As the speculation on an international response to alleged chemical weapon attacks in Syria intensify, there are questions about whether or not Parliament will be recalled to discuss the issue. And thus begins a teachable moment when it comes to the Crown prerogative of military deployment. You see, the ability to deploy the military is a Crown prerogative – meaning that the government can do it without the consent of the Commons – because it maintains a clear line of accountability. When things go wrong, as they inevitably do, it means that the Commons can hold the government to account for the actions that were undertaken during its watch. But when parliaments vote on deployments, it means that they become collectively responsible, and by extension, nobody is responsible when things go wrong. As well, it breeds the culture of the caveats, which many European military units suffered under during Afghan deployments – because no parliament wants their men and women to really be put into harm’s way. Keeping deployments a Crown prerogative allows for that tough decision making to happen. (For more on this, read Philippe Lagassé’s study here). Stephen Harper has been trying to institute votes because it does just that – it launders the prerogative and the accountability. It also was handy for dividing the Liberals back during the days of the Afghan mission, but bad policy overall. Meanwhile, as people point to the UK parliament being recalled over the Syria issue, it bears reminding that their votes are non-binding in such matters, and as much as Thomas Mulcair may demand that Parliament discuss a deployment, demanding a binding vote is only playing into Harper’s hands.
Tag Archives: Nigel Wright
Roundup: So long, Mac Harb
It appears that Mac Harb has a sense of shame after all, and has not only tendered his resignation to the Senate, but repaid the full amount that the Senate has determined that he owed, and dropped his legal challenge. Of that challenge, he said it wasn’t about the money, but about the lack of due process within the Senate itself, which seems fair enough. And he does make the point that the ongoing cloud and investigations made his work there impossible, and that he thinks the Auditor General’s audit will turn up a trove of other Senators who interpreted the rules as he did. Um, okay. You know it won’t be a forensic audit, right? Just checking. With Harb’s departure, that still leaves the three embattled Harper-appointed Senators under a cloud of suspicion, and the Conservatives without a convenient whipping boy for the Liberals when it comes to saying that they don’t support the seal hunt (which Harb alone opposed when he was in their caucus).
Roundup: Premiers support a national inquiry
In a meeting with Aboriginal leaders in advance of the full Premiers’ Meeting, most of this country’s premiers backed the call for a national inquiry on missing and murdered aboriginal women. The two premiers who were unable to attend, Alison Redford and Kathy Dunderdale, later expressed their support for the call. Of course, all that they can do is try to pressure the federal government into calling such an inquiry, but their declaration means little, unless BC wants to start their own provincial inquiry that other provinces would support. John Geddes previews the full slate of items for discussion here.
Roundup: Knee-jerk populist stunts
The Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation has decided to lump themselves in with the group of civic illiterates who operate under the mistaken impression that a national referendum is a constitutional amending formula. In this case, they used a giant inflatable Mike Duffy to launch their lobby campaign for a referendum on Senate abolition. In other words, they want to spend a great deal of tax dollars for a useless, non-binding process that is little more than a case of populist knee-jerk reaction to the bad behaviour of a small number of individuals. How exactly this seems to fit in with their mandate of eliminating government waste is a little beyond me, especially considering that the Senate delivers a great deal of value for money – not that knee-jerk populists actually know enough about the institution to realise it.
Roundup: Totally cooperating with the RCMP
Remember how the PMO was going to be “fully cooperative” with the RCMP in getting to the bottom of the whole Wright-Duffy deal? Well, sources are telling CTV that “fully cooperative” means stonewalling the RCMP’s attempts get emails related to the deal. I really can’t wait for the warrant to come next…
Possibly the most damning of the reactions to the cabinet shuffle comes from one of their own – newly independent MP Brent Rathgeber quite correctly diagnoses the issue that such a morbidly obese cabinet has ceased to function as a deliberative body and is now simply a representative one, which makes all of the appointments less about the competence of the people in the jobs than about which boxes they tick off. He also makes some very salient points about how antithetical it is to conservatism that they have so many junior ministers and economic development portfolios to put them into. If you need a refresher as to some of the new faces, iPolitics created some trading cards to help you out. Jennifer Ditchburn gives a preview of the files that some of our new cabinet ministers will spend their summer familiarizing themselves with. Jason Lietar considers the PM’s social media rollout to be a success and a step in the right direction when it comes to combating Justin Trudeau’s formidable social media presence – with the exception of the badly lit Instragram videos of new ministers. Don Martin frets about the price of loyalty for the always genial James Rajotte, who has a lot going for him, but lost out in a cabinet post to the virtually unknown Kevin Sorenson.
