The prime minister was around, but absent from the Chamber for QP, leaving his deputy in his place. Erin O’Toole led off, script and mini-lectern in front of him accusing the government of being absent on the issue of tensions around the Mi’kmaq fishery issue, to which Chrystia Freeland condemned the violence that took place, and said that federal and provincial governments were working together to recognise the Mi’kmaq rights under the Marshall Decision. O’Toole went again on the same question in French, got the same answer, then n French worried about threats that China was making, particularly around Canadians in Hong Kong. Freeland responded that the foreign minister had issued a clear statement, and that only Canada would make its own decisions on immigration. O’Toole asked again in English, and got much the same response, with slightly more specificity on the individual issues in China. O’Toole blustered more about Trudeau’s apparent “admiration for the basic dictatorship of China,” the Chinese ambassador’s comments and wondered when his credentials would be pulled. Freeland reminded him that she was well aware of what a totalitarian communist country is like, as she lived in one and reported from it, before repeating that they were standing up for human rights and the Canadian citizens in Hong Kong. Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, worrying that the government would rather go to an election than talk about the WE Imbroglio, to which Freeland said that the Government House Leader had made a sensible suggestion around a special committee on pandemic costing, which she hoped they would support. Therrien said that was well and good but still wanted a committee dedicated to the WE Imbroglio, to which Freeland reminded him of what has been released to date. Jagmeet Singh appeared by video to accuse the prime minister in French of standing by and not protecting the Mi’kmaq (never mind that policing is a provincial responsibility), to which Freeland said that they approved a request to give more resources to the RCMP on the ground. Singh switched to English to repeat the question, and got much the same response.
Tag Archives: Official Languages
QP: A parliamentary secretary flounders
Despite being in the building, Justin Trudeau was elsewhere for QP today, nor was his deputy present. Erin O’Toole led off, with a script on the mini-lectern in front of him, and he lamented that the pandemic early warning unit was scrapped months before the onset of this current pandemic. Darren Fisher got up to read a statement about the plans to conduct an independent review of the decisions taken. O’Toole was not satisfied, and demanded answers, and Fisher repeated his script on an independent review. O’Toole switched to rapid testing, and falsely insinuated that they would have eliminated the current testing backlog, though that is not the case — they are not the same. Fisher read that they are working with provinces and that new tests were approved. O’Toole blamed an outbreak in a Calgary hospital on the lack of rapid testing, and Fisher reiterated a script about working together to increase testing capacity. O’Toole switched to French to repeat the demand, and Fisher stumblingly accused the Conservatives of trying to politicise regulatory processes, but didn’t do so very effectively. Alain Therrien led off for the Bloc to demand higher health transfers, to which Pablo Rodriguez listed federal cooperation with Quebec. Luc Thériault repeated the demand, and Rodriguez said that they were dealing directly with the government of Quebec and didn’t need the Bloc to be middle-men. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he lamented that infrastructure hadn’t been built, to which Catherine McKenna gave some happy talking points about the morning’s announcement on infrastructure priorities. Singh switched to English to repeat the question, and McKenna repeated her happy talking points in English.
Roundup: A difference in Supreme Courts
There’s been a fair amount of chatter the past couple of days about how everyone on both sides of the border seemed to know who US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was, but most Canadians would have no idea who any members of our own Supreme Court are. While some blame this on American “media saturation,” I think it’s more than that (though media saturation is a factor). Rather, the partisan jockeying around the composition of the American Supreme Court means that there is far more investment in who is on the bench and what their ideological leanings are, coupled with a willingness on the part of that Court’s justices to become media figures.
