Tag Archives: Robocon

Roundup: Happy Birthday, Charter!

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As it is now the 30th anniversary of the patriation of the Constitution, and the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we can expect some words of congratulations from the Prime Minister, right? Well, no. You see, Harper has decided that the Charter is too linked to the “divisive” issue of patriation, and how Quebec didn’t sign onto the Constitution, so he’s going to keep quiet. Which is pretty interesting, considering that he’s just feeding into the myth that Quebec didn’t support patriation (much like the so-called “Night of the Long Knives” myth, perpetuated by separatists). So not only does he appear to be spiting the Charter out of partisan considerations, terrible Liberal document that it is – despite it being more of a libertarian document than anything else – but he feels needs to feed the separatist rhetoric. (Paul Wells shares his views here). Not that either Jean Chrétien or Thomas Mulcair go blameless here either, if you cast your eyes back ten years ago and what both said back then.

Still on the Charter front, from Britain’s National Archives comes a tale from the cabinet minutes of Thatcher’s government, who were considering rejecting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as part of the constitutional patriation process. Closer to home, former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour looks at the impact of the Charter 30 years later.

On the Robocon file, it seems that Elections Canada’s investigation into the Guelph robo-calls has taken them to Conservative Party headquarters, and they’re looking into missing log-in information on the CIMS database, considering that the contact list provided by RackNine matches the CIMS list entirely. Meanwhile, NDP MP Pat Martin has apologised for unfairly maligning the calling firm RackNine over the whole Robocon affair – the second apology he’s had to make in the course of this issue (the previous one being to campaign research). And yes, it was almost certainly to avoid a lawsuit, though it’s not clear that this was enough to ward it off. This is why I keep questioning the wisdom of the NDP putting Martin out in front every time a story like this happens – yes, they know he’ll light his hair on fire in outrage, and he’s even aware that it’s why people come to him for quotes, and he says something outrageous, and the party gets press, but it almost always ends up badly. You’d think that the NDP would learn eventually, but I guess not.

Here’s an excellent breakdown – complete with coloured charts – about the “differences in accounting” when it comes to the cost of those F-35s. Meanwhile, here is a look at the mess that is the procurement process for the Cyclone helicopters, which should serve as a cautionary tale for what could very easily go wrong (and already appears to be going wrong) with the F-35s.

The government is axing a prison rehabilitation programme designed to help lifers who get parole, and has been able to claim success. But since their plan seems to be throwing more people in prison for longer with fewer programmes available to help them rehabilitate, axing this kind of programme makes perfect sense in their twisted logic.

And Bob Rae’s resolve not to run for the permanent leadership of the Liberal Party seems to be slipping, if this timeline of quotes is any indication.

QP: Attacking a provincial government

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As the NDP’s budget filibuster – for lack of a better term – continues, it was little surprise that Thomas Mulcair decided to start off today’s Question Period by reading off a trio of questions about the budget and jobs, careful to mention the Aveos job losses and forthcoming public sector cuts. As Harper was off in Washington for a “Three Amigos” meeting, we were instead treated to Peter Van Loan as designated replacement PM for the day, who touted the focus on job creation and economic growth in the budget, and that the NDP’s plan for higher taxes would kill those jobs. Peter Julian got up to ask about the public service cuts, to which Jim Flaherty replied that Julian should read all about the job creation hiring credit within the budget. Bob Rae stood up to ask a pair of questions about why Flaherty thought it was acceptable to attack the province of Ontario’s finances, but Van Loan did not answer, but simply kept trying to assert that Rae was a terrible premier back in his day. For his final question, Rae asked about the “special allowance” given to retired Prime Ministers, but Van Loan insisted that the budget was clear that MP pensions would be brought into line with those of the private sector.

Round two kicked off with Robert Chisholm calling the budget “mean-spirited” (Flaherty: Look at the long-term growth projections!), Wayne Marston and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe asking about OAS pensions and downloading costs to the provinces (Leitch: We’re acting responsibly!), Libby Davies asked about the so-called cuts to health transfers (Aglukkaq: We’re not cutting transfers), and Hélène LeBlanc asked about the changes coming to the National Research Council (Paradis: We’ve doubled some research funds!). Marc Garneau and Justin Trudeau asked about the suggestions by Conservative MPs of incompetence at Elections Canada at the Procedure and House Affairs committee last week, and about their budget cuts (Uppal: We supported the motion in the House; Van Loan: They assured us they have all the resources they need), and John McKay asking about the forthcoming Auditor General’s report on the F-35s (Fantino: Wait for the report). Matthew Kellway and Christine Moore asked about the F-35 process (Fantino: We need replacement planes), and Jack Harris and Ryan Cleary asked about that search and rescue failure in Labrador (McKay: The Canadian Forces tries to respond to these requests).

