Tag Archives: Liberal Leadership

Roundup: The post-meeting calls to end the hunger strike

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Today in Idle No More news, Thomas Mulcair and the Grand Chief of Quebec Matthew Coon Come are calling for Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence to end her hunger strike because sufficient progress has been made, and the fact that her demand to have the Governor General and the PM at the table together is never going to happen ever. One of the founders of the movement says she supports Spence, but not road blockades or the political process with the AFN. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin criticises Stephen Harper’s handling of the First Nations file. AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo is preparing to meet with Harper again in two weeks, and credits Idle No More for getting the process started.

The Department of Justice has spent $3.6 million on the Ashley Smith inquiry, but is keeping as much of it as the can under wraps.

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Roundup: Demands, progress, and walkouts

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So, it’s been a busy day. Going into the meeting, the AFN had a list of eight demands. But then a number of Chiefs decided to boycott – in particular, the chiefs from Ontario, Manitoba, the Yukon, and one from Saskatchewan. (You may be pleased to know that the Grand Chief of Northern Quebec quite properly articulated on TV that it was improper to demand that the Governor General be at the table). And so, despite the boycotts and the protests outside, the meeting took place. And out of the eight items, they apparently made some solid progress, so says the PMO and Atleo. But Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence? She’s still not satisfied, and she’s going to keep up her liquid diet. You see, she attended the Governor General’s ceremonial meeting at Rideau Hall, and then walked out – apparently it was “too much of a show” for the person who has created for herself a media circus, and she didn’t feel the honour of the occasion. Oh, and there was something about an improperly handled wampum belt, but nobody seems to be able to figure that one out, but really, it all pretty much amounts to the next round of political Calvinball.

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Roundup: Spence versus Responsible Government

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It was another fraught day with regards to the whole Prime Minister-First Nations meeting, Chief Theresa Spence, and civic literacy in general. Chief Spence first said that she wasn’t going to go to the meeting because the Governor General wouldn’t be there. And then, briefly, she was going to be there, and then no, no she wasn’t and to add to that, she was going to keep up her liquid diet, and had signed her will because she was ready to die. So really, no dramatics there. But not only that, the continued insistence that the Governor General be there to represent “the Crown” is both wrong and misguided, and yet nobody seems willing to tell Spence that she’s barking up the wrong tree. In fact, she’s decided to write the Queen to have her insist that the GG show up – because the Queen is magic, and Canada is apparently still a colony under direct Crown control. “Oh, but it’s an important symbol that he be there,” Spence’s supporters insist. Except that the only symbolic message that would be sent is that the Queen and by extension the GG are the ones who make public policy in Canada and that the whole 167 years of Responsible Government were all just a dream – like that season of Dallas. Because without trying to be too glib, this is exactly what Spence is demanding. And not to put too fine of a point on it, I’ll add this quote: “Spence is demanding a meeting with a ghost, with a Crown that by 1763 had already ceded much of its discretionary powers to Parliament.” This from a post that explains the metaphors that Spence is trying to interact with on a literal basis. And the fact that people don’t understand that it’s inappropriate to involve the Sovereign or her representative in what is supposed to be a working policy discussion is troubling, because it means that they have no working understanding of what Responsible Government is, let alone that it’s a real thing, a system of governing principles that is the foundation for our democracy. That anyone would honestly suggest otherwise, that the Queen could swan in and make proclamations or declarations at whim, is an indictment of the crisis state of our civic illiteracy, and it really needs to be rectified.

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Roundup: Redefining status

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The Federal Court has ruled that non-status Aboriginals and Métis should be classified as “Indians” under the constitution, and that the federal government has a fiduciary responsibility towards them. This opens up a major can of worms in terms of the way that policy and duty to consult will have to happen going forward, as well as resources for those individuals based on what the government is obligated to provide, and this will be complicated more because the ruling does nothing to settle how the government will need to exercise this jurisdiction. This will doubtlessly be headed for the Supreme Court, so it may be some years before it is fully settled.

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s boyfriend invites a forensic audit of the band’s finances to prove that there wasn’t any misspending – even though it’s been his job to provide the documentation that’s missing. He also defends his relationship and insists that he reports to the band council as a whole and that Spence doesn’t vote on conflicts of interests. Meanwhile, when Global News sent a crew up to Attawapiskat, they were kicked off the reserve and threatened with arrest – under Spence’s orders – while Spence’s camp on Victoria Island has also banned the media under the rubric that they are “printing lies.”

