The credulous takes on the Conservatives’ health committee motion continue, and now industry is also starting to push back, concerned that commercially sensitive information is going to be released publicly which will affect them and the ability to produce PPE for the country. Of course, Michelle Rempel Garner is dismissing these concerns as “Liberal spin” and offering the assurance that the Commons Law Clerk will redact any sensitive information – except that there are no assurances that he knows what is and is not commercially sensitive information. (And this recent trend of making the Law Clerk redact documents under the howls that anything else amounts to a cover-up is worrying, because it’s once again piling work into independent servants of the House that is beyond the scope of their duties, which will soon become a permanent duty). Other manufacturers are saying it’s not about the information, but about the fact that they’re going to become political footballs for stepping up in the early days of the pandemic – and they’re right. Given how many falsehoods are being repeated about the Baylis Medical contract – which media continues to both-sides rather than call out – is going to keep happening, and we’ll see these company owners be grilled for any remote Liberal connections, because this is an exercise in the Conservatives fishing to “prove” that this was about the Liberals trying to pad the pockets of their “friends,” because they are determined to try and recreate a new Sponsorship Scandal. And I’m surprised that there aren’t more voices in the media who can’t see this, or the shenanigans in Rempel Garner’s motion.

Meanwhile, Patty Hajdu hasn’t exactly covered herself in glory over the past few days with her dismissive comments about Access to Information requests – comments that got the attention of the Information Commissioner, who sounded the alarm over them. I will note that having once worked as a contractor in Health Canada’s records department (I had to pay the bills while building up my pre-political freelance career), that they had one of the worst-kept systems across the federal government, and I have no reason to believe that things are much different now than they were then. This gets compounded by the fact that ATIPs are being slowed by the fact that government offices are closed because of the pandemic, and people aren’t being able to access the files necessary, which is making the situation worse. It would be great if Hajdu could actually say something other than the dismissive comment (which I’m fairly certain was off the cuff when caught flat-footed by the issue), and her haughty defence of civil servants, but as we all know, this government can’t communicate their way out of a wet paper bag, and she proved it once again, in spades.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau announced that the government is investing in a Canadian COVID vaccine candidate, as well as a production facility for it in Quebec City.
• Of the 4.6 million people who have arrived in the country since the borders closed, fewer than a quarter of them have had to quarantine as they are deemed “essential.”
• The federal government is appealing the Federal Court decision that struck down the Safe Third Party agreement, claiming it will cause chaos.
• AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde is calling for the resignation of the RCMP Commissioner after she minimized inaction when Mi’kmaq fishers were threatened.
• Bombardier is suspending deliveries of aircraft engines from their Austrian subsidiary after they were found in UAVs used by Azerbaijan.
• NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq is taking a two-month leave to deal with a non-COVID-related health matter.
• Reporting shows that 85 percent of abuses in Ontario long-term care facilities are repeat offenders, because there are no consequences for offenders.
• Colby Cosh delves into the new assisted dying legislation, and why there is an inherent problem with how it excludes mental health as a grounds for access.
• My weekend column looks at how Erin O’Toole has not made any real changes to the party since taking over for Scheer, and is doubling down on his failed tactics.

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