The Supreme Court of Canada is largely devoid of the partisan balancing act of its American counterpart, and Canada’s relative lack of particularly conservative schools of legal thought means that we have a much more homogenous legal community, which finds for less polarization on the top court – though the McLachlin era of many unanimous decisions has largely come to an end and dissents are more frequent – which is not such a bad thing. This isn’t to say that our court isn’t political, because it is – it is very much a political actor in the Charter era – but it is generally not partisan in that regard. As for the willingness for celebrity, most Canadian Supreme Court justices eschew the limelight, and very rarely grant interviews (not the case in the US), though the new Chief Justice, Richard Wagner, is a little more open with media and has taken to holding a year-ending press conference every June, which has not happened before now. Nevertheless, those are some of the reasons why Canada’s court and its personalities are not media spectacles like they are in the US, and that’s really not such a bad thing.
Meanwhile, here’s a look at how the Supreme Court of Canada is adapting to ensure in-person sittings for the duration of the pandemic.
First, we’ve spread out. We've spaced our bench out over two rows to maximize distance between judges, and installed Plexiglas barriers between them. The total number of people allowed in the courtroom will be limited to ensure that everyone can keep 2m apart. pic.twitter.com/uwHnlh4ZW3
— Supreme Court of Canada (@SCC_eng) September 21, 2020
Third, everyone will have to follow public health recommendations on COVID-19 while in the building. That means keeping 2m apart as much as possible, sanitizing hands when entering the building and courtroom, and wearing a mask when moving around the building and courtroom. pic.twitter.com/BIW8sAs66k
— Supreme Court of Canada (@SCC_eng) September 21, 2020
Roundup: Getting the deficit vapours
Prime minister Justin Trudeau was back making the media rounds yesterday, and one of the things he spoke about was the “ambitious green agenda” to be laid out in the Throne Speech, which has every pundit in the country clutching their pearls about the state of the deficit. Why? Because in Canadian punditry – and many government departments, finance especially – it is 1995 and will always be 1995. And some of that comes with the usual ridiculous assertions about comparing the nation’s finances to a household’s, or that of a business.
https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1301527104383848449
Gov't should act like a business and stop borrowing to finance growth!
What should gov't leverage ratio be? Higher or lower than your corp ratio? Should debt share of gov't spending be higher or lower than the debt share of the last project your company financed?
Silence. https://t.co/75Yvgnt43Z
— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) September 3, 2020
And then there was one column in particular which doubled down on not only the usual deficit vapours, but the notions that somehow inclusive growth isn’t a real strategy, which credible economists – and not just those on speed dial for certain media outlets who have one answer for every problem – will tell you is a bogus argument. But hey, it’s 1995 and will always be 1995.
https://twitter.com/twitscotty/status/1301505825366773762
https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1301496695814004736
https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1301500044315693058
Roundup: Damage control and lunatic accusations
For his Friday presser, prime minister Justin Trudeau was back at Rideau Cottage, and he started off with the news that the Canadian Forces deployments to long-term care facilities in Ontario and Quebec would be extended until June 26th, but that the plan was to start transitioning to more assistance from the Canadian Red Cross. He mentioned the call with the premiers on Thursday night, which by all accounts got pretty testy, but Trudeau stuck to generalities. He raised the arrest video of Chief Allan Adam, saying he was shocked and that there needed to be an independent investigation, and that policing reforms across the country needed to happen soon. Finally, he mentioned that temperature checks would be implemented on flights, which raised all kinds of questions of faux-confusion that we were told that this was ineffective in detecting COVID-19 – which is true, but it was explained about eleventy times that this was simply an added measure of protection to keep people with fevers off of flights. (And lo, the pundits who seem incapable of thinking critically about public health advice have been decrying this as “added confusion,” which it’s not really). During the Q&A, Trudeau was also asked about the blood donation ban for men who have sex with men, given that NDP MP Randall Garrison has been agitating about this recently, and Trudeau reiterated the government’s position that they were funding the science that would ensure it was safe to end the ban, that they reduced it from a permanent ban to a three-month ban, and that he hoped for a positive announcement soon.
