Who gets to pay tribute to Vaclav Havel

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 3:39 PM - 0 Comments

In November, Elizabeth May was twice denied the House’s consent to mark Remembrance Day. This afternoon she was apparently denied an opportunity to join the Conservatives, New Democrats and Liberals in honouring Vaclav Havel. Justin Trudeau is unimpressed.

Conservatives just refused to let party leader @ElizabethMay rise to pay tribute to Vaclav Havel. He was a champion of free speech. #irony

Update 5:23pm. Here is the video (such as it is) of the incident. Citing an anonymous MP, Ms. May says Government House leader Peter Van Loan was one of those who spoke up to deny her consent. I emailed Mr. Van Loan’s office to ask if he had indeed spoken up. In response, I received only a copy of text of the standing order that applies in such situations. I restated my original question and will update this post if or when I hear back.

Update 7:03pm. Still waiting to hear back from Mr. Van Loan’s office. In the meantime, here is the statement Ms. May says she would have delivered. Continue…

‘Making Canada a meaningful contributor in the world’

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 1:41 PM - 0 Comments

Given the Harper government’s eagerness to celebrate international recognition, there will no doubt be congratulations offered in the House this week for Pierre Trudeau on the occasion of a new study heralding the global influence of the Charter.

Mr. Barak, for his part, identified a new constitutional superpower: “Canadian law,” he wrote, “serves as a source of inspiration for many countries around the world.” The new study also suggests that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adopted in 1982, may now be more influential than its American counterpart.

The Canadian Charter is both more expansive and less absolute. It guarantees equal rights for women and disabled people, allows affirmative action and requires that those arrested be informed of their rights. On the other hand, it balances those rights against “such reasonable limits” as “can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”

(Headline taken from the Prime Minister’s speech to last year’s Conservative convention.)

‘Don’t accept any law that says some human beings are not human beings’

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 12:37 PM - 0 Comments

In keeping with his campaign to start a national discussion, Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth has tabled a motion that would see a special committee of Parliament created to study Section 223(1) of the Criminal Code, which defines when a human being becomes a human being. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has already responded with a two-sentence statement.

“Private Members motions are considered in accordance with the rules of Parliament. The Prime Minister has been very clear, our Government will not reopen this debate.”

Below, the prepared text of Mr. Woodworth’s remarks this morning to reporters. Continue…

OAS, here and there

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 11:11 AM - 0 Comments

Bill Curry surveys how the retirement age has been handled elsewhere. Abacus Data finds 55% of respondents opposed to raising the eligibility age to 67 by 2017, 51% opposed to raising it by 2025.

Late last week, John Geddes talked to Scott Clark.

Why would a Prime Minister go to Davos and even think about saying what he said? If you’re thinking about all the issues of an aging demographic situation—which is what the Parliamentary Budget Officer has been talking about for years—then good policy would be to put out a document on it last fall with the economic update. Say, ‘Here are a lot of demographic issues that we have to deal with,’ and then everybody starts thinking intelligently.

Are we ready to go to war with Iran?

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 9:55 AM - 0 Comments

Roland Paris considers the Harper government’s rhetoric on Iran.

Yet it is also a position that most experts on Iran would judge as dubious at best. This may be the reason why no NATO country other than Canada, to my knowledge, has made such a bold and questionable assertion. Indeed, it is especially jarring at a moment when our closest ally, the United States, is counseling restraint.

I know the prime minister does not care that Canada is out of step with its allies – that he takes pride in taking stands on principle, and in the fact that his government will not “go along to get along.” In this case, however, his “principle” is really just idiosyncratic speculation—and dangerously provocative speculation at that.

On Friday, the Prime Minister said that, “for the first time in history, we are facing a regime that not only wants to attain nuclear weapons but a regime that has, compared to virtually all other holders of nuclear weapons in the past, far less fear of using them.” On Sunday, John Baird invoked Hitler.

The race for Toronto-Danforth

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 9:05 AM - 0 Comments

Voters will elect a new MP in Toronto-Danforth on March 12 March 19 and the Conservatives would like you to expect a Liberal win.

“Governments do not win by-elections, and as this is a traditional Liberal seat this is theirs to lose,” Delorey said Sunday.

The riding has been contested 12 times since 1976, the New Democrats winning it eight times, the Liberals winning it four times. As for the idea that governing parties tend to not win by-elections, I debunked that notion two years ago here and here.

This is the week that was

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 3:55 PM - 0 Comments

The NDP candidates brought their travelling road show to Halifax. Thomas Mulcair fought questions about his donation history. Nathan Cullen explained himself. Paul Dewar challenged the Harper government’s Middle East policy. Mr. Dewar and Peggy Nash proposed help for families and greater equality. Fundraising totals provided a measure of the race. Alice Funke surveyed the NDP race.Ms. Nash promised to take the NDP where it wanted to go. Brian Topp explained how the NDP would win. Ms. Nash proposed pension solutions. Mr. Topp, Mr. Dewar and Ms. Nash blasted the actions of Electro-Motive.

