Tag Archives: China

Roundup: CSIS has a warning and a request

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The head of CSIS gave a rare speech yesterday, in which he did two things – called for more modernisations to the CSIS Act in order to let the organisation collect more digital information, and to warn about state actors who are targeting the country’s economic secrets, often though partnerships that they then take advantage of (pointing the finger on this one specifically at China).

Meanwhile, here’s former CSIS analyst Jessica Davis’ assessment of what she heard in the speech, which has a few interesting insights.

https://twitter.com/JessMarinDavis/status/1359213965851697154

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Roundup: Nuancing the discipline debate

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Over the weekend, Aaron Wherry wrote a piece about party discipline, comparing Derek Sloan’s ouster from the Conservatives in Canada, with Marjorie Taylor Greene’s censure in the US. While I think Wherry makes a few interesting points, he misses a boatload of nuance that should probably be included in there – including the fact that I’m not sure that control over nominations is necessarily an issue of party discipline per se, and I fear that the piece suffers a bit of conflation as a result.

What I thought in particular was his point where parties can exert more control over who can and cannot get nominations in Canada, where party influence is much weaker in American primaries. The ability for party leaders to be able to veto nominations is a fairly recent development, dating back to the Canada Elections Act reforms in 1970, when they needed an accountability mechanism when party names appeared on ballots for the first time, and in the interests of not burdening Elections Canada with intra-party disputes over nominations, they gave party leaders the ability to sign off on nominations. At no point in the debates (and I did read the Hansards and committee transcripts when I was researching for my book) was the possibility of this being used as a tool of party discipline raised. Nevertheless, this became essentially a tool of blackmail, where leaders could threaten to withhold signing the nomination papers of any MP who wanted to run again if they didn’t toe the party line. But this is only a tool of discipline for an incumbent, not someone who has never run before, which is more what Wherry is talking about with Sloane and Greene.

In either of those cases, these were newbies to the party, and control over who is and is not running is part of the argument he is making – that it’s tighter control in Canada than in the US, and maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. I don’t necessarily disagree, but I think there is more elegance to the argument than that. When it comes to the more substantial difference between Canada and the US when it comes to quality control of who winds up on the ballot is how the grassroots mechanisms different. In Canada, it is ostensibly a matter for the riding association, which can be hundreds of thousands of members – especially if there is a membership drive for a contested nomination – but that’s not the same as a primary, which is many, many times larger. There is a more robust intra-party green-light process in Canada that has grown up over time, but the bigger problem right now is it is being abused, and parties are gaming the nomination process, in many cases to favour candidates that their leader would prefer, and this is a problem that very much needs to be solved as soon as possible. While yes, it may be preferable that we have a bit more quality control over our candidates (emphasis on “bit” – plenty of people get elected who never should have made it past their green-light process), it should still be a more grassroots driven process, and not be the sole discretion of the party leader. That is the part that is harming us more than helping us, and the happy medium won’t be found until we get back to a place where we aren’t selecting party leaders through membership votes, and the grassroots has their proper role in ground-up democracy restored.

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QP: Disputing the vaccine math

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Another day of the Liberals only putting up Mark Gerretsen in the House, another day of their ongoing contempt for what Parliament means in the face of a pandemic – made worse by this being PMQ day, and the prime minister would only appear virtually. Erin O’Toole led off, in person, on Enbridge Line 5 once again, noting that Imperial Oil is making contingency plans to move the oil by rail if it is shut down, and demanded action. Justin Trudeau, appearing by video, assured him they were engaging with the Americans on Line 5. O’Toole insisted that Trudeau wasn’t engaged as it wasn’t mentioned in any of the readouts of his calls with top US officials, and Trudeau repeated that they are engaging on Line 5 and pointing out its importance. O’Toole pivoted to the front page of the Globe and Mail and its denunciation of the vaccine plan, and demanded a new one — err, which is mostly provincial jurisdiction. Trudeau reminded him of their strong procurement plan, and investments in domestic options. O’Toole changed to French to raise the issue of PnuVax not getting any domestic production contracts, to which Trudeau reminded him of all the domestic investments they made. O’Toole railed that no shipments arrived last week, to which Trudeau reminded him that there will be the fulfilled contracts by the end of the quarter, in spite of fluctuations week-to-week.

