Roundup: Parting shots after the furore

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As the furore around the transfer of Tori Stafford’s killer dies down now that she has been moved back to another medium-security facility (but not “behind bars” as there aren’t any in women’s institutions in this country), the Conservatives and Conservatives are trying to get parting shots in. While the Conservatives have been demanding apologies from the Liberals because they’re still sore that they were called ambulance chasers, the Liberals’ parting shot was delivered on Friday as Karen McCrimmon, the parliamentary secretary for public safety, let it be known on Power & Politics that other child killers were transferred to healing lodges under the Conservatives. Hold up, said P&P, and while McCrimmon couldn’t give any names, the show went and checked. And lo, since 2011, twenty people convicted of killing a minor have been moved to healing lodges, 14 of them under the Conservatives. Now, we don’t know any of the details of these transfers, and how along they were in their sentences, or anything like that, because the families of the victims didn’t come forward like Stafford’s father did. But it certainly blows the Conservative narrative that this is somehow a Trudeau/Liberal “soft on crime” policy out of the water.

So, a couple of observations: The Conservatives keep insisting that they weren’t the ones who politicised the issue, and yet they are simultaneously patting themselves on the back for “forcing” the government to act, when the government ordered a review within a couple of days of this transfer going public. That sounds an awful lot like politicising it. Their talking heads have also been going onto the talk shows to insist that the Liberals were the ones who started the “name calling” and “insults” first, when it was only after a day of sustained questions that got increasingly graphic and overwrought that Trudeau accused them of ambulance-chasing politics. In other words, they are trying to play victim. There is also a certain amount of utter shamelessness when they insist that things that happened under their watch (the aforementioned killer being transferred from maximum to medium security, or now these other child-killer transfers) are somehow different because we’re talking about the here and now. I get that this is politics, but at some point, one has to wonder why there is a lack of shame around any of what goes on.

Good reads:

  • At the ASEAN meeting in Singapore, Justin Trudeau challenged Canadian companies to do more trade with Asia. This means face-time, not just trade deals.
  • Trudeau also says that talks are ongoing around a Pakistani Christian woman who faced blasphemy charges.
  • It looks like Canada is in a hurry to sign the New NAFTA because the Americans are preparing even more auto tariffs that the agreement should protect us from.
  • Despite Canadian officials having heard the Khashoggi murder tape, there is no move to suspend Saudi arms sales…at least while the review is ongoing.
  • While Trudeau praises a free press, Canadian journalists were barred from a speech Bill Morneau gave in Beijing due to a “misunderstanding.”
  • The government’s funding for scientific research is increasing and going to more women and minorities, but funding for research in the civil service is slipping.
  • The three used icebreakers the government will lease from Davie shipyard cost more than anticipated thanks to tariffs and fees. Try to look surprised, everyone!
  • Canada Post is suspending its service guarantees during the rotating strikes (which should surprise exactly nobody).
  • Overdose deaths in Canada have more than doubled in the last five years due to the ongoing opioid crisis.
  • Canada’s Radarsat Constellation Mission project is facing more delays and cost increases.
  • The Canadian Forces can’t explain how one of their special forces members wound up allegedly taking $23,000 worth of equipment.
  • The MMIW Inquiry is getting another $38 million as part of the Supplementary Estimates.
  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declined to appear at a joint Canada-UK committee hearing on cybersecurity and privacy.
  • The Procedure and House Affairs committee is looking to tweak the rules around the new House of Commons e-petition system.
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks at the problems in putting Order Paper Question responses online, and why that’s causing delays.
  • My column looks at the Federal Court decision that struck down the claim that Canadians should be allowed a “none of the above” option on their ballots.

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