Roundup: Another Auditor General Day goes by largely unnoticed

Posted on by

Yesterday was Auditor General day, not that you really heard much about it. No questions were raised about her reports in Question Period, and none of it came up on either of the politics shows, which is not good. We’ve already ceded so much of Parliament’s ability to hold the government to account to Officers of Parliament like the Auditor General, but whereas once upon a time, the biannual Auditor General Days were all anyone could talk about because media in Ottawa worshipped at the feet of said Auditors General, and who took their word as gospel, well, there has been almost none of that now. (And frankly, the fact that we are now listening to every single utterance of the Parliamentary Budget Officer and not the Auditor General is another problem).  In fact, most outlets ran Canadian Press wire copy instead of doing their own reporting from the reports, and those outlets that did their own stories only focused on a one or two of the reports and not all four, which again, is a warning sign about the state of our media.

Nevertheless, her reports concluded that:

  • The slow rollout of high-speed internet to rural and First Nations communities in particular is creating an economic divide.
  • The government can’t track the outcomes of their “feminist foreign policy” because they’re not tracking if aid dollars are actually meeting goals.
  • Two-thirds of people with disabilities found barriers to accessing federally-regulated planes and passenger trains.
  • The Centre Block renovations are on budget so far, but it’s taking far too long to make any decisions related to the work.

So really, there’s some pretty heavy stuff in there that the government should be held to account for, most especially the part around foreign aid funding that they like to show up at an announcement for and pat themselves on the back later, but are neglecting tracking the actual work. That’s a problem with this government, and we should be holding their feet to the fire over it, but we’re just not, and that’s a problem for our democracy.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian forces closed the town of Avdiivka to civilians in the wake of increasing attacks as Russian forces shift their attention there and away from their flagging assault on Bakhmut. Ukrainian forces also shot down a dozen Russian drones headed for Kyiv, destroying all of them. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops in the south-eastern part of the country, where it’s likely part of the spring counter-offensive will take place. Zelenskyy later met with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and said that Russians were holding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant hostage.

Good reads:

  • The leaks from Senior Liberal Sources™ on the budget include rebranding the GST credit, insurance for carbon pricing, and reducing outsourcing.
  • Mélanie Joly announced more sanctions against members of the Iranian regime.
  • Anita Anand announced that the military mission in the Middle East will be scaled down for the next two years, mostly training allies in Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.
  • Sean Fraser is extending a programme to help fast-track skilled refugees into the job market and through the process.
  • The federal government has finally announced a deputy commissioner for Indigenous corrections at Correctional Services.
  • The federal taxpayers’ ombudsman says he couldn’t delve very deeply into allegations the CRA was targeting Muslim charities because of a lack of data.
  • Most border crossings are returning to pre-pandemic opening hours.
  • The Canadian Forces are looking to procure up to sixteen P-8A Poseidon aircraft from the US to replace our ageing CP140 Aurora surveillance planes.
  • Here is a look at what Indigenous organisations are hoping for in the budget.
  • The federal government made arguments at the Federal Court of Appeal to try and overturn the order to repatriate Canadian men being held in Syrian prison camps.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada released their 2022 Year in Review.
  • The riding president and vice-president in the riding of Oxford resigned over party shenanigans in getting Poilievre’s chosen candidate nominated.
  • MP Han Dong says that he is planning to sue Global News and Corus Entertainment over the allegations they published about him.
  • Theo Argitis gives his preview of what to expect in the budget.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take looks at why the changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement could make the situation worse, not better.

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