Yves-François Blanchet got up to lead for the Bloc, and he lamented the vaccine numbers before demanding the contracts be made public, to which Trudeau contested his assertions.  Blanchet wondered if he got any contracts about getting Pfizer doses from the US, to which Trudeau called out his fear-mongering, and said that they were working to ensure supply chains remain open.

Jagmeet Singh was then up for the NDP, and in French, he wondered why the government didn’t plan for domestic production a year ago, to which Trudeau reminded him that they did invest in domestic options from the very start. Singh accused the government of giving “mixed messages” on domestic production — which is not actually true — before repeating his question in English, for which he got the same response.

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QP: Not taking yes for an answer on Line 5

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It was yet another day where the Liberals had only a single MP in the Chamber yet again, no matter that there were plenty of other of their MPs in the building, continuing to show their contempt for Parliament as a result. (A second MP joined him for a few minutes, then left again). Candice Bergen led off virtually, and she railed about the threats to Enbridge Line 5, to which Seamus O’Regan agreed that the pipeline was vital and they were working to secure it. Bergen was not mollified and grumbled that the prime minister didn’t answer before demanding he do more to protect it. O’Regan assured her they were working on the file and it served no purpose to conflate it with other issues. Bergen railed that Trudeau had failed under three successive presidents to protect the energy sector, and O’Regan repeated his assurances that they were doing everything possible. Richard Martel took over in French to demand more vaccines, to which Anita Anand first started off by acknowledgement Black History Month and let it be known that she works to reach out to the Black community for procurement needs, before turning to the question and assuring him that there are two vaccine shipments arriving this week. Martel was not impressed and demanded vaccines immediately, and Anand assured him that factories were ramping up production to meet demand.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he demand a guarantee that vaccine deliveries were going to get back on track, to which Anand assured him that a Pfizer shipment was en route. Therrien railed that this was not good enough, but Anand insisted that they shared this priority of getting vaccines to Canadians, and that the overall schedule was not affected. Jagmeet Singh led for the NDP, and in French, he demanded all non-essential flights be cancelled, to which Omar Alghabra reminded him that they have some of the toughest measures in the world, and listed them. Singh repeated the demand in English, and got the same answer,

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QP: Virtual PMQs in an empty chamber

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It was not only a very late start to QP, but there was once again only a single Liberal in the Chamber, and it wasn’t the prime minister, despite it being the designated day he answers all questions. Erin O’Toole led off, and he thundered about the CanSino deal falling apart a week after it was struck. Justin Trudeau, appearing by video, reminded him that they cast a wide net with several possible candidates in case one didn’t pan out, like CanSino. O’Toole wondered about Providence Therapeutics’ made-in-Canada candidate, to which Trudeau assured him they follow the advice of the immunity task force, and that they have given Providence new funds to complete trials. O’Toole then railed about the fact that we are not producing any in Canada, and again, Trudeau reminded him that their “strong and aggressive plan” got us vaccines as soon as possible. O’Toole switched to French to worry about the vaccine protectionist noises coming out of the European Union, to which Trudeau assured him he just spoke to the president of the European Commission, who said that these transparency measures would not affect Canada. O’Toole then accused the government of not telling the truth about vaccine deliveries, and Trudeau took exception to that, insisting that he has been transparent with all of their dates. Yves-François Blanchet was up next for the Bloc, and demanded that health transfers would be increased in the budget, to which Trudeau reminded him that they have sent billions to the provinces already (and several provinces continue to sit on those funds). Blanchet repeated the demand, and Trudeau asked him in return why Blanchet was resisting pan-Canadian standards on long-term care. Jagmeet Singh took over for the NDP, and in French, he blamed the lack of vaccines on deaths, before demanding laid sick leave (which is 94 percent provincial jurisdiction), and Trudeau reminded him of the sickness benefit they put into place, but he hoped the provinces would agree to implement them, especially as the federal government has spent eight or nine out of every ten dollars in this pandemic. Singh tried again in English and got much the same response.

