The Conservatives’ non-binding Supply Day vote went ahead yesterday on declaring that China is conducting a genocide against the Uyghur population, and it passed unanimously – without anyone in Cabinet voting. Well, Marc Garneau was there to performatively declare that he was abstaining – which you can’t actually do, because Commons votes are strictly yay or nay (the Senate has an abstention option), but no one else in Cabinet was there, for what it’s worth.

Immediately, news outlets everywhere started declaring that “Parliament declared a genocide,” which, no, did not happen. It was a non-binding vote in the House of Commons – which is not Parliament – that essentially expressed an opinion. There is nothing official about said declaration, which is important, because an official declaration would have consequences. Essentially, the House of Commons voted to put a black square on their Instagram and call it action against genocide.

“Parliament” did not speak today.
The House of Commons did.
The House of Commons ≠ Parliament.
Parliament is the Commons, the Senate, and the Crown. #PnPCBC

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 22, 2021

And there will be consequences, such as China attempting to impose further sanctions upon Canada in an attempt to try and warn other Western countries from making a similar declaration, because China doesn’t want to lose face. This is precisely why the government has been working with allies to do – ensure that all of their ducks are in a row before they make a formal declaration of genocide, so that they a) have a united front against China’s retaliation, b) that they can uphold the obligations under the Genocide Convention around preventing genocide and punishing those responsible – something that the Americans have opted themselves out of because they refuse to respect the authority of the International Court of Justice, which means that America declaring a genocide is largely a symbolic act, whereas Canada doing the same is not. (And it would be great if media outlets could actually articulate this point rather than ignoring it, because they all have. Every single one of them).

But the opposition parties – and apparently the backbench Liberals as well – are more concerned with making a statement and the kind of preening that comes with “showing leadership” rather than doing the actual hard work of getting our allies on-side so that we have a meaningful declaration and that we aren’t cheapening the term “genocide,” which is literally the worst crime against humanity. But political leadership in this country is decidedly unserious, so this is the kind of clown show we’re getting, complete with a cartoonish understanding of foreign policy. Go us.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau has his virtual meeting with Joe Biden today, and here is what is on the agenda.
• If you’re keeping score, we are expecting 640,000 doses of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this week.
• There are studies taking place right now about whether we can mix-and-match COVID vaccines as a way to combat the new variants.
• Health Canada officials say that the approval process for the AstraZeneca vaccine is in the final stages.
• The RCMP says that most of the complaints of child porn on platforms like PornHub don’t meet the legal threshold for them to lay charges.
• Former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps says the General Vance allegations prove the need for a completely independent organisation for victims.
• The Commons Defence committee wants to summon the former Military Ombudsman, who has turned down a request to appear, over the Vance allegations.
• The public safety committee voted to condemn comments by the National Firearms Association about building guillotines; the Conservatives abstained.
• Susan Delacourt wonders if Trudeau will take the appointment of the next Governor General with the seriousness that the post requires.
• Paul Wells delves into this company’s long-term poor relationship with pharmaceutical companies, and how that became trouble for developing vaccines.

Odds and ends:

My latest Loonie Politics video goes through the proposed changes in the new criminal justice reform bill, and the somewhat unexpected Conservative position.

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