Live: A very long night for a very long bill

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 4:41 PM - 0 Comments

Welcome to live coverage of tonight’s C-38 votes. It was expected that voting would begin around 5:30pm, but some procedural fussing about by the Liberals seems to have delayed those votes by a few hours. Stay tuned throughout the evening (and morning?) as we follow the parliamentary festivities.

4:43pm. If you’re only now tuning in, you just missed a fascinating series of points of order, during which Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux twice asked the Speaker to clarify the rules of the House (Speaker Devolin invited Mr. Lamoureux to read the standing orders) and Bob Rae objected to the Defence Minister’s earlier use of the word “mendaciousness” (Peter MacKay duly stood and withdrew the remark). The House is now at the time reserved each day for the presenting of petitions and will soon move to the final period of report stage debate on C-38.

4:51pm. The New Democrats held a photo op this afternoon to demonstrate how they were preparing for tonight’s votes. Mostly this seems to have involved Nathan Cullen removing his jacket and writing “C-38″ on a giant white pad of paper.

5:04pm. The Liberals have chosen now to discuss Mr. Cullen’s point of privilege. And now there is some discussion between the Speaker, Elizabeth May and Denis Coderre about how long one can speak when responding to a question of privilege.

5:15pm. With Mr. Lamoureux still responding to Mr. Cullen’s point of privilege, Conservative MP Bob Zimmer rises on a point of order to question Mr. Lamoureux’s point of privilege. The Speaker stands and reads the rules pertaining to questions of privilege, specifically that such interventions should be “brief and concise” and that the Speaker has the right to “terminate” the discussion. Liberal MP Massimo Pacetti rises on a point of order to object to Mr. Zimmer’s point of order. Mr. Lamoureux attempts a point of order to respond to Mr. Zimmer, but the Speaker suggests he carry on with his point of privilege, but then Mr. Coderre rises on a point of order to complain about the Speaker’s desire to move things along. The Speaker asserts his impartiality and attempts to straighten this all out, but Mr. Coderre rises on another point of order to clarify his respect for the Speaker, but also to express his desire that Mr. Lamoureux be allowed to give a full response to Mr. Cullen’s point of privilege. Mr. Pacetti rises on a point of order to add his concern that Mr. Lamoureux be allowed to speak fully. The Speaker says he was merely reminding everyone of the rules and gives Mr. Lamoureux five minutes to finish and, finally, we’re now back to Mr. Lamoruex’s point of privilege.

5:30pm. The Speaker stands and calls an end to Mr. Lamoureux’s remarks and attempts to move to the last hour of report stage debate on C-38, but now Mauril Belanger is up on a separate point of privilege.

5:32pm. The Speaker cuts off Mr. Belanger to move to deferred votes on two opposition motions and one private member’s bill. MPs have 30 minutes to report to the chamber.

5:40pm. Conservative MPs Blaine Calkins and Brian Jean seem rather excited about tonight’s sleepover. Continue…

Aggressive federalism

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 20, 2012 at 10:08 AM - 0 Comments

Four Conservative MPs go to the Manitoba legislature to take issue with the Manitoba government.

Inside the house, Glover, Smith, Bezan and Hoeppner sat together stone-faced on a sofa on the floor of the chamber behind the Tory benches watching question period, when the immigration issue took centre stage. They either smiled or nodded their heads when their provincial counterparts defended Ottawa’s decision to manage the immigration program. They had to sit in the house because they could not get passes for the public gallery. 

Smith said she and her colleagues had no choice other than to come to the legislature instead of holding a press briefing at constituency offices or another location. ”Today the MPs are coming in to straighten the story out,” Smith said. ”The story has been totally misleading. It’s scaring people. We have to get that story straight.”

More here and here. The dispute carried over to Twitter last night between Jason Kenney and Pat Martin.

The Commons: No apologies

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 6:31 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Asking about a new report of political belligerence, Nycole Turmel eventually rounded on the Prime Minister.

“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister must take responsibility,” she ventured. “He created a culture in his party: victory at any cost is what matters.”

Mr. Harper was unmoved. Or at least undaunted. ”What I would say is this,” he said. “The Conservative party always accepts the verdict of the voters. We have accepted the verdict of the voters when we have won and also when we have lost. I would encourage the other parties to accept the verdict of voters as well.”