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QP: Blaming the wrong government for deaths

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It was another day of a nearly-empty chamber, and today there were a mere two Liberals on their benches, rather than just one, which is outrageous. Candice Bergen led off on video, accusing the government of being responsible for deaths in long-term care facilities because of the vaccine delays — with no mention of the culpability of provincial governments in their failures to manage the pandemic. Chrystia Freeland, also by video, insisted that Canada was one of the leading countries for vaccine rollouts. Bergen then blamed the cancellation of surgeries on the lack of vaccines — completely false — and Freeland repeated her assurances that Canada was among the best performers thus far and doing more. Bergen tried one last time to blame the federal government for the failures of the provinces, and Freeland again repeated her same assurances of Canada doing comparatively well on vaccines among allies. Richard Martel took over to lament that the government had not brought forward the bill to close the loopholes on sick benefits for debate but wanted them to pass it in one fell swoop, and Freeland assured him they were trying to correct an error. Martel was not mollified, insisting they needed to study the bill, but Freeland insisted that they wanted to close the loophole immediately and it was unfortunate that the opposition would not let them. Yves-François Blanchet took over on behalf of the Bloc, and wanted debate and amendments to the bill so that it could be retroactive, and Freeland assured him that the bill was not designed to encourage Canadians to ignore the guidelines to avoid travel. Blanchet was not impressed and thundered about closing the borders, but Freeland pivoted and invited Blanchet to apologise for his comments about Omar Alghabra. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he demanded immediate vaccines to protect seniors, for which Freeland calmly read her talking points about vaccine contracts and our record to date. Singh switched to English to demand for-profit long-term care be made public, starting with Revera, whose relationship be deliberately misconstrued. Freeland calmly stated that she shared his anguish and they were looking at best practices for long-term care.

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QP: All the empty benches

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It was eerie that the Liberal benches were completely empty save Paul Lefebvre, and the opposition benches also emptier than usual, though most who were present were wearing masks when not speaking. Erin O’Toole, in person and with his mini-lectern on his desk, read his first question on the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline by the Biden administration. Justin Trudeau, appearing by video, reminded him that when he was first selected as Liberal leader, he took a trip to Washington to impress upon the Democrats that the project was a good one, and he raised it in his first call with Biden after the election. O’Toole derided this as a “mail-it-in approach,” and Trudeau insisted that they got wins with the Americans. O’Toole then switched to the Pfizer vaccine delays and accused the prime minister of not standoff up for Canada, and Trudeau disputed this characterisation, reminding him that this is a temporary delay but it would not affect the overall target. O’Toole repeated the question in French, got the same answer, and then O’Toole insisted that Canada was always behind everyone else — which is verifiably false. Trudeau chided him for giving misinformation, and reiterated his previous response. Yves-François Blanchet was up next for the Bloc, and worried about the lack of doses next week, and Trudeau repeated that this was a temporary interruption. Blanchet worried that Pfizer was trying to get tax advantages in Canada and now our deliveries were interrupted, and Trudeau warned that he was veering into conspiracy theory territory. Jagmeet Singh then led for the NDP, and in French, he raised the number of people who died of COVID, and demanded “action” on vaccines — because it can happen overnight? Trudeau reminded him they were working closely with provinces to ensure there was an effective rollout of those vaccines. Singh repeated the question in English, and got the same answer.

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Roundup: Trudeau’s transparent fiction about vetting

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his call to the Queen yesterday morning to update her on the situation with the Governor General and that the Chief Justice will be fulfilling his role as Administrator in Julie Payette’s absence, and then he went to face reporters and spun an elaborate and transparent fiction to them, claiming that there was a “rigorous vetting process” around Payette’s appointment. This was a lie, complete with the rote assurances that they are always looking to improve the process. You know what would have been an improvement? Not abandoning the perfectly good process in the first place because when you had a lieutenant governor position open up, you wanted to fill it with one of your former ministers because you owed her after siding with Jody Wilson-Raybould over her. And from there, he couldn’t abandon it just for that position – he had to abandon the whole thing. In fact, Dominic LeBlanc pretty much ratted him out to the Globe and Mail that the vetting was inadequate, so even if you haven’t been following this file like some of us have, you know this was a lie.

