Roundup: At long last, the mandate letters

On what turned out to be the final sitting day of 2021 for the House of Commons, the prime minister finally released the mandate letters for his ministers, nearly three months after the election, and two after they were sworn in to their new jobs. I’m not sure how well I can articulate the utter absurdity of the situation, because there is really no excuse why it took this long (let along why it took him as long as it did to swear in his Cabinet or to summon Parliament). The fact that they were released after the House agreed to rise at the end of the sitting day means that there can be no interrogation of these letters by the opposition until January 31st, which is way too long.

As for the letters themselves, there is a theme among them about building a more inclusive and fair country, and for tangible results to be better communicated to Canadians (you think?). Some of the highlights include:

  • Ordering several ministers to take a harder line on trade tensions with the US
  • Resurrecting legislation on CanCon requirements for the internet and having web giants pay news outlets, as well as modernising the CBC
  • Renewed action to fighting systemic racism, along with a number of initiatives directed toward the Black community
  • Implementing UNDRIP in all decisions
  • Developing a new cyber-security strategy

No doubt more attention will be paid to these letters over the coming days, and we’ll see how much misunderstanding comes from them (recall the line about not creating new permanent spending programmes from Chrystia Freeland’s previous letter which people took to mean all rather than in the context of COVID supports). It also looks like we’re getting talking heads grousing about inclusivity as though it were somehow a distraction from economic growth when inclusive growth is where the country needs to be headed to head off economic challenges plaguing us since before the pandemic.

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1471544703212404736

Good reads:

  • In a year-ender interview, Justin Trudeau says he wished he could have done more about sexual misconduct in the armed forces. Erm, he could have done way more.
  • Marco Mendicino defended the government’s planned assault rifle buyback programme at committee.
  • Anita Anand says the promised 200-strong “rapid response” UN peacekeeping unit is still “still under discussion.”
  • The government is providing a sense of the scale-up of tree planting to start accelerating to meet their two billion tree target.
  • The officer in charge of professionalism and culture in the Canadian Forces says she believes culture change can take up to five years before it takes hold for good.
  • The Parliamentary Budget Officer projects rapidly growing costs for planned new icebreakers.
  • The federal taxpayers’ ombudsman says the CRA needs to do a better job of letting people with financial difficulties understand their options.
  • Here is a look at how an increasingly protectionist US Senate is largely deaf to Canada’s complaints about the EV tax credit.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear the constitutional challenge against the Safe Third Country Agreement.
  • The Senate has passed Bill C-2, and Bill C-3 is on track for passage later today.
  • Ontario’s science table recommended a circuit-breaker lockdown that should have started on Wednesday if we want to control cases; Ford will hesitate and cost lives.
  • Patricia Treble details Ontario’s slow response to rapid testing, and their constant delays in acting, leading to more unnecessary COVID cases.
  • Heather Scoffield tries to draw inspiration from how toilet paper manufacturers adapted to the early pandemic hoarding in looking for ways to fight inflation.

Odds and ends:

For the CBA’s National Magazine, I looked into the task of implementing UNDRIP legislation, and why it’s a much bigger task than most people may believe.

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