So there. As one of the Prime Minister’s backbenchers put it recently, this is all about “sore losers.” The public has passed its verdict. And the Conservatives have won a sufficient number of seats in this place to form a government. And that means, should they so choose, they can sit here for another three-and-a-half years. And there’s not much anyone can say to change that.

Of course, that also means—at least until they find a way to avoid this place entirely—that they must sit here most afternoons and listen to these inquiries and provocations. Continue…

Candice Hoeppner, political scientist

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 2:04 PM - 0 Comments

Speaking in the House before the vote to eliminate the long-gun registry last week, Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner recalled how she had introduced similar legislation in the last Parliament. She then proceeded to gloat.

Unfortunately, some individuals on the other side of the House broke faith with their constituents. They told their constituents they would vote to end the long gun registry but they did not. Instead, they voted in the interests of their party bosses. However, every cloud has a silver lining. We decided that we might have lost a battle but we were determined that we would not lose the war. We made an effort to get out and talk to Canadians. We knew that we needed a majority government. We needed a mandate from Canadians in order to end the wasteful long gun registry, and that is exactly what we received.

Listening to Michael Ignatieff’s demands that all Liberals vote to keep on criminalizing law-abiding gun owners meant that we exchanged Liberal Larry Bagnell for the Conservative member for Yukon. It meant that we exchanged Liberal Anthony Rota for the Conservative member for Nipissing—Timiskaming. It meant that we exchanged Liberal Mark Holland for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence, the Conservative MP for Ajax—Pickering. They were great trades.

It was not only the Liberals who lost. Listening to the big union bosses in the backroom of the NDP did not work out so well for some of those members either. The good people of Sault Ste. Marie made what some would call an MP upgrade from Tony Martin to the Conservative member for Sault Ste. Marie.

This is an interesting version of recent electoral history. Continue…

Mitchel Raphael on the ‘Hurricane’ MP and Layton’s makeup secrets

By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 11:00 AM - 4 Comments

Mitchel Raphael

When politicians don’t want to shine

NDP Leader Jack Layton has switched his brand of TV makeup from MAC to Cover FX. The effects have been so good that his assistant, who until recently did Layton’s makeup for him, has switched to the line herself. Better coverage and less shine were the main selling points. The plus side for the NDP is the fact that Cover FX is a Canadian company and one of the few camouflage makeup lines approved by PETA. Cover FX was developed first at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital to help burn victims and those with severe skin disorders. Now celebrities such as Angelina Jolie have adopted the line (she’s said to use it to cover her tattoos). Stephen Harper, according to a PMO staffer, uses MAC foundation; former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff also used MAC. Current Liberal interim Leader Bob Rae’s makeup tips remain a state secret.

A summer of guns and Grisham

In the summer, Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner juggles several books. Right now she’s on John Ralston Saul’s Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin; she also intends to read John Grisham’s latest. Part of her summer is being taken up responding to letters of support for her private member’s bill to scrap the long-gun registry, which was defeated while the Conservatives had a minority. Before the summer break, Hoeppner was made parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, which many saw as a nod to her performance on the long-gun registry issue. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird called her “Hurricane Candice” because of the storm she whipped up when she went to town hall meetings. Hoeppner is still getting pressure from groups who want to see even less gun regulation. However, she anticipates that the government bill to scrap the long-gun registry will be pretty close, if not identical to, her private member’s bill, which had the support of some NDP MPs. This time around, she says, it will be interesting to see which NDPers still vote in favour of scrapping the registry. NDP MPs Malcolm Allen and Glenn Thibeault, who had been in favour of scrapping the registry and then changed their minds during the last session of Parliament and the final vote that killed Hoeppner’s bill, said their votes to keep it had minimal effects on them in the last election.

Continue…

The Commons: This unserious business

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 5:37 PM - 38 Comments

The Scene. To his credit, Pierre Poilievre, the fresh-faced and ambitious young parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, does not take himself too seriously.

“We are building the country,” he sighed in response to a Liberal question this afternoon about the in-and-out affair, “rather than tearing people down.”