Later in the day, we saw a flurry of damage control out of the RCMP, as Commissioner Brenda Lucki clarified that yes, there is systemic racism in the Force and she should have been clearer about that, and that she has to ensure policing free of bias. As well, the Alberta Deputy Commissioner, who previously denied that systemic racism exists in the Force, said that he’s learned a lot in the past few days and he too will now admit that it exists, and promised to help eliminate it – as calls for his resignation have been mounting. Meanwhile, Winnipeg police tried to get ahead of a story with a video that showed four police grappling with, kicking, and Tasering someone during an arrest, which they insisted was someone who was violent and high on meth – but seemed incapable of admitting that it looks like more police brutality.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives have been trying to make an Issue of the fact that foreign affairs minister François-Philippe Champagne *gasp* has a $1.2 million mortgage for two London properties from a Chinese bank, that predated his time in politics. The mortgages were fully disclosed, and neither the Ethics Commissioner, CSIS or the RCMP seemed to think this was a big deal when he was either elevated to Cabinet or shuffled to his current portfolio, but now the Conservatives are accusing him of being compromised, and going easy on China – to the point that they have insinuated that he is letting the two Michaels languish in a Chinese prison – because of these mortgages. It’s a position that is ludicrously insulting because the worst thing that this Chinese Bank could do is demand immediate repayment (unlikely given the rules for financial institutions in the UK), and Champagne could have to sell those properties, which, given that property in the UK has appreciated rapidly, he could make a tidy profit. More to the point, that same Chinese bank has been operating in Canada since 1993 and had $3 billion on the books here, and there was nary a peep about it from the Conservatives in the nine years they were in power. But logic and common sense are not in play, and instead they are demanding that the Canada-China special committee be reconstituted and Champagne be hauled before it to answer about this, which is starting to reek of a McCarthy-era witch hunt, because they can’t help but engage in meathead partisanship.
So the "big threat" the Chinese could have is… "do what we say or we'll force you to make a lot of money!"
And that's assuming the UK financial authorities are accomodating to banks making political threats since the mortgage likely has strict rules about demands to repay. /2
— Robert Glasgow (@TheTradeLawGuy) June 12, 2020
The “appearance of impropriety” isn’t whatever the hell we decide it is on any day of the week. It’s not a catch-all when you have no other arguments.
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) June 12, 2020
Bank of China has had retail banking operations in Canada since 1993. They currently have around 3 billion in debt assets on their books here. This entire line of attack is foolishness
— Adam Piercey (@adam_piercey) June 13, 2020
Roundup: “True Blue” O’Toole
Erin O’Toole made his official entry into the leadership race yesterday by way of a video that takes swipes at “cancel culture” and celebrity activists – the kinds of keyboard warrior buzzwords that are pretty much the domains of O’Toole’s new campaign staffer, Jeff Ballingall, of those “Canada Proud” etc. sites.
I'd love to hear O'Toole articulate what his role is in fighting cancel culture. Stopping cities from taking down statutes of John A MacDonald? Defending people accused of sexual harassment? Sticking up for people with racist tweets? What are we talking about, here?
— Justin Ling (Has Left) (@Justin_Ling) January 27, 2020
It occurs to me that Erin O'Toole, the first CPC leadership candidate to go after "cancel culture," has working for him Jeff Balingall of Canada Proud, the only organization I'm aware of to have called for Omar Khadr's appearance at Dalhousie to be cancelled.
— Chris Selley (@cselley) January 28, 2020
At a rally in Calgary later in the evening, O’Toole said that Peter MacKay would turn the party into Liberal-lite, which I have yet to see any actual evidence of (MacKay is not really a Red Tory, guys – he’s not. Stop pretending he is). It also struck me that he kept reiterating the kinds of comforting lies that the party likes to tell itself about issues like the plight of the energy sector, where the woes are blamed on the Trudeau government and not changing market forces (seriously, the shale revolution in the US is a pretty big driver of these changes). He did say that he would march in a Pride parade, and justified it with his military background, which is a bit funny given that he hasn’t marched in one to date, which makes his sudden conviction around it mighty suspect. His opposition to carbon pricing continues to dig the party into its current environmental rut, and his talk of deficits remains completely economically illiterate – all doubling down on the party’s current positions, because that’s apparently what will make him a “true blue” Conservative. I’m not sure how this grows the party’s base, but what do I know?
