Tag Archives: CSE

Roundup: Another NDP MP walks out

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NDP MP Sana Hassainia has quit the party and will sit as an independent, unhappy with Mulcair’s leadership and his position on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. She alleged that because she supported Brian Topp in the leadership, she was punished for it by being removed from a committee and being moved to the nosebleed seats. In response, the party slammed her attendance record without mentioning that she has given birth twice since being elected – while Hassainia said that they weren’t very accommodating to her needs as a new mother while crowing about how progressive they are with all of those young mothers and soon-to-be young mothers in their caucus. She hasn’t decided if she’ll run again in 2015. But given the party’s attempt to throw her under the bus, this tweet pretty much says it all:

https://twitter.com/mikepmoffatt/status/502166443845513216

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Roundup: Adams withdraws

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The announcement came at 10 PM on the Friday before a long weekend – in other words, trying to bury it. That announcement? That Conservative MP Eve Adams is bowing out of the Oakville North–Burlington nomination race in order to “focus on her health,” as she hasn’t been following her doctor’s orders about slowing down to focus on recovering from the concussion she received earlier in the year. Or at least, that’s the official excuse, but one has to wonder if it was because she found out that she was about to be disqualified after the shenanigans that she and her opponent accused one another of in the acrimonious nomination race. No word if she plans to run in her current riding (where speculation was she didn’t want to run again because she would be back up against a popular former Liberal MP who wouldn’t be impeded by the Orange Wave this time), or if this is her quietly bowing out of federal politics after 2015 entirely.

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QP: Unhappiness with the proposed privacy commissioner

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Thursday, and not a single major party leader was to be seen in the House — Harper off at the Maternal and Child Health summit in Toronto (where his press minions were kicking reporters out of the various sessions), Thomas Mulcair on tour in Saskatchewan, and Justin Trudeau off campaigning in Trinity—Spadina. Way to show respect for Parliament, everyone! That left Megan Leslie to lead off, brining up the nomination of Daniel Therrien as the new Privacy Commissioner, saying that the author of that legislation shouldn’t then be called upon to critique it. Dan Albas responded, saying that Therrien had a strong record of experience, and that he was identified as the best candidate after a rigorous process. There was a second round of the same, before Leslie turned to the lack of follow-through on maternal and child health goals and the need for reproductive options being made available. Deepak Obhrai praised the initiative for saving lives and decreasing maternal death rates. Nycole Turmel asked the same in French, naming the UN Reproductive Initiative as one of the organizations that the government refuses to fund, to which Obhrai repeated his answer. David McGuinty led for the Liberals, decried the loss of a full construction season due to the poor outlay of the Building Canada Fund. Denis Lebel accused him of misleading the House, and said that six billion dollars of infrastructure funding was flowing. Judy Sgro asked the same and got the same answer, Ralph Goodale quoted figures about how it was affecting municipalities, not that Lebel was swayed, calling the information “false.”

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Roundup: A giant loss for Parliament

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With a growing list of international projects on child soldiers, genocide, research into PTSD, and two books being written, and a sense of the unhappiness of the institution at present, Senator Romeo Dallaire has decided that he’ll step down next month, around the same time that Senator Hugh Segal is also due to depart. Dallaire’s departure means the incalculable loss of one of our hardest working and most respected parliamentarians, and one of the people most deserving of a Senate seat where his wealth of experience has immeasurably been a benefit to sober second thought, policy development and drafting the expert reports for which the Senate is known for. Dallaire was also not happy with the way the suspension motions around Senators Wallin and so on were carried out because of the lack of due process, but hey, political expediency and all. And of course, the growing number of vacant seats is creating a bigger problem for the institution down the road.

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Roundup: Buh-bye, Pauline Marois

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It was akin to a massacre. The results are in, and it’s certainly a majority and almost a landslide for the Quebec Liberals considering the predictions going in, while Pauline Marois lost her own seat, and the Charter of Quebec Values is being consigned to the dustbin of history. And yes, Marois is stepping down as leader, while Pierre Karl Péladeau all-but declared his leadership intentions. Mark Kennedy looks at what Couillard’s win means for federalist forces in the country, which might mean an effort to rebuild some bridges, and remember that Couillard has even mused about getting Quebec’s signature on the constitution at long last. Andrew Coyne says that after this many elections were a referendum has been resoundingly rejected that in essence, Quebeckers have not only accepted the constitutional status quo but have pretty much signed the constitution. Paul Wells writes that the PQ is stuck between an electorate that won’t buy their policies, a party base that won’t retreat, and the looming threat that they will become the Tea Party of Quebec. Here’s the At Issue panel’s reading of the election results.

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Roundup: Sanctions as a badge of honour

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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.

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Roundup: Condemning an illegitimate referendum

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As expected, Stephen Harper has denounced the “referendum” in Crimea, and said that it would lead to further isolation for Vladimir Putin. Said vote, which was done on ten days notice, with no voters list, and with the only options of seceding from Ukraine or seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia, is said to have a result of 95 percent in favour of joining Russia, but given that it’s illegitimate and dubious at best when conducted under what amounts to military occupation, it’s only real use will be for Putin to legitimise his occupation of the region. (Incidentally, Justin Trudeau tweeted that the government did the right thing to condemn the vote; Thomas Mulcair tweeted a photo of himself pouring beers for St. Patrick’s Day).

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Roundup: Exiting Afghanistan

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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.

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Roundup: Checking in with the props

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With all of the talk about the future of the income splitting promise in doubt, Jennifer Ditchburn checks in with the family that was used as the prop for the announcement during the last election. She found that they’re not really Conservative party members, and they’re waiting to see what else gets proposed instead of income splitting before they make up their minds. Stephen Maher notes Kenney’s intrusion into the file, and how he continues to stoke the social conservative base, which may be in support of his likely leadership bid.

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Roundup: Kenney makes things awkward

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Those questions of the government position on income splitting dominated the headlines again today, with some new added dimensions as Jason Kenney popped into the controversy. As Harper conspicuously avoided assuring reporters that the proposal was still on the table, Jason Kenney insisted that they keep their campaign promises – something that may be a signal and a warning. If it’s not an official government policy, then disagreement is certainly interesting, but if it is, then a split in cabinet means that cabinet solidarity is being ruptured, and someone is going to have to resign (unless we’re really keen to throw out the rules around Responsible Government). Michael Den Tandt believes that the government should step away from the policy, and the sooner the better.

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