Roundup: Boxing in the Conservatives on abortion

Posted on by

It is approximately day seventy of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russian forces appear to be storming the steel plant in Mariupol, after a handful of civilians were evacuated and made it to Kyiv-controlled areas. As well, UK prime minister Boris Johnson addressed the Ukrainian parliament (and I can’t wait for the usual suspects in this country to start demanding Justin Trudeau to do the same, just because).

Closer to home, that US Supreme Court leak about the potential overturning of their abortion jurisprudence has galvanized politicians in Canada in a number of ways. For the Bloc, they decided to engage in mischief by moving a unanimous consent motion after Question Period about a woman’s right to choose, which was explicitly designed to box the Conservatives into a corner, and they dutifully marched into it—right after Candice Bergen sent out orders to the caucus not to discuss it. Of course, several MPs made their comments on their way into the West Block, while most of the leadership candidates made their feelings known.

This raises questions as to whether this could happen in Canada, and it’s theoretically possible, but not under the current configuration of the Supreme Court of Canada. Of course, the more likely course is for a future government to attempt to criminalise it via the Criminal Code, which they have been attempting to in piecemeal form, either via “sex-selective abortion” legislation, or bills that give rights to foetuses, which undermines the Canadian legal jurisprudence that rights begin at birth. The bigger problem in Canada is uneven access, whether between rural and urban areas within a province, or between provinces, particularly in places like New Brunswick and PEI, and the fact that the federal government has been fairly impotent when it comes to clawbacks of Canada Health Transfers related to not providing this service (which Conservatives don’t insist on federally, but Liberals do, when they are in power). I also think it’s an issue that this “feminist federal government” simply refunded the clawbacks from New Brunswick when the pandemic began so that they couldn’t be cast as the bad guy, instead of being seen to stand up for principles and for access. And lo, we may soon need to be providing access to Americans who come to Canada for the procedure, and that may cause capacity challenges, depending on the province. So we have our challenges, but they’re different ones from the US.

Good reads:

  • Pablo Rodriguez says he plans to issue a “policy direction” to the CRTC to encourage them to modernise their regulations of what counts as Canadian content.
  • Steven Guilbeault says the government has not yet decided what to do with the carbon price post-2030.
  • We now know that the “mystery airplane” that flew over the Ottawa occupation was operated by Canadian special forces.
  • The Privacy Commissioner plans to investigate the breach of personal information of dozens of CRA whistle blowers.
  • Here is the tale of a Federal Court challenge around a CRA decision to give a multinational company a deal whose “sweetheart” status is in dispute.
  • New Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers used her first major speech to reiterate the Bank’s independence from government.
  • Rogers also said that the Bank could not foresee the intensity and persistence of the supply chain disruptions that are driving inflation.
  • The Liberals and NDP have cooperated in order to force a vote on Bill C-8, relating to the fall fiscal update—from December—later today. Procedural warfare!
  • Kevin Carmichael talks to the Superintendent of Financial Institutions about the state of the economy, inflation, and how much shock the system can absorb.
  • Susan Delacourt notes that the US Supreme Court leak resonates as much as it does here because of how much Trumpism is echoing in this country.
  • Colby Cosh explores the history of Russia weaponizing the canard that Hitler had Jewish roots, as part of their excuse for “de-Nazification.”
  • My column takes a look at the parliamentary landscape, in both chambers, and finds it wanting when it comes to being a serious, grown-up place. Not good, guys.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look into the government’s plans to allow for automated and machine-processing of citizenship files.

https://twitter.com/HoCSpeaker/status/1521587940140503040

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