Roundup: Emergency finger-pointing

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Sometimes I question the naïveté of certain politicians in this country, but the belief in the utility of emergency debates is one of those things that apparently never gets old. Last week, the Commons held an emergency debate on the state of Laurentian University, which was a bit odd because that really falls under provincial jurisdiction, but sure, at least give speeches about it for all of the good it would do. The fact that Charlie Angus got up in Question Period the following day and sounded shocked that nothing came of it was perhaps a bit tough to swallow. (For the record, the minister of official languages – relevant since Laurentian served a large population of Franco-Ontarians and had French-language education that is now on the chopping block – said she is waiting for the province to come up with a plan before she can do anything, because jurisdiction).

Last night was no exception to this belief in the goodness of parliamentary debate, as Elizabeth May was granted a request for an emergency debate on new COVID variants. Surprising nobody, except possibly her, it quickly devolved into a bunch of finger-pointing and reinforcing of existing narratives, most of them false. The NDP, for example, went hard after their new demand that the Emergencies Act be invoked for Ontario, and the Conservatives continued their bogus insistence that Canada could somehow have been fully vaccinated before the end of February, which ignores pretty much every single variable, from vaccine supplies, production levels, and the fact that this virus grows exponentially, while you vaccinate linearly. And this was, of course, followed by Liberal “sadness” at misinformation being peddled by opposition parties.

The lead for the CP story on the debate was telling. “An emergency parliamentary debate that was supposed to be a forum for cross-party collaboration on better ways to combat the COVID-19 pandemic…” is a fairy tale opening. There is no way this was going to be a pleasant collaborative session full of genteel and helpful exchanges. Parties have committed to narratives that seek to pin the blame on Justin Trudeau rather than provincial premiers, and committing fully to Green Lantern Theory, as though it can overcome jurisdictional boundaries and the constitution itself. More to the point, there is nothing more useless in Parliament than an emergency debate. It is merely an excuse for MPs to read speeches into the record for several hours to show they are concerned about something, but it means nothing in the bigger picture, other than another clip for an MP’s social media channels.

Good reads:

  • It’s Joe Biden’s big climate summit today, and amid expectations that Canada to more to pull its weight, we will be announcing new reduction targets.
  • Justin Trudeau had a call with Biden yesterday, and it sounds like more AstraZeneca doses may be on the way from the US.
  • While Trudeau says that hotel quarantines have worked, the government is now considering further travel restrictions on India given their new variant cases.
  • Here’s a harrowing interview with an Edmonton doctor about the state of ICUs and what it’s like dealing with dying patients.
  • A study shows that most of our variant cases came via the US.
  • Chrystia Freeland isn’t giving any hints about future plans to reopen the US border.
  • The woman who came forward to the military ombudsman with allegations against General Vance is speaking out, particularly about why she reported the way she did.
  • A former PMO staffer has agreed to testify at the defence committee on the General Vance allegations, and way to go ministerial responsibility, guys.
  • Here is a look at the funding for new legal and expanded initiatives in the budget.
  • The budget includes new provisions about creating a public registry of corporate ownership as a means of combatting tax evasion.
  • There are questions about the budget pledge to help turn vacant commercial real estate into new housing stock, and whether it’s actually feasible.
  • Ralph Goodale has been formally appointed Canada’s new high commissioner in London.
  • A Bloc MP has copped to taking the screenshot of Will Amos, but claims he has no idea how it wound up being leaked to Brian Lilley, so the Liberals are not mollified.
  • Kevin Carmichael parses the Bank of Canada’s latest Monetary Policy Report, and why it’s more optimistic than it has been in previous quarters.
  • Susan Delacourt joins the chorus of those demanding that the tax filing deadline get extended.
  • Colby Cosh walks through the Quebec court decision on the province’s “secularism” law, and the fact that the only part struck down applies to English schools.

Odds and ends:

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