There were reverberations around the world as an Egyptian court sentenced three journalists to lengthy prison sentences, including Canadian Mohamed Fahmy for his work with Al Jazeera. While other world governments had their leaders or foreign ministers express condemnations or set up calls to the new Egyptian president, Canada’s response was kind of tepid, with Minster of State for consular affairs, Lynne Yelich, putting out a press release to express “disappointment.” Apparently we didn’t want to be too harsh so as to offend them. Fahmy’s brother tweeted out that he holds the government responsible for his brother rotting in jail because Harper couldn’t be bothered to make a public statement. It does make one wonder about why Harper couldn’t be bothered, considering the number of condemnation press releases that we already get in our inboxes. Is it because Harper has his own difficult relationship with the media? Who can say?
Tag Archives: Auditor General
QP: Concern about Boko Haram
It being caucus day, it was all hands on deck in the House (more or less), and everyone was raring to go. Thomas Mulcair brought up the kidnapping of those Nigerian girls by Boko Haram and what the government was willing to do about it. Stephen Harper said that the government stood willing to help the Nigerian government and was waiting for word. Mulcair then returned to the issue of the spat with the Chief Justice, and noted that law deans from across the country were also calling for an apology. Harper simply reiterated yesterday’s response, that he was aware there may have been an issue going forward and that he sought independent legal advice for the potential that it went before the courts. Mulcair noted that the Federal Court was keeping the suit open in case that Harper tried to reappoint Nadon, but Harper once again insisted that he had no plans to do so, and then launched into a tirade about how the Nadon Reference made Quebec judges on the Federal Court second-class citizens. Mulcair changed topics once again, and wanted a guarantee that any World War II veteran would not be out of pocket to attend a D-Day ceremony. Justin Trudeau was up next, and invited Harper to withdraw his remarks about the Chief Justice. Harper, however, regurgitated his line that he was aware there might be an issue. Trudeau changed topics, and wanted government support for their plan to make changes to the Temporary Foreign Workers programme. Harper insisted that they’ve been making improvements for three years and those steps had reduced applications by 30 per cent.
Roundup: The AG’s spring report tabled
It was the release of the Auditor General’s spring report, and among the findings are a major lack of long-term planning when it came to expansions in the prison system which will lead to more overcrowding in a few years, risks with the long-term sustainability of the public sector pension plan, the government’s relocation services contract being completely botched from the start, that First Nations policing is failing and falling behind provincial standards in some places like Ontario, that the CRA faces some notable gaps in how it deals with aggressive tax planning, that Statistics Canada isn’t adequately collecting data that reflects smaller geographic areas – a particularly salient issue right now with labour market issues, and that the company that manages federal buildings is getting billions in bonus payments for no apparent reason. The government, of course, thanks the AG for his findings and agrees with his recommendations.
QP: Seeking independent legal advice
After the Auditor General released his Spring 2014 report this morning, the question was whether its findings would lead off QP, or if some of the other matters of recent import — the telecom data, the fight with the Chief Justice, the deployment of our forces to Eastern Europe — would take precedence, given that Stephen Harper was present today. Thomas Mulcair led off by wondering which version of the story around the call from the Chief Justice or her office was correct. Harper said that it was suggested that he wasn’t aware there was an issue with appointing Nadon, and insisted that he was aware there was an issue and that he acted according to the legal advice he had been given. Mulcair wondered why nothing was said if the call was so inappropriate. Harper said that he didn’t refuse the call, and repeated that he was aware of a potential legal issue that could wind up before the courts, which is why he got legal advice. Mulcair wondered why there was so much trouble spent having this fight, and wanted Harper to categorically rule out attempting to re-appoint Justice Nadon. Harper said that he was clear he wouldn’t, and repeated his previous answers. Mulcair stuck to his script and repeated it in French, to which Harper complained that the ruling would undermine the ability to appoint Quebec judges and harm the federal institution. Mulcair brought up the objections of the former bar association presidents, and called on Harper to apologise to the Chief Justice. Harper dodged, and repeated his earlier answers. Justin Trudeau was up, and called on Harper to withdraw his remarks about the Chief Justice. Harper fell back on his line about independent legal experts. Trudeau changed tracks, and noted that Canada was on track to bring in more temporary foreign workers than immigrants, but Harper tried to insist that the Liberals wanted to bring in more TFWs and he wanted Canadians to get a first crack at jobs. Trudeau wanted Harper to agree to their opposition day motion on fixing the TFW programme — dubious with regards to being a question on government business — and it was no surprise that Harper didn’t agree.
