The last Monday of the year, and it was a bitterly cold one in Ottawa. Like many a Monday, none of the leaders were there, and even Elizabeth May was gone, off to the climate summit in Lima, Peru. Megan Leslie led off, and asked about cuts to services at Veterans Affairs that were more than just “back office” cuts. Julian Fantino insisted that the story was false, and read about reducing bureaucratic expense. Leslie twice asked about the reduction in staff for rail safety, to which Jeff Watson insisted that the number of inspectors was up, as was the number of auditors. David Christopherson shouted the veterans cuts question again, got the same robotic answer from Fantino, before a hollered demand for resignation, earning another robotic recitation. Dominic LeBlanc led for the Liberals, and asked about the government’s court arguments that there was no fundamental obligation to wounded veterans. Fantino robotically insisted that they were uploading services for veterans. Frank Valeriote listed off a litany of other cuts to veterans, but Fantino read a talking point about increases to front-line services. Valeriote asked a last question about VA managers getting bonuses in the light of cuts to services, but Fantino assured him that the decisions were always taken for the right reasons.
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Roundup: Wynne questions the prostitution law
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has announced that she has grave concerns about the anti-prostitution bill, which came into effect on Saturday, and that she will ask her Attorney General for a legal opinion on the law so as to be sure that the province is not being asked to uphold an unconstitutional law, given the concerns that were outlined in the Bedford decision by the Supreme Court. It’s a fairly interesting challenge that Wynne is making, having a provincial government coming out against federal legislation in this sense, but as the province has the duty to enforce the Criminal Code, her asking for options so publicly is an interesting case. As Emmett Macfarlane notes, it’s also interesting that she didn’t directly ask the Ontario Court of Appeal for a reference and their opinion on the law, but that could still come once the Attorney General and her office have had time to weigh in. It probably won’t make Wynne any more popular in Harper’s eyes, and will be one more reason for him to avoid meeting with her, but it could also be the first shot in a Supreme Court challenge of the legislation, which could conceivably be much faster-tracked than it would be if we had to wait for a Charter challenge the traditional way, which could conceivably help save lives, going back to the thrust of the Bedford decision in the first place.
https://twitter.com/HisFeministMama/status/541696722196787200
https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/541659937022414848
Roundup: Refusing to appoint senators
Stephen Harper says that he’s in no rush to appoint senators because legislation is still getting passed, so no big deal, right? The question arose because the new Senate Speaker, Pierre-Claude Nolin, remarked that there are concerns about regional representation becoming unbalanced, and I’ve heard from other Conservative senators who are not-so-quietly complaining that they are being overloaded with committee work because they’re having to sit on several committees given that we’re soon to be at seventeen vacancies – almost one-fifth of the Chamber. It’s a significant figure, and the added danger is that a Prime Minister – either Harper, or a new one post-2015 – would appoint a big number at once, stressing a system that is designed to absorb two or three new ones at a time. It also demonstrates a kind of contempt that Harper is showing toward the system and the specific role that the Senate plays within it, preferring instead to treat it as a rubber stamp that he is ramming legislation through. Nolin pointed to several passages from the Supreme Court’s reference decision during his presentation, and noted one of the roles of the Senate is to provide reflection to legislation that passed the Commons in haste. In this era of time allocation, that would seem to be more needed than ever – and yet, the government’s senators are doing their own best to rush things through, which Nolin quite blatantly called out today, saying that he aims to remind all Senators of their obligations as laid out in that decision. Nolin also said that he thinks the worst of the Senate’s spending woes are behind it, as we wait for the AG’s report next spring, and offered his own take on what happened on October 22nd.
