Roundup: Opposing amendments at committee

Posted on by

I find myself amused by the ongoing stories that some Liberal MPs may vote against the official languages bill when it comes out of committee as amended, and the constant oh noes! Trudeau is losing control of his caucus! narrative that accompanies it. This said, there are egregious amendments that I have a hard time believing that they’re in order, because they reference provincial legislation in Quebec. For example, the change to the preamble of the bill to acknowledge Quebec’s Law 96 should have no place in federal legislation. There is also an amendment that says that if federal and provincial language laws come into conflict, the provincial law (especially Quebec’s Law 96) takes precedence, which is against every single constitutional practice and statutory interpretation principle in this country, and beyond that, it sets an absolutely terrible precedent for other areas of the law where one level of government tries to impose something on another jurisdiction, and because this one went unchallenged its okay. Yeah, we don’t want that to happen.

As mentioned, these are a result of Conservative and Bloc amendments, and the Conservatives are back to pandering to Quebec voters (and François Legault) by being as shameless as possible in trying to out-bloc the Bloc, and in some cases, they are being supported by the NDP’s Niki Ashton. It stands to reason that if the government objects to a number of these amendments, they can vote them down during report stage debate, and that would mean the whole chamber is voting, not just the Bloc and the Conservatives, so it could be enough votes to ensure that these amendments are left out of the final bill, which would mean this “rebellion” by a few Liberal MPs has done its job. There are still a couple of meetings left for this bill in committee, so we’ll see what the final shape of the bill looks like.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 358:

Russian troops are mounting constant attacks, and are claiming to have broken through two fortified lines in the Luhansk region (but they make lots of claims that aren’t true), while the regional governor denies that Ukrainian troops are in retreat. The Russians have been changing their tactics at Bakhmut, moving in smaller groups, without the support of tanks or armoured personnel carriers, and the Ukrainians are adapting to the new tactics. Reuters has a photo essay of one family’s evacuation from the area near Bakhmut, during which their grandmother died in the van.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1625861957549948929

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau is in the Bahamas to meet with Caribbean leaders about what to do with the worsening situation in Haiti.
  • We have learned that Trudeau was told that soldiers would be needed for security at our embassy in Kyiv, but they won’t say if any are still there.
  • National Magazine has a sit-down interview with David Lametti about judicial appointments, the courts, and expanding MAiD.
  • Lametti also announced the next steps in the government’s Black justice strategy.
  • RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki has announced she will retire next month.
  • A federal audit has found that Hockey Canada did not use public funds to settle sexual assault lawsuits—just the fees of players.
  • NATO’s secretary general is musing about hard targets for defence spending, but Canada doesn’t have the capacity to spend what we budget.
  • Former Governor General Michaëlle Jean says that Haiti has become a failed state, and wants Canada to play a role as a stabilising force.
  • The Commons justice committee came up with 23 new recommendations around the MAiD regime (and hey, there’s a bunch in provincial jurisdiction. Of course).
  • Liberal MP Michael Coteau’s riding is about to be carved up and absorbed into neighbouring ridings as a result of redistribution as Toronto loses population.
  • Pierre Poilievre was in Calgary to amplify Danielle Smith’s phony concerns about the forthcoming “just transition” legislation.
  • François Legault wants Trudeau to discourage asylum seekers from crossing at Roxham Road (and good luck with that).
  • Althia Raj takes the warning from the Conservatives that they are willing to sit back and let provinces strip people of rights using the Notwithstanding Clause.
  • Paul Wells goes on a snarky yet insightful journey of this government’s circular policy innovation space that never achieves results, because they don’t learn.

Odds and ends:

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