Roundup: A ham-fisted attempt at undermining

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Another day of developments in the interminable Double-Hyphen Affair fallout, and it’s beyond ridiculous. And yet here we are. To start the day, Justin Trudeau said that he had a “next steps” conversation with Jody Wilson-Raybould last Monday – you know, when Michael Wernick resigned and Anne McLellan was named a special advisor – and it was a “cordial” talk, and both she and Jane Philpott still want to run for the Liberals, and he’s looking forward to that. Oh, and he’s not going to extend any further waiver on confidences because the one he extended already covered the issue at hand, thank you very much. And he’s right about that part – we’re moving beyond SNC-Lavalin issues now into this intrigue about why Wilson-Raybould (and now Jane Philpott) resigned and the handling of the controversy rather than the actual issue of pressure, which has been aired and it’s up to peoples’ judgments as to where the line of inappropriate is. And yeah, this does actually matter if we’re paying attention to things. Also around this time, the CEO of SNC-Lavalin issued a correction that said that yeah, the whole job losses thing was discussed as part of a conversation about the public interest, and so on.

And then came the day’s “bombshell.” Two competing outlets each had a story about how Trudeau and Wilson-Raybould had clashed over the last Supreme Court of Canada appointment, and she has wanted a more conservative judge from Manitoba which Trudeau balked at, and not only that, but she wanted to immediately elevate him to Chief Justice. That both outlets got the same story looks a lot like PMO engineered a leak, but did it in such a ham-fisted way that they neglected to mention that said judge also pulled out of the competition because his wife had breast cancer. Oops. And it’s pretty obvious that this was a way to try and draw attention to the fact that Wilson-Raybould was a pretty bad minister (the Canadian Press version of the story pointing out the clashes she had with caucus over her conservative positions on bills like assisted dying and genetic privacy – for which we should also remember that Trudeau stuck his neck out for her). Because as we’ve seen throughout this whole Affair that Trudeau or his staff haven’t been able to point to her record because she remained in the post for three years and Trudeau insists that she would still be in the position if Brison hadn’t resigned (which could also mean that they considered it a manageable situation). But if this PMO could be any more inept at handling this situation and stepping on yet more rakes, you’d almost feel embarrassed for them if this didn’t make it look like they were trying to politicise Supreme Court appointments. Cripes.

Meanwhile, the Ethics committee will be meeting today to discuss the Conservatives’ motion to try and hear testimony from Jody Wilson-Raybould at their committee instead, given that they have a Conservative chair. The problem there, however, is that the numbers are really against them – there are six voting Liberals on the committee to two voting Conservatives and one voting NDP MP. And even if the Conservatives could convince maverick MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, a permanent member of that committee, to vote with them, they’re still outnumbered by the rest of the Liberals. Even if by some miracle they agree to hold hearings on the matter, unless Trudeau offers yet another waiver (which he seems not inclined to), then we’re left with more silence from Wilson-Raybould, and we’ll be no better off. And then it’ll be a new round of Andrew Scheer screaming “cover up!” (Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column offers a look at what some of the possible outcomes of the day are.)

In punditry, Andrew Coyne delivers some not undeserved outrage at the tactic to try and take a shot at a sitting judge to try and discredit Wilson-Raybould. He also takes entirely correct umbrage with journalists braying for Wilson-Raybould and Philpott to be kicked out of caucus, and lo, here’s Tasha Kheiriddin doing just that, insisting that Trudeau looks “weak” the longer he keeps them in the fold. Because policing caucus loyalty is something that We The Media apparently excel at.

Good reads:

  • In Washington, Chrsytia Freeland was talking tough on being in no rush for New NAFTA ratification so long as those steel and aluminium tariffs are still in place.
  • David Lametti says he’ll respect the rules that Jody Wilson-Raybould put into place around defending Indigenous lawsuits, and opposition parties also agreed to.
  • Websites used by Elections Canada and several MPs were all lacking some basic encryption. Whee!
  • Here’s a look at the RCMP’s deradicalization and terrorism prevention programmes.
  • CRA’s tip line is largely dominated by bitter exes and jealous neighbours snitching.
  • Canada granted refugee status to one of the families who sheltered Edward Snowden in Hong Kong.
  • A Canadian company has successfully bid on a project through the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (which Andrew Scheer wants to pull out of).
  • An Edmonton judge has declared Omar Khadr’s sentence to be expired and time served, meaning he is now a free man.
  • Conservatives on the agriculture committee want another emergency meeting over the canola issue, as their last attempt was derailed by their vote-a-thon.
  • On the Alberta election campaign, Jason Kenney laid out a bunch of education reform plans which include rolling back protections for GSAs.
  • Adnan Khan delves into the mutually reinforcing cycles between jihadis and white nationalists that populists cash in on.
  • Heather Scoffield looks at Andrew Scheer’s miniscule proposals to tame the deficit, and finds them wanting.
  • Chantal Hébert points to the strategic choices the Liberals are making in order to aggressively play for NDP seats in the coming election.

Odds and ends:

I have three cannabis law stories now online at Law Times: The problems with oral fluid testing; advertising restrictions; and agreements between producers and retailers.

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: A ham-fisted attempt at undermining”

  1. I wonder why the media is so concerned about the judge’s feedback on this. It’s not out of the question that the judge had been eliminated without being notified before he withdrew, and I don’t care anyway. It’s not about him, it’s about JWR straying far from the norm in selecting Supreme Court judges and that Trudeau noticed. Seems relevant to me. The more judicious reaction on the judge’s part would have been to stay far, far away from the story.

    I am really enjoying this column and I thank you for it. But, generally, the most distressing thing to me about this whole thing is the quality of media coverage, which has been so preoccupied with trees, and not the forest. It is beyond me why Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott have not been investigated in a more coordinated way by the media. Yet a judge with a peripheral connection to the story they can track down within minutes and allow to divert attention from the main point of this very interesting revelation.

    • “I wonder why the media is so concerned about the judge’s feedback on this.”

      You mean other than the fact that the judge in question, the Chief Justice of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench, submitted his name for consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court of Canada in a confidential process, was deemed qualified by an independent panel chaired by a former Prime Minister of Canada, and then withdrew his name because his wife was dealing with cancer, only to be smeared by two news outlets performing stenography for the Prime Minister’s Office? Yah, I can’t imagine why his response would be of any interest.

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