Roundup: The Speaker imposes the last of the Supply Days

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Yesterday began with the government’s attempt to let the opposition parties have their remaining Supply Days (aka “opposition days”) that remain in the supply cycle before the Estimates votes next week, and even though the Conservatives had indicated they were going to move a confidence motion that would force Jagmeet Singh to eat his words about the Liberals, being one giant dare. But when the Government House Leader Karina Gould moved the motion that would let this happen, that would give them a chance to move this confidence motion, the Conservatives decided against it in order to continue the privilege filibuster.

Later in the day, Speaker Greg Fergus decided to step in, given that the ability for the parties to work this out for themselves had clearly failed. To that end, he has imposed that the Supply Days will run Thursday, Monday and Tuesday for the Conservatives, with the Friday for the NDP, and that because Tuesday is the last day of the Supply Cycle, the Estimates votes will happen then. This ensures that the parties get their allotted days (the Bloc already had theirs before the privilege filibuster began), and the Conservatives will have their chances to try and embarrass the other opposition parties into voting non-confidence, the NDP won’t oblige them, and the NDP’s motion will likely be something related to abortion in their own attempt to embarrass the Conservatives, because nobody can be mature about any of this.

I will say that I’m a little surprised that Fergus made this move, because he very well could have used this as something of a “learning opportunity” for the parties—that because they refused to come to a deal about these days that they would lose them because they didn’t use them. But that actually would have been the bigger surprise, because Fergus isn’t exactly a very strong-willed Speaker. As for the Conservatives, one suspects that they turned down the motion in order to push the envelope, so that they could cry foul and try and challenge Fergus if they did lose those days, and send out more fundraising emails that he’s being partisan (which is against the rules), and to try and play the victim. Andrew Scheer was already trying to denounce these moves, but nothing he says has any semblance of truth, so that’s no surprise. Nevertheless, there won’t be a crisis of Supply, government departments won’t shut down, and Canadian journalists won’t get the opportunity to excitedly write about a “U.S.-style government shutdown.”

Ukraine Dispatch

Another Russian drone attack on Trenopil has left it without electricity. And while president Zelenskyy is hoping for quick NATO membership as an avenue to ending the war, NATO members are unlikely to take him up on it.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1863186805463437571

Good reads:

  • Members of the government spent the day pushing back against the cries from the Conservatives and NDP that Trudeau came back “empty-handed” from Mar-a-Lago.
  • The federal government has listed Ansarallah (aka the Houthis) as a terrorist entity, which is less about operations in Canada than around issues of fundraising.
  • The Auditor General released her fall reports yesterday, and the big one was about CEBA administration being subcontracted out with few controls.
  • The final report on the crash of a Chinook helicopter training mission that killed two pilots has been released, and points to a number of factors.
  • The CBSA’s union is proposing removing restrictions that would allow officers to help the RCMP patrol between points of entry, but Dominic LeBlanc isn’t biting.
  • Refugee sponsorship groups say granting more permits would better clear the backlog of applications than freezing them for two years.
  • The AFN is holding a special assembly in Ottawa this week to discuss economic reconciliation, reforming child and family welfare, and Indigenous policing.
  • Some “traditional” people in Ghana want to look to two-spirit Indigenous people in Canada to help reclaim pre-colonial gender and sexual identities.
  • The CBC/Radio-Canada got more details about the alleged Indian foreign interference into the Conservative leadership race pertaining to Patrick Brown.
  • Brown, for his part, says that the interference didn’t affect the outcome of the race.
  • Quebec is suspending international adoptions, claiming there are concerns about trafficking and human rights violations.
  • Doug Ford has launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in several major US markets to remind Americans what a good friend Ontario is. (What healthcare?)
  • The search for the remains of murdered First Nations women has finally begun in the landfill north of Winnipeg.
  • The Alberta government plans to cut 70 percent of photo radar sites in the provinces, because being tough on crime doesn’t count for traffic violations.
  • Martin Patriquin notes François Legault’s capitulation to Trump, but also willingness to adopt the same language demonising migrants.
  • Susan Delacourt observes how much more contact Trudeau has had with the incoming Trump administration this time around than last time, or with Biden.

Odds and ends:

Need a copy of my book “The Unbroken Machine,” or “Royal Progress,” which I contributed to? Want to give a copy as a gift? Dundurn Press is having a 25% off site wide sale!

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-11-18T23:53:05.945Z

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