The House reconvened and Old Age Security became the focus. The crisis was questioned. If it was a crisis, it was newly discovered. Bob Rae fumed. The NDP moved for debate. The Conservative caucus complained. The New Democrats directly questioned the government’s intent. And the Prime Minister allowed that a change was being considered. Continue…

Prepare for a recession

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 1:41 PM - 0 Comments

Stephen Harper, Sept. 15, 2008. “My own belief is if we were going to have some sort of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now.”

Stephen Harper, Sept. 26, 2008. “The only way there is going to be a recession is if they’re elected, and that’s why they’re not going to be elected.”

Stephen Harper, yesterday.“I don’t see a lot of evidence that we’ll have a recession or a crisis this year, but on the other hand I don’t want to be too complacent about that.”

Harper meets with Turmel

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:36 PM - 0 Comments

A statement from the interim NDP leader on a meeting with the Prime Minister.

I have just concluded a face to face meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  The meeting was cordial and focussed on the upcoming budget. I urged Mr. Harper to ensure that the upcoming budget does not harm families or cut the services they rely on in these tough times.  I also urged him, in the face of rising unemployment numbers and yet another plant closing today, to ensure his budget focusses on real job creation above all else. I shared with him what I have heard from Canadians in the past month. Too many families are worried about their jobs and their future. Too many of them are waiting months for the unemployment insurance they’ve paid for their entire lives.  These Canadians know that with further budget cuts coming, it will be even harder for them to make ends meet.

The Prime Minister and I also discussed the relationship between the federal government and the provinces, which I believe requires immediate improvement.   Canadians want the federal government to work with the provinces to improve front-line health services for Canadians.   I asked him to listen to those like the Quebec Premier who don’t want to see the federal government act unilaterally in cutting Old Age Security for future generations.

It was a good discussion and I believe the Prime Minister understood my concerns.  I hope that he will act on them in the upcoming budget. In these tough times, the government simply can’t leave families out in the cold.  It’s time to focus on job creation, and on helping families make ends meet.

And a report from the Prime Minister’s Office. Continue…

‘It’s being considered’

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:28 PM - 0 Comments

The Prime Minister talks to Postmedia about OAS, China and Iran.

Postmedia: There are Canadians who are wondering, ‘What does it mean to me?’ So that’s why I asked the question. Are you in a position to tell us whether or not the OAS eligibility is being considered as an option?

Harper: Absolutely, it’s being considered. But what we have to be clear on is that we are not looking at changes that are going to affect people that are currently in retirement or approaching retirement. We’ve been very clear on that.

Postmedia: Should anybody over the age of 50 be concerned?

Harper: I’ve just said we’re examining these things. The government hasn’t taken final decisions, so I don’t want to speculate on particulars. But I think we have been very clear in our electoral mandate that we’re not going to make any changes to seniors or to pensions in any way that deals with the current deficit.

This week has four sketches

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 4:07 PM - 0 Comments

Monday. Having it both ways
Tuesday. The case of actions v. words
Wednesday. The Russians are coming for our pensions
Thursday. Good help is hard to find

‘The utter failure of right wing, trickle-down economics’

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 2:10 PM - 0 Comments

A statement from Brian Topp on today’s Electro-Motive announcement.

Caterpillar’s decision to close its plant in London Ontario, throwing over 400 workers out of work is a powerful indictment of the Harper government’s economic agenda.  

A hugely profitable company, Caterpillar benefited from millions of dollars in Harper government tax giveaways. But instead of investing in its Canadian operations, Caterpillar chose to provoke a conflict with its Canadian workforce demanding outrageous salary cuts that it knew would be rejected. In the end, Caterpillar took the tax breaks and then shipped out the jobs, all with the able assistance of the Harper Tories.  

What is happening in London, Ontario today stands as a powerful testament to the utter failure of right wing, trickle-down economics. For over 20 years, Liberals and Conservatives have argued that tax giveaways to profitable companies like Caterpillar would result in increased investment and good jobs. How wrong they were. What we got instead are growing levels of income inequality, big deficits and governments starved of revenue for vital public investments, like education and training.

Continuing down this path will only lead to more lost jobs, economic insecurity, and growing inequality. That’s why I have made tax fairness a fundamental platform in my leadership campaign. Profitable corporations and the top one per cent must start paying their fair share. And New Democrats must take this argument head on and win it. If we don’t, then the Harper Conservatives and companies like Caterpillar will control Canada’s economic destiny. It’s the job of the New Democratic Party not to let that happen.

