As the fallout from his sexting “scandal” continued, MP Tony Clement was booted from caucus yesterday, which shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. First thing in the morning, Andrew Scheer said that he was assured that it was a one-off so Clement would be allowed to stay, but by Question Period, Clement was out, meaning that more stuff has come to light (possibly the raft of women over social media describing their creepy encounters with Clement online).
While Cabinet ministers including Ralph Goodale don’t believe that this incident with Clement actually breached national security, the bigger worry by experts in the field is the fact that the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians is still nascent and building trust, and the fact that Clement was a member of that team and obviously ignored the training he was provided about not putting himself in compromising positions could shake the domestic trust of this new committee, especially given that this level of parliamentary oversight of our national security is new and largely untested.
https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1060246150266138625
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1060245758123753472
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1060246898810867712
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1060248352011431936
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1060250149736202240
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1060251763486257152
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1060254722823618560
https://twitter.com/PhilippeLagasse/status/1060258407968473089
Susan Delacourt notes the three ways in which Clement has damaged himself, and possibly his party as well. John Ivison ponders the security implications of this whole sordid affair. And on Power Play, Stephanie Carvin explains why this is an issue with national security considerations.