This is not a Thing. There is no constitutional magic wand. https://t.co/dnekcDOXyg
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) January 28, 2020
Roundup: Ambrose rules out a return
It was a day of a lot of movement within the Conservative leadership race, with big repercussions to come. Early in the day, we got word that two more names were added to the Conservative race – rookie backbencher Derek Sloan, and failed leadership candidate (and aspiring narcissist) Rick Peterson. Sloan has already come out and said that he’s open to having a debate over abortion, and he’s putting forward this absurd notion that they need to stop being apologetic about being Conservative – which would be great if the party actually put forward conservative ideas like market-based solutions to problems rather than just populist pandering. Shocking. Peterson, meanwhile, is continuing his schtick that his business success is going to translate to political success, even though he did abysmally in the last election and couldn’t secure a nomination to run in the election, which shows you just how profound his organizational skills are. Nevertheless, expect him to position himself as the “Western” candidate in the race.
And then the big bombshell – Rona Ambrose announced that she is officially out of the race. It wasn’t a surprise really, especially as word has been circulating in Conservative circles that she hasn’t made any phone calls or secured any kind of organization while she considered her options. Nevertheless, it now opens the race wide open because a lot of people who had been holding their breath and waiting for Ambrose to make a move can now make their own moves. It also means that currently, Marilyn Gladu is the only woman in the race, which can’t be healthy for the party either. (It also makes me wonder who the Red Tory in this race is going to be, because it’s not actually Peter MacKay).
And just minutes after Ambrose made her announcement, another would-be candidate, former staffer Richard Décarie went on Power Play to expound on his social conservative views. It went as well as can be expected.
Emphasizing his "so-con" values, Décarie says "LGBTQ" is a "Liberal" term and that being gay is a "choice." #cdnpoli #ctvpp
More at https://t.co/uCQmGSHoEL pic.twitter.com/F9Z70Ejsdi
— CTV Power Play (@CTV_PowerPlay) January 22, 2020
While most of the other candidates quickly came out to condemn these comments, there are a few things to note here – Décarie is worth following because he has attracted some organizational heft, particularly from those who were behind Tanya Granic Allen in Ontario, and it’s not insignificant, and when you recall that Brad Trost did come in fourth the last time around. There is a particularly strong social conservative organization within the party, and they do a lot of fundraising and organizing, and that can’t be overlooked when it comes to a leadership race, where those to factors are going to count for a lot more.
Roundup: Campaign launch and promises
As we wait for the writs to be drawn up – and I wouldn’t hold my breath on it happening until at least Wednesday, because they want to ensure that the Manitoba election is over first – we’re ready to start seeing the official campaign launches. The NDP were supposed to have theirs on Sunday, but cancelled it out of respect for Hurricane Dorian hitting Nova Scotia and PEI, only to turn around and then do a “bus unveiling” in Toronto and then head to Ottawa to “open” the campaign headquarters – which was essentially launching the “official” campaign anyway. All of which is a bit of a fiction because the campaign has really been going on for months, because fixed election dates are garbage. (Side note: in the week following the point being made that Singh has not yet visited New Brunswick, and the high-profile defections, that he still hasn’t bothered to make a stop in that province).
Meanwhile, because the NDP have already released their platform, the Parliamentary Budget Officer is starting to cost some of their promises, and the first one was released regarding their pledge to eliminate interest charges on current and future federal student loans.
https://twitter.com/twitscotty/status/1170671191629037569
Roundup: Weasel words on conversion therapy
In the wake of the Liberals announcing that they were looking at what measures they could take at a federal level to ban “conversion therapy,” the question was put to Andrew Scheer if he opposed it. Scheer responded that while he opposes “forced” conversion therapy, he will wait to see what the government proposes around banning it before if he’ll support it. The Conservatives quickly cried foul that the Global news headline was that “Andrew Scheer will ‘wait and see’ before taking a stance on conversion therapy ban” was just clickbait that didn’t reflect his actual quotes (and Global did update their headline), but not one of them pointed out the fact that Scheer’s own words were, to be frank, weaselly.
