Roundup: Turnabout is fair play in procedural warfare

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If you needed yet another example of how the state of the current parliament continues to degrade, yesterday was yet another example. It was the first of the allotted Supply Days (aka “opposition days”) that the Speaker had to intervene in order to schedule, and it barely happened at all. Why? The NDP used procedural shenanigans to delay the debate on the confidence motion that used Jagmeet Singh’s words as the fodder by calling for concurrence debate on a committee report that dealt with abortion access, and the Liberals played along, which meant that the Conservatives’ debate didn’t end up happening until after QP, meaning they only had a couple of hours’ worth of clip-gathering instead of a full day, and boy were they put out about it. But that’s the thing with procedural warfare—if you wage it against others, eventually they will wage it against you.

There were other shenanigans that happened after QP—Liberal MP Jaime Battiste tried to move a unanimous consent motion to get the First Nations water bill out of committee and over to the Senate, but the Conservatives refused. As they did, Battiste took his water glass and started shouting at the Conservatives, and went into the aisle, apparently planning to throw the glass at them before he thought better of it. And then Andrew Scheer tried to move a motion that would have had the same effect, but with language that denigrated the government, and of course that too was shut down, and Scheer had the audacity to play the victim after that stunt.

It’s good that there’s only one sitting week left, because my tolerance for this kind of bullshit is at its end.

Ukraine Dispatch

The Americans have been pressuring Ukraine to lower the conscription age to 18 in order to bolster their fighting force, which is creating dilemmas for those teenaged boys.

Good reads:

  • While addressing the AFN special assembly, Justin Trudeau wouldn’t commit to a national inquiry into police-related Indigenous deaths.
  • Marc Miller is asking the courts for a third extension on the “lost Canadians” court ruling, because the bill hasn’t advanced due to the privilege filibuster.
  • In advance of the anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre, the government announced a ban on another 324 firearm varieties, and that the buyback is ready.
  • A report from Five Eyes intelligence partners warns of youth radicalisation online.
  • The Federal Court’s administration service is facing a major funding shortfall that is going to affect cases, especially refugee determination challenges.
  • At committee, Patrick Brown essentially admitted that the Indian government was interfering in his leadership campaign, but said it didn’t change the outcome.
  • At the justice committee, pre-study of the halved Online Harms bill has begun, and heard from parents of children who died of suicide because of online predators.
  • Randy Boissonnault testified at the Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee that he never personally referred to himself as Indigenous, and clarified statements.
  • The Quebec government is appealing a Court of Appeal decision that says random traffic stops by police leads to racial profiling.
  • Doug Ford is preparing legislation to invoke the Notwithstanding Clause so that police and municipalities can dismantle homeless encampments (and go where?).
  • Keldon Bester praises the Competition Bureau’s tougher stance on Google, and other practices that are raising the cost of living.

Odds and ends:

https://bsky.app/profile/vincint.bsky.social/post/3lclm6vpuwc2a

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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