Roundup: Proposing a debate commissioner

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Yesterday the government unveiled their plan to establish an election debate commissioner, who would set about coordinating leaders’ debates during the next election, along with proposed around which party leaders could participate – rules that would give Elizabeth May an in, but could exclude Maxime Bernier unless he gets an awful lot of candidates in place, and his polling numbers start to rise. The proposed Commissioner is to be former Governor General, His Excellency the Rt. Hon. David Johnston, who is a choice that nobody is going to want to dispute.

Of course, that hasn’t eliminating the grumbling and complaints. The NDP are complaining that they weren’t consulted before Johnston was nominated (not that they’re complaining it’s him), and the Conservatives are calling this a giant affront to democracy and add this onto their pile of complaints that Justin Trudeau is trying to rig the election in his favour. (Not sure how this does that, and it seems pretty cheeky to make these claims when their own unilateral changes to election rules in the previous parliament were panned by pretty much everyone). And Elizabeth May is overjoyed because the proposed rules would include her. Of course, Johnston still needs to be approved by Parliament, and he will appear before the Procedure and House Affairs Committee, but all of this having been said and done, there remain questions as to why this is all necessary. Gould went around saying that this was because Harper didn’t want to do debates in 2015, except that he did debates – he simply didn’t want to do the same “consortium” debates that are usually done and decided by the TV broadcasters, and he most certainly didn’t want to have anything to do with the CBC. The key point they seem to be making is that the 2015 formats saw far fewer viewers than the consortium debates typically attract, for what it’s worth. Is this a reason to implement a new system, that neither compels leaders to participate or broadcasters to air? Maybe, and people will point to the debate commission in the United States.

https://twitter.com/InklessPW/status/1057344603861397506

To that end, here’s Chris Selley asking some of those very questions, looking at some of the problematic behaviour from broadcasters in response to the changed formats from the 2015 debates, and offering some suggestions as to how this all could be avoided.

Good reads:

  • The PM’s forthcoming official apology for the Canadian government’s 1939 refusal to accept Jewish refugees will likely be marked by last week’s Pittsburgh shooting.
  • Karina Gould is changing her tune about imposing privacy regimes on parties…but wants more study on the issue, meaning it likely won’t happen this year.
  • MPs are contemplating citing the RCMP for contempt of Parliament for a webpage offering misleading advice on proposed gun control changes.
  • MPs on the justice committee removed problematic provisions around police evidence from the Criminal Code reform bill, but rejected most other amendments.
  • Here is a look at changes in the omnibus budget implementation bill that will affect Canadian banks.
  • New Brunswick is getting a greater exemption for their coal-fired power plants, while the McKenna says it needs to be phased out by 2030. (Own goal there, guys).
  • As StatsCan looks for transaction data from banks, they’ve already scooped up similar data from credit monitoring company TransUnion.
  • CBSA is planning on stepping up its removals of failed refugee claimants with a quota of 10,000 per year, but that could mean tougher cases staying longer.
  • CRA has collected more than $1 billion over the past five years through benefit clawbacks that can take a long time for people to reverse when it goes wrong.
  • The Correctional Investigator has released his annual report, and among other things, he calls for even more Indigenous healing lodges.
  • The father of a UK-Canadian citizen detained in Syria recounts his interactions with the Canadian government over his son’s attempted repatriation.
  • All federal opposition leaders sent a letter to the prime minister demanding by-elections be called right away. (Seriously?)
  • While Doug Ford has been doubling down on his lies about the carbon price, he’s also pledged to help Andrew Scheer take down Trudeau.
  • Scheer is also now claiming he respects the role of the media. (Sure, Jan).
  • Lisa Raitt is claiming her privileges have been breached because she wasn’t given the names of public servants responsible for a tweet gone bad. (I’m not convinced).
  • The NDP are calling for the 850-page budget implementation bill to be split up (and I think they’ve got a point on this one).
  • Senator Don Plett’s Twitter account got hacked, and he feared it was revenge from activists who’ve been opposed to his activities in the Senate.
  • Former GG Adrienne Clarkson has been billing $100,000 in public funds annually for “administrative support,” but with little transparency for what it’s for.
  • It looks like Calgary’s nascent Olympics bid is about to be put out of its misery because Ottawa wouldn’t cough up a disproportionate share of money.
  • Indian police have been busting call centres responsible for that “CRA” scam, and now the RCMP are finally getting involved.
  • Susan Delacourt points out the very different tone of debate on privacy issues when it’s StatsCan’s data collection versus that of political parties.
  • Jen Gerson gives a rousing kick in the ass to Albertans who cling to the “ethical oil” talking points as though it will win them their pipelines. It won’t.
  • John Ivison makes the salient point that the overheated rhetoric over carbon taxes is doing a disservice to Canadians.
  • My column looks at the Independent Senators’ demands to change the Parliament of Canada Act without actually knowing their own rules.

Odds and ends:

Tegan and Sara were on Parliament Hill yesterday to meet with Trudeau and other MPs about their foundation.

https://twitter.com/InklessPW/status/1057342030710398976

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