Round three saw questions on the Northern Gateway Pipeline approval process, killing the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat, the environmental cuts in the budget (Kent: The budget proves how committed we are to the environment! Yes, indeed it does), Bell planning to double payphone rates to a dollar per call, the letter to Peter MacKay written by a former search and rescue technician about the impact of the changes, unilingual Anglophone IRB judges (Dykstra: Do you want us to fire the unilingual francophone ones in Quebec too?), cuts to the Council of Welfare, and environmental assessments with future airport construction.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jonathan Genest-Jourdain for his grey suit with a white shirt a somewhat whimsical purple tie, and to Lisa Raitt for her tailored black leather jacket with a striped white collared shirt. Style citations go out to Maxime Bernier for a black suit with a yellow shirt and pocket square, with a red tie, and to Linda Duncan for a creation that appeared to be patchwork, but I can’t much describe it beyond that. Glance askance over to Christine Moore, whose love of shiny metallic ensembles was demonstrated today by a top that was comprised entirely of silver sequins.

And in case you missed it, this little rhyme from Liberal MP Roger Cuzner had everyone in the House laughing before QP got started.

QP: A lacklustre first showdown

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It may have taken until Thursday, but the face-off between Thomas Mulcair and Stephen Harper finally took place today, and wow, was it pretty lacklustre. Mulcair’s first two questions were about cuts in the budget, and while Harper first congratulated him on his victory, he then brought up his strong mandate to gradually eliminate the deficit, but that they weren’t cutting healthcare or pensions. Mulcair then turned to the issue of Christian Paradis’ ethical lapses, but Harper reminded him that nothing untoward actually happened. Libby Davies and Leona Aglukkaq had another go-around about health transfers, before Bob Rae brought up the logical inconsistencies with the F-35 tendering process. Harper assured him that the numbers coming out of the States were within the contingencies, but there was no signed contract. Rae finished off his round with a question on Paradis, and Harper continued to shrug it off.

Round two opened up with David Christopherson brought up the Chief Electoral Officer’s testimony on the Robocon issue at Procedure and House Affairs (Del Mastro: Baseless smears!), Guy Caron and Charlie Angus asked about Paradis’ numerous ethical lapses (Van Loan: The minister in question does a superb job!), and Olivia Chow, Isabelle Morin, and Jamie Nicholls asked about Aveos job losses (Lebel: We’re disappointed but the legal advice we got says Air Canada is in compliance with the Act). Judy Foote asked about a certain MP advising youths to carry arms – especially young woman to avoid sexual assaults (Toews: We don’t support treating duck hunters as criminals), Dion asked about the appointment of unilingual Anglophone immigration officers (Kenney: The IRB respects the Official Languages Act), and Sean Casey asked about veterans medical records being improperly accessed (Blaney: We’re helping veterans!). Alain Guiguère, Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, Wayne Marston and Irene Mathyssen asked about OAS cuts (Leitch: It’s unsustainable!).

Round three saw questions on the F-35s, fleet separation policy for East Coast fisheries, Aveos jobs, calls for a Royal Commission on the last election, cut to the CBC (the first question from new NDP MP Craig Scott), which aid groups are on the chopping block next, veterans’ privacy, drug shortages, and “national security” in the Investment Canada Act.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Marc Garneau for his navy pinstriped suit, with a white shirt and purple tie, and to Rona Ambrose for her fitted black leather jacket. Style citations go out to Hélène LeBlanc for her cherry-blossom patterned grey dress and jacket with an awful peach scarf, and Randy Kamp for his fluorescent aqua shirt with grey suit.

Voter misdirection is not an error: Mayrand

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The appearance of Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand before the Procedure and House Affairs Committee was to a packed house. Everyone was happy to see him there – even if most of the NDP MPs on the committee were late in arriving, and the fact that Bob Rae turned up to join Marc Garneau for the Liberal contingent was sure enough of a sign that he was taking this seriously.