#SenCA Speaker Nolin meets with Press Gallery journalists in Senate Chamber #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/eb8zhdN6dW
— Senate of Canada (@SenateCA) December 4, 2014
Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos confirmed as deputy Senate speaker. #cdnpoli #SenCA pic.twitter.com/aqhjwjRqvT
— Jordan Press (@jpress) December 4, 2014
I wrote about the problem of Harper not appointing Senators nearly a year ago. The situation is now worse. http://t.co/KjxBZQ19er #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) December 5, 2014
QP: Fantino’s third-party management
Tuesday, and all four leaders were in the chamber today, as was Julian Fantino. It was going to be a good day for outrage. Thomas Mulcair led off by immediately laying into Fantino and wondering about the lack of confidence in the minister if he was imposing “third party management” on the department. Harper insisted that he didn’t know what Mulcair was talking about and praised the former Chief of Defence Staff becoming the new Deputy Minister, and that he could think of no greater honour than the minister paying tribute to the 70th anniversary of the Italian Campaign. Mulcair asked again in French, where Harper reminded him that Fantino’s new chief of staff had nothing to do with the Duffy affair before repeating his previous answer. Mulcair wondered why the minister was still there if he had lost confidence in him. Harper noted that all ministers have chiefs of staff, and that Mulcair must also have one “overseeing the slow descent” of that party, before reminding him of the accrual accounting rules about the funding announcement. Mulcair moved onto the lack of concern by Aglukkaq on the scavenging allegations, to which Harper assured him that the people of Nunavut have never had stronger representation. Mulcair lumped in Gerry Ritz and Candice Bergen to his blanket condemnation, and Harper assured him that he was proud to compare the track record of his government to that of the NDP, before singing the praises of his front bench, and that then slammed the NDP of having such little public support that they had to “rob parliamentary funds” — earning him a rebuke from the Speaker. Justin Trudeau was up next, and brought up the 50-year timeline of the veterans announcement. Harper assured him that his government has invested $5 billion in additional measures over veterans, and accused the Liberals of voting against veterans and families. Trudeau accused the Prime Minister of prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy over veterans and demanded an apology. Harper retorted that the Liberals should apologize for voting against veterans every single time. Trudeau gave one more shot in French, to which Harper repeated his answer in French.
QP: Questions on last-minute funding
It’s a gorgeous Monday in the Nation’s Capital, but none of the major leaders were present in the House. David Christopherson led off for the NDP, shouting a question about the new funding for mental health funding for members of the Canadian Forces. Parm Gill responded, insisting that the government has continually increased support for veterans and soldiers. Christopherson, ever more indignant, focused on the lapsed funding to Veterans Affairs, to which Gill insisted that statutory funding was untouched. Nycole Turmel took over to ask in French, to which Gill praised the new funding commitment. Turmel switched topics to Thalidomide survivors who are struggling. Colin Carrie read that it was a lesson as to how Canada needs to take drug safety seriously, and that they would seriously consider any proposal coming forward from Health Canada. Turmel asked again in French, and Carrie repeated his answer in English. Marc Garneau led off for the Liberals, citing government “propaganda” spending over veterans and the last-minute announcement of new mental health funds. Gill returned to his insistence that support funds had increased. Frank Valeriote noted the contradictions in Julian Fantino’s assurances, to which Gill insisted that funding lapses under the Liberal government were even larger. One one last exchange, Gill dredged up the “Decade of Darkness” talking point while Carolyn Bennett shouted “sit down!”
QP: Lapsed spending and a lack of analysis
Despite it being Thursday, the Commons had a lot of empty desks and none of the major leaders present. Megan Leslie led off, asking about Joe Oliver’s admission that his office did not do their own analysis of the EI tax credit. Oliver insisted that their reduction would create jobs, but the NDP would raise taxes. Okay then. When Leslie pressed, Oliver touted the government’s job creation figures. Leslie moved onto the $1.1 billion in lapsed spending on veterans, to which Parm Gill insisted that it was false. Nycole Turmel asked the same is in French, to which Gill repeated his answer. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, asking about spending on housing and infrastructure, to which Denis Lebel said that if Goodale was so concerned, he should have done more when he was finance minister. Goodale laughed, and raised the lapsed veterans spending, to which Parm Gill howled that the Liberals put the Forces through a decade of darkness. Marc Garneau asked the same question again in French, and Gill gave a slightly less hysterical answer about how much they’ve spend on veterans.
