Roundup: Starting the Big Move

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Yesterday was the final day that Centre Block was officially in operation. As of today, the big move starts happening, starting with the House of Commons chamber, and will be followed by the other major offices, like the Speaker, the prime minister and leader of the opposition, with the heritage furniture that will continue to be in use. And once that’s done and the building is empty, they can start to open up walls and ceilings to figure out the state of the building, and determine what needs to be done in terms of renovations and restorations, and from that point determine a price tag and timeline. At present, everything is just a guess, so we’ll have to stay tuned. (Here’s a photo gallery of the current House of Commons and Senate, and the new Commons).

The Senate, however, is a different story. Recent testing of the new chamber brought to light the fact that there are acoustic problems related to sound leakage that were first identified two years ago, and despite assurances from Public Works, it wasn’t addressed. That means they have to install new sound baffles which will delay the move by several weeks, which means that there will be even fewer weeks for the Senate to address its full Order Paper in the New Year. Committees can still meet in the meantime, but it seems the Conservatives have decided to engage in some gamesmanship over Bill C-69, which has the Independent senators are complaining about stall tactics.

Meanwhile, here is a lengthy thread looking at the new Senate building, and six facts about the building, its history, and the new renovations.

Good reads:

  • Among the bills that received royal assent today were the elections reform bill, along with the arms trade treaty, fixes to “zombie” laws, and border controls.
  • Chinese officials confirmed that they have two Canadians in custody, and are citing “national security” reasons (which are really retaliation for the Huawei CFO arrest).
  • Bill Morneau was repeatedly interrupted at an event by protestors complaining about Indigenous rights being affected by the BC LNG project.
  • Earlier this week, the government tabled legislation to implement the new NAFTA deal in Canadian law.
  • As we start engaging in moral panic over child killers being sent to medium security facilities, here’s a reminder about how our corrections systems operates, and why.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that someone’s right against unreasonable search and seizure was violated in a police search for child pornography.
  • The SCC also declined to agree to an accelerated process in a challenge of the current assisted dying laws.
  • The Mark Norman case is painting a picture of political and bureaucratic turf wars at the heart of the shipbuilding procurement process.
  • Senators Patrick Brazeau, Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy posed for a photo, with Brazeau tweeting that they survived “unjustified bs.” Did nobody learn a thing?
  • The Canadian Press’ Baloney Meter™ looks at Andrew Scheer’s comments on the UN global migration compact affecting press freedom. It goes as well as expected.
  • Paul Wells makes a very salient analysis of the problems plaguing the current government as we head into an election year.

Odds and ends:

Robert Hiltz goes through his 2018 predictions.

I spoke to YorkRegion.com about the role of school trustees in our democracy, and why we need to pay more attention to those races.

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