The Commons: 'This is a joke'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 6:26 PM - 47 Comments

The Scene. After the House had finished discussing the American President’s upcoming visit, environmental regulations, funding for the arts, the aerospace industry, military contracts and the rights of women to fair and equal pay, the Bloc Quebecois’ Paul Crete rose to once again press the case of Omar Khadr.

“We are talking about a child soldier,” he said, “imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for more than six years and subjected to torture.”

Would the Prime Minister, Crete asked, commit to discuss the matter when he meets with Barack Obama next week?

Mr. Harper remained in his seat. The chair to his right, usually occupied by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, was empty. So to address this serious matter, the Conservatives sent up Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs and a voracious reader.

“Mr. Speaker, our position regarding Mr. Khadr remains unchanged. Mr. Khadr faces serious charges that include murder, attempted murder and terrorism,” he said as he has said so many times before. “We continue to closely monitor this situation, including the work of the American committee formed to study the fate of the detainees, including Mr. Khadr. Any speculation is premature at this time.”

Though some will suggest that the handling of Mr. Khadr long ago descended to the level of farce, it was at precisely this moment that things turned from simply ridiculous to kind of sad. Continue…

The Commons: Behold, the majesty of ways and means

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 5:34 PM - 16 Comments

At the conclusion of Question Period, the House proceeded with the pro forma. The tabling of documents, the presentation of petitions, the notice of motions for the production of papers, requests for emergency debates.

Liberal Mauril Bélanger got up and asked that the House move post-haste to discussion of the capital’s public transit strike. The Speaker agreed with the gravity of the situation, but noted that the weather outside was dreadful, a snow storm adding to the already icy hell that is Ottawa. In the interests then of everyone getting home safe—public transit obviously not being an option—the debate would be held Thursday.

Business moved then to Ways and Means Motion No. 1, resuming adjourned debate of the government’s budgetary policy. Up first, the leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition, the honourable member for Etobicoke-Lakeshore.

Most identifiable members of the government side had long since left. Bev Oda sat alone along the front bench, working through some paper work.

“Canada’s ship of state has entered some very rough and turbulent water and the captain’s steering through this storm has been erratic,” Michael Ignatieff said, barely restraining himself from breaking into that timeless sea shanty about the drunken sailor. “He misjudged, he misled, he misguided. At first he failed to act and then he acted irresponsibly. Now finally, he recognizes that we are in real danger. Finally, he is taking some measures to head for safety, but it has been a long time coming.”

Continue…

Compare/contrast

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 8:59 PM - 40 Comments

Lawrence Cannon, Nov. 20. “Mr. Khadr faces very serious charges. He is being held and it’s our government’s intention to follow and respect the process that’s in place and, of course, to respect American sovereignty on this issue.”

Deepak Obhrai, Nov. 21. “Mr. Speaker, our position remains unchanged, because unlike many prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr has actually been charged with serious crimes and is in a judicial legal process to determine his guilt or innocence, and we support this process continuing.”

Stephen Harper, Jan. 13. “He has been accused of very serious matters. And there is a legal process that has to be taken.”

Susan Crawford, convening authority of military commissions, Jan. 14. The system she oversees probably can’t function now, she said. “Certainly in the public’s mind, or politically speaking, and certainly in the international community” it may be forever tainted. “It may be too late.”

Eric Holder, Attorney General designate, Jan. 15.“I don’t think the military commissions that we now have in place have all the due process requirements that I would like to see in them.”

Air Force Colonel Peter Masciola, chief commission defence lawyer, Jan. 16. “The perception of pervasive torture now saddles the incoming administration and its efforts to set these proceedings on a just course. There is only one way to begin changing that perception, and also the reality, of fundamental injustice: Withdraw the referrals now.”

An interesting choice of words

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 21, 2008 at 5:07 PM - 3 Comments

“It looks like Stephen Harper is going to be the last defender of Guantanamo Bay.”

That’s Omar Khadr’s lawyer, Bill Kuebler, commenting on the Conservative government’s latest refusal to ask that Khadr be returned to Canada.

It’s a not entirely facetious statement. The Obama administration is talking hopefully of closing the infamous facility (even if it’s not yet clear how). A federal judge in Washington ruled this week that five Algerians, held at Guantanamo for the past seven years, must be set free. Britain and Australia have long since succeeded in having their citizens released or repatriated. The Law Society of Upper Canada recently joined the likes of Amnesty International, the United Church, and Human Rights Watch in opposing Khadr’s American prosecution. And according to one poll, only 30% of Canadians approve of Khadr’s standing trial in Cuba.

Still here was what Lawrence Cannon said this week when pressed: “Mr. Khadr faces very serious charges. He is being held and it’s our government’s intention to follow and respect the process that’s in place and, of course, to respect American sovereignty on this issue.”

That’s in keeping with the rote statement delivered each time the government has been pressed in the House to account for their position on Khadr.

But the Bloc’s Serge Menard gave it another try today. And here was Deepak Obhrai’s response.

“Mr. Speaker, our position remains unchanged, because unlike many prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr has actually been charged with serious crimes and is in a judicial legal process to determine his guilt or innocence, and we support this process continuing.” Continue…

BTC: Fantasy baseball

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 7:56 PM - 0 Comments

Back when Maxime Bernier took his leave, there was much hueing and crying about the Prime Minister’s promoting an unqualified—but pretty—MP to the front of the government’s benches. Of course, the outrage of this only holds if you assume that Mr. Bernier was advanced ahead of several more qualified peers. And that is a dubious claim at best.

