With a news-packed morning passed and the by-election anticipation building, the House was absent of party leaders today. Megan Leslie took the lead for the NDP, asking about Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge and the government’s refusal to accept amendments, despite having made mistakes in the previous omnibus budget bill that this bill had measures to correct. Jason Kenney, the back-up PM du jour, went on about unnecessary regulations and ponds on farmers’ fields. When Leslie asked him about the “contingency plans” spoken of by Flaherty as he and Harper contradicted one another on the deficit numbers, Kenney touted the Economic Action Plan™ instead. Peter Julian was then up to ask about the yet-unreleased foreign takeover rules, but Christian Paradis accused the NDP of being anti-investment. Paradis went a little off-message by accusing the Liberals of opposing foreign investment as well, when the usual talking point is that they rubberstamped every foreign takeover that came before them. (Looks like someone’s handler is going to have to give him a talking to). Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, and pressed about the refugee health cuts, especially with the comments made by Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall. Kenney said that the provinces can make any decisions they like about additional insurance for refugee claimants, and left it in their laps.
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Roundup: Trudeau apologises! Let’s obsess some more about it!
Our long national nightmare is over – or is it? Justin Trudeau apologised for his comments about Alberta, saying he meant Conservatives when he said Albertans. Well, then. And so we continue to obsess over it all. Trudeau’s camp tested the sincerity of the apology by immediately putting out a fundraising letter to help them counter the Conservative attack machine. Martin Patriquin dissects the pandering in fantastic style. Andrew Coyne examines the comments and apology alongside those made by David McGuinty, and concludes that in their proper context, McGuitny’s were downright admirable for calling out parochialism, whereas Trudeau’s makes one question the breadth of vision required to govern a country such as ours.
The Premiers concluded their meeting and are talking about collaborating on energy issues, skills training, trade, and infrastructure. Also, Redford and Clark didn’t get into a catfight, and Marois apparently acquitted herself well for her first time out, in case anyone was wondering.
QP: Not meeting with the premiers
The day was not off to a promising start as more statements condemning David McGuinty and the Liberals continued to make the rounds during the QP warm-up, because hey, there’s a by-election four days away, and there’s nothing like cheap political hay to be made. Thomas Mulcair started off by reading a pair of questions on why Harper wasn’t attending the First Ministers’ meeting in Halifax to talk about the economy, to which Harper assured him that he meets with the premiers regularly, and he’s focused on the economy. For his last question, Mulcair asked about the court case against the Parliamentary Budget Officer, but Harper didn’t answer about that, only offered to “correct” Mulcair’s preamble aside about how job numbers weren’t really that great, and so on. Libby Davies was up next asking about child poverty rates, to which Diane Finley assured her that they were less than half of what they were under the Liberals because of the government’s good work. Bob Rae returned to the question of Harper not speaking to the premiers, and Harper said that he not only met with premiers regularly, but members of the business community and ordinary Canadians too!
Roundup: Awards season, Hill style
It was the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards last night, and a hearty congratulations to Elizabeth May for taking the top prize. Other winners include Kirsty Duncan (Hardest Working), Bob Rae (Best Orator), Peter Stoffer (Most Collegial, once again), Stephen Harper (Most Knowledgeable), Michelle Rempel (Rising Star), and Niki Ashton (Best Represents Constituents). A lifetime achievement award was presented to Preston Manning. In advance of the awards, Paul Wells sat down with previous winners to discuss the importance of the award. (And here are some more photos from the party – because it really is one of the best events on the calendar.)
The other big news out of yesterday was the amount of faux outrage because David McGuinty deigned to call MPs out for being provincial when it comes to the narrow interests that they’re promoting. The horror! Were the remarks impolitic? Yes. Were they an offence that merited his resigning his critic portfolio? Hardly, and yet that’s what happened. Let’s see how much more faux outrage the Conservatives can try to milk out of this today as well as they try to shore up their chances in the Calgary Centre by-election.
Roundup: Following a failed policy really badly
While Canada continues to follow Australia’s failed policies around detaining asylum seekers, there are some important differences – in Australia, the dedicated refugee detention centres are focused on their wellbeing, and are designed not to be prisons. In Canada, detained refugee claimants are sent to overcrowded provincial jails, with the convicted criminal populations. Yeah, this is really going to end well.
On the Robocon file, online postings from before the 2011 election match the complaints that Elections Canada was getting about calls telling people that their polling locations had changed. Meanwhile, over in the Federal Court case where those six ridings are being challenged, the Conservative party lawyer has filed a factum that says that there’s no evidence that these calls actually dissuaded anyone from voting.
Kady O’Malley outlines the next steps in the battle over Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge.