Roundup: Taking advantage of tragedy
In the wake of the train derailment and the major explosion at Lac Mégantic, there are questions about Thomas Mulcair’s immediate statement that this was a result of rail cost-cutting, for which he blames Stephen Harper. There are concerns that some of those still declared missing might simply have been vaporised in the force of the explosion. It has also been noticed that shipping oil by rail has increased some 28,000 percent over the past five years, as pipeline capacity in this country is increasingly constrained. No doubt this derailment and explosion will add emotional fuel to both sides of the pipeline debate.
Roundup: ClusterDuff contradictions
In the wake of Thursday’s ClusterDuff revelations, people have been questioning the Prime Minister’s various statements to date about the affair – things like how no members of his staff were aware of Nigel Wright’s intentions to pay Mike Duffy’s expenses for him – and that in turn leads to questions about whether or not Harper has misled parliament. Not that it would be the first time for that particular practice, mind you. You can see those court documents here and here. Paul Wells recalls similar incidents in the past where the party paid out big money to make problems go away, and how that got them into trouble then too.
Roundup: The RCMP’s ClusterDuff revelations
The ClusterDuff detonated yet again yesterday with the revelation of RCMP documents related to their ongoing investigation into his expense claims, and it looks like Mike Duffy is headed toward charges of fraud and breach of trust. In particular, the revelations include word that the party was prepared to pay off his housing expenses when they believed it was $30,000 worth, but it was at the point of $90,000 that the party backed away and Nigel Wright stepped in, in a move he believed was “ethical” because it would protect taxpayers. Oops. Wright’s lawyers also say that Wright knew Duffy, but they weren’t friends – contrary to one of the versions of the story that was being circulated at the time, and that the conditions attached were that the expenses be repaid immediately and that Duffy stop talking to the media. And yes, it looks like the RCMP have seen the bank draft from Wright to Duffy’s lawyer. Oh, and three people in the PMO appear to have known what was going on – remember that Wright took sole responsibility – and they still insist that the PM was out of the loop. The RCMP also believe that Duffy has a demonstrated pattern of filing false expense claims and double-dipping, so really, it’s not looking very good for the Ol’ Duff at this point.
Roundup: Glover’s staff helps to make amends
Shelly Glover’s paid campaign staff are returning part of their salaries in order to help ensure that she gets under her election spending cap. Complicating this are the fact that the party’s lawyer previously asserted that they were doing door-knocking for a much lower rate, even though there was never any indication in the filings that either were door-knocking.
The former RCMP national director says that a likely focus of the investigation into the ClusterDuff affair will be the source of Nigel Wright’s $90,000 cheque, and if it did come from party funds, it could add to the Breach of Trust charges. Meanwhile, the RCMP have spoken with Senator Patrick Brazeau’s staff as part of their inquiry into his expenses.
QP: Yet more questions of Zajdel and other former staffers
As the sitting winds down, and the benches are restless, nobody was much expecting it to be a calm and civil QP. On top of that, Thomas Mulcair was off in Quebec City to showcase his regional caucus there, Stephen Harper was wrapping up the G8 summit, and Justin Trudeau was, well, elsewhere, it meant that Elizabeth May was the only leader in the House. Megan Leslie led off, asking if any member of the Prime Minister’s Office had been approached by the RCMP regarding the Wright investigation. James Moore, once again the designated back-up PM du jour, said no, and witness how they cooperate and not sit on evidence of corruption for 17 years. Leslie demanded proof that Wright’s cheque to Duffy was a personal one, to which Moore reminded her that he couldn’t access the personal cheques of Canadians. Leslie changed topics and asked if Moore had even met Saulie Zajdel before he hired him. Moore reminded her that Zajdel was a city councillor for 22 years and was a candidate, but it he had broken the law, the book should be thrown at him. Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe wondered who recommended Zajdel’s hiring — was it Senator Housakos or Dimitri Soudas? Moore sidestepped the question and returned to the admonition that if any lawbreaking was found, books would be thrown. When Blanchette-Lamothe brought up the former staffer who is now under investigation by the RCMP for the West Block contract, Moore said that an investigation already said there was no political interference in that cooperation. Dominic LeBlanc was up for the Liberals, and after another Zajdel question, asked what it was that the PM was asking of his chiefs of staff that landed them under RCMP investigation. Moore kept up his usual swipes about Trudeau’s speaking fees and Senators Pana Merchant and Mac Harb.