Roundup: Demands from the Parliamentary Black Caucus

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Prime minister Justin Trudeau was sporting a new haircut for his daily presser – a relief no doubt (some of us are counting the days until our appointment), but he was also a bit hoarse as well. He started off announcing that the government had extended the CERB eligibility for another eight weeks, which was no surprise given that this of all governments was not going to leave Canadians out in the cold if they still couldn’t get back to jobs (assuming they have jobs to go back to) – but that hasn’t stopped Jagmeet Singh and the NDP from loudly claiming victory. Trudeau then spoke about looking to international best practices going forward to see if CERB is working in the best way possible, so there will no doubt be more tinkering of the programme doing forward (and there was an attempt at added flexibility being put into the programme in the bill that failed to move forward last week – we’ll see if they also rush it through during the proper sitting later today). Finally, Trudeau said that they had agreed with the American government to keep the border closed to non-essential traffic until July 21st, which again should be no surprise to anyone paying attention.

During the Q&A, there was talk about how Trudeau was “looking at” removing mandatory minimum sentences (and the way in which Jody Wilson-Raybould framed her question on this on Monday about “red meat issues” seems to indicate she received some pushback from Cabinet on this in spite of it being part of the party’s gods damned election platform), and that he was following up on the deaths of two Mexican migrant workers, however much of it was taken up with talks of the list of action items forwarded to him from the Parliamentary Black Caucus, that was co-signed by a number of allies amongst the Liberals, NDP, and Greens (the Conservatives claim they weren’t invited and that this is a partisan game; Greg Fergus says Scheer wasn’t invited because he wouldn’t acknowledge the existence of systemic racism when pressed in a televised interview), and notably, half of the Cabinet signed on as allies, meaning they are essentially complaining to themselves about a lack of action. Trudeau said he was working with stakeholders, including the Black community, in trying to move forward on these issues.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, a number of initiatives are being put forward on the topic of systemic racism, including a move to haul several ministers before the full chamber in a Committee of the Whole to hear directly on what the government is doing to combat it, as well as a planned inquiry into the subject – presuming, of course, that the Senate can manage to get itself sorted on how to sit in the current situation (which is the subject of a current privilege motion).

Good reads:

  • Voting begins today to determine who will get a seat at the UN Security Council.
  • Marc Garneau continues to insist that if he forced airlines to refund “billions of dollars” in tickets, it would devastate the industry.
  • Employment and Social Development says they have $133 million in unclaimed payments on their books, which are accessible through Service Canada.
  • It sounds like the cause of the Cyclone crash off the coast of Greece may have been a software issue, and is being called an “unavoidable accident.”
  • As the UK moves toward its exit from the European trade zone, it is expressing interest in joining the TPP, which Canada is a member of.
  • Former Governor General Michaëlle Jean says it’s irresponsible to deny systemic racism, and recounts some of her own experiences with it.
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column previews today’s Estimates “study” and votes in the House of Commons, and why it’s different from the usual process.
  • Heather Scoffield makes note of how the CERB has changed the government’s Middle Class™ branding, and its effect on low-income workers.
  • Colby Cosh delves into the lack of data on liquor consumption during the pandemic, and why it shouldn’t be that difficult to find.
  • My column looks at how the prime minister could signal an end to RCMP contract policing as a way forward in dismantling systemic racism and “defunding police.”

Odds and ends:

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: Demands from the Parliamentary Black Caucus”

  1. The glee the Ottawa press gallery and chattering class will take if and when either Ireland or Norway wins that seats is almost palpable as if it’s only a rejection of Prime Minister or his party rather then taken even a nanosecond of reflection of what is wrong about our country. It will be this weird thing of both saying that this campaigning and the seat itself doesn’t matter, but also it could matter immensely electorally for the PM and his party when one would think it’s either one or the other. This isn’t solely some ego thing for the PM. Let’s not forget [since a lot of press colleagues have certainly forgotten] that part of why this seat matters politically was the sting when Canada somewhat unexpectedly lost the bid in 2010.

  3. Robert Fife is retweeing John Ivison’s baseless column that the Global Affairs Minister is comprised by owning China [not the Bank of China] $1.2 million. So it’s not just him starting this nonsense, he promoting it and also spreading it and like always no of your professional colleagues with any clout [not just a snarky tweet from rando talking head on TV] would ever stand up to him.

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