Roundup: Enter the telecom spin

Wind Mobile dropping out of the wireless spectrum auction – because the murky rules around foreign investment restricts them from getting the capital they need – pretty much scuppers the government’s chances of getting a fourth national carrier in the system. But then came the spin – Mike Lake, the parliamentary secretary, went on Power & Politics to talk about the ten bidders in the auction – neglecting that seven of them are regional players – while touting the drop in prices in the industry. You know, the kinds of things that his government has been complaining about in ads they’re putting out. Meanwhile, NDP MP Jinny Simms declared that a fourth national carrier was needed for competition – except her party was vehemently opposed to Verizon coming into the marketplace. Well done, everyone.

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Roundup: Assaulting the dignity of Parliament

It’s not the least bit surprising, but it should remain shocking every time it happens. Jim Flaherty announced yesterday that the fall economic update will be released next week, when the House is not sitting, and will be read in Edmonton and not the House of Commons. In other words, one more slap in the face to Parliament by a government that does its level best to devalue it at every opportunity. Because why not go for the cheap optics of a controlled message and release, instead of ensuring the dignity and sanctity of parliament are upheld.

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Roundup: Holding off on a committee investigation

The Commons transport committee met yesterday, some ninety minutes after Transport Canada handed down new rules when it comes to rail safety, based on the two letters that the Transportation Safety Board sent them last week in the wake of the Lac-Mégantic disaster. And while the NDP wanted an immediate study of the rules, the Conservatives and Liberal decided that now was not the time, with as many as nine investigations ongoing or soon to be underway, and that it could either distract or draw too many people away from the front-lines of the investigation. But yes, they would study it, just later.

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Roundup: Totally cooperating with the RCMP

Remember how the PMO was going to be “fully cooperative” with the RCMP in getting to the bottom of the whole Wright-Duffy deal? Well, sources are telling CTV that “fully cooperative” means stonewalling the RCMP’s attempts get emails related to the deal. I really can’t wait for the warrant to come next…

Possibly the most damning of the reactions to the cabinet shuffle comes from one of their own – newly independent MP Brent Rathgeber quite correctly diagnoses the issue that such a morbidly obese cabinet has ceased to function as a deliberative body and is now simply a representative one, which makes all of the appointments less about the competence of the people in the jobs than about which boxes they tick off. He also makes some very salient points about how antithetical it is to conservatism that they have so many junior ministers and economic development portfolios to put them into. If you need a refresher as to some of the new faces, iPolitics created some trading cards to help you out. Jennifer Ditchburn gives a preview of the files that some of our new cabinet ministers will spend their summer familiarizing themselves with. Jason Lietar considers the PM’s social media rollout to be a success and a step in the right direction when it comes to combating Justin Trudeau’s formidable social media presence – with the exception of the badly lit Instragram videos of new ministers. Don Martin frets about the price of loyalty for the always genial James Rajotte, who has a lot going for him, but lost out in a cabinet post to the virtually unknown Kevin Sorenson.

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Roundup: Keystone XL and paper cuts

The US State Department released their draft environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline yesterday. While it’s not final approval, it certainly doesn’t see any particular environmental problems, but it now invites input, which will likely mean an intensification of the protests taking place on both sides of the border. The one point that seems to be most contentious is the assertion that without the pipeline that the oilsands will continue to expand – environmentalists seem to disagree on this point, but I have a hard time seeing their point. The development may not expand at the same rate (which is not necessarily a bad thing either), but operations will expand regardless, and market forces will find other means ensuring that the bitumen is transported to where it needs to go, be it by an alternate pipeline, or even by rail.

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Roundup: Five more for the Upper Chamber

Stephen Harper marked the Friday before the House comes back by fulfilling his constitutional duty to appoint senators – in this case, five new ones to fill vacancies. Included in this batch is Denise Batters, the widow of a former Conservative MP and a tireless activist for suicide prevention after the death of her husband. Note that she is the kind of person you want nominated to the Senate. Also included are another “elected” (and I use the term loosely) nominee from Alberta, who as it turns out has a penchant for expense accounts. Remember how Senate elections are supposed to ensure that these kinds of people don’t get selected? Yeah, good luck with that one. There’s a bit more about the other appointees here.

AFN National Chief Shawn Alteo is laying out timelines for his talks with Stephen Harper, and is looking for concrete progress within four months. John Geddes looks at how the First Nations file will dominate the return of the Commons next week. Here is a look at the letter that the Attawapiskat band council delivered to Chief Theresa Spence that demanded the end of her hunger action.

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Roundup: Not exactly ‘off-the-shelf’

So those army trucks that got cancelled at the last minute? It seems their costs escalated when DND kept adding in new capabilities to the “off-the-shelf” models, and the price tag went up. Just like with those Chinook helicopters, if you recall. But no, our procurement system isn’t broken.

Shawn Atleo has been re-elected as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. He won on the third ballot, but the fact that nearly a third of the chiefs voted against him, he has some work ahead.

Aww, Julian Fantino thinks it’s “unfair” that the Toronto Star dares to go to Afghanistan and dares to print that our aid efforts haven’t lived up to expectations, because apparently that doesn’t fit his party’s narrative.

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