Tag Archives: Attawapiskat

Roundup: Alberta on the edge

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It’s election day in Alberta. Will the desire for change lead to an even more right-wing “libertarian” government of inexperienced rookies? Or will institutional inertia and one party state-ism that has otherwise defined the province carry the day? I guess we’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

Today’s Senate “nominee elections” in Alberta are likely to split along party lines – as in, PC and Wildrose, who have both pledged to sit as federal Conservatives in the Senate. Which is just one reason why this whole exercise is so problematic – there is no sense in provincial parties running candidates when those candidates will sit in different federal caucuses once they arrive in Ottawa down the road – assuming of course that they do make it to Ottawa. In fact, it makes the vote that much more disingenuous.

Vic Toews admits that Omar Khadr is a Canadian and he’s coming back, so he’s now in damage control mode – he won’t be a danger to Canadians, and at least if he serves his sentence here we can better monitor him and his activities upon release than if he’d served his entire sentence in the States and suddenly showed up on our borders.

There are thousands of buildings owned by the federal government that are crumbling, some of them in states of total system failure.

Despite the ongoing battles between the chief of Attawapiskat and the federal government, it seems that not everyone in her community are pleased with her leadership. Not only that, some members of the community are also tired of NDP MP Charlie Angus using them to score political points.

Susan Delacourt looks at a grand national project like the Charter 30 years later, and fears that such a feat couldn’t be accomplished in today’s political landscape.

What’s that? The Conservatives are dismissing more expert testimony with those court challenges to overturn the election results in seven ridings? You don’t say! Meanwhile, in the battle to overturn the results in Etobicoke Centre, the Elections Canada factum says that mere clerical errors shouldn’t be enough to invalidate an election result.

Liberal Party brass were meeting in Ottawa this weekend to determine the rules for their (eventual) leadership contest, which they’ll have more firm rules on by June.

Here’s a look at Ruth Ellen “Vegas” Brosseau, one year after her election.

Here’s a timeline of the history of the Kingston Penitentiary.

And here’s a little bit about the Queen, as Saturday was her 86th birthday (not that we’ll celebrate it here in Canada until Victoria Day).

Roundup: Just a difference in accounting

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Peter MacKay says that we don’t have to worry – that extra $10 billion figure with the F-35s was all just a difference in accounting about what was included in those figures, such as salaries and fuel, and so on. Which seems a bit…dubious, especially seeing as this is the first time they’ve said anything like that, and went on the attack against people like the Parliamentary Budget Officer when his numbers were released a while back that are closer to the $25 billion figure. So clearly, if it was a difference of accounting, they would have said that a year ago, and they didn’t. Even if MacKay’s assertion is true, and I have doubts, it does not excuse the rigged process either, which also needs to be repeatedly called out as well. Meanwhile, here are a bunch of quotes about the F-35 process in the past.

Despite the third party manager being withdrawn, the chief of Attawapiskat is pressing ahead with her court challenges as to what all went down.

Oh noes! BC is delaying their bill to hold Senate “consultative elections” because the private member’s bill proposing them “needs more work.” Not only is it a dumb idea to start monkeying with federal constitutional issues at a provincial level, but doing so in order to try and win some political favour is equally nonsensical, and with any luck this inane idea will die a death by fire.

Here’s a really awful tale about what a family was put through when a young soldier committed suicide.

And here’s a look at the meaning of Thomas Mulcair’s beard. No, seriously. Also, a look at his wife and political confidante.

Roundup: The AG’s latest explosive revelation

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Speaking to the media yesterday morning, the Auditor General confirmed that the government would have known about the more accurate $25 billion price tag for the F-35s before the last election, based on the documents at DND that he saw. Which is a pretty big deal, considering it calls into question everything that Harper has been saying not only during, but since the last election. In fact, Bob Rae was so outraged that he is moving a motion of privilege in the House of Commons, saying that it is a fundamental right for Parliament to be told the truth, and if the government deliberately misled the House, then there must be consequences. Oh, and the PMO? Put out a release that tries to “clarify” their numbers, saying the previous figure didn’t include a bunch of numbers that the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s did, which sounds a bit rich at this point.

Here is another attempted explanation as to what and was not a “contract” or a Memorandum of Understanding with regards to the F-35 purchase, and how that added to the confusion. Here’s a look at how DND bullied other departments into signing on by using threats of the loss of industrial benefits. Brian Stewart muses about how this debacle fits into the “culture of secrecy” in the government.

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair gave a speech at the Economic Club of Canada to show that the NDP can be sound fiscal managers, and to talk about how he’s not opposed to the oil sands per se, just the way in which they’re being developed.

A Quebec judge has put an injunction on scrapping any long-gun registry data from Quebec.

Attawapiskat will no longer be under third party management, ostensibly for because conditions have improved there, but some – like Charlie Angus – believe it’s because the government is covering its tracks for blowing the file.

Here’s a look at the effect the closure of Rights & Democracy is going to have on places like Burma, where the agency was doing good work.

And here are five things you need to know about public service job cuts.