Roundup: End of the 2022 fall sitting

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Yesterday was the last sitting day of 2022 for the House of Commons, and as is common at this time of year, everyone is cranky and ready to go home and have a nap, and this year is no different. This being said, Question Period has been pretty sedate overall the past few weeks, and there have been pre-Xmas QPs in years past that were rancorous, and we haven’t had that. Nevertheless, the government is in definite need of time to go regroup after the way they utterly ballsed-up their own gun control legislation, as well as some of the other problems with bills like their broadcasting and online news legislation. Hopefully some time away will help them get their priorities straight, and to fix the mistakes they made by either being too clever by half, or by sheer incompetence (and sometimes it’s a tossup as to what the problem was indeed).

I will note that there was an outcry over Twitter from members of the disability community that the Canada Disability Benefit legislation didn’t pass before they rose, and an NDP MP tried to pass a motion to give emergency funds in the interim, as though that were remotely feasibly and wouldn’t result in provinces clawing back their own meagre benefits. (Seriously, CERB was not magic.) The thing that needs to be remembered is that the CDB bill is just a framework—even if it passed yesterday, it wouldn’t pass the Senate in time, and when it does pass, it needs to go through a massive regulatory process to fill in the benefits, which also needs to be done with provincial negotiations so that we don’t wind up in a situation where provinces either claw-back benefits or funding so that these people are worse off than they were before, or where things wind up in a situation where other supports are withdrawn because they were means-tested and the federal benefit moves them out of reach of those thresholds, which again, will disadvantage those who need it. None of this is happening overnight, and it’s a process. So frankly, the fact that the bill didn’t pass before Xmas this year is not surprising, and wouldn’t have an immediate impact in any case.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 295:

Ukrainian authorities say that they intercepted and destroyed thirteen explosive-laden drones headed for Kyiv yesterday, but the wreckage still damaged five buildings. Meanwhile, Russia has said there will be no Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine, which isn’t surprising (though the only thing even less surprising would be them agreeing to it and then reneging). In the meantime, they have shelled the regional administrative centre in Kherson, because.

Good reads:

  • In his speech to the Liberal Party’s holiday gathering, Justin Trudeau took aim at the notion that “Canada is broken” and refuted it, hitting back at Poilievre.
  • Marco Mendicino says the government will do more consultation on their gun ban lists; Gudie Hutchings says that 19,000 makes and models of guns remain legal.
  • Jean-Yves Duclos (correctly) says it’s up to the premiers to end the impasse over health transfers by agreeing to the federal government’s conditions.
  • François-Philippe Champagne’s spokesperson says the government is closely monitoring the American bill to ban TikTok for security reasons.
  • Harjit Sajjan says the government plans to amend the Criminal Code to allow humanitarian organizations into places like Afghanistan, but it can’t until spring.
  • The Star has a year-end interview with Anita Anand.
  • Fisheries and Oceans has earmarked $123 million to buy out salmon fishing licenses in a bid to retire them in order to shrink the sector given stock sizes.
  • The government has ended their sanctions waiver for the Nordstream gas turbines, since Russia has since sabotaged the pipeline.
  • The Chief Science Advisor released a report detailing a roadmap to help government deal with Long COVID.
  • The online news bill has passed the House of Commons, and Facebook is once again threatening to cut all news content from its site in retaliation.
  • Canada won’t be sending any CF-18s as part of NATO patrols in Europe next year, citing a need to upgrade the aircraft and train more personnel.
  • Liberals on the Procedure and House Affairs committee want to expand the Parliamentary Precinct to include Wellington and Sparks; the Conservatives balked.
  • The Status of Women committee released a report calling on resource companies to better protect Indigenous women and girls when they set up camps for workers.
  • Pierre Poilievre gave a public speech to his caucus, exhorting them to remember to be on the side of the “common people.”
  • Yukon has signed an agreement with the federal government over conservation and protection of natural areas in the territory.
  • Danielle Smith offered a non-apology for her offensive comparison of Alberta’s situation to that of First Nations, and come on already.
  • Emmett Macfarlane explores the legal argument that government inaction on the pandemic (and current influenza/RSV wave) violates Charter rights.
  • Susan Delacourt is doubtful that the healthcare file will bring down the government, in spite of Jagmeet Singh’s (empty) threats.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look at how the “Sovereignty Act” undermines the ability of courts to do their work because it allows the legislature to intrude.

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