Roundup: Keeping the minister away

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The drip-drip-drip of revelations around the allegations surrounding former General Jonathan Vance continues to be felt, with emails showing that defence minister Harjit Sajjan’s former chief of staff emailing about the attempted investigation, but with the former ombudsman not providing any information that could be deemed actionable, we know it went nowhere until after Vance retired. The Conservatives are trying to use this to “prove” that PMO knew that something was up with Vance and are now engaged in a cover-up, but I am not entirely sure about that. A Liberal MP appearing on Power & Politics last night made the salient points that as soon as Sajjan was alerted to the allegations, he steered clear of them and turned PCO onto the case, because he needed to ensure that this did not become politicised, and if this is the case – and it sounds very plausible that it is – then it’s also quite plausible that these staff were trying to create that ringfence around the minister and prime minister to keep them from getting involved so as to avoid politicising any aspect of the investigation or its fallout.

This of course raises questions about what Sajjan should have done in leaving Vance in place knowing this allegation was out there, and whether or not he had an obligation to pursue the claim against his chief of defence staff. If he was trying to stay out and let the arm’s-length PCO process carry out, and it didn’t proceed because of a lack of actionable information, is that on Sajjan? Or should he have been more proactive in possibly accelerating Vance’s departure, given that he was already reaching what would have been the usual end of his term as CDS (and the fact that he stayed on for three more years meant that Vance became the longest-serving CDS in Canadian history)? Again, it’s a hard call to make because he was trying to keep that separation in place to avoid this being politicized.

Trudeau, meanwhile, says he still has confidence in Sajjan, which had everyone joking on Twitter that this essentially put a countdown clock over Sajjan’s head. But this is a mess that makes it very difficult to sort out because of the considerations at play, and the fact that a parliamentary committee is now digging into this will make it all the more partisan as the days go on. I will not be too surprised if Sajjan is made to fall on his sword about this in a few weeks’ time, but not before the Liberals put up a fight to say that he did all the right things, and that the real problem is that the accuser didn’t feel comfortable enough to want to make the allegations official or actionable – but that gets us back into something of a Catch-22. None of this will end well.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau says he won’t contemplate changing the federal health transfers until we are on the other side of the pandemic.
  • Health Canada approved the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. (More about the features of this vaccine here).
  • In spite of the new vaccines being approved, the government won’t change their September vaccination timetable just yet (likely out of an abundance of caution).
  • The federal government is developing a system of carbon credits for municipalities, businesses, farms or Indigenous communities who reduce their GHGs.
  • AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde is calling on the government to rethink their approach to the Mi’kmaq moderate livelihood fishery.
  • The Kielburger brothers may face a summons from the House of Commons for failing to appear at committee, and imprisoned if they refuse to comply.
  • A recent NSIRA report says that CSE is not doing enough to contain the damage from privacy breaches from their operations.
  • Here are five things we learned from Ontario’s independent commission into the COVID deaths in long term care, and it’s a tale of gross incompetence.
  • My weekend column looks at last week’s economic data and how it was being spun by the Conservatives, proving that they didn’t actually read the numbers they cited.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: Keeping the minister away”

  1. Charlie the tuna and his pet pigeon need to knock off this asinine Kafkaesque witch hunt. The CoI Act is a mere workplace HR matter that in no way rises to the level of “criminality,” like their screeching hyperbole accuses everyone from the K-bros to the PM’s ailing mother and that poor Jewish couple who owns the speaking engagement agency, of getting into. There is absolutely SFA for them to testify about anymore. This is a grotesque abuse of power. “Parliamentary privilege” is an arcane relic from the era of powdered wigs and tights and it needs to go. There is absolutely no justification for hiding behind it to sic the dogs on innocent people. If anyone should be facing a Nuremberg trial, it’s Angus and Poilievre, not the K-bros, the Pearlmutters and Margaret Trudeau.

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