QP: By-election questions in the House
With Stephen Harper off answering audience questions at the Canadian American Business Council’s fall policy conference, and John Baird over in the United Arab Emirates discussing the Gaza situation with his counterparts, it was up for grabs as to whose turn it was to be back-up PM du jour. So when Thomas Mulcair got up to read a pair of questions on Harper and Jim Flaherty contradicting each other’s deficit rounding error numbers, we found out that Tony Clement was the day’s designated hitter, who informed the House that it was their objective to balance the budget by 2015, and the NDP wants to raise taxes. Mulcair moved onto a question about why Harper wasn’t meeting with premiers in Halifax, what with the “fiscal cliff” looming and all, by Clement reminded everyone that the NDP wants to raise taxes. Peggy Nash tried to press after why Harper wasn’t meeting with the premiers, but this time Ted Menzies got to respond, reminding her that Harper meets with the premiers regularly. Bob Rae was up next, asking about a Calgary infrastructure project that was to have benefitted from an arrangement with P3 Canada, only to have the rules changed once the project was completed (and incidentally, this happened a year ago, and in the scrums afterward, Rae openly admitted that yeah, he’s asking these questions because there’s a by-election in Calgary Centre and god forbid there be politics in the House of Commons). Menzies accused Rae of having incorrect information, but did congratulate him on his concern for Calgary, and only wished that the Leader of the Official Opposition felt the same. For his final question, Rae asked about the situation in Gaza and working toward a cease-fire, to which Peter MacKay responded with a reaffirmation of the right of Israel to defend itself.
QP: Our certain economic doom!
Thomas Mulcair started off today’s QP by reading a question about how Harper, while over in India, spoke about how the fragility of the economic recovery, to which Mulcair wondered why Harper could only tell the truth about our economy while abroad. John Baird, yet again the back-up PM du jour rather than passing the baton to someone else along the front bench, first gave a shout out to Barack Obama’s win, and then extolled Harper’s economic leadership. Mulcair, however, decided that our economy was in crisis, and we were all headed for doom. Doom! Baird sighed and chastised Mulcair for “talking down the economy.” Rosane Doré Lefebvre was up next, demanding an apology from Vic Toews for his Ashley Smith comments yesterday, but Toews was very obviously sticking to his script, and spoke about how they were cooperating with the coroner’s inquest. Bob Rae, however, was unimpressed, and pressed on, wondering about other videos that hadn’t yet been released publicly, and whether those materials would be turned over, which eventually led to a call for a public inquiry. Baird and Toews both answered, each going back to the “cooperating” talking point, though Toews did consider the coroner’s inquiry to already be a public inquiry. Problem solved, apparently.
Roundup: Re-election and nuclear reactors
Barak Obama has been re-elected as President of the United States. Hopefully we can now stop obsessing about this and get on with our lives. Incidentally, Thomas Mulcair was first out to offer a congratulatory press release, Harper’s was a little later, while MPs from all parties are shocked and dismayed at the ridiculous $6 billion spent over the campaign.
During Harper’s trip to India, a deal has been signed to sell Canadian uranium for their nuclear reactors and they promise not to make bombs out of it this time. The government there also gave Harper a pointed warning about Sikh extremists back in Canada.
Peter Penashue, during his brief and flustered moments in QP yesterday, said he’d been travelling around the country. Kady O’Malley looked into that, and found that almost all of his travel has been to his riding to make government announcements, and that as Intergovernmental Affairs minister, he hasn’t even visited a number of provinces. Meanwhile, he did also briefly speak to the media, and promised that he won’t quit, but he will address campaign financing questions on Tuesday next week.
QP: The projections are on track
The House was a bit sleepy today, where Thomas Mulcair started off by reading out a pair of questions on the rules around foreign takeovers, the English one of which using the phrase “like a thief in the night.” John Baird, acting as the back-up PM du jour, thanked him for raising the tone of debate before proceeding to remind him how much the government supported foreign investment and that the minister was reviewing it. For his last question, Mulcair asked about the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s lowered growth projections, but Baird offered up some bland talking points about growth! And jobs! And warnings against the fictional NDP carbon tax! Megan Leslie followed up with a pair of English questions on the very same topic, for which Ted Menzies assured her that we are in a period of slow global recovery, and that the projections were on track. Bob Rae was then up and asked a pair of questions about the cancelled EI programme that offered five additional weeks of benefits in hard-hit areas, to which Baird responded that the measures were always meant to be temporary. For his final question, Rae wondered why Peter Penashue was still sitting in cabinet after his campaign overspent in the last election – along with additional allegations of improper donations. Baird assured him that the new Official Agent was working with Elections Canada, before launching into an angry rant about how the Liberals needed to get their own house in order before casting aspersions elsewhere.
QP: Ridicule and non-sequiturs
Things were a bit more subdued in the House today as QP got underway, as Thomas Mulcair asked about a Conservative MP’s accusation that the Canadian Association of Retired Persons was a partisan organisation. Harper responded that his government was preserving pensions while still eliminating the deficit. Mulcair wondered if the Calgary Chamber of Commerce was next on the enemies list after their criticism of the foreign takeover review process, but Harper joked about how their ideological differences with the NDP were vast. For his final question, Mulcair asked when they would get clarification on the takeover rules, to which Harper said the decision was still with the minister. Jack Harris was up next, curious about that letter Harper sent Peter MacKay about the cuts to his department, but MacKay would only respond that under their watch, spending for defence had gone up every year. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, asking about reciprocity agreements with foreign takeovers, but Harper responded with ridicule and the canard that there was no growth in trade with China under the Liberals, unlike his government. (Goodale later tweeted that under the Liberals two-way trade increased 669 percent, whereas it was only 77 percent under Harper). For his final question, Goodale asked about how they could enforce conditions with those takeovers, but Harper didn’t even bother trying to answer the question, and instead read a selective quote from this morning’s Supreme Court decision on Etobicoke Centre – a complete non-sequitur if there ever was one.