Mayrand’s opening statement gave us a few new facts – that the volume of contacts that Elections Canada has received has climbed to 40,000, of which some 800 are specific complaints; that the Elections Commissioner and his investigators have been looking into specific complaints since May 5th of last year; and that there were some 61 late polling location changes in the last election. But perhaps the most important thing that he kept hammering home was that Elections Canada does not have a list of voters’ phone numbers. They couldn’t call voters even if they wanted to. And this is a very important thing to remember.

Why? Because the narrative that the Conservatives were trying to build was that this was really just about errors on the voters list. Yes, there are errors on the list, Mayrand says. It’s hard not for there to be – it’s a database of 24 million names. It can never be fully accurate because the moment you print it out, it’s no longer accurate since people move all the time, and it’s not mandatory that people notify them. And yet one Conservative MP after another kept returning to the point of these errors. That, or trying to minimise the extent of the issue. It works out to one complaint every 100 polling stations – not that they’re trying to minimise this. 800 specific complaints in 200 ridings? That’s like four per riding – not that they want to minimise this. At the same time, they would say that one legitimate complaint is too many. But of course, these 800 complaints are “unsubstantiated,” which by the way is not another word for “unproven,” even though they tried to use the two interchangeably. Oh, and can’t this be chalked up to errors on the voters list?

No, Mayrand put his foot down. Calls from people claiming to be Elections Canada to misdirect voters are not errors – they’re outrageous and should be dealt with severely. And to that effect, Mayrand spoke about reviewing the penalties currenty in place within the Elections Canada Act, which he says need to be improvement as many penalties are simply too lax, and he’ll be submitting that report to Parliament in addition to the one on the ongoing investigations.

There were a few more interesting revelations: that they’ve determined that some 6700 calls went out from RackNine in the Guelph riding, of which they only received 70 complaints, so make of that ratio what you will. There are 250 files now open on the election being investigated. That they are looking into evidence of “voter augmentation” in those ridings, but much of the evidence is vague, or that what is being taken to the media is not necessarily proper (like copies of special ballots, which are not voting day registration forms). And that the court proceedings currently underway in eight ridings, trying to overturn the results, are a separate process that he will cooperate with when asked, but are otherwise not his jurisdiction. Oh, and he didn’t pre-clear those robo-calls that Frank Valeriote’s campaign made, but it’s not clear if they fell under the legislative grounds of advertising – which is his domain – so they’re continuing to investigate it, no matter how much Tom Lukiwski tried to get him to condemn them as having been illegal.

But above all, Mayrand’s message is this – let the investigations continue, and don’t draw any conclusions prematurely. He plans to have his report on the issue tabled in Parliament within a year, but will certainly try to get it tabled as soon as possible. In the meantime, the committee has agreed to call Mayrand back before the House rises in June so that he can update them as to the progress of the investigations, and that they will also call the Commissioner of Elections for him to discuss his own investigations – or at least as much as he’s able to reveal at this juncture anyway.

QP: Scourge of the middle class

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His third day as opposition leader, and Mulcair still had no Harper to battle in the House. While his delivery was a little bit less wooden, he was still reading from a script on a miniature lectern, asking about provincial transfers coming in the upcoming budget. In Harper’s place it was John Baird’s turn to be designated back-up PM, and he asserted that their government has given more to the provinces than any other government before them. Libby Davies followed up, accusing the government of abandoning healthcare with the rather dubious claim that they’re “slashing” $31 billion in health transfers (it wasn’t really a cut, people), to which Leona Aglukkaq reminded her that the Conservatives have funded healthcare to “historic levels” and they’re trying to make the system more sustainable. Bob Rae then got up to ask about the lack of a government policy on addictions and mental health, and John Baird took it on a tangent about the Liberals wanting to legalise marijuana, and that they were fighting that for the safety of middle-class families. No, seriously. Rae immediately picked up on that – every evidence shows that alcohol is the most dangerous substance out there, and why is the government announcing proudly that they’re joining in the failed war on drugs in Central America? (You see, you can pick up on questions like that when you’re able to deliver them off-the-cuff. Just saying). Baird continued to beat his chest about how proud they were to stand against the scourge of drugs, ignoring the evidence of course. For his final question, Rae asked about Harper’s former complaints about minister staying with people who do business with their departments (back when it was Don Boudria and Harper was the leader of the opposition), but Baird wasn’t going to take that bait.

