Tag Archives: Omar Khadr

Roundup: Just another Rob Anders eruption

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The big news that got people’s tongues wagging/up in arms yesterday was how Rob Anders spoke of his “theory” about how Thomas Mulcair somehow hastened Jack Layton’s death. No, seriously. He later gave a sort-of apology, and everyone wondered how much longer the PM could abide him in caucus. (Seriously everyone, it’s his riding association’s decision). Meanwhile, Aaron Wherry reminds us of the timeline of Layton’s declining health, while Glen McGregor reminds us of Rob Anders being one of the “celibate” Reform MPs back in the day.

Okay, okay, so it looks like Justin Trudeau is launching his leadership bid today after all (still – it’s a month too soon), and after his initial launch in his riding, he’ll hold events in Mississauga and Richmond, which looks very much to be launching a campaign targeting the suburban ridings of major cities. Jesse Brown looks at Trudeau’s geek credentials.

Senator Roméo Dallaire thinks the Conservatives have been undermining Omar Khadr’s chances at rehabilitation, what with their foot-dragging and attempts to politicise is future parole hearings.

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QP: Scripting the tainted meat debate

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It being a Monday, Harper and half of the government front bench were absent from the House, leaving Thomas Mulcair to read his questions on tainted meat to the back-up PM du jour Peter MacKay, who in turn read back some fairly bland statements about how the minister was holding CFIA officials accountable. When Malcolm Allen asked about the self-regulation of food inspection, Pierre Lemieux pointed out that Allen made a bunch of since disproven claims last week. Bob Rae then got up and wanted to know when the Minister was informed and why it took two weeks to inform Canadians, but MacKay just repeated his assigned talking points.

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Roundup: Khadr repatriated

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Omar Khadr was repatriated to Canada from Guantanamo Bay on Saturday morning. Vic Toews sent out a churlish press release to highlight the crimes that Khadr confessed to as part of his plea bargain (though there is doubt about the veracity of the claims), and to basically instruct parole officials about him. Khadr will serve the remainder of his sentence in the Millhaven penitentiary, and will now be subject to Canadian parole laws, rather than have no restrictions (as would have been the case had he served the remainder of his sentence in Guantanamo Bay). That parole hearing could come by next summer. Aaron Wherry reminds us what the Liberal government said of his predicament ten years ago.

Susan Delacourt looks into the grey area of privacy laws where political parties are concerned.

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Roundup: Incoherent laws on political loans

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The Chief Electoral Officer says that the current law around political loans is incoherent and unenforceable. You know, the one that the Conservatives and NDP rushed through in order to screw over the Liberals in the midst of a leadership contest at the time. And while the current bill to address political loans would fix some of those problems, well, it’s languishing on the Order Paper in order to keep those current Liberal debtors twisting a bit. Not mentioned? All of the Conservatives with outstanding political loans.

Canadian Special Forces have lost millions in secret or “black” assets, and because it’s secret, auditing becomes a tough process through all of the redaction. Meanwhile, the new commander of the RCAF thinks the F-35s are the best choice, but he’ll respect whatever decision the government makes.

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QP: Administrative arrangements

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With Harper away, Thomas Mulcair faced off against John Baird instead as QP got underway. Mulcair read his first two questions, about slow economic growth, to which Baird responded with some fairly rote replies about the government’s record on job creation. Mulcair then turned to the burning question of the day – what about those joint embassies? Why did we find out through the UK press? Baird replied that these were simply administrative arrangements – putting  a desk in embassies where we the UK doesn’t have a mission, and likewise a Canadian desk in a UK embassy where we’re not represented. Mulcair then suggested that if they’re so concerned about sharing with the UK, why not share armed forces, or combine the Senate and the House of Lords since they’re “the same thing” (at which point I nearly pulled a Naomi Campbell; they are most certainly not the same thing – not in the slightest), and so on, but Baird didn’t take the bait. Bob Rae was up for the Liberals, playing off that question and wondering why, if our foreign policy is so independent and great, was Harper not attending the UN General Assembly this week? Baird noted that Harper was going to be in New York to get a “Statesman of the Year” award, and that we play a leading role in the world. Rae then shifted to the topic of income inequality, which the government wasn’t addressing, but Baird returned to his job creation talking points, and listed off all of the government’s programmes for low-income Canadians.

