It took several days, and the announcement happened fairly late on a Saturday night, but Andrew Scheer decided to strip Michael Cooper of his committee duty – but not deputy critic portfolio – after his committee outburst last week, when he lashed out at a Muslim witness who suggested that conservative commentary was in part responsible for radicalizing some white supremacists, including the shooter of the Quebec City mosque. Cooper’s outburst, you will recall, was to attack the witness and quote from the Christchurch shooter’s manifesto, not only naming him (as the New Zealand government has been reluctant to do) and reading part of that manifesto into the record, so that it will forever be part of the archives of the Parliament of Canada. Scheer said that he was satisfied with Cooper’s apology (which was tepid at best), and that he considered the matter closed now that he removed Cooper from the committee. Funnily enough, Cooper described it as “agreeing” with Scheer that he shouldn’t sit on that committee, which doesn’t sound like it was that punitive (and I’m not sure that removing someone from duties is really that punitive. Putting him on permanent Friday House duty would be more punitive than giving Cooper less work to do).
The witness at the receiving end of Cooper’s outburst, Faisal Khan Suri, says Scheer’s response is not good enough, and says that Cooper should be booted from the caucus. And to that end, Scheer made his big point about showing people the door if they don’t believe in equality (and Cooper reading from a white supremacist manifesto would seem to be a line that was crossed), but well, the matter is “closed.” Not that the Liberals will let them forget it, but this is politics these days.
Good reads:
- Here is a preview of the 231 recommendations from the MMIW Inquiry (some of them are fairly repetitive).
- Bernard Valcourt, a Harper-era Aboriginal Affairs minister, calls the report “propagandist,” but has been repudiated by the current Conservative critic.
- The government is closing the Canadian embassy in Venezuela for the time being.
- Marc Garneau states the obvious in that the House of Commons could come back in the summer to deal with New NAFTA ratification (to say nothing of the Senate).
- Maryam Monsef announced a new $300 million fund and a whole new funding model in order to revitalize women’s groups in Canada and abroad.
- Karina Gould says that any kind of social media regulation will have to come after the election, to be done by whoever wins.
- Ahmed Hussen has announced an expansion of the project to bring LGBT refugees to Canada (and the announcement was timed for the start of Pride month).
- The government has postponed making changes to the corporate integrity regime, which had the possibility of reducing any penalty SNC-Lavalin might face.
- The government’s settlement related to the family reunification programme could trigger yet another lawsuit from those who weren’t included in it.
- Here’s a look at the mapping process that Canada undertook as part of our claim to the north pole.
- Despite all of the rhetoric and security concerns, Huawei is pushing ahead with their rural internet strategy in Canada.
- Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott suggest that they could return to the Liberal fold post-Trudeau. (That’s…wildly optimistic).
- Kevin Carmichael gives a wrap-up of last week’s economic news.
- Heather Scoffield offers more context and analysis of the $300 million fund for women’s groups.
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Unfortunately there is an underlying attitude of superiority that is ingrained into the conservative psyche. This manifests itself in conservative attitudes in connection to issues like personal rights, indigenous rights, the rights of asylum seekers, the right of women to control their bodies and lgbtq rights. It comes from a white, religious”mainly christian ethic”
that over untold centuries has dictated a bias against “difference”. Until conservatives come to terms with this we will continue to have a mean,fear based platform which will not allow any reconciliation based upon, in Canada’s case, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Mr. Cooper should have been banished to the back benches to wait for the voters in his riding to agree with his sentiments or turf him out in the upcoming election. That decision alone will give other Canadians an example of whether they understand the question and we should pay a great deal of attention to the outcome.
“Wilson-Raybould and Philpott say they don’t rule out returning to a post-Trudeau Liberal Party”
There you have it, the end-game all along. Brutus and Cassius as mean-girl high school bullies, taking aim at the homecoming king. Oh, but they wore white — to play dress-up as holier-than-thou “feminists”? After they betrayed and smeared the most feminist PM in Canada’s history, every single one of their colleagues (many of whom are women), and potentially handed the government on a silver platter to the Deform Party that would give Margaret Atwood nightmares, they have the nerve to portray themselves as “feminists”? Scheeriously???
I’m a young woman, and these two make me sick! It’s turned me off from what passes for “feminism” at any cost these days — anyone who’s been in any number of wedding parties could have (and should have) warned Trudeau that a cabinet consisting of one-half bridesmaids was bound to have a few ‘zillas who’d start a hair-pulling cat fight! I can’t begin to express how much I loathe them both. What a pair of narcissistic, self-aggrandizing frauds. They have no shame whatsoever, but I hope their scheming comes back to haunt them. They are an absolute disgrace who should be shunned from Parliament if not run out of the country altogether. A pair of cancerous moles infecting the body politic is what they are.
Trudeau’s biggest mistake was sincerely trusting these two snakes in the grass. He’s such a nice guy and gentle soul (perhaps too benevolent for the ruthless Ottawa swamp and the viper media machine), and I want him to do well in life, especially after he’s been undeservedly made a pariah at home by their asinine, self-serving, M$M-inflated fairy tale. But I hope he develops a vengeful streak and slams them in a memoir. I wouldn’t hold back, that’s for sure. What they’ve done to their (former) party, a genuinely decent and compassionate prime minister, and possibly the country, selling out not for 30 pieces of silver but 15 minutes of fame, is unforgivable. A pox on both their “big houses.” If either of these “independent” toxic, unstable renegades knocked on my door, I’d give them an earful and then slam the door in their face!
I’m a young woman and the actions of these two mean-girl bullies and political incompetents make me sick. They have the nerve to wear white as “feminists” despite selling out their colleagues (many of whom are women), the most feminist PM in Canada’s history, and possibly the whole country to the Deform Party of anti-choice bigots? Shame on them! Trudeau is such a nice guy who’s been unfairly smeared by their M$M-inflated fairy tale, and I want him to be able to repair his reputation and do well in life in spite of all they’ve done to him. He never should have trusted these two self-serving, narcissistic snakes in the grass!
I took Cooper’s remark that he “agreed” he shouldn’t be on committee as an adolescent attempt to look like he had some control over it. Much like JWR, he doesn’t seem to have looked forward at all, in terms of his political career. And I think it probably is perceived as a punishment to lose a position on a committee, since without something like that to do, being an MP looks deadly boring. Why he remains as Justice critic is mystifying.
I dislike very much when Conservatives read repellent things into the record, as they did when they read the details of the crime against that little girl in the House — and then they act like they can’t see the problem with that.
“Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott suggest that they could return to the Liberal fold post-Trudeau. (That’s…wildly optimistic).”
Well, it was actually JWR, not Dr. Philpott, who responded to Solomon’s question with a ‘never say never.’
While it is likely true that they could never return to the Justin Trudeau Party, a return to the Liberal Party of Canada at some point might not be out of the realm of possibility.