Roundup: Accusations of intimidation
As you may have noticed during QP, the narrative around Harper’s spat with the Chief Justice is now being characterised by the NDP as an attempt to intimidate her and the courts, which is kind of unsettling. Mind you, Thomas Mulcair isn’t exactly pure when it comes to attacks on the Supreme Court based on conspiracy theories, as recent history shows. Aaron Wherry rounds up more reaction to the dispute here. Brent Rathgeber blasts the PMOs use of selective and disingenuous facts to try to smear the Chief Justice for the sake of fundraising dollars. Irwin Cotler took questions about the situation over the Twitter Machine. Andrew Coyne wonders when Conservatives of good faith will start to challenge the party’s leadership over the damage they are doing to our institutions.
Roundup: Expats voting restored
An Ontario superior court judge has struck down provisions that prevent Canadian ex-pats from voting in federal elections, despite living abroad. Considering that we vote for local constituency MPs, and not parties or leaders, one does wonder how we will determine who these ex-pats will vote for, seeing as they don’t have a current riding for whom they are choosing an MP to represent them in. While some jurisdictions that allow expats to vote decide this on the basis of their last Canadian address, it does make one wonder about that kind of determination as riding boundaries change and you have more people voting at that address than are currently registered. Or maybe I’m letting reality and the rules of the way things work get in the way of more abstract feelings about democracy once again.
Roundup: Another judicial rebuke
Another day, another unanimous judgement from the Supreme Court of Canada against the government and one of their “tough on crime bills.” This time, it was the Truth in Sentencing Act, which limits the credit for time served in pre-trial custody – time which is normally given credit for because it is seen as “harder” than in federal or provincial jails, as it is generally more cramped, has poorer conditions, and offers no programming or rehabilitation. Of the seven justices that rendered the decision, five were Harper appointees, so it’s not like he can even claim that these are Liberal activist judges out to get him – only that the government likes to push the limits of the constitutionality of their bills as far as they can. The ruling didn’t strike down the law, but sets a precedent that restores some judicial discretion to the credit for time served to 1.5-to-one as the Act allows.
Roundup: Sanctions as a badge of honour
The Russian government has retaliated against sanctions imposed by Canada by instituting sanctions of their own against 13 Canadian officials, including the Clerk of the Privy Council, the deputy secretary to cabinet in the Privy Council, Speaker Scheer, Peter Van Loan, Senator Raynell Andreychuk, and MPs Dean Allison, Paul Dewar, Irwin Cotler, Ted Opitz, Chrystia Freeland and James Bezan, all of whom consider it a “badge of honour.” Notably absent were John Baird and Stephen Harper, which signals that there is still room for negotiation. Irwin Cotler wrote his response about how he was first banned from the Soviet Union in 1979, and that he was poisoned on his last trip to Moscow in 2006. Meanwhile, the G8 is essentially no more, as Russia has expelled after their invasion of Crimea. The G7 is now resurrected in its place.
Roundup: Exit Flaherty
Out of the blue, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced his resignation from cabinet yesterday, but not his seat (just yet). This after Flaherty promised that he was going to run again, while simultaneously dropping hints that he was ready to wind down his political career. And it looks like Joe Oliver will be tapped to replace him as Finance minister, but no word on who would then take over the Natural Resources file. Here are some facts about Flaherty and his career, and a look back at his best ties, which were pretty much all green, which was kind of his shtick. Here’s Paul Wells’ profile of Flaherty from a couple of months ago.
Roundup: Exiting Afghanistan
The Canadian Army lowered the flag for the last time in Afghanistan, as our troops officially pull out of that country after our longest military engagement ever. Not that the job is really done, but we’re now turning it over to domestic security forces, as nascent as they are. Our ambassador says that Canada will remain engaged in the country and will help to rebuild their economy, and in particular their resource sector.