Now so long as you have paid even a little attention—or watched even a little television—these last five years, you will understand this to be a hilarious statement. Indeed, so long as you do not believe Mr. Poilievre to be completely delusional, you must regard this statement as an attempt by Mr. Poilievre to make a joke—a knowing wink, a cheeky taunt.

Mind you, the punchline here is not merely that the government side hardly lives up to the genteel principles of respect and manners invoked by Mr. Poilievre. Rather, the joke here is that it’s all a joke. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 31, 2010 at 5:43 PM - 0 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 1:31 PM - 0 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 3:35 PM - 0 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 4:14 PM - 0 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 1:38 PM - 0 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 2:37 PM - 0 Comments

We resume our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The gun registry, the vote, the after-party

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, September 24, 2010 at 11:35 AM - 0 Comments

This week saw the big showdown over the long-gun registry. MPs voted 153-151 in favour of a Liberal motion that kills Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner’s private member’s bill to get rid of the registry. Just before the vote, a small group of young protesters stood in front of the Peace Tower demanding the registry be scrapped.

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Bruce Hyer after the vote. He was one of the few NDP MPs who voted to keep the registry.

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The Liberals held a victory party at D’Arcy McGee’s pub after the vote.

Continue…

Today in automotive news

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 20, 2010 at 11:11 AM - 16 Comments

Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner is presently speaking to reporters on the Hill in front of her Scrap The Registry van.

An hour from now, Michael Ignatieff will take questions while standing in front of the Liberal Express bus.

‘If we can find a way to move forward’

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 1:33 PM - 0 Comments

In the wake of Jack Layton’s announcement yesterday, Charlie Angus, one of the dozen NDP MPs whose votes will decide the fate of the gun registry, doesn’t seem entirely committed to voting for C-391 on third reading. But Jim Maloway, who has repeated his intention to vote for C-391, is unmoved.

Regardless, said Maloway, he still plans to vote with Hoeppner. ”Nothing there changes my view on the long-gun registry,” said Maloway.

He also said Layton’s proposal is too little too late. ”This bill just went through committee last spring,” said Maloway. “Where were all these amendments at the committee?”

Everybody already knows

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 27, 2010 at 10:21 AM - 0 Comments

Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner reacts to an internal RCMP audit that found favourably of the firearms registry.

“I don’t believe any of these reports make any difference whatsoever,” said Ms. Hoeppner. “It’s been years of mismanagement and waste and there’s not going to be a report that changes our minds.”

Mixed and inconclusive

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 5:08 PM - 0 Comments

So it seems the survey to which Conservative MP Candice Hoepnner referred this week was drawn from responses to a posting on the online forum of Blue Line magazine. And now the editor of Blue Line is quite displeased on a number of fronts (or possibly the caps lock option on his keyboard is stuck).

MEDIA AND POLITICAL HYPE IS BACKWARDS.  THE REGISTRY IS ABOUT RESPONSIBLE FIREARMS OWNERSHIP NOT POLICE USE. POLICE ARE CALLED UPON TO REFER TO IT FOR MANY REASONS BUT JUST LIKE RESPONSIBLE CAR OWNERS, RESPONSIBLE BOAT OWNERS AND RESPONSIBLE HOME OWNERS HAVE A REGISTRY, FIREARMS SHOULD BE NO DIFFERENT.POLICE INTEREST IS REALLY ONLY WHEN THEY ARE STOLEN, STORED, REGISTERED OR USED IMPROPERLY … THE MONEY HAS BEEN BLOWN (RIGHTLY OR WRONGLY) AND IF SO WE MUST SALVAGE WHAT WE CAN. IF WE NEED TO THROW OUT PORTIONS THEN DO SO. BUT NOT THE WHOLE THING. THAT WOULD NOT BE RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT.

Gun registry math (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 23, 2010 at 2:36 PM - 0 Comments

While police chiefs prepare to campaign for the preservation of the long-gun registry, Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, sponsor of C-391, issues a press release saluting the “vast majority” of police officers who oppose the registry. To wit.

