Tag Archives: Calgary Centre

Roundup: An absent report amid changing rhetoric

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It has been noted that the scathing US National Transport Safety Board report on the Enbridge Kalamazoo leak has yet to be tabled with the Northern Gateway review panel. The CBC has a long analysis piece about how the federal government’s rhetoric is changing as the file gets increasingly complex, with numerous federal and provincial political calculations hanging in the balance.

The Globe and Mail has a lengthy profile of John Baird as Foreign Minister, and how he’s scrappy and looking to change the way we do things, yet there was very little critical mention from foreign policy scholars who will tell you how empty most of Baird’s gestures on the foreign stage (like all of the walk-outs at the UN he’s ordered) really are. It’s also conspicuously silent on Baird’s personal life as well, for what it’s worth. Baird, meanwhile, is in the Middle East and has announced new aid money for Syrian refugees.

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Roundup: Farewell to a needed watchdog

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The former Inspector General of CSIS is decrying the dismantling of her former office, saying that the job of keeping an eye on CSIS from the inside, full-time, simply cannot be done by the Security and Intelligence Review Committee, and denied that there was any duplication of efforts (thus blowing away another of the talking point justifications for axing the office). But hey, why do we need someone to watch the watchmen? It’s not like we have anything to worry about – right?

Elections Canada’s investigators have traced alleged robo-call organiser “Pierre Poutine” as far an on open WiFi connection, where the trail grows cold.

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Roundup: Pipeline review deadline set

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The federal government has imposed a December 2013 deadline on the environmental panel review of the Northern Gateway pipeline. Which is all well and good, provided that the proponent – Enbridge – has their files together and doesn’t delay their own paperwork so that other respondents can get their reviews done in time, as has happened with other panels. In fact, the government should stipulate that Enbridge should face a penalty if it engages in such behaviour, for what it’s worth.

Rumours of Katimavik’s demise may be exaggerated. It seems that with the starvation of federal funds, they are picking up sponsorship from elsewhere for programming that they offer, and may be able to carry on in some capacity after all.

Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber continues to do his job as a backbench MP and hold the government to account, this time on the policy of Supply Management. More backbench MPs should follow his lead.

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Roundup: James Moore gone rogue!

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Uh oh – someone better alert the PMO thought police! James Moore has apparently gone rogue and cast doubt on Enbridge and the Northern Gateway Pipeline. Isn’t that heretical? Won’t the Pipeline Inquisition now need to fetch the comfy chair? I guess we’ll see if he’s still a cabinet minister by end of day.

The Canadian Forces remains overwhelmingly white and male, as they are falling well short of their diverse recruiting targets.

Some 80 lawyers have written an open letter to cast doubt on Jason Kenney’s assertion that he did nothing to speed through Conrad Black’s visa application. The spearhead of this campaign says it’s hard to believe that he wasn’t involved, given the history of micro-managing by this government. For what it’s worth, I believe Kenney said that he didn’t want to hear about this particular file, but that doesn’t mean that some officious bureaucrats weren’t doing what they thought would please the minister in speeding it through of their own volition.

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Roundup: Missed non-binding deadlines

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The government is going to miss the six-month deadline the House gave it when it passed a non-binding motion about amending the Elections Act vis-à-vis robocalls. Hands up anyone who’s actually surprised. Meanwhile, other experts say that Elections Canada already has all of the tools they need, but their problem is actually enforcement, in that they’re not doing enough of it. Meanwhile, Kady O’Malley takes a look at that Paul Calandra fundraiser that people have been talking about, and breaks down what kind of money we’re talking about, and it’s more than some people would think.

In a similar vein, the Conflict of Interest Act is overdue for its five-year review, and given the committee calendar it likely won’t be reviewed until closer to the holidays. And hey, maybe they’ll think about doing more about the mandate of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, which is pretty limited and limiting.

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Roundup: Leadership on healthcare

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Day two of the Council of the Federation meeting in Halifax yesterday, and the topic was healthcare – specifically the report prepared by premiers Brad Wall and Robert Ghiz on common best practices, bulk buying certain pharmaceuticals, and such. (Hilariously, Leona Aglukkaq later insisted the federal government has played a leadership role in healthcare, which is especially funny when pretty much every single answer she gives in QP is about how nothing is her responsibility). As part of the day’s news, the premiers also invited Harper to sit down with them for their next meeting in November – to which Harper replied that he’ll totally get right on that. Really!

And no, the topic of pipelines was not omitted. Premiers like Ghiz and David Alward want an east-west pipeline so that refineries in the east can process bitumen from the west. Which is all well and good, but just remember that there is a heck of a lot more east-west distance in this country for a pipeline to cross (and possibly leak) than there is to go north-south to the pre-existing refineries in Texas, for example.  And longer pipelines mean a lot more cost, since reversing the flow of the existing east-west pipeline won’t have that much capacity to grow as oil sands operations ramp up.

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Roundup: The “fair share” debate

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It was the first day of the Council of the Federation meeting yesterday, and it was largely devoted to First Nations issues, and how they want to be included in the “fair share” debate around natural resource development, since much of the development is on their territory, as will pipelines cross it, and they are soon to be an emerging labour force in this country. Meanwhile, with regards to the ongoing Northern Gateway debate, Adam Goldenberg lays out the ultimatum game for the two premiers, while Andrew Coyne calls it out as extortion.

Here’s a look at what some of Alison Redford’s ‘national energy strategy’ entails, and it looks to mostly be about oil pipelines, as opposed to a more diversified energy economy across the country.

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Roundup: Kenney’s populist distortion

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Aaron Wherry speaks to one of the organisers of those doctors who interrupt ministerial press conferences on behalf of refugee healthcare. Jason Kenney’s office responds with populist language that distorts the situation and frames it in such a way as to make refugee claimants look like freeloaders (ie – using “gold-plated benefits). That Kenney employs the “safe countries” talking point is actually a false argument because the designation is a political one, and not everyone who lives in a democratic country is “safe,” be it gays and lesbians in Jamaica, or the Roma in Hungary. But Kenney’s language is carefully scripted to stir up populist sentiment and appease an undercurrent of xenophobia in his base, and it should be called out as such.

With by-elections now in the works for both Durham and Calgary Centre, here are a couple of looks at them from Kady O’Malley, who runs down the lengthy list of would-be Conservative candidates in Calgary, along with a few Liberals who have thus-far declared interest, and Colin Horgan, who looks at some of the issues at play, and notes that all may not be lost for the Liberals given provincial results, shifting attitudes and Conservative infighting.

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Roundup: The inefficient drive for efficiencies

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Remember how the government was going to offer cash rewards to employees who could make implementable money-saving solutions? Here’s how the process turned out – byzantine, bloated, inefficient, and no one getting any money in the end.

The Conservatives have finally launched a couple of weak sauce attack ads against Thomas Mulcair.

It was the Conservatives versus the Council of Canadians at the Federal Court yesterday arguing about those seven ridings the Council is fighting to get the election results overturned in.

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