QP: Even Ontario wants NDP childcare
Caucus day in the Commons, and all of the major leaders were again in the chamber, with the Conservatives proud of the new MPs elected in Monday’s by-elections who were visiting in advance of being sworn in, while the NDP were crowing over social media about Maria Mourani joining their party (but not caucus until after the next election). Thomas Mulcair led off by noting that the Ontario legislature voted in favour of supporting the NDP’s childcare plan, and asked about the government’s previous pledges. Harper reminded him that the other night, some Ontarians voted overwhelmingly against the NDP, and that his government has made life more affordable for all families. Mulcair wondered when Harper would meet with the Ontario premier about issues like childcare, and Harper claimed that he meets with premiers regularly — except he’s been avoiding Kathleen Wynne. Mulcair claimed that 65 percent of Canadians live in jurisdictions that want more affordable childcare, and repeated his demand for childcare spaces. Harper insisted that his government has put money in the pockets of Canadians that the NDP were planning on taking back. Mulcair pressed on Harper’s previous specific commitments about the healthcare escalator, to which Harper insisted that they have increased transfers to promises to record levels. Mulcair insisted that the transfer rate change was a cut (which it really wasn’t), but Harper repeated his answers. Justin Trudeau noted that the government would vote against his bill on Access to Information citing bureaucratic increases, and wondered why they opposed the modernization of Access to Information. Harper said that they did modernize the system by bringing 70 new agencies under its aegis and that the Liberals opposed other transparency measures. Trudeau moved to the cuts to infrastructure funds, to which Harper said that the Liberals voted against funding and that they only wanted to “raise taxes to fund bureaucracy.” Trudeau moved onto a conference in Montreal that Harper skipped, and Harper insisted that the government was represented.
QP: Listing off “real action”
The first day of the final four-week stretch of sitting days for the calendar year, and everyone was a little more fresh-faced and cheerful — something that won’t last too long. None of the leaders were present today, Harper still on his way back from the G20 in Brisbane, Justin Trudeau off to Whitby—Oshawa for the by-election there, and Mulcair similarly absent, even Elizabeth May absent owing to the death of her father. That left David Christopherson to lead off, denouncing the government’s lack of commitment to GHG emissions reductions coming out of the G20 in Brisbane. Leona Aglukkaq stood up to remind him that major emitters like China and the U.S. were finally coming to the table. Christopherson pressed, and Aglukkaq read off a list of “real action” that they have undertaken. Nycole Turmel asked the same question in French and got pretty much the same answers from Aglukkaq, before turning to the topic of the family tax cuts. Joe Oliver praised them and how the measures will help all kinds of families. For the final question, Turmel threw a bunch of budget cut figures hoping to make something stick, and Oliver reiterated how great his family tax cut plan was. Ralph Goodale led off for the Liberals, noting the ways that the government actually raised taxes, be it payroll taxes or tariffs, and brought it all around to income splitting. Oliver read a talking point about how great income splitting was for families. Goodale demanded that the money spent on income splitting be spent instead on incremental infrastructure investments, to which Oliver decried the Liberal plan to raise taxes. Dominic LeBlanc closed off the round with another question of income splitting versus infrastructure investment in French, to which Jason Kenney rose to say that it was sad to watch the Liberals attacking families with children.
Roundup: Hollande pays a visit
French President François Hollande landed in Calgary and met with Harper and the Governor General in Banff as the start of his state visit yesterday. He’ll arrive in Ottawa today to address a joint session of Parliament.
Candice Bergen admits that the “family tax credit” aka sorta-income-splitting, won’t benefit single parents because they’re generally too low-income, which again raises the utility of giving tax credits to those who are less likely to need them – as in wealthier two-parent families, never mind that it’s the kind of pandering to the social conservative base that it represents.
QP: Major network censorship!
Despite it being a Thursday, none of the major leaders were present in the Chamber for QP. Yay accountability! Megan Leslie kicked off by asking about radicalized Canadians who were not stopped before they left the country. Stephen Blaney said that there were 63 investigations underway covering over 100 individuals, and why didn’t the NDP support their anti-terrorism legislation. Leslie asked why they were relying on US intelligence for these radicals, but Blaney gave a non sequitur about supporting the mission in Iraq. Leslie turned to the Ebola crisis, to which Rona Ambrose assured her of all the ways in which Canada was contributing. Libby Davies carried on asking about the Ebola vaccine and reiterated the tale of the intellectual property concerns, but Ambrose assured her that the supply that was given to the WHO did not have those concerns and it was up to them to decide what to do with it. Davies quoted a WHO release stating that the commercializations of the vaccine was held by that U.S. company. Ambrose, somewhat exasperated, insisted that they were two completely different issues, and the intellectual property on the donated doses belonged to Canada. Ralph Goodale asked about the plans to stuff things like copyright changes into the budget bill. Kevin Sorenson insisted that Goodale wait until the bill was tabled. Goodale blasted the plans to change those copyright plans so that news clips can freely been used in political ads, calling it “expropriation without compensation.” Shelly Glover said she wouldn’t comment on rumours or speculation, but gave an excuse about networks censoring content. No, seriously. The round closed with Dominic LeBlanc giving the same question in French, and Glover repeating as well.