Paul Dewar says the Prime Minister must demand that “Caterpillar reverse its decision or return the millions of dollars it took from Canadian tax payers.” Peggy Nash says this is a “a perfect example of just how poorly the Harper Conservative are treating our communities and mismanaging our economy” and she calls on potential supporters to join her in the “fight against precisely this kind of greed.”

Nash on pensions

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 1:08 PM - 0 Comments

Peggy Nash has released her platform on pensions and retirement security. It includes the four promises outlined in the last NDP election platform, plus a fifth policy.

In addition to upholding the NDP’s 2011 platform commitments to improve retirement security, Nash’s plan proposes to work with the provinces/territories to permit a transfer of the value of private pensions to the CPP/QPP in the event that an individual terminates employment and his/her company continues in operation or in cases where the company ceases to operate.

Topp on winning

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:54 AM - 0 Comments

Brian Topp has released a policy paper on building the party, including calls to expand the party’s outreach and fundraising efforts, launch a policy review and commit to working with other parties after the 2015 election.

There are, as Jack Layton used to say, many tools in the toolbox to do this – cooperation case-by-case and bill-by-bill; a budget accord on the model of the 2005 “NDP budget”; a governing accord in the style of the 1985 Peterson-Rae accord; or a coalition government, in the style of the coalitions that govern most of the democratic world. By talking early and often about these options, we will counteract the nonsense the Conservatives say about them; moreover, we will ensure that Canadians know that in the NDP, they have the party that is always prepared to work with others in the House of Commons to get things done –including the central task of ridding Canada of the Harper government.

After the photo op

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:13 AM - 0 Comments

March 2008. He also toured the Electro-Motive Diesel plant on Oxford Street where he met many of the firm’s 900 employees. Harper said his visit to the rail locomotive plant was intended to highlight tax measures from his government aimed at keeping manufacturers competitive.

Today. The company that owns the locked-out Electro-Motive plant in London, Ont. has decided to close the plant permanently. Progress Rail Services Corp., a subsidiary of U.S. construction conglomerate Caterpillar, announced “it is regrettable that it has become necessary to close production operations at the London facility,” in a release on Friday. The company locked out 450 workers from the facility on Jan. 1. Costs were the main factor in the dispute, with the company pushing employees to take a 50 per cent pay cut.

Ask a simple question

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8:38 AM - 0 Comments

Here are four of the first five questions asked by the NDP yesterday afternoon.

Will he rise in his seat and say to the country that the age of eligibility for OAS will not be raised to age 67, yes or no?

Will he raise OAS eligibility to 67 years, yes or no?

There is enough money for tax gifts for large corporations, but now seniors will have to wait until the age of 67 to get their $540 a month? Yes or no?

Is the eligibility age going to increase to 67, yes or no?

None of those questions received straight answers. The House did though spend the day discussing the pension system and Old Age Security—starting here, resuming here. For whatever it might foretell or explain, Diane Finley’s speech on behalf of the government is here.

The Finance Minister seems intent on doing something. A poll conducted by Ipsos Reid found 74% disapproved of raising the eligibility age to 67.

The Commons: Good help is hard to find

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 5:26 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Seated almost directly across the aisle from his opposition critic, Jason Kenney shook his head as the NDP’s Don Davies read the indictment.

“Mr. Speaker, just last month the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism told Canadians how solemn he thought our citizenship ceremonies are, and they are indeed serious occasions,” Mr. Davies recalled. “Now, however, we learn that his office is fine just faking it. It was his office that arranged to have employees pose as fake new citizens in a made-up ceremony for a misleading news conference. Can the minister explain why he forced government employees to pose as fake new citizens and mislead Canadians?”

However fake the display, Mr. Kenney was quite sure his responsibility had been overstated here.

“Mr. Speaker, that is completely untrue. The only misleading going on is coming from that member,” the Immigration Minister scolded. “Every year CIC officials do a good job organizing special citizenship and reaffirmation ceremonies across the country including sometimes in studio televised ceremonies to raise the profile of citizenship. Today, I became aware that one small reaffirmation ceremony last year had logistical problems that were poorly dealt with—”

The opposition side descended into laughter and even a little desk thumping (it being hard, one supposes, to slap one’s knee when seated at a desk). Continue…

‘The science is clear’

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 4:25 PM - 0 Comments

Picking up where questions on Monday and Tuesday had failed to receive a straightforward answer, Megan Leslie tried again this afternoon to clarify Joe Oliver’s views on climate change. Here’s how that went.

Megan Leslie: Monsieur le Président, hier j’ai donné un break au ministre des Ressources naturelles afin qu’il prenne le temps de penser à ses réponses. On ne sait toujours pas si le ministre se range dans le camp des radicaux qui nient l’existence des changements climatiques ou s’il accepte le fait que la science explique les changements climatiques. Alors, qu’en est-il? Est-ce que le ministre croit à la science des changements climatiques, oui ou non?