Round two kicked off with Peter Julian asking a series of questions on jobs in the budget and the Aveos workers, to which Denis Lebel assured him that this was a private sector issue, and Ted Menzies assured him that they would continue on the path of job creation from the ongoing Economic Action Plan™. Wayne Marston and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe asked about OAS changes (Leitch: OAS is unsustainable for “future Canadians,” not specifying if she meant Canadians in the future or those who are not yet Canadian), and Nycole Turmel and Paul Dewar asked about some unions not being allowed into the budget lock-up as stakeholders (Menzies: The budget is being delivered in the House where everyone can hear it). Judy Foote asked whether the government was asking the Conservative Party – as they’re actually separate entities remember – about its cooperation with Elections Canada considering that RackNine had an exclusive contract with the party for phone services and “Pierre Poutine” had access because of party connections (Del Mastro: You made your own illegal calls!), Denis Coderre asked about Aveos declining to appear at Transport Committee (Lebel: This is an issue between two private companies), and Judy Sgro asked about OAS changes (Leitch: Unsustainable!). Guy Caron and Charlie Angus closed off the round with questions on Paradis’ ethical latest ethical lapse (Paradis: I used my own means, and nobody lobbied me).

Round three saw questions on the F-35 Statement of Operational Requirements (one of those questions from Rae, as he tried to use logic to overload the duotronic circuits of the M-4 Unit – err, I mean Julian Fantino), environmental regulation changes to be “buried in the budget” (even though there is no indication this will be the case – broad outlines in the budget document doesn’t mean changes will be buried within implementation bills), the Northern Gateway pipeline, cuts to Katimavik (for which Justin Trudeau got a boxing joke in response), francophone immigration officers, the fleet separation policy for the East Coast fishery, rural post offices in Quebec, and the way the way the government handled the Air Canada strike versus the Aveos issue.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel for her fuchsia belted dress, and to John McKay for his grey suit with a pink shirt and pale blue tie. Style citations go out to Carol Hughes for the jacket equivalent of a ball of elastic bands, and to LaVar Payne for his black shirt with a white collar worn with a white tie and a grey suit. Just…no. Dishonourable mentions to Romeo Saganash for a fluorescent blue shirt/grey suit violation, and to Maxime Bernier, who is normally a snappy dresser, for a black suit/lemon yellow shirt violation.

QP: Paradis asserts his innocence – again

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It was day two of a series of self-congratulatory members’ statements for the NDP, and Thomas Mulcair was again given the opportunity to shine without Harper present. Not that Mulcair really did, as he utilised one of the small lecterns on his desk to read his script from, asking first about the F-35s not meeting the Statement of Operational Requirements. It was Jason Kenney’s turn to be designated back-up PM, and he got to repeat the “no contracts signed” talking point that the responsible minister might otherwise have in his place. When asked about changes to the OAS, which Libby Davies in turn followed up on, Kenney and then Kellie Leitch both recited the talking points on being concerned for future generations. Davies then turned to the question of downloading healthcare costs onto the provinces, giving Leona Aglukkaq the opportunity to trot out her “Liberals gutted provincial transfers” talking point. Bob Rae turned to the issue of Aveos and the laws put in place around the Air Canada privatisation, but Kenney decided that rather than give an actual answer, he would repeat the attack ads about how Rae was a terrible Ontario premier. Rae’s final question was on Christian Paradis’ latest ethical gaffe, around the hunting trip, but Kenney assured him that there was in fact no conflict of interest.

Round two kicked off with Christine Moore and Matthew Kellway returning to the issue of the F-35 SOR (Fantino: Yay RCAF!), David Christopherson asked about the post-living differential afforded to military families (Fantino: We need to face the economic reality but wait for the budget), Alexandre Boulerice and Niki Ashton asked about the Robocon issue (Poilievre: We’re cooperating, Del Mastro: That’s all false and you diverted funds to the Broadbent Institute), and Charlie Angus and Guy Caron asked about Paradis’ hunting trip (Paradis: I paid my own way and brought my own food, and they didn’t lobby me anyway). Stéphane Dion asked about the Aveos issue (Lebel: This is a private sector issue), Lise St-Denis returned to the Paradis issue (Paradis gave his very same reply), and Wayne Easter asked why the Conservatives refused to show any humility amidst their various ethical lapses (Del Mastro: Sponsorship scandal! Missing $43 million! Never mind it was $39 million but I guess he’s figuring in inflation).  Closing off the round, Olivia Chow, Isabelle Morin, Peggy Nash and Pat Martin each asked about the Aveos issue (Lebel: This is aprivate sector issue).

