Roundup: Don’t bug the LG. Ever.

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In a move that is as brazen as it is utterly galling, Jason Kenney’s government legislated the province’s elections commissioner out of existence, after he levied tens of thousands of dollars in fines over the UCP leadership shenanigans. To make it all the more gob-smacking, Kenney and the minister in charge of the bill claimed that this wasn’t politically motivated, which earns a “Sure, Jan.” But even more appalling was the response from opposition leader Rachel Notley, for which I am about to suffer a rage-induced stroke.

https://twitter.com/Jantafrench/status/1196555704200351744

No. No, no, no, no, no. No. You DO NOT involve the lieutenant governor in this. She does not have discretion to accept or reject bills. She is not the “boss” of Jason Kenney. She cannot reject bills on the advice of the opposition, or her own recognizance for that matter. Her job is to accept the advice of the first minister who commands the confidence of the legislature, which Kenney does – even if the bill is unconstitutional. Her job is to act as a constitutional fire extinguisher, and we are a long way from there. Here’s Philippe Lagassé with more:

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1196608180488482818

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1196609606220500992

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1196610409521930240

https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1196612302348464130

I’m going to add an additional point about this being an appalling lack of basic civic literacy from the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the province, but it implicates the entire media ecosystem as a whole, particularly when they ignorantly act as though a vice-regal has discretion about things like government formation, as exemplified with the stories of the hung parliaments in BC and New Brunswick, and even when shows like Power & Politics wrongly said that Trudeau “asked permission” from Her Excellency, Julie Payette, to “form a government” when they were the incumbent and already had a government and didn’t need to form one, let alone the fact that her job is not to grant permission. But stories like that plant the idea in people’s minds that she or any other vice-regal has personal discretion and can decide who will or will not form a government and apparently allow or disallow legislation, much like the pervasive idea that you can write to the Queen and she’ll do something about whatever it is you’re complaining about. That’s not how the system works. This shouldn’t be rocket science, but apparently these very basics are not being understood by those who are supposed to know these things because it’s their jobs to.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau met with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Ottawa yesterday, to talk about resettling Syrian refugees and countering violent extremism.
  • A reminder that the government has until March to fix the medical assistance in dying legislation, per a Quebec court ruling.
  • TVA has a leak that Steven Guilbeault will be the new Heritage minister (though I’m sure Alberta is sighing in relief that he won’t be environment minister).
  • Foreign Affairs has updated their travel advisory to Hong Kong, but kept the warning level where it has been since August.
  • The Canadian Forces has identified a number of members linked to hate groups, but has disciplined or sent them to counselling but not expelled them.
  • The Canadian Press has some Access to Information documents that show how Service Canada is having trouble modernizing its services to digitize them.
  • Police in New Delhi say they have raided a scam call centre targeting Canadians, and have arrested 32 people.
  • American environmental activists are taking credit for delaying the Keystone XL pipeline and creating part of Alberta’s economic woes.
  • Here’s a look into the new Indigenous space in the renovated former US Embassy across from Parliament Hill.
  • Kim Campbell pans the whole “Western separatism” argument and the rhetoric that is fuelling it, as well as the need for more adult conversations in politics.
  • Two more senators joined the new Canadian Senators Group – a Conservative and a Liberal/Progressive (who left his old caucus in bad shape).
  • Heather Scoffield’s final imagined mandate letter is to the natural resources minister.
  • Chantal Hébert makes the (somewhat obvious) case that Jason Kenney’s rhetoric is only making his situation worse, particularly as he strengthens the Bloc’s case.
  • Colby Cosh explores the logic of Kevin O’Leary’s challenge of leadership campaign financing laws, and some of the apparent unintended consequences.

Odds and ends:

My latest video for Loonie Politics is up, wherein I explain what’s going on with the Senate in five minutes.

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Don’t bug the LG. Ever.”

  1. Our political system is rife with ignorance of what powers belong to levels of government and I am happy to read this in your post. It is this ignorance that fosters specious claims by the public abetted by politicians who are equally stupid or worse understand but use the public’s ignorance to push agendas.

  2. Doesn’t the CBC have a Parliamentary version of Schoolhouse Rock? Seems newcomers and international observers aren’t the only ones who could use a remedial education on civics. Seeing a lot of people calling for both Trudeau and Kenney to be “impeached.” Trump fever coupled with general ignorance has infected the Canadian body politic.

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