Photo Gallery: The Speaker’s Robbie Burns Dinner

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 10:16 PM - 0 Comments

Speaker Andrew Scheer hosted his second a Robbie Burns dinner on Wednesday evening on Parliament Hill.

Cathy McLeod insists on the presence of water fowl

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 12, 2012 at 2:42 PM - 0 Comments

Via Twitter, Conservative MP Cathy McLeod responds to my post about her understanding of cap-and-trade.

market driven cap + trade vs #NDP planned rev for myriad of gov programs. Hmmm sounds like a duck.

It seems to me that Ms. McLeod is attempting to differentiate between a cap-and-trade system in which the government auctions credits (and thus receives revenue) and a cap-and-trade system in which the government gives away credits. It’s not clear to me at this point that the Harper government ever absolutely ruled out ever deriving any revenue from the cap-and-trade system they proposed and pursued. They very well might have. (I previously sought to confirm this, but forgot to follow up with the official I was dealing with. I’ve just now sent a request to a different government official seeking clarity and documentation and will post whatever I receive whenever I receive it.) For the sake of the historical record, it is a detail worth noting.

But here’s the thing (a thing we explained in our last post): According to Ms. McLeod’s Conservative colleagues, whether or not the Harper government expected to generate any revenue from cap-and-trade is entirely irrelevant. Because cap-and-trade, in any form, establishes a price on carbon. And, so far as the Conservatives are now concerned, anything that puts a price on carbon is a carbon tax.

Peter Kent, June 16. “Carbon pricing in any form is a carbon tax…”

John Williamson, September 17. “Cap and trade or cap and tax, a price on carbon is a tax on carbon. That makes it a carbon tax.”

(Here is Jim Flaherty endorsing a price on carbon in February 2008. Here is John Baird endorsing a price on carbon in May 2008. And here is Jim Prentice endorsing a price on carbon in June 2009. And here, here, here and here Conservatives now lamenting the idea of putting a price on carbon.)

So we’re back where we started. The “revenue” quibble continues to be—according to the Harper government’s own logic—a red herring. And the basic policy that Ms. McLeod and her fellow Conservatives now oppose is still the same basic policy that the Conservative party and the Harper government were proposing and pursuing when Ms. McLeod was a candidate and MP.

I do give Ms. McLeod credit for engaging the discussion. Via Twitter, I asked her a follow-up question and will post any response she offers.

Here again is everything you need to know about the Conservatives’ carbon tax farce.

Cathy McLeod thinks she sees a duck

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 11:00 AM - 0 Comments

Conservative MP Cathy McLeod tries to explain how you know when a cap-and-trade system is actually a carbon tax.

Cap + Trade does not gen 21B in govt revenues. #NDP clearly has a carbon tax outlined in 2011 platform. Looks + walks like a duck it is…

Let’s explain this again. There are two ways to operate a cap-and-trade system: either the government sells pollution permits to companies and the government gets the revenue or the government gives away the permits to companies and the companies get the revenue from selling the permits to each other. Cap-and-trade could very well generate government revenue or it could not. Either way, a price on carbon is established.

But again, by the current logic of Ms. McLeod’s own government, it doesn’t even matter that the NDP expected their 2011 proposal to generate government revenue because, again, according to Ms. McLeod’s own government, anything that establishes a price on carbon is equivalent to a carbon tax. Ms. McLeod and other Conservatives can point to the booking of revenue in the NDP’s 2011 platform if they like, but their interest in the question of revenue has already been rendered moot by their fellow Conservatives.

Ms. McLeod, for the record, was first elected, as a Conservative, in 2008. That year, the party’s policy declaration included support for “a domestic cap-and-trade system that will allow firms to generate credits by reducing smog-causing pollutants.” The party platform she ran on included a promise to pursue a continental cap-and-trade system. She was a Conservative MP when that pledge was repeated in that year’s Throne Speech. She was a Conservative MP a year later when Jim Prentice announced an offset system that would “generate real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions … by establishing a price on carbon.” She was a Conservative MP when the Harper government claimed in December 2009 to be “working in collaboration with the provinces and territories to develop a cap and trade system that will ultimately be aligned with the emerging cap and trade program in the United States.” She was a Conservative MP in May 2011 when Peter Kent allowed that a continental cap-and-trade system could be something to consider in the future. And she is presently a Conservative MP in a Conservative government that refuses to definitively rule out implementing a cap-and-trade system if the United States is prepared to do likewise.

That’s a lot of quacking to account for.

Here again is everything you need to know about the Conservatives’ carbon tax farce.

The Conservative divide on Motion 312

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 25, 2012 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

Conservative MP Cathy McLeod says she’ll vote against Motion 312. Harold Albrecht says he’ll vote in favour, while Gary Goodyear and Peter Braid explain why they’ll vote no.

“The majority of my constituents are well aware that personally, I have consistently maintained a pro-life stance on this matter,” Goodyear said in an email. “However I made a promise in the last election that our government and I would not reopen debate as currently there is no appetite in Canada to revisit this highly personal and divisive issue. Therefore, I will not vote in favour of M-312.”

Braid said he’s opposed because, “It’s important to me that women’s rights are considered and respected in this debate. “I believe my position represents the majority position of my constituents. A woman should have control over the decisions she makes with respect to her own body,’’ he said in an interview.

The austerity that dare not speak its name

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 9:19 AM - 0 Comments

The Finance Minister might be ready to cut some departmental budgets by more than 10%, but he’s not ready to say this has anything to do with “austerity.”

As he did last week, Flaherty bristled at the suggestion he is preparing to table a so-called “austerity budget” that will slash departmental spending beyond the previously announced $4 billion. Instead, Flaherty said he will seek to strike a balance between the need to restrain spending while at the same time supporting growth.