“This survey proves what I have been saying all along – that the CACP and the CPA do not, as they claim, speak for Canadian police officers on this issue,” said Candice Hoeppner.  “As I have met with police chiefs and front-line officers this past year, I have repeatedly said that police support for maintaining the long-gun registry is far from unanimous; in fact, it seems that the opposite is true – police support to end the registry is overwhelming!…

“Canadian Police Association President Charles Momy appeared at committee this spring and referred to a survey demonstrating police support for the long-gun registry – a survey that he admitted involved just 400 officers,” Hoeppner commented.  “This new survey involved over 2600 officers and strongly contradicts Mr. Momy’s position.  It seems obvious that a survey sample of 2600 is far more reliable than a survey of 400.”

The survey to which Ms. Hoeppner assigns her finding of reliability was conducted by an Edmonton police officer. From the release announcing his findings, he seems to have placed a notice of some kind seeking replies in a police magazine. In the fourth paragraph of that release, Constable Randy Kuntz is said to be “first to admit the survey is not scientific.”

When Charles Momy, president of the Canadian Police Association, appeared before the public safety committee in May he referenced a survey conducted by the RCMP. Of the 408 respondents, 74% said the registry had aided their work. This would seem to be that survey.

Gun registry math

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 23, 2010 at 12:32 PM - 0 Comments

When Bill c-391, an act to repeal the long-gun registry, came to a vote on second reading last November, it was passed by a count of 164-137. Those 164 votes in favour included 143 Conservatives, 12 New Democrats, eight Liberals and one independent.

C-391 is now due to return to the House for a final vote when the House returns this fall and the vote seems set to be very close.

How close? Well, let’s see. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 4:38 PM - 9 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

Conservatives and the men in blue

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, April 30, 2010 at 3:47 PM - 18 Comments

The Conservatives’ Law Enforcement Officers Caucus held a special reception for the Canadian Police Association while they were in town. Below is caucus chair Shelly Glover.

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Senator Nancy Ruth with the boys in blue.

Continue…

Happiness is a warm, registered firearm

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 19, 2010 at 1:36 PM - 122 Comments

In a speech to the Canadian Police Association this morning, Michael Ignatieff laid out the Liberal approach to crime, with three proposed changes to the gun registry.

First, we’d change the law, so that people who forget to register their gun can be issued a ticket, rather than face a criminal charge. This will give front line officers the tools you need to distinguish an honest mistake from a threat to public safety. Someone who habitually breaks the law and flouts the regulations should be treated far differently from someone who makes a one-time mistake. One kind of behavior is criminal, the other isn’t. And you need the appropriate tools to deal with each situation. That’s a message we heard loud and clear.

Second, we’ll permanently eliminate fees for new licenses, renewals, and upgrades.

And third, we’ll streamline paperwork, to make registration as quick and easy as possible.

Liberals will apparently be required to vote against Conservative Candice Hoeppner’s bill—a private member’s initiative that would effectively end the registry—when it comes up for a final vote. Eight Liberals (Simms, Russell, Rota, Martin, Easter, D’Amours, Bagnell and Andrews) voted in favour of the bill on second reading and two (Guarnieri and Karygiannis) abstained. In his speech, Mr. Ignatieff said the party had been working with these MPs on the proposed reforms.

Even if you move those 10 votes to the no side, the bill would pass by a count of 156-147.

Former Parliamentarians gather with future former Parliamentarians

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, November 20, 2009 at 6:54 PM - 14 Comments

The Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians held a dinner in the Fairmont Château Laurier ballroom. Below, former Reform MP Deb Grey.

Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent (right) and NDP MP Yvon Godin.

Continue…

Mitchel Raphael on who's in charge if the PM gets swine flu

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM - 1 Comment

Which MPs are getting the swine flu shot?

When it comes to the H1N1 vaccine, some MPs are weighing their options. Trade Minister Stockwell Day says he will talk to his doctor; he never gets even the regular flu shots. Justin Trudeau has also never had a regular flu shot, but is considering getting the H1N1 vaccine since he is now a father. NDP Leader Jack Layton and his MP wife, Olivia Chow, always get their flu shots and will get the H1N1 vaccine when it is widely available. Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, who is also a chiropractor, will get it too. She also always gets her flu shots. Because of his asthma, Stephen Harper would be considered in the high-risk category, but he plans to wait a while. (Eventually the PM and his family will all be vaccinated against H1N1.) Should the PM become incapacitated for any reason, not just swine flu, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has been chosen by Harper to take over, since the Tories have no deputy PM. Continue…