Roundup: Forcing a confrontation for point-scoring alone

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The whole sorry affair over summoning Katie Telford to testify at committee is coming to a head today with the vote on the Conservatives’ Supply Day motion to bypass PROC and have her testify at the Ethics Committee (where they hold the chair). And in the meantime, the Liberals are deciding if they want to make this a confidence vote, while the NDP are deciding if they are going to go along with the Conservatives on this, or back the Liberals—particularly if this does become a confidence measure.

It’s all really stupid. While I have a longer piece on the underlying parliamentary implications around forcing staffers to testify at committee coming out later today, we can’t lose sight of why this is happening. The Conservatives knew the government would balk at forcing a staffer to testify, so they would use the reluctance to push the line that they are hiding something, and if they’re fighting this hard “it must be really bad.” Which is bad faith bullshit, but that’s the name of their game, and true to form, the Liberals walked right into it, because they flailed over the leaks in the media, and can’t communicate their way out of a wet paper bag. And the Conservatives get to jam the NDP in the process, and try to force a wedge between them and the government. None of this is about foreign interference or taking the issue seriously. This is entirely about the Conservatives smelling blood in the water and going on the attack so they can score as many points as possible, because nobody in this parliament is serious or a grown-up. This is all a gods damned game to them, and it’s destroying our Parliament in the process.

Do I think the Liberals will force a confidence vote? No, because as much as the principle of ministerial responsibility is of importance, they’re not going to risk bringing down the government over it—particularly to have an election over allegations of interference in elections without any chance to ensure there are proper safeguards before that election happens. Then again, miscalculations have happened in minority parliaments before, and sometimes games of chicken go wrong. But really, this is yet another instance of play stupid games, win stupid prizes. And this really is the stupidest game.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian forces are warning that the town of Avdiivka could become a “second Bakhmut,” as they have held out against assault for eight months while avoiding being encircled, but Russians are trying to cut off their supply lines. Meanwhile, Ukraine sort of claimed responsibility for destroying a shipment of cruise missiles travelling by train through occupied Crimea. Elsewhere, here is a look at the de-mining work that needs to take place in places freed from occupation before they can complete critical infrastructure repairs.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1637881139355328523

Good reads:

  • Chrystia Freeland is promising both fiscal restraint and targeted inflation relief measures in next week’s budget.
  • Mélanie Joly points out that China’s “peace plan” between Russia and Ukraine is just about giving Russia time to re-arm in order to renew its invasion.
  • Anita Anand told a committee that the McKinsey contracts at DND were related to digitization and culture change, not any secret materials.
  • Steven Guilbeault says he will take a “long hard look” at the latest UN report on climate change calling for emissions reduction plans to be accelerated.
  • Guilbeault is also calling for a stronger federal presence in monitoring oil sands sites after the tailings pond seepages (because the regulator is captured by industry).
  • There may be changes necessary to the visa programme for displaced Ukrainians as many are now saying they’d like to stay in the country even if the war ends.
  • An agreement has been reached to allow more Nexus interviews to take place at airport pre-clearance sites, which should help speed processing of applications.
  • Here is a look at how the Canadian Transportation Agency’s complaint backlog became such a massive problem.
  • Two asylum seekers who lost fingers to severe frostbite while crossing the border have now been granted Canadian citizenship.
  • CSIS and the RCMP admit to interviewing a Mauritanian man in Guantanamo Bay but insist they didn’t provide false information to get him renditioned there.
  • The Heritage committee is summoning Mark Zuckerberg over the possibility Facebook could block news links, and it’s so precious they think he’ll show up.
  • It turns out that Quebec relocated francophone asylum seekers to Ontario without their consent, and now they can’t get medical attention in French.
  • The Alberta government is finally making changes that will force oil companies to pay most of the municipal taxes they have been reneging on.
  • Former national security analyst Dennis Molinaro offers suggestions on what else needs to accompany a foreign agent registry.
  • Susan Delacourt delves into polling which shows not only that men are turned off by Trudeau, but it’s much more visceral and personal than dislike over policies.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I profiled Shauna Van Praagh, the new president of the revived Law Commission of Canada.

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