Yesterday, everyone was up in arms about a fictional carbon tax. Today, it was that trade deficits sound scary. Thomas Mulcair started off QP by reading off a questions premised on the fact that when Harper took office there was a trade surplus (for which the Liberals applauded themselves), and now there was a trade deficit caused by an “artificially high dollar.” Harper shrugged and said that such a deficit existed for “complex reasons,” but hey, they didn’t want an NDP carbon tax! And after Mulcair hammered after the trade deficit, he then read off questions about unemployment, for which Harper touted his government’s job creation record and listed a number of programmes they implemented. Nowhere in this did anybody mention that we have a trade deficit largely because of weak global demand due to Eurozone uncertainty and slowing growth in the Chinese economy, coupled by a high dollar – but hey, the word “deficit” sounds bad, so we must capitalise on that rather than realising that a trade deficit isn’t actually what you think it is. Onward, Marc Garneau was up for the Liberals, asking about youth unemployment rather than the government trying to change the channel. Harper repeated his line about job creation. And when Garneau asked specific questions on making tax credits refundable and rolling back new payroll taxes? Harper answered with the accusation that the Liberals didn’t support their plans to lower taxes (which they loudly denied), and that the father of the carbon tax, Stéphane Dion, was sitting right behind him.
Tag Archives: F-35 Fighters
QP: First day of school
After an all-too predictable joking statement on the government legislating and end to the NHL lockout, and numerous Conservative statements on the fictional NDP “carbon tax,” Thomas Mulcair started off Question Period by citing things like the trade deficit while wondering if Harper would change his economic strategy. Harper spoke about the uncertain global economy, but gave no indication that he was willing to make any changes. Mulcair asked about the government cutting services during times of such high unemployment. Harper countered with the figure of three-quarters of a million net new jobs. Mulcair cited all of the instability in the European and American economies. Harper reminded him that Canada wasn’t the cause of that uncertainty, and hey, we’re the stable ones. Oh, Mulcair said, don’t get too caught up in “Fortress Canuck” when you should be protecting Canadian jobs. Better us than your tax hikes, Harper retorted, which was pretty much the same reply when Mulcair asked about whether or not he would meet with the premiers. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, first asking about programmes to help young Canadians, to which Harper chided that while the NDP have bad ideas, at least they have some, unlike the Liberals. Goodale then asked a technical questions about financing cooperatives, but Harper ignored it and gave a rote talking point about the economy and lower taxes. Goodale closed off by asking about income inequality, to which Harper reminded him that they lowered the GST by two points for all Canadians.
Roundup: Reluctantly opposing exporting carcinogens
The federal government has reluctantly decided to stop opposing the listing of asbestos as a hazardous chemical product, and is blaming the PQ for the move, as they also announce funding to help the communities around Thetford Mines transition to a new economy. No, seriously – they’re actually put out that they have to stop supporting the export of known carcinogens because Pauline Marois no longer wants to play ball. At least one Conservative MP has broken ranks and is happy about the announcement. Paul Wells offers up his analysis here.
John Baird has made a major policy announcement that lists the rights of women and gays and lesbians as priorities with our engagement with emerging democracies, which is an encouraging sign. Jason Kenney wants you to pat him on the back for making Canada a haven for gay Iranian refugees – while politely ignoring the fact that he’s made it more difficult for gay African refugees.
Roundup: Calls for “swift justice” in Libya
In the wake of the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, John Baird is calling for “swift justice.” (How does that fit in with the rule of law and a fair trial? Just wondering.) We’ll also be reviewing the security of our embassy in Tripoli. This Reuters report seems to indicate that the attack was planned, and not the work of an angry mob.
Julian Fantino wants you to donate to the West African hunger crisis relief funds as a way of thwarting terrorism.
On the case of the Commons blocking that Access to Information request, the Speaker’s office says they are duty-bound to protect the privileges of the House until such time as the House decides otherwise.
Roundup: Blocking the Auditor General
The House of Commons (as its own entity rather than its occupants) is taking the Auditor General to Federal Court to block an Access to Information request around his correspondence for his committee appearances. The House says this is about parliamentary privilege, and the AG says that privilege doesn’t extend to his office. Kady O’Malley delves further into this, but it does seem unlikely that the Courts could even weigh in on this, and there is also that wee little fact that Parliament is a court in and of itself. Both the PMO and the Liberals say that they’re willing to waive privilege in this case. It was later revealed that the NDP were the originators of said ATIP request, which just makes this all the more curious.