Where the rub in this is because Trudeau is refusing to apologise or take any responsibility for the appointment itself, which is entirely on him under the tenets of Responsible Government. He has to wear this appointment – especially because he abandoned an established consultative process that worked and got good results, then didn’t actually vet Payette when she was suggested to him by his close circle, nor did he call references. As one CBC reporter at the presser said, it took her almost no work at all to find out that Payette’s previous two workplaces showed this very same pattern of abusive behaviour – which again supports the fact that the “rigorous vetting” was a lie. This is something that Parliament should be holding Trudeau to account for, like how our system is supposed to work.

Meanwhile, Colby Cosh makes the salient point that part of our desire for putting celebrities into Rideau Hall stems from our watching the cult of celebrity in American politics and looking to replicate it here, whereas what we should be doing is finding someone competent and unassuming for the role. Paul Wells recounts some of the early red flags with Payette, like her refusal to sign government orders in a timely manner, before making the salient point that part of Trudeau’s problem is really bigger than him – that the impulse to try and make things new and shiny is bigger than just him, and that Trudeau needs to be reminded of the hard work that goes into making these appointments. Meanwhile, here’s Philippe Lagassé providing a reality check as the cheap outrage brigade starts in on Payette’s post-appointment annuities.

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Roundup: Essential incoherence

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The provincial stay-at-home order is now in effect in Ontario, and it’s already a gong show because the province refuses to define what is “essential” for travel or items, leaving it up to police to interpret for themselves – and we all know that that’ll never end badly, or disproportionately targeting marginalised communities, right? Yeah, and it’s so typical of Ford’s government, where they lack the basic self-awareness that they are the ones in charge and have to make the rules.

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So what is the Ford government doing instead of their gods damned jobs? Why, they’re picking even more fights with the federal government over vaccines, insisting that their capacity to administer outstrips supply (not so far, it hasn’t), and I fail to see how a number of premiers think that if they’ll bellyache loud enough that they can magically make Pfizer produce millions of more doses in the blink of an eye, at a time when they are dealing with global supply chain issues. But we all know that this is performative, and attempts to distract from their failures to control the spread of this pandemic. To add to that, their constant focus on the vaccines and the fact that it takes time for deliveries to ramp up is an attempt to shift the blame on the ongoing uncontrolled spread to the federal government – that they would have been able to control it if only the feds had acted faster (when Canada was pretty much the third country in the world to approve it and accept deliveries). That was never going to happen – vaccines don’t work like that in the middle of an outbreak. But these premiers need to wash their hands of culpability, so that’s where we are.

https://twitter.com/SusanDelacourt/status/1349483284707868673

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Roundup: More pandemic theatre

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The horror show of COVID infections continues apace in Ontario, and premier Doug Ford has decided to get really serious and issue a “stay-at-home” order, which amounts to little more than the mockdown that is currently in place already. In spite of his promises of an “iron ring” around long-term care facility, there are now outbreaks at forty percent of facilities. Ford won’t do anything about the sick days that are necessary for people to stop spreading infections at workplaces, and he won’t do anything about evictions from commercial landlords. So he’s totally handling this with aplomb.

So really, what Ford is offering is more pandemic theatre – the close cousin of security theatre. And most of the restrictions and exemptions don’t actually make sense. They’re not going to do enough to curb transmission – especially as newer variants start making their way into the community – because he won’t do the hard work of closing the large workplaces where spread is happening, because that would be harming the economy – as though rising infections and deaths won’t do worse economic damage. Ford continues to shirk his responsibilities and let this pandemic get worse, and more deaths to pile up, as he tries to shift blame and try and to get people to blame one another than acknowledge his own culpability. The “Uncle Doug” schtick isn’t working, and he keeps hoping it will, and here we are, waiting for things to get worse before he institutes more half-measures. Welcome to Ontario – yours to discover.

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