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Roundup: Takeovers and security threats

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CSIS is sounding the alarm to business leaders around Chinese hackers and cyber-spies as the Nexen takeover bid continues to dominate the headlines. A former assistant director of CSIS says that we need to be aware that espionage these days is more about corporate interests and economic advantage – skewing the level playing field – than it is about government secrets, as it was during the Cold War.

Documents show that the government did study the possibility of private prisons, though Vic Toews has said that he’s dismissed the idea.

The second and final hour of debate on the private members’ motion to create a committee to study the legal definition of “human being” (aka the backdoor abortion debate) took place in the Commons and goes to a vote on Wednesday. And just a reminder that no, this is not an outright attempt to re-criminalise abortions, it’s a non-binding vote about creating a committee to come up with a non-binding report that can then get stuck on a shelf to collect dust because Stephen Harper does not want this issue to be resurrected, and he’s doing everything in his powers to kill it with fire. And for everyone who resumes to think that he should have disallowed the debate in the first place, well, the whole point of private members’ business is that it’s outside of the control of the party leader, the House leader, or the party whip, and any MPs who want the leaders to interfere *cough*Niki Ashton*cough* should really think about what it is they’re asking for, since it would mean curtailing what precious few freedoms backbenchers still possess.

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Roundup: Farewell, Peter Lougheed

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Former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed passed away last night at age 84, in the hospital that bears his name. Lougheed started the reign of the Progressive Conservatives in the province, which has kept on for more than 40 years. He was one of the premiers at the centre of the patriation of the constitution, and fought for provincial rights. Here are some statements from Stephen Harper, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, and his ultimate political successor, premier Alison Redford.

Looking ahead to the return of Parliament next week, there will be another budget bill this autumn that promises to be pretty contentious as well.

Here is a good summary of the whole issue between the House of Commons and the Auditor General on that Access to Information issue.

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Roundup: The new Quebec landscape

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Now that she will be attempting to form a government in Quebec, Pauline Marois is vowing to toughen language laws and scrap the tuition hikes – but whether or not she’ll get enough support remains to be seen. And if she wants provincial control over EI, well, Diane Finley’s not keen to give up that power either. In the wake of the shooting at the PQ rally Tuesday night, the federal political leaders have all offered their condolences and condemnation. Paul Wells offers some perspective of previous incidents of violence ostensibly tied to the political debate in Montreal. Jean Charest has stepped down as the provincial Liberal party leader after a 28-year political career. Susan Delacourt remembers her encounters with him.

The shooting incident has several Liberal MPs recalling their own issues with security in the past.

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Roundup: Spinning prison gangs as good news

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What’s that? More gangs in prisons as we’re seeing more overcrowding, more double-bunking, more and incidents of violence that might entice prisoners to join gangs for protection? You don’t say! What’s more audacious, however, is the government dressing this up as more gang members in prison and off the streets, and yet not having any police data to back that particular claim up. Just so long as it has to feel convincing, we don’t need facts!

Martha Hall Findlay, Hedy Fry and Joe Volpe are trying to make a deal with Elections Canada about their outstanding leadership debts now that the courts won’t give them any more extensions.

Tim Uppal wants Parliament to stop “stalling” the Senate Reform Act. Um, it’s your government that’s not bringing it forward for debate. Oh, and they want the provinces to pay to “elect” (but not really since it’s just a “consultation”) federal senators. Predictably, no province except Alberta is wild on the idea and won’t pursue their own plans if they have to pay for them. Not that it matters anyway, since the whole thing is unconstitutional to begin with.

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Roundup: Christy Clark walks out

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And that was the third and final day of the Council of the Federation meeting in Halifax, and it too had its share of drama as BC Premier Christy Clark walked out on the discussions on a national energy strategy until her concerns over the Northern Gateway Pipeline were addressed. While BC MPs gave a fairly mixed reaction to Clark’s move, the other premiers seemed fairly non-plussed with the attitude that it’s a big country, and they can go ahead without them. And then they all went back to complaining about health transfers. Meanwhile, a portion of an existing Enbridge pipeline in Ontario was approved to have its flow reversed, which could be an early step in bringing more western crude to eastern refineries – assuming that the pipeline can carry heavy crude and has enough capacity to make it worthwhile.

Here’s a look at five past and current interprovincial disputes.

In the Paul Calandra fundraising news, it seems that the chairman of the proposed radio station vying for the licence was encouraged to attend the fundraiser and make a donation. Yeah, that should have raised a flag.

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