrections says she’s comfortable with the transfer of Tori Stafford’s killer to an Indigenous Healing Lodge (but will still review the file).
  • The Bloc moved a motion after QP yesterday to strip Aung Sun Suu Kyi of her honorary Canadian citizenship. It passed, but now the Senate needs to agree.
  • The Saudis are not yet in a mood to forgive or forget, and mocked Canada’s call for them to release women activists.
  • The Federal Court upheld the government’s decision to strip the citizenship of a former Nazi SS member who came to Canada.
  • Also in Federal Court, the government wants hearings on whether CSIS was spying on anti-pipeline activists to be held behind closed doors.
  • The Privacy Commissioner is slamming the government over inaction over the changing privacy landscape; the government says they’ll have new legislation soon.
  • The gong show known as Shared Services Canada has overbilled CRA and CBSA to the tune of $13 million, and refuses to refund them.
  • Paul Wells reflects on the Quebec election as it heads into the home stretch.

Odds and ends:

In light of Her Excellency Julie Payette’s bad press, Tristin Hopper muses that we could just replace her with Prince Harry with little fuss.

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