Roundup: Paul’s disqualifying blunder

Posted on by

It was not a good day for civic literacy or basic constitutional knowledge on the campaign trail, as Green Party leader Annamie Paul suggested that the Governor General “reinvoke” Parliament to hold an emergency debate on the situation in Afghanistan, and worse, cited a section out of the Emergencies Act to make it happen, and my head nearly exploded from the sheer stupidity of it all.

First of all, and this is crucial – the Governor General does not have that power. She has already dissolved Parliament. She can’t un-dissolve it with the stroke of a pen, and there is no mechanism to “reinvoke” Parliament, not even under the Emergencies Act. Parliament has been dissolved. There is nothing to recall in order to hold a debate, which again, is a useless gesture in the current situation. The most that would happen is that MPs would read speeches into the record for about five hours, and that’s it. Paul is perfectly welcome to read a twenty-minute speech to the media if she so chooses, and it would have exactly the same effect as an “emergency debate” would in the House of Commons (and I do use the term loosely). More to the fact, this is not a situation for which the Emergencies Act could be invoked, because it is not a national emergency in any shape or form. Additionally, the section she cites says that Parliament needs to be recalled at its earliest opportunity, even if it’s been dissolved – in which case it means as soon as there’s a new parliament that can be convened.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1427347519751720965

The fact that we have another party leader who is just pulling this out of her ass is bad enough, but she’s also a lawyer and should know better (and this goes doubly for Jagmeet Singh, as he too is a lawyer, and has been inventing powers for the Governor General). The fact that you can’t recall a dissolved Parliament is basic civics – and the fact that she doesn’t know this and is trying to issue demands to the Governor General should be disqualifying. It’s a complete embarrassment – but you wouldn’t know it if you watched the CBC, who glossed over the whole incident and didn’t mention it during their roundup of the day’s speeches. (We had other reporters covering themselves in glory today by asking the prime minister who was in charge during the election. No, seriously). An utter farce all around. This is why we can’t have nice things.

On the campaign trail:

  • Justin Trudeau made an announcement about extending pandemic supports for longer, particularly for tourism and cultural sectors.
  • Chrystia Freeland was in Vancouver to tout climate change policies, and defended the election call at a time when forest fires are threatening communities in BC.
  • The federal Liberals have come to a non-aggression pact with the Ford government so that they won’t spend the campaign taking shots at one another.
  • Erin O’Toole released his full platform (minus costing), and of note was the fact that he pledges to replace the child care agreements with tax credits.
  • Jagmeet Singh put out a challenge to the federal government to impose vaccine mandates by Labour Day as though it were feasible given provincial negotiations.
  • Annamie Paul says that she will largely spend the campaign trying to win her seat in Toronto Centre rather than touring the country.
  • The debate over mandatory vaccinations had some confusion as the policy on the government website was pulled down as being “inaccurate”.
  • The Star has profiles on Justin Trudeau, Erin O’Toole, Jagmeet Singh, and Annamie Paul.
  • Paul Wells gives his impressions about O’Toole’s plan, and some of its simplistic narratives and obscure trivia.
  • Heather Scoffield pans O’Toole’s childcare plan, particularly in the face of his also claiming to achieve over three percent growth without it.

Good reads:

  • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that military planes are continuing to air lift refugees out of Kabul, but it depends on how long that airport remains secure.
  • So far, 807 Afghans have been brought to Canada (but I’m not sure if this figure includes the planeload that arrived last night in Toronto).
  • Elections Canada says they won’t mandate their poll workers be vaccinated, but they suspect most of them will be given demographics.
  • The Green Party has opted to delay their national convention in light of the election, which gives Annamie Paul’s leadership some more breathing room.
  • After the Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia announced they were expanding their lobster fishery, Chief Mike Sack was briefly taken in for questioning.

Odds and ends:

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.