Tag Archives: Northern Gateway Pipeline

Roundup: Detaining refugees versus the Charter

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Apparently an internal report at Citizenship and Immigration says that the government should consider detaining Roma refugees if the new changes to the Act don’t stem the tide of claimants. It’s a bit hard to see how that would be squared with the Charter, considering it would be arbitrary detention and racial profiling, no?

The National Energy Board is now demanding that report from the Enbridge spill in Michigan two years ago as part of the Northern Gateway review panel. Thomas Mulcair, meanwhile, considers the project dead, while still calling the oil sands an “important resource.” Okay then.

Despite Conservative promises that the whole F-35 purchase was going to be frozen and rethought, Lockheed Martin says there’s no change on their end and we appear to be going full steam ahead.

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Roundup: Memorising all of your lines

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Peter Penashue demonstrates that he’s memorised all of his lines when it comes to any question asked of him, no matter it actually is. Seriously, he’ll give you the same answer every single time. Shades of the repetitive Ed Miliband interview, and further proof that certain members of the Harper cabinet could be replaced by robots and nobody would be any the wiser. Meanwhile, Kady O’Malley looks into the donations to Penashue’s rather stagnant riding association.

Public Works is looking for an outside auditor to review the ongoing construction projects within the Parliamentary precinct, but nobody quite knows why.

There is another public spat brewing in the RCMP over the changes being made to the Force.

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Roundup: Appointing hypothetical politicians to the bench

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At a meeting of the Canadian Bar Association, Rob Nicholson said that they shouldn’t rule out giving judicial appointments to “hypothetical” sitting politicians. No, seriously. This amid continual rumours that they’re eventually one day maybe going to appoint Vic Toews to the Court of Queen’s Bench in Manitoba. He then proceeded to dodge a question about a call to review federal legal aid funding – you know, to make justice accessible to the public in an age where their government continues to make the Criminal Code increasingly complex and at times even nonsensical (if you compare mandatory minimum sentences).

Leona Aglukkaq wants the debate around healthcare to be based around facts and not rhetoric. Hahahahaha! *wipes eyes* Oh, that’s a good one. I’m guessing she’s never actually absorbed the talking points that she has so dutifully memorised.

Charlie Angus is complaining that the Director of Public Prosecutions won’t look into Dean Del Mastro’s electoral financing even though it’s not the DPP’s job, no matter that Angus would like it to be. Seriously, you can’t just invent job descriptions because you want them to do something.

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Roundup: An absent report amid changing rhetoric

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It has been noted that the scathing US National Transport Safety Board report on the Enbridge Kalamazoo leak has yet to be tabled with the Northern Gateway review panel. The CBC has a long analysis piece about how the federal government’s rhetoric is changing as the file gets increasingly complex, with numerous federal and provincial political calculations hanging in the balance.

The Globe and Mail has a lengthy profile of John Baird as Foreign Minister, and how he’s scrappy and looking to change the way we do things, yet there was very little critical mention from foreign policy scholars who will tell you how empty most of Baird’s gestures on the foreign stage (like all of the walk-outs at the UN he’s ordered) really are. It’s also conspicuously silent on Baird’s personal life as well, for what it’s worth. Baird, meanwhile, is in the Middle East and has announced new aid money for Syrian refugees.

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Roundup: Ironic elections observers?

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Jason Kenney announced that Canada will be sending 500 elections observes to Ukraine – including Ted Opitz. You know, the guy whose election the Supreme Court may very well be overturning within days. Does this count as irony?

Meanwhile, in the court case where the Council of Canadians is challenging seven other election results, the Conservative lawyers have asked for a $250,000 deposit on costs in case the challengers lose. The Council charges that the Conservatives are trying to drive up costs with obstruction and delay. As for that affidavit about voter suppression calls coming from that one call centre in Thunder Bay, the Conservatives produced an affidavit refuting it, saying that they only called supporters and in the ridings were there were actual polling station changes.

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Roundup: Announcing the intention to keep a promise

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Because it’s the height of summer with not a lot else to do, Stephen Harper paid a visit to a Ronald McDonald House out in Vancouver to announce that his government planned to follow through on a campaign promise to provide 35 weeks of EI benefits to parents dealing with seriously ill children. Well, so long as you intend to keep that promise… Perhaps the announcement should have come when the bill was tabled. Oh, wait – I’m sure we’ll get yet another photo op when that does happen sometime in the fall (unless it’s not until spring with next year’s budget…)

Harper also defended the environmental review process of the Northern Gateway pipeline and said that the decision will be made on scientific and economic as opposed to political criteria. Well, so long as we’re clear about that, we can stop worrying – right?

Trade Minister Ed Fast is in London during the Olympics to extol the virtues of trade with Canada.

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Roundup: A possible northern route

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The premier of the Northwest Territories suggests that if the Northern Gateway pipeline doesn’t end up going through BC, then they can send it north, where it can be shipped to Asia from there. Err, except there isn’t exactly a port that can support oil tankers in existence, and it would be an additional infrastructure burden to contend with.

The government looks set to introduce a bill that will allow for private property on First Nations reserves. While some First Nations support this, others – including Shawn Atleo – are opposed, saying that it not only offends their communal approach to land ownership, and that it could lead to non-natives taking control of land on reserves.

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Roundup: Pipeline review deadline set

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The federal government has imposed a December 2013 deadline on the environmental panel review of the Northern Gateway pipeline. Which is all well and good, provided that the proponent – Enbridge – has their files together and doesn’t delay their own paperwork so that other respondents can get their reviews done in time, as has happened with other panels. In fact, the government should stipulate that Enbridge should face a penalty if it engages in such behaviour, for what it’s worth.

Rumours of Katimavik’s demise may be exaggerated. It seems that with the starvation of federal funds, they are picking up sponsorship from elsewhere for programming that they offer, and may be able to carry on in some capacity after all.

Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber continues to do his job as a backbench MP and hold the government to account, this time on the policy of Supply Management. More backbench MPs should follow his lead.

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Roundup: James Moore gone rogue!

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Uh oh – someone better alert the PMO thought police! James Moore has apparently gone rogue and cast doubt on Enbridge and the Northern Gateway Pipeline. Isn’t that heretical? Won’t the Pipeline Inquisition now need to fetch the comfy chair? I guess we’ll see if he’s still a cabinet minister by end of day.

The Canadian Forces remains overwhelmingly white and male, as they are falling well short of their diverse recruiting targets.

Some 80 lawyers have written an open letter to cast doubt on Jason Kenney’s assertion that he did nothing to speed through Conrad Black’s visa application. The spearhead of this campaign says it’s hard to believe that he wasn’t involved, given the history of micro-managing by this government. For what it’s worth, I believe Kenney said that he didn’t want to hear about this particular file, but that doesn’t mean that some officious bureaucrats weren’t doing what they thought would please the minister in speeding it through of their own volition.

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Roundup: Missed non-binding deadlines

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The government is going to miss the six-month deadline the House gave it when it passed a non-binding motion about amending the Elections Act vis-à-vis robocalls. Hands up anyone who’s actually surprised. Meanwhile, other experts say that Elections Canada already has all of the tools they need, but their problem is actually enforcement, in that they’re not doing enough of it. Meanwhile, Kady O’Malley takes a look at that Paul Calandra fundraiser that people have been talking about, and breaks down what kind of money we’re talking about, and it’s more than some people would think.

In a similar vein, the Conflict of Interest Act is overdue for its five-year review, and given the committee calendar it likely won’t be reviewed until closer to the holidays. And hey, maybe they’ll think about doing more about the mandate of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, which is pretty limited and limiting.

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