Roundup: Setting a precedent in this privilege fight

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There was a privilege debate in the House of Commons yesterday, and it’s expected to carry forward through today, on the subject of the refusal by certain entities, including the Auditor General, to turn over documents related to Sustainable Development Technologies Canada with the intention that they be turned over to the RCMP, even though the RCMP says they don’t want them, in part because it could be tainted evidence that may not stand up in court. This has been an abuse of the Commons’ privilege around the production of papers, in large part because they’re not for the benefit of the Commons or its committees, but to turn them over to the RMCP, which is also interference in their independence. Having politicians direct the police in terms of who they want investigated is the stuff of banana republics or authoritarian regimes, and it amazes me that neither the Bloc nor the NDP could recognize that fact in their quest to use any tool at their disposal to embarrass the government.

The government’s counter-argument to this abuse of privilege is not only that this erodes the independence of officers like the AG, or the RCMP, btu this becomes a dangerous precedent when it comes to Canadians’ Charter rights, particularly around unlawful search and seizure. The Conservatives mock this argument in saying there is no Charter right for government documents, but that’s the thing about precedents when you have a party who is willing to use the authoritarian playbook to their own ends. Today it’s government documents, but how long before it’s a private individual whom they want to embarrass or to encourage police intervention? We watched the Conservatives (with the assistance of the Bloc and the NDP) haul one of the partners from GC Strategies before the bar of the House of Commons, against his doctor’s wishes because he was in the midst of a mental health crisis, because they wanted to embarrass him publicly. It looks like we’re about to get something similar with Randy Boissonnault’s former business partner, who is the subject of the second privilege debate that will be taking place, possibly later today, who has also not turned over demanded documents to the committee as they are on a witch-hunt to find “corruption” that the Ethics Commissioner has repeatedly found no evidence of. And as a reminder, there has been no evidence of any criminal behaviour with the SDTC allegations, but they are trying to find that evidence using the most ham-fisted and abusive methods possible.

Having parliament go after private citizens because they’re on private little crusades, mostly for the benefit of social media clicks, is a terrifying prospect for the future, and yet we are careening down that pathway. Speaker Fergus has been useless in putting his foot down against the abuse of Parliament’s powers in this way, and we may yet be in for another Supreme Court of Canada showdown on defining these powers and when parliamentary privilege because state-sanctioned harassment. But in the meantime, we’ll see the Conservatives drag out these privilege debates in order to derail the government’s agenda, because that’s the level of absolute dysfunction we’re at.

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian guided bomb struck an apartment block in Kharkiv late Wednesday, injuring at least ten civilians. There were also drone attacks on port infrastructure in Odesa and attacks on power systems in Sumy region. Ukrainian forces are withdrawing from Vuhledar after two years of grinding combat, which some describe as a microcosm of the current state of the conflict.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau has once again reiterated condemnation of Iran for their missile attack, affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself, and warned against broader conflict.
  • Trudeau appeared on Nathaniel Erskine-Smith’s podcast and discussed the end of the agreement with the NDP, failed electoral reform, and the next election.
  • Mélanie Joly has confirmed that she wasn’t told about the New York consul general’s residence purchase, because it was below the threshold for notification.
  • Marci Ien is calling out Danielle Smith’s plea to “de-politicize” her legislation to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth.
  • Public Services and Procurement Canada says that the Phoenix pay system still has a massive net backlog of transactions, as they hope to transition to a new system.
  • Nav Canada says they have no records about Danielle Smith’s office calling to ask them about chemtrails (as this horrifying story continues its slow roll).
  • From the Foreign Interference inquiry, Bill Blair says he dealt with warrants as they came in, meaning the CSIS warrant to surveil an MPP was held up in his office.
  • Pierre Poilievre is telling supporters he would use his life story to promote adoption rather than pursue legislation to ban abortion. (He’s not ruling out a caucus PMB).
  • Poilievre has ended his boycott of CTV now that those two journalists have presumably been fired.
  • The Bloc’s non-binding motion to support their OAS enhancement bill passed and included five Liberals voting in favour, for all that it matters (which it doesn’t).
  • François Legault says he wants the federal government to “forcibly” relocate asylum seekers to other provinces, and I cannot even.
  • Wab Kinew has apologised for falsely claiming he kicked a backbencher from caucus because his law partner defended Peter Nygard. (My previous story here).
  • Anne Applebaum visits Kyiv to discuss asymmetric warfare, horizontal command, and the costs of failure on the western world.
  • Susan Delacourt looks to the state of the polls as to whether there is an appetite for a broad centrist party (with a flashback to 2011 when people asked the same thing).
  • Paul Wells give his impressions of the first half of Trudeau’s interview on Erskine-Smith’s podcast.

Odds and ends:

Lots of MPs this could apply to…

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-10-01T20:37:30.054Z

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