Roundup: Another failed attempt to oust the Speaker

Posted on by

Because everything is so stupid right now, the first day of the final stretch started with yet another call for Speaker Greg Fergus to resign for a “very partisan” invitation to an upcoming event in his riding, and of course, the Conservatives tied this to Poilievre’s ejection from the House of Commons two weeks ago because he challenged the Speaker’s authority in refusing to withdraw unparliamentary language when invited to, falsely insisting that he gave the prime minister a pass on similar language. Because playing the victim is part of their playbook, and they have to insist that the system is against them.

A short while later, the Liberal Party came forward to take the blame for this, and insisted that the wrong text had been put on the website that was “auto-populated” with “standard-language” (decrying Poilievre), and that this was being organised by the riding association, not Fergus’ office. A short while after that, the party’s national director issued a public apology to Fergus and take full responsibility.

This didn’t placate the Conservatives or the Bloc, while the NDP were satisfied with the explanation and apology, so they’re not going to vote out Fergus (while they busily pat themselves on the back for being the “adults in the room”). Nevertheless, I will note that as media outlets rushed to tabulate all of the controversies Fergus has allegedly been involved in the past six months, they conflated a bunch of the bullshit ones with them, such as the remarks he made in Washington DC about the time he’d spent as a young Liberal with a retiring Democrat, which is hard to actually qualify as a partisan speech. Nevertheless, it got included, unfairly, because legacy media outlets are incapable of exercising judgment and will simply include the bullshit allegations with the real ones (the video he recorded in his robes and office) as a form of both-sidesing. While Fergus hasn’t been a great Speaker (albeit, better than his predecessor was), the constant attacks for bullshit reasons are starting to look suspicious.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian forces shot down 28 of 29 drones overnight Monday, with the remaining drone hitting private residences in Kharkiv. Ukrainian forces are finally getting new artillery shells on the front lines in order to repel the Russian advance near Kharkiv. Ukrainian drones attacked more Russian oil refineries, and purportedly sank a Russian missile cruiser stationed near occupied Crimea.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau was in Philadelphia to address a major union conference, and talk about labour, progressive values, and democracy.
  • Trudeau was also asked about the possible ICC arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli figures, and called the equivalency “unhelpful.”
  • Chrystia Freeland says that separate legislation on the capital gains changes will be tabled “before summer.”
  • Mark Holland says there are no plans to legislate protections for abortion rights…because how the hell would you even legislate that? Seriously?!
  • Canada’s ambassador to Washington insists that we’re not worried about a second Trump term because we’ve dealt with him successfully before.
  • The Federal Court has certified another class-action lawsuit against the Canadian Forces, this time from those suffering from mental illness.
  • A Senate report is recommending changes to the temporary foreign workers programme to provide more protections for those workers.
  • The Conservatives are on a tear about the government not locking-in low interest rates for longer on their debts. The problem—it’s completely bogus.
  • The NDP are moving a Supply Day motion on taxing the “excess profits” of grocery giants, as though that would do anything about prices.
  • Pride groups in Alberta are banning UCP MLAs from attending parades of festivals because of their attacks on trans rights.
  • Justin Ling believes the time has come to re-open the constitution to recognise municipal and Indigenous governments, and excise the Notwithstanding Clause.
  • Paul Wells gives an insightful look at the state of play for the next six weeks in politics, and drills down into the two main leaders’ mindsets. Do read it.
  • My column points to yet another article lamenting the state of healthcare without actually looking at the role of the provinces in getting us to where we are today.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take points to the larger problems revealed by the Speaker’s bombshell revelations in Saskatchewan.

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