Iran has responded to our embassy closures, and calls it “unwise, uncivilised, and hostile.” Brian Stewart looks at some of the possible intelligence that may have prompted the pullout, and wonders if it wasn’t threats on Canadian soil that they were more concerned with. The ousted Iranian charé d’affairs insists that they did nothing wrong. Meanwhile, Thomas Mulcair seems to be distancing himself from some of Paul Dewar’s comments regarding the embassy closures.
Roundup: Adventures in Vladivostok
While at the APEC Summit in Vladivostok, Russia, over the weekend, Stephen Harper and Chinese president Hu Jintao witnessed the signing of the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. Harper and Russian president Vladimir Putin also agreed to disagree on the issue of Syria. While at the summit, Harper also ratcheted up the rhetoric around Iran now that we’ve shuttered our embassy there.
It looks like the new Office of Religious Freedoms may have finally found its ambassador and could be set to open soon. Of course, it was also revealed that the Muslim panellists for their consultations were “not available,” which sounds terribly convenient when you’re trying to assure people that this won’t simply be an office devoted to Christian proselytising.
Roundup: Grumbling that Harper does his job
Stephen Harper appointed five new Senators yesterday, including a former ADQ candidate from Quebec and a former Progressive Conservative MLA from Nova Scotia. Predictably the NDP are grumbling that Harper is *gasp!* fulfilling his constitutional duty. You know, one of the few that are actually spelled out in the written constitution.
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney says that “Dutch Disease” is not a factor, and high resources prices are an “unambiguous good” for our economy. Economist Stephen Gordon provides some annotations on the speech here.
Canada has closed its embassy in Tehran, and is expelling Iranian diplomats from Canada.
Roundup: A minority plus some insanity
So, it’s looks like Pauline Marois is going to attempt to form a minority government in Quebec – assuming that she can get the confidence of the National Assembly. But hey, it was far from the wipe out of the Quebec Liberals that some were predicting, and it was fairly close in seat count – within four seats at writing time. (If you want to use the flawed metric of the popular vote, it was even closer, but again, it’s a flawed metric that isn’t actually measuring what you think it is). Jean Charest did lose his own seat, and we’ll see who runs to replace him as party leader once he steps down (which is likey to be announced soon). I’ve already heard rumours that MP Denis Coderre could be interested, for what it’s worth. Also, it’s worth noting that there is really no mandate for a new referendum – sovereignty is polling at an all-time low, and the mandate between the PQ and Quebec Solidaire is far less than the 40 percent that the previous PQ government felt would be necessary to even broach the topic. So, small favours. Stephen Harper, incidentally, is looking forward to working on their shared goals – like jobs and the economy.
And then things went crazy. Marois was pulled off-stage during her victory speech as apparently a man in a blue bathrobe entered the back of the theatre, shot two people and set a fire on his way out. He was quickly arrested and apparently shouted “Les anglais se réveillent” or “The English are rising” as he was loaded into the car. One person was shot and killed, another treated for shock, and the fire was quickly doused, and things were under control in short order. It was turned the tenor of the coverage around in a flash.
Roundup: Dispute or drawing board?
A government-sponsored review of the Auditor General’s findings on the F-35 procurement failure could be indicating that they’re trying to dispute his findings, rather than taking the procurement process back to the drawing board like they (sort of) promised to.
A Dalhousie professor believes that our current approach to immigration is simply snobbery that won’t help with the coming demographic crunch, but rather that we need more unskilled labourers who will be industrious and start businesses.
Documents show that Jack Layton’s state funeral cost some $368,000 – more than the state funerals of the previous two governors general, who are actually entitled to such events.
Roundup: The Barrick connection
There are questions as to whether Harper’s Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, is in violation of conflict of interest rules because he sat in on a couple of calls related to Barrick Gold Corp. when they were calling to discuss concerns about government policy on the Falkland Islands, where they have operations. Wright, who is close to Barrick’s founding families, apparently only sat in on the call, and didn’t participate in any way, nor does he has personal financial stake in it – but the conflict of interest rules apparently also apply to friends benefitting, so it looks like this is being referred to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, who will doubtlessly narrowly read the rules, and declare it to be not her problem.
Here are five issues facing the incoming Chief of Defence Staff, Lt-Gen. Tom Lawson. Steve Saideman, the Patterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University, finds it curious that the government chose a CDS with no combat experience. Aaron Wherry collects some of his past quotes in praise of the F-35 and his use of “fifth generation” as though it were a term that had an objective meaning, as opposed to being a trademarked slogan.
The Ontario boundaries redistribution means at least a couple of new Ottawa ridings, including a new one in Nepean. Glen McGregor looks at the situation for Pierre Poilievre – take a relatively safe suburban Nepean seat, or an even safer rural Nepean-Carleton one?