“The budget is about economic growth and jobs,” he said. “If you want to see an austerity budget go to the United Kingdom … with hundreds of thousands of people being laid off. That’s not Canada. Our purpose is to ensure that we have a balanced budget in the medium term and that we have long-term stable, solid fiscal realities.”

Indeed, one wonders if the Conservatives have decided to avoid the a-word altogether. A search of Hansard shows just two Conservative MPs have uttered the word in the last three years and both of those (Cathy McLeod and James Rajotte) did so to refute the suggestion that the government was engaged in any such thing.

Who’s entitled to Old Age Security?

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 2:21 PM - 2 Comments

In light of a short-lived NDP motion on Old Age Security eligibility, Kevin Milligan reviews the practical principles at play.

So, we had twenty years of contributory Old Age Security taxes — but that ended 40 years ago. Assuming work started at age 18, this means no one under age 58 today has ever paid any explicit Old Age Security taxes — and those over age 58 paid explicit taxes only for a fraction of their working lives. Moreover, the proportion of people who never paid the explicit tax will only grow in the future as younger generations reach age 65 with increasingly less work exposure to the 1952-1971 window. This renders the argument about a tax-benefit linkage much weaker for Old Age Security than for the Canada Pension Plan.

A refinement of the argument posits implicit linkages between a lifetime of paying taxes into general revenues and the pension benefits that flow at older ages. This argument seems sound in general, but I find it hard to distinguish why we should impose residency requirements on Old Age Security but not other public benefits or public spending. Why restrict Old Age Security to long-term residents but not public health insurance? What makes Old Age Security so different?

Kady O’Malley notes the relatively symbolic nature of private members’ motions and the fact that—among other plausibly controversial motions—a motion to change Old Age Security requirements was put forward by a Conservative MP in 2004. Nonetheless, Conservative MPs Dean Del Mastro, Kyle Seeback, Greg Rickford and Cathy McLeod have moved quickly to reassure their constituents that they are entirely opposed to this recklessness.

Jack Layton 1950-2011

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 22, 2011 at 9:03 AM - 11 Comments

A statement issued this morning by the family of NDP leader Jack Layton.

We deeply regret to inform you that The Honourable Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, passed away at 4:45 am today, Monday August 22. He passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family and loved ones. Details of Mr. Layton’s funeral arrangements will be forthcoming.

9:11am. Bob Rae, Carolyn Bennett, Hedy Fry, Wayne Easter, Cathy McLeod, Keith Martin and Governor General David Johnston are among those paying their respects.

9:23am. John Geddes explored Jack Layton’s life and times for this Maclean’s cover story last June. We wrote about his new fight with cancer for this cover story earlier this month.

9:28am. Condolences from Rodger Cuzner, Lewis Cardinal, Colin Carrie, Mike Sullivan and John McCallum.

9:36am. NDP deputy leader Libby Davies talks to reporters in St. John’s.

“He was a great Canadian. He gave his life to this country. His commitment to social justice and equality and a better Canada in the world and at home and I think that’s how people saw him,” Davies told reporters. “They saw him as someone who deeply, deeply cared for people. And they saw that in the campaign and all his work. They saw the courage that he had. He faced cancer and he kept on working, doing his job, because he felt so strongly about what he believed in, so I think people think of him as a great Canadian and we think of him as a great leader, in a political sense but (also) in a personal sense.”

9:43am. More on the life of Jack Layton from the CBC, Toronto Star and Canadian Press.

He was a believer. He made that clear in the first sentences of “Speaking Out Louder:” ”Politics matters. Ideas matter. Democracy matters, because all of us need to be able to make a difference.”

9:54am. Mr. Layton’s Facebook page has become a makeshift memorial.

9:59am. Greg Fingas marks the NDP leader’s passing.

After spending a decade laying the foundation, Jack Layton has tragically died before getting to complete the house that so many said couldn’t be built. For now, there’s little to do but to offer condolences and grieve the loss of a great Canadian and friend. But hopefully Layton’s inspiration will only encourage us to finish what he started.

10:01am. A statement from the Prime Minister. 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…

Fighting for more women in politics and the "mystery MP"

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 12:15 PM - 9 Comments

Equal Voice, an organization dedicated to getting more women elected, held a reception at The Métropolitain Brasserie & Restaurant. Below, Helena Guergis, Minister of State for the Status of Women.

Donna Dasko (left) of Equal Voice chats with Liberal MP Marlene Jennings.

Continue…

Cathy McLeod Maverick Watch

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 9:25 PM - 9 Comments

The rookie Conservative objects to the new Conservative ad campaign.

Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod said she doesn’t like the ads and would prefer to take the political high road. She believes political parties use such tactics because they work, but she favours the political discourse to revolve around policy.

“Unfortunately, it seems the tactics have success or otherwise they wouldn’t do this — but again do I like it, no,” McLeod told KTW. ”I’m responsible for how I conduct myself and I haven’t been able to change the world.”

Apropos of nothing

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, May 15, 2009 at 2:57 PM - 62 Comments

Excluding those born outside Canada, the following Conservative MPs have lived, studied or worked outside the country.

Jim Flaherty, Lisa Raitt, Brian Jean, Russ Hiebert, Jason Kenney, Maurice Vellacott, Mike Allen, Ray Boughen, Barry Devolin, Garry Breitkreuz, Ed Holder, Randy Kamp, Pierre Lemieux, Ben Lobb, Phil McColeman, Cathy McLeod, Scott Reid, Greg Rickford, Andrew Saxton and John Weston.