Round three saw questions on the search and rescue failure in Labrador, insufficient francophone presence in the Atlantic search and rescue centre, EI claims delays, the F-35 SOR, Aboriginal skills development, and the downgrading of that Arctic research facility.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rosane Doré Lefebvre for her white dress with the black pattern and a black jacket, and to Matthew Dubé for his tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt and a grey crosshatch patterned tie. Style citations go out to Bev Shipley for his orangey-yellow shirt and gold-yellow tie with a black suit, and to Laurin Liu for a white dress with a red and orange floral pattern. Dishonourable mentions go out to Jacques Gourde for a fluorescent blue shirt and grey suit, and to Christine Moore for her sequined black sweater.

QP: Mulcair follows his script

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With the NDP front bench once again being filled by its regular denizens, I’m sure that there were a few disappointed faces among backbenchers normally relegated to the nosebleeds who would no longer get to be on seat-filler duty, but it was all smiles and applause for new party leader Thomas Mulcair, and for the former leadership candidates who each made a Member’s Statement to congratulate Mulcair and to thank their campaigns for all of their hard work.

When Mulcair did rise to start off QP, he read off his questions from the papers on his desk, and asked about job losses, first from Electro-Motive in London and now Aveos, and just what did the government intend to do about it. In what is likely to be the pattern to come, he asked the first two in French, and the final in English. James Moore was the designated back-up PM for the day – as Harper is still in Asia – and he assured the House that their government had created over 600,000 net new jobs since they began the Economic Action Plan™. Libby Davies followed up – the choice of her order in the rotation fully symbolic of unity in the party – and she asked about the provinces being “short-changed” some $31 billion in health transfers. Leona Aglukkaq assured her that funding was at record levels, unlike how the Liberals gutted transfers. Bob Rae then got up for the Liberals and returned to the Aveos question, and unscripted and showing Mulcair’s wooden performance up, wondered why the laws around Air Canada’s maintenance obligations weren’t being followed if that’s what was important. Moore referred him to the transport minister’s previous statement, and tried for a few digs, not that Rae was biting.

Round two kicked off with Peter Julian decrying the attempt to download costs onto the provinces, and which both Flaherty and Leitch played down, Jean Crowder asked about EI services in amidst the Aveos layoffs (Leitch: We’ve added resources and delivered for Canadians!), Yvon Godin carefully read out a scripted question about Lisa Raitt and Air Canada employees (Raitt – whose body language was one of no tolerance – reminded Godin that the incident and statements ascribed to her were untrue and to kindly stop repeating them), Alexandre Boulerice and Charlie Angus asked about the “leaks” in the “Pierre Poutine” affaire (Poilievre: usual spin, Del Mastro referred to Angus as the “Member for 8 Mile,” and worried about the “bad rap” he as giving things), before Angus and then Guy Caron went after Christian Paradis for the Ethics breach he was found in (Paradis: No contract was awarded, I’ll take future precautions). Denis Coderre and Kevin Lamoureux asked again about the Aveos issue (Lebel: We’re waiting for Transport Committee to report), while Christine Moore and Matthew Kellway asked about the F-35s (Fantino: You don’t know what you’re talking about), and Malcolm Allen asked about the dismantling of the Wheat Board and the potential sale of Vitera (Anderson: Look at all the marketing freedom!).

Round three saw questions on fish habitats, muzzled scientists, the ethics ruling against Paradis and the tone of his response (Paradis in turn read his very same talking points word-for-word), the search-and-rescue failure in Labrador, payment regulations, the ongoing drug shortage (Aglukkaq: We opened up our stockpile and no province has made any requests), and the language of immigration officers.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to James Bezan, who continues to show how simple tailoring can make a black suit look great, and he wore that with a shirt of the palest purple with a black tie, and a white pocket square, and to Michelle Rempel, for a simple long-sleeved black dress with a tasteful chunky black chain necklace. Style citations go out to James Lunney for a fluorescent blue shirt and grey suit, and to Denise Savoie, for a rather swampy green and brown wave-patterned jacket with a collared white shirt.