Roundup: The “filibuster” that wasn’t

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A particular level of self-aggrandisement seems to be taking hold in the Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, as he describes things that are not reflective of reality. Yesterday morning, he summoned the media to a speech he delivered to caucus—something that is not uncommon for the last caucus meeting before the summer break, but we are still two weeks away from that. There, he promised that he was going to rise in the House of Commons at 7 PM and begin a filibuster of the budget bill, and that he wouldn’t stop until the government backed down and acceded to his demands.

Except it was all bullshit.

There wasn’t going to be a filibuster. The House had already passed a programming motion, thanks to the NDP, that laid out just how many hours left of debate there were before the final debate, and Poilievre couldn’t just talk and talk past he expiry of that clock. It was already set in stone. So, after another attempted abuse of remote voting as a procedural tactic (which the Deputy Speaker lost all patience with), Poilievre got up to give his five hours of allotted time. But again, this isn’t actually a filibuster because the leader of the opposition gets unlimited speaking time to certain items on the Order Paper, and this was one of them. He wasn’t filibustering anything. He was showboating.

While Conservatives flooded social media with effusive praise about how he was standing up for defenceless Canadians against the predations of the government, and they kept praising how long he was speaking, he wasn’t actually accomplishing anything other than playing to his own backbenches. It’s not like anyone other than a few shut-ins and reporters who drew the short straw were watching. He didn’t stop the budget bill, because it was already the subject of a programming motion. He just talked for the sake of it, and was even finished before midnight hit, when the time would have expired automatically. There was nothing heroic about this action, and it accomplished exactly nothing at all.

https://twitter.com/a_picazo/status/1666653154694266880

Ukraine Dispatch:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling for international assistance in dealing with the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, as they continue to evacuate people from floods, and local authorities rush things like drinking water to the affected area. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have gained more ground around Bakhmut, but insist that this is not part of any ongoing spring offensive.

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1666417873776959489

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau says he has no intention of bowing to Facebook or Google’s bullying tactics around provision of online news.
  • Trudeau is also musing about the possibility of some kind of new federal disaster assistance body so it doesn’t entirely fall on the Canadian Forces. (Good luck).
  • Mélanie Joly announced plans to do a complete overhaul at Global Affairs to modernise the department and deal with problems that have lingered for decades.
  • Steven Guilbeault says he could do more to fight climate change if he didn’t have to constantly fight the Conservatives over every step.
  • David Lametti plans to reject several Senate amendments to the judicial oversight bill because they run contrary to the intention of the legislation.
  • Pablo Rodriguez appointed a new director of the National Gallery of Canada after a couple of years of turmoil in the organization.
  • The former director-general of corrections and criminal justice at Public Safety Canada reminds us that the correctional system is not about revenge.
  • As you probably heard, the Bank of Canada raised the policy rate by 25 basis points.
  • Somewhat ironically, it was Clean Air Day yesterday, as we are blanketed in smoke.
  • The RCMP’s union wants the oversight legislation to end the practice of the Mounties investigating one another.
  • A scientist accused of helping Syria develop its chemical weapons programme has been traced to an Edmonton suburb.
  • On an official visit to Manitoba, Mary May Simon says she hopes to help “both sides” in the current statue defacement debate happening in the province.
  • As wildfires around the country burn out of control, the Conservatives in particular are absolutely ignoring the issue in the House of Commons.
  • The Commons’ immigration committee sent a letter to CBSA urging them to halt the deportation of Indian students caught up in fraudulent admissions scandals.
  • Quebec is expanding MAiD provision in the province to include advance directives.
  • Jason Markusoff details how conservative councillors in Calgary are rejecting housing plans that their federal allies are demanding/threatening over.
  • Althia Raj adds her voice to those pointing out that David Johnston did himself no favours with his answers at committee.
  • Paul Wells weighs in on the announcement of the new director of the National Gallery and the dynamics over the past year that led to this.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: The “filibuster” that wasn’t”

  1. The faux filibuster by the incompetent Poilievre gives proof that this lying charlatan would be just a incompetent if elected to power. His presser this morning where he lamely described his action was interesting as the two toadys behind him played their parts as weaning sycophants with their grins grimaces and smirks. Please media give us a break and just go a closeup of this liar as he tries to real in his rightwing sheep.

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