Joe Oliver: Mr. Speaker, the member opposite gave me a break because I was not here. The science is clear that human beings cause global warming. Our government has shown its support with investments of over $10 billion to support a cleaner environment and fight climate change through innovation. What I do not believe in is the NDPs ideologically driven Luddite battle against thousands of jobs in Canada. Does the NDP want to deny Canadian families jobs and a secure future, yes or no?

Continue…

‘I know I can get us there’

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 1:38 PM - 0 Comments

A new video from the Nash campaign.

Welcome to the infomercial

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 12:19 PM - 0 Comments

Canadian Press reports that a few weeks before citizenship week celebrations last fall, Jason Kenney’s office asked his department to organize a ceremony at the Sun News studio in Toronto.

The goal was to find people who had recently taken the real oath. ”I have also just confirmed … that all the clients that are calling back are declining the request as they have to attend work and are not able to take the time off to participate in this reaffirmation ceremony,” wrote one civil servant.

Four days before the ceremony, a bureaucrat in downtown Toronto again pleaded whether Sun News could instead go to an already planned event. ”Please advise if the alternative would be acceptable since we do not have the resources to call over 3,000 clients to hopefully get 10 clients for this proposed event.”

In the end, only three of the 10 people the department had lined up to appear at the Sun’s studios actually showed up. But the show went on — featuring at least six federal bureaucrats. Three of those who took the oath wore identical T-shirts with a citizenship logo on it.

CP has video here. Justin Trudeau deems this “incredibly stupid.” An official in Mr. Kenney’s office was busy this morning assuring one and all that this was a “well intentioned mistake” made by a civil servant. And Mr. Kenney’s spokeswoman has now apologized to Sun News.

The futures market

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:34 AM - 0 Comments

Alice Funke considers the possible predictive value of yesterday’s NDP fundraising numbers.

If the 2003 NDP leadership race is anything to go by, a candidate’s share of the overall funds being raised for the contest could predict his or her first ballot vote-share to within 1.5 percentage points … That being the case, roughly half-way through the 2011-2012 NDP leadership race, Brian Topp and Thomas Mulcair are leading the pack. With 23.6% and 20.4% of the total take respectively, the two early front-runners represent 44% of all the funds raised to December 31, 2011 between them.

Peggy Nash, Paul Dewar and Nathan Cullen are behind with 15.1%, 13.1% and 12.0% (representing another 40% of all the leadership fundraising to the end of 2011), while the other four registered candidates trail below 7%.

Off message

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 9:48 AM - 0 Comments

A year and a half after the chief statistician resigned, Statistics Canada’s chief economic analyst resigns.

Mr. Cross has plenty of praise for Statscan – it is managing pending budget cuts “efficiently yet humanely” and error rates have gone down in recent years. But “a lot of good can be offset if you get one big thing wrong – and the big thing in this instance is census and NHS [national household survey],” he said.

Survey response rates are his chief concern – the 69.3-per-cent response rate from the household survey is based on distribution to a third of households, meaning it’s actually based on answers from a fifth of the population. And it’s still unclear, he said, which segments of the population are missing from the sample. “The focus on response rates ignores questions about the quality and distribution of the responses, but discussion of the latter issues is limited by management’s insistence on being ‘on-message’ all the time about [2011] census and NHS being a success.”

Former chief statistician Ivan Fellegi describes Mr. Cross as a “top-notch economic analyst.” The Globe also has a transcript of its interview with the current chief statistician, Wayne Smith.

Never mind the major transformation?

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

A week after the speech in Davos, CTV has the Prime Minister in “retreat.”

Sources have told CTV News that MPs told Harper during a Conservative caucus meeting Wednesday that reforming pensions “is not a vote winner” and complained they were taken by surprise by the plan.

The government has since toned down their language from the “transformative” changes that Harper spoke about in Davos. ”It’s a review . . . to make sure we have a sustainable, long-term fiscal plan for our country,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told CTV. He also said that the upcoming federal budget will have nothing to do with OAS.

Update 9:52am. A note from the Finance Minister’s office. Continue…

The measure of the race

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 8:53 PM - 0 Comments

As part of its latest filing with Elections Canada, the NDP has tabled fundraising data for its leadership race through Dec. 31, 2011. Alice Funke has the headline totals.

Q4$: Topp $157K | Mulcair $146K | Nash $108K | Dewar $94K | Cullen $86K | Singh $49K | Chisholm $35K | Saganash $17.5K | Ashton $10K

Contrib count to #ndpldr‘s: Mulcair 621 | Dewar 456 | Cullen 442 | Nash 347 | Topp 278 | Singh 110 | Saganash 87 | Chisholm  64 | Ashton 58

Glen McGregor has graphed the numbers between September and December to show the trend over the first few months of the campaign.

The Dewar campaign boasts that it is now up to 721 contributors. The Cullen campaign claimed last week to be over $135,000.