Roundup: Getting Trudeau to committee

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The political theatre around the SNC-Lavalin/Wilson-Raybould Affair will again be back in full force today as the Conservatives are moving a Supply Day motion to have Justin Trudeau appear before committee to answer questions, which is procedurally awkward given that the Commons shouldn’t be dictating the business of committees, but that’s theatre for you. Of course, if Trudeau appeared, it would be doing so in order to answer for the conduct of his staff (given ministerial responsibility), but we’ll see if there is any appetite to make the committee process even more of a partisan gong show. (I’m guessing there won’t be, but stranger things have happened). Jody Wilson-Raybould is expected to be at committee either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on her schedule, but maybe she’ll treat this like she did a Senate committee summons and simply refuse to show up.

What revelations did we get over the weekend? That Wilson-Raybould needed to make her pitch to Trudeau directly last Tuesday morning before he would let her address Cabinet; that Wilson-Raybould is a prodigious note-taker, forcing PMO to review their own notes about meetings with her; and that hey, Cabinet ministers are friends outside of work and sometimes get together socially. Shocker!

Meanwhile, Philippe Lagassé goes through the various Canadian politics tropes that this whole affair has been playing into – and are being challenged by – and what people should take away from them as the situation has unfolded. He’s also got a couple of other words of wisdom to take away from Michael Wernick’s testimony about his concern that people are losing faith in the government.

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1099709688478744577

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1099712261046689792

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1099713329050734592

Good reads:

  • Marc Garneau warned the Americans that unless steel and aluminium tariffs are listed it will mean difficulty for getting the New NAFTA passed by Parliament.
  • Ruh-roh! The federal government didn’t inform the Canadian Trade Tribunal that it signed a deal with Mexico to exclude them from steel anti-dumping measures.
  • Trump’s senior economic advisor says he’s “proud” of Trudeau for sticking with the rule of law on the Meng Wanzhou case. (Did he tell his boss to shut up about it?)
  • The government plans to launch two new pilot programmes for foreign caregiver immigration changes.
  • The Conservatives and NDP are only expressing qualified confidence in the Clerk of the Privy Council’s ability to deal with election interference.
  • There are many questions about how a convicted fraudster whose false tales caused the resignation of Judy Sgro from the Martin Cabinet was allowed back in Canada.
  • Two more senior army commanders have been removed from command, making it five over the past year, but many of the reasons are being kept quiet.
  • The Parliamentary Protective Service says they’ll begin doing anti-racism training after the latest racial profiling incident.
  • Liberal MP Ali Ehsassi is calling on Andrew Scheer to kick Senator Tkachuk out of caucus for his “roll over Liberals” comments.
  • Liberals in the Burnaby South by-election are complaining that Jagmeet Singh’s Facebook ads have violated Elections Canada rules.
  • Some commentators say that the current political turmoil the Liberals are embroiled in may help Singh in his by-election.
  • Here’s a look at the by-election dynamics in Outremont; apparently the religious symbols debate is playing out as one of those elements.
  • Kent Hehr’s accusers in his harassment case are willing to forgo their privacy considerations in order to see the report of the PMO-ordered investigation.
  • My weekend column looked at the debates that Independent senators have been having amongst themselves lately, and why some are downright terrifying.

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