Not, of course, that Max wasn’t completely unqualified and ill-suited to the Foreign Affairs portfolio. Let there be no debate on that. He was, by various accounts, a failure from the start.

But is surely not coincidence that the PM’s most respected minister at this point is the one he lifted directly from the Liberal side after the last election. It is David Emerson who’s been quietly signing free trade deals with a dozen little countries. It is David Emerson who heads the war cabinet. It is David Emerson who does not generally make a habit of insulting the population’s intelligence. And, according to several reports, it is David Emerson who will fully control Foreign Affairs after tomorrow morning’s visit to Rideau. Continue…

BTC: Stepping on the rake

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 6, 2008 at 3:05 PM - 0 Comments

This was so inevitable it’s only a wonder the Liberals waited until Friday to ask. From Ralph Goodale during today’s QP.

“Mr. Speaker, rarely does a government try to take the spotlight off of one of its scandals by highlighting another. That is exactly what it tried to do this week. It produced a sworn affidavit from Dona Cadman, the Conservative candidate in Surrey North who said: ‘On May 17, 2005, my husband told me that earlier that day two Conservative Party representatives had offered him a $1 million insurance policy.’ This is a sworn affidavit just two weeks ago. Is it the government’s position that Mrs. Cadman has committed perjury?”

One suspects even James Moore would admit that’s a pretty good question. Continue…

BTC: Say goodnight, Boo Boo

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, May 26, 2008 at 11:50 AM - 0 Comments

(This post will be updated below. Last updated at 2:40am.)

The popular guess among the dozen or so reporters gathered in the foyer had Maxime Bernier as good as gone. Only one member of the press gallery foresaw something less interesting to come. And, to be fair, on most matters of Hill anticipation, he probably would’ve been guessing right.

But here came the Prime Minister, walking a bit slow and looking a bit glum. (Were those tears in his eyes?) A small gaggle of Conservative MPs lurked in the shadows, apparently unaware of what was to come. So too loitered a few opposition members, the House having just voted on some matter or another. And, surely, as the Prime Minister arrived at the mic stand, those reporters nominated to ask questions—two English, two French—prayed their Bernier-centric preparations would prove worthwhile.

And so they did. Bernier had resigned. Something about leaving some top secret documents where they shouldn’t have been left. A very grave error, the Prime Minister said. “A failure to uphold accepted standards on government documents,” he explained, managing to make it seem Mr. Bernier had merely failed to fill out the proper form in registering for some health insurance. Continue…

The Commons: Who’s on first?

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 5:53 PM - 0 Comments

This government has a wonderful plan for the military. Just don’t ask them about it.

The Scene. The Liberal frontbench was particularly sparse this day, so it fell to Ralph Goodale to open Question Period. Which was fun, if only because the Liberal leader so stubbornly insists on applying logic to this business of governing.

“Mr. Speaker, when the Government of Canada has a policy on something, it actually writes it down. That was certainly the case with Canada’s defence policy in 2005, a detailed 35-page document. It defined how the Canadian Forces would align with overall foreign policy. It was funded with the biggest investment in National Defence in 20 years,” he began. “On Monday, the Prime Minister swept all of that away in one vacuous speech: no context, no analysis, no details, nothing. Do the Canadian Forces not deserve more respect than such an obvious political stunt?”

The Prime Minister, looking to turn this into a contest of who could yell loudest, came back with assurances. “That announcement and the buildup to it ever since this government was elected has been very well received by the men and women of the Canadian Forces.”

But onward Goodale marched with his facts and figures. “Mr. Speaker, the independent condemnation of the government’s so-called defence policy is virtually universal. It took over two years to produce it. It ended up being nothing more than a letter to the editor of 755 words. It was writing, obviously, at the rate of one word per day. And it cannot give any details and it cannot say whether the cost of the plan is $30 billion or $50 billion or $96 billion. How could it take two years to produce a plan with no details and a price tag no one over there can explain?”

Au contraire, said the Prime Minister. “Mr. Speaker, let me explain it to the honourable member since he obviously did not bother to read. The $30 billion…”

Let’s pause right there to review the situation so far. Continue…

Weekend Notes (Vol. 1, No. 16)

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 3:08 PM - 0 Comments

After the Globe reported this week that Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were reaching out to members of the Taliban, Defence Minister Peter MacKay moved quickly to clarify for the nation that we were not, in actual fact, speaking with the evildoers. 

“We’re going to work with the Afghans in a democratic way, but we are not involved in any direct discussions with Taliban terrorists,” he told reporters after QP. “We don’t do that, we will not do that. We will work on national reconciliation, reconstruction development, all of those things with sovereign decisions made by the Afghanistan government.”

To that clarification, Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, offered this during Friday’s QP.

“Mr. Speaker, the decision to engage the Taliban was made by the government of Afghanistan. Canada does not interfere with what the government of Afghanistan does,” he said, later going just a touch further. “It is the responsibility and the prerogative of the Afghan government to negotiate with its citizens, including the members of the Taliban. Any reconciliation process that will bring peace to the region, they can count on Canada’s support.”

So. Canada is not currently communicating with the Taliban. But the Afghan government is pursuing such discussions. And we will do everything we can to support them in this matter. All clear?

And those troops who are talking to the Taliban?

Continue…

BTC: Omar Khadr