Scheer said that he opposed “forced” conversion therapy, and that he’s opposed to “any type of practice that would forcibly attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation against their will or things like that.” And you note the weasel words in there – about only being opposed to “forced” therapy, or to change it “against their will.” The giant implication that not one conservative rushing to defend Scheer is that there are types of “voluntary” conversion therapy that he is okay with, and that is alarming because any kind of so-called “conversion therapy” is torture, whether entered into voluntarily or not – and it ignores that when people enter into it voluntarily, it’s because they have such a degree of self-loathing that they have deluded themselves into believing that they can change their sexual orientation in spite of all evidence to the contrary, and a lot of that self-loathing comes from the sorts of violence, whether physical, mental or spiritual, that has been inflicted upon them. And it does look entirely like Scheer is being too cute by leaving a giant loophole in the window for his religious, social conservative flank to not feel threatened by his position, because it lets them carry on with the mythology that there is such a thing as “voluntary” conversion therapy, and that this is all about their “love the sinner, hate the sin” bullshit that asserts that homosexuality is just a learned behaviour and not an intrinsic characteristic. So no, I don’t think Scheer has been at all unequivocal.
“We will always, of course, stand up for the rights of LGBTQ individuals and protect their rights and we’re opposed to any type of practice that would forcibly attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation against their will or things like that.”
What’s unclear? https://t.co/RwQxbr8PzA
— Brock W. Harrison (@BrockWHarrison) July 10, 2019
Meanwhile, Scheer’s apologists will demand to know why the government refused to act on a “conversion therapy” ban when presented with a petition about it in March, but again, this is an issue where there is a great deal of nuance that should be applied. The government response was that these practices tend to fall under healthcare or be practiced by health professionals, which makes it provincial jurisdiction, and that while there can be some applications of the Criminal Code with some practices, it required coordination with the provinces to address, which they have been doing. What the Liberals announced this week was that they were seeing if there were any other measures they could take federally, which might involve the Criminal Code. Again, it’s an issue where it’s hard for them to take a particular line, so they’re trying to see what it is possible to do – that’s not a refusal, it’s an acknowledgement that it’s a complicated issue.
QP: Leaks and legal fees
While there were more leaks and allegations on the ongoing Double-Hyphen Affair, neither Justin Trudeau nor Andrew Scheer were present today, so it was all going to be overwrought Conservative talking points versus Bardish Chagger’s bland assurances. Candice Bergen led off, accusing Trudeau of misleading Canadians on the Affair, to which Chagger gave her usual reply that he was transparent, gave the waiver, and that everything was in the public. Bergen accused Trudeau of smearing Wilson-Raybould, and Chagger repeated that all facts were now public. Bergen read a selective timeline of events, and Chagger repeated that the committee heard weeks of testimony and that this was all public. Alain Rayes took over to repeat Bergen’s allegations of falsehoods, but in French, and Chagger repeated her same response in French, without notes, as she’s memorised it all by now. Rayes then raised the issue of the media Access to Information request about the PCO documents raised in the case, but Chagger stuck to the same points about everything being public, adding at the end that they would receive the documents they requested (but did not say when). Jagmeet Singh was up next, and raised elements of an interview Jane Philpott earlier today in which she commented on the potential of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement for SNC-Lavalin and wanted assurances that they would not give a deal to the company, to which David Lametti reminded him that they were still in the appeal period for the judicial review request, so he would not comment publicly. Singh tried again in French, got the same answer, and then asked a Quebec-flavoured pharmacare question. Ginette Petitpas Taylor reminded him they created an advisory council and their final report was on the way. Singh switched to English to demand immediate action and touted his party’s plan, to which Petitpas Taylor repeated her response in English.
The Conservatives tried the “I can’t call the prime minister a liar, but…” tactic again and got another warning from the Speaker. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 4, 2019