Roundup: Toxifying a committee

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The ongoing denigration of this Parliament continues, as the toxic swamp that committees have devolved into has claimed another victim. Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld, who has a resumé full of doing work with women and civil society engagement in other countries, removed herself from the Status of Women committee after relentless harassment from Conservative members of the committee, in particular Michelle Ferreri, plus the actions of the Chair, Shelby Kramp-Neuman, in facilitating it, all of it stemming from the set-up that the Conservatives engineered over that so-called “emergency meeting” in the summer where the Chair abused her authority to summon witnesses with no agreement for a study that had not been agreed to, which was being used to try and embarrass the government.

The Status of Women committee used to be one of the most functional and non-partisan committees in the House of Commons, but Poilievre and the Conservatives couldn’t have that. They insisted on replacing the previous committee chair for Kramp-Neuman, who has been doing their bidding, and have made it toxic and dysfunctional, like everything else in this current parliament, because that is part of their overall plan. They need to break everything in order to blame the government, justify an election and to tell people who don’t follow politics and don’t understand what’s going on here that they need to come to power so that they can fix things, when really, the plan is that once they are in power, they will start dismantling the guardrails of the state. None of this is subtle, or novel, and it’s been done in plenty of other countries where their democracies have been dismantled by far-right parties, and it’s happening here while our media stands idly by because both-sides and “We don’t care about process stories,” while the Elder Pundits keep tut-tutting and insisting that it won’t be that bad. We’re getting into some seriously dangerous territory, and nobody wants to sound the alarm.

Big #cdnpoli energy.We are headed in a very bad direction.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-10-29T14:16:59.724Z

Speaking of committees, the public safety committee heard from top national security officials, who were there to talk about the foreign interference including violence and homicide commissioned by the Indian government, and they made some pretty important revelations, but MPs didn’t really want to hear it, because once again, they were too busy grinding partisan axes. The Conservatives only asked about the embargoed briefing to the Washington Post, which has been falsely termed a “leak,” when it was confirmed that they were contacted by writers from the Post to confirm certain details from their reporting, which they agreed to under the embargo, in part because it was seen as a credible newspaper that could counter the coming disinformation from Indian sources (and we know that certain newspapers in Canada had swallowed Indian disinformation whole on previous occasions). And the Liberals? They were too busy gathering clips of these officials explaining why Pierre Poilievre should get his security clearance. Honest to Zeus, this shouldn’t be this difficult, especially for such a sensitive topic, but nope. MPs have once again beclowned themselves.

Ukraine Dispatch

At least nine people were injured and several apartments set on fire by a drone attack on Kyiv. Russians claim they have seized control of Selydove and are moving to encircle the town of Kurakhove in the east. Also facing imminent Russian threat is Pokrovsk, where the coal mines that fuel the steel mills are still operating as Russians close in.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau had a call with the president of South Korea and they both warned that the presence of North Korean troops in Ukraine will escalate the situation.
  • Chrystia Freeland says that the government will be cracking down on anti-choice groups masquerading as charitable pregnancy support services.
  • Freeland and other ministers are dismissing calls for a secret ballot on the fate of Trudeau’s leadership, because of course they are if they want to keep their jobs.
  • The Privacy Commissioner has opened an investigation into those CRA data breaches that resulted in fraudulent payment claims.
  • A misinterpretation of the law means that Veterans Affairs may have overcharged veterans for long-term care, which the department is now investigating.
  • Senior government officials have confirmed that one of the most senior Indian government ministers was allegedly authorizing the violence in Canada.
  • The union representing Canadian diplomats are looking for long-term fixes to issues related to medical insurance while abroad.
  • The special interlocutor for unmarked graves released her final report, and is calling for  twenty-year commission to further investigate these sites and their records.
  • Police unions claim the handgun ban isn’t working and want more resources to border controls, but there’s no data to show that it’s ineffective.
  • Poilievre says that the Liberals are “morally obligated” to run with Trudeau in the next election, and that it wouldn’t be fair if they didn’t.
  • Poilievre also says that if he forms government, he’ll release the names of any parliamentarian implicated in foreign interference (but won’t get briefed before).
  • Yves-François Blanchet threw his little tantrum yesterday that the government didn’t meet his (impossible) demands, so now he’s ready to bring them down.
  • Doug Ford formally announced the plan to spend $3 billion to send $200 cheques to every Ontarian, rather than fixing healthcare or education.
  • Scott Moe won a much smaller majority legislature in the Saskatchewan election, with the province even more divided on rural and urban lines.
  • Danielle Smith has asked for a judicial review of the “pause” on the carbon levy for heating oil (which will be dismissed with costs, pretty much guaranteed).
  • Justin Ling walks through the Pugliese allegations, useful idiots for Russian propaganda, and influence operations in the media.
  • My column ponders the ongoing Liberal caucus dynamics now that Trudeau insists he’s staying, and that the problem is organization.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Toxifying a committee”

  1. Dale, once again thank you for factual, in depth reporting. This time on the Status of Women Committee, in particular. I have followed this story from the summer, and it is a tale of bullying by the CPC against fellow M.P.’s. You have named them, but they know no shame.This should be a full blown, week by week story on PnP, with David Cochrane. It demonstrates how the CPC will govern and the damage they are inflicting, even as Opposition on our Democratic process. Anita is an honourable M.P. and a loss to this committee.

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