Roundup: Grewal gives some answers

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Just when the drip-drip-drip of new information and the grasping of straws around the Raj Grewal drama was reaching its expiration date, it all blew up anew last night on two fronts. One was the report that the RCMP had been asked to investigate a Brampton infrastructure project where questions are being raised about a land deal and that information had been passed along to both Grewal and Navdeep Bains (and in QP yesterday, Bardish Chagger called the reports false and warned that if allegations were repeated out of the House, they would be met by Bains’ lawyer); the other was that Grewal released an eleven-minute video, releasing it both to the Globe and Mail and to his Facebook page.

In the video, Grewal methodically went through not only his gambling habits, but also the loans (all of which were done by “transparently” cheque and since repaid), and then went through all of the allegations around property ownership, loans, his wife’s finances, the aforementioned Brampton infrastructure project, and even the questions he was asking in the finance committee study on money laundering and terrorist financing. A lot of the information puts to rest speculation and shows how grasping at disparate information and forming a sinister narrative can be when there are fairly simple explanations – explanations that Grewal probably should have been making over the past week as this was coming out, and answering media questions when they called (though one probably has a bit of sympathy for the feeling overwhelmed by it all). What is news out of this, however, is that Grewal said that while he’s leaving the Liberal caucus and taking a leave of absence for his treatment, his announced intention to resign may have been premature, and he’s going to be considering it over the next few weeks – but would have a definitive answer before the House resumes in January. (So maybe Jagmeet Singh made the right call after all in not immediately jumping back to Brampton in anticipation of that seat opening up). I’m not sure this will stop the hyterial questions – particularly the risible notion that he was some kind of national security threat – but it does seem like a lot more questions are now answered than not.

Meanwhile, further to yesterday’s discussion about why MPs shouldn’t be subject to the same kinds of background checks as ministers, here is some more discussion about why it’s a Very Bad Idea.

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1068485192149389312

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1068486410464686080

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1068489389062254592

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1068491118122160128

https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/1068480047793618944

https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/1068481863348449283

https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/1068483537110614016

Good reads:

  • The New NAFTA has officially been signed (but not ratified), and now the battle shifts to legal challenges of the steel and aluminium tariffs.
  • Amarjeet Sohi has asked the NEB to look at whether existing pipelines are actually being used to capacity. This thread from Andrew Leach gives some more context.
  • The federal government announced plans to turn over Indigenous child and family welfare to their own governments, with legislation to come in the spring.
  • Despite Seamus O’Regan’s assurances, very little movement has been made in clearing Veterans Affairs backlogs according to their own figures.
  • G7 foreign ministers, including Canada’s, unanimously condemned Russia’s actions in detaining Ukrainian ships and crews.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously upheld that a VICE journalist should turn over his notes to the RCMP, but also gave guidance on protecting media.
  • PCO lawyers say that Stephen Harper needs to sign off on releasing documents that VADM Mark Norman’s defence is requesting, as they were his Cabinet’s secrets.
  • Jason Kenney insists that the Davie Shipyard was given the contract for the supply ship at the heart of the Norman case because of need, not electoral politics.
  • The “fractured” relationship with Saudi Arabia has their government looking for exit strategies from their existing agreements with Canadian businesses.
  • Alberta’s UCP has applied to be an intervenor in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal reference on the federal carbon price backstop.
  • Chantal Hébert notes that the lack of traction on Parliament Hill to Rachel Notley’s rail plans shows how politically isolated she has become.
  • Martin Patriquin looks at how Andrew Scheer is incapable of capitalising on the wave of populism that seems to be sweeping the globe.
  • Chris Selley makes the salient point that the real fix to our irregular border crosser issue is to ramp up IRB staff and resources, but nobody wants to discuss that.

Odds and ends:

Senator Simons recounts her harrowing near-miss tale of a lost wallet and a waiting flight (thread starts here).

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