Things in the Conservative caucus seem to be getting increasingly precarious, as a “small number” of MPs continue to remain unvaccinated, and others refuse to disclose even if they are vaccinated, which is going to be a problem for Erin O’Toole in two weeks when they need to show proof of vaccination to enter the parliamentary precinct, their offices, or reach the House of Commons.
As if this weren’t enough, you have more unofficial “breakaway” caucus groups forming – one of them calling themselves the “civil liberties caucus,” apparently headed by Marilyn Gladu, who are concerned with the loss of “medical privacy” over vaccine status; the other is allegedly rallying around fiscal and deficit issues (and I would be tremendously surprised if this isn’t a faction led by Pierre Poilievre). And for context, particular “caucus” groups are fairly normal, but they tend to be around things like friendship groups with other countries, or other soft parliamentary diplomacy. This is not it, and while Gladu insists that this isn’t about O’Toole’s leadership, but it’s hard not to see it that way – especially as he should have been clamping down on the anti-vax contingent in his caucus and party more broadly because there is still a pandemic going on, and pandering to a group that is heavily influenced by conspiracy theories is frankly insane.
Nevertheless, this is where we find ourselves. O’Toole continues to try and play both sides of the fence, saying he’s encouraging vaccination but won’t enforce it when people refuse for no good reason at all. The fact that the party has made itself beholden to its social conservative and more fringe base because they’re the ones who both fundraise and volunteer is a problem for the party over the long term, as the need to keep appeasing this base isn’t going away. That makes it harder for the rational, moderate Conservatives from having influence (witness the savaging they gave to Michael Chong in 2017, and Peter MacKay last year, even though MacKay wasn’t even a real Red Tory). So long as O’Toole refuses to put his foot down in the face of a global pandemic, he’s enabling more of the decline and that bodes very poorly for the future of the party, and Canadian political discourse.
Good reads:
- Anita Anand announced that she was following through on the recommendation to turn over military sexual misconduct investigations to civilian forces.
- Marie-Claude Bibeau says there’s no quick fix to the rising price of food, and says that the rising price of supply-managed dairy is because of higher input costs.
- Status of Women minister Marci Ien says she hopes to look into the roots of gender-based violence on the side of men, to help prevent it.
- The clock is ticking for the government to negotiate a compensation deal for First Nations children taken into care, and for their families.
- Elections Canada says they are conducting a review into the mistakes that allowed some Indigenous communities to be without polls on election day.
- Google and other web giants caution that the proposed online harms bill would mean legitimate content be taken down because of the 24-hour takedown provision.
- Here’s a profile of Pascale St-Onge, Canada’s first out lesbian Cabinet minister.
- Conservatives are calling on the government to fund the safe houses in Kabul that are helping get Afghan interpreters and their families out of the country.
- Shelly Glover’s challenge of the Manitoba PC leadership will be heard in court on November 19th (though the court may decide they don’t have jurisdiction to hear it).
- BC premier John Horgan says the growth in his throat was cancerous, and he is about to start radiation treatments, but will still take meetings virtually.
- Robert Hiltz is disgusted that union leaders posed with Doug Ford over his minimum wage announcement and giving him credibility for working people.
- Hiltz also ponders the outcry at the appointment of Steven Guilbeault as environment minister (though he is a bit unfair on progress made on climate).
- My Xtra column looks at our new queer ministers, their priority files, and the government moving on their promises to the queer and trans communities.
Odds and ends:
For the CBA’s National Magazine, I delve into Friday’s Supreme Court decision on freedom of expression, and how it may play out in upcoming online harm legislation.
Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.
The media needs to quit pretending like this party isn’t the GOP North and presenting them as a credible alternative to the Liberal government. The CRAP coalition is seeing the emergence of several mini-Tea Party insurgencies, which are really just mutations of the Reform variant of the virus that never really went into remission in 2003, but has instead cannibalized its host. This Frankenstein-party monstrosity is still Harper’s creation and Igor MacKay, and it does not serve the country to pretend like the Liberals are “fearmongering” when they invoke his spectre. It would be delightful if the madness caused the CPC to self-immolate once and for all, but they’ll be sure to try and drag down the rest of the country with it. I don’t know what can be done but conservatism in Canada needs to be quarantined before it spreads its sickness at the federal level.