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Roundup: A damning audit

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Things on the Attawapiskat file got even more interesting yesterday with leaks of the independent audit of the band’s finances – the full report going online later in the day on the Aboriginal Affairs website. The gist – there was almost no due diligence with spending on the reserve, little to no documentation, and no way to tell if any of the money has been spent effectively. And remember that Spence’s partner is the band’s co-manager, whose job it is to handle the money. Spence has also known the audit’s results since August 28th, and has refused to comment to the audit firm about it. While it was due to be released no later than the middle of next week, the PM’s spokesperson denied that it had been withheld deliberately. And Spence? Shut out the media from her Victoria Island campsite while her spokesperson said that the audit was wrong and wondered about the timing of the release. Paul Wells notes that of all the leaders, past prime ministers and would-be leaders who’ve visited Spence, Thomas Mulcair was conspicuously absent, which may have turned out to be a prudent thing. Jonathan Kay parses the lessons inherent in that year-old CBC report on Attawapiskat, and applies them to the current situation. John Ivison looks at the audit, and the context of Theresa Spence’s ever-changing goal posts, while Andrew Coyne looks at the tensions in the Aboriginal community between those looking to modernise with incremental advancements the way the current government is proceeding with, and those who consider those advancements “genocide.”

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Roundup: Beware the simplistic statements

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Today in Idle No More, NDP MP Charlie Angus warns that the demonstrations could get a lot uglier if Harper doesn’t meet with Aboriginal leaders. Columnist John Ivison cautions against the simplistic statements being traded in the protest, as the issues are complex and some of the assertions being made are as disingenuous as they are inflammatory.

The Mint starts withdrawing the penny from circulation in a month’s time.

Environment Canada commissioned an Ipsos poll with some pretty loaded questions about things like carbon taxes, and then the government put out an equally torqued release based on the results.

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Roundup: Leadership versus grassroots

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So that #IdleNoMore protest is getting more interesting as internal divisions become evident. Chiefs are talking about making “breach of treaty” declarations and cross-country economic disruptions, while the founders of the movement are distancing themselves from the chiefs, as part of the protest is to get around the established power relationships and keep the movement at the grassroots level. These founders have even distanced themselves from Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, calling her hunger strike as being in support of the movement, but that the movement is about Aboriginal people and not the chiefs. Spence is trying to get said grassroots to unite with the chiefs rather than shame them for past mistakes, and says that the chiefs are ready to “humble themselves.” But the founders point out that the movement is about the people taking the lead, and not the established leadership. (And if you’re still not sure what it’s all about Pamela Palmeter, who ran for the leadership of the AFN last year, breaks it down for you here).

Remember those reports of the new polymer dollar bills melting? The Bank of Canada insists that it’s not actually possible – but won’t release their internal data about it under the exemptions for national security and international relations. Also of note is that the number of complaints of mutilated bills declined sharply with the new polymer banknotes, for what it’s worth.

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Roundup: Late to the planning stages

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Are we back? It feels like we’re back now.

Despite the fact that we should definitely be planning now for the 150th anniversary of Confederation celebrations that will happen in 2017, both the federal and many provincial governments remain rather mum on the subject, with the federal government barely giving handwavey signals that they are thinking about said anniversary, with things like the Museum of History announcement.

A report on the death of a Canadian soldier by Israeli forces was quietly removed from the DND website, a move that the soldier’s widow believes is a political move by the government meant to shield Israel from criticism.

As the US gets to work on its cyber-security issues, Canada will need to play a part given how integrated much of our infrastructure is.

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Roundup: Page takes aim at the real problem of Parliament

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iPolitics‘ Colin Horgan had a good talk with Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who breaks down some of the key concerns that his office has – that the political executive is now steamrolling budgets through without due diligence and telling MPs to trust them and check their work afterwards, when the Public Accounts come out, because the process is so convoluted. And he’s right – it is broken, but not only because the executive has gamed the system, but because MPs have decided to abdicate their responsibility to scrutinise the estimates because they have other priorities, like their eleventieth Private Members’ Bill that won’t see the light of day, or scoring political points in the scandal of the day, or pet hobby projects that yes, they may care about and may be important, but ultimately at the cost of their actual job of scrutiny. Add to that how they’re using their staff to shepherd through passports and immigration files rather than assisting them in the actual analysis work. Yes, the system needs to be fixed, but I will caution that the changes need to come from the ground up. Voters need to demand that their MPs do their due diligence, and MPs need to take that job seriously and not fob it off onto the PBO, as they have been doing, often under the rubric that his numbers can be trusted because he’s non-partial. Meanwhile, there is insufficient pushback – especially from the government backbenchers, who aren’t supposed to just parrot mindless slogans – and we wind up with a situation like we have today. At least Page is talking about the actual problem and laying the blame where it needs to be laid, rather than just pouting about the current government being mean (as so many others are doing).

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Roundup: Sovereignty via subcontract

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Buried in last week’s KPMG audit of the F-35 programme was the revelation that the government planned to contract out air-to-air refuelling of the jets, seeing as the systems we have in place are currently incompatible. When this was pointed out two years ago, the government said, “Oh don’t worry, we’ll adapt our systems.” By adapt, apparently they meant subcontract. And nothing says asserting sovereignty over our airspace than getting the Americans or some other private companies to do our air-to-air refuelling for us. Great job, guys!

The Supreme Court handed down a split 4-2-1 decision on witnesses wearing niquabs – basically saying sure, but only some of the time, and here’s some guidelines to think about. Emmett Macfarlane examines the split and comes down on Team Abella – the single dissent that said while we’d like to see more of a person’s face than less, on the whole it’s not as big of a deal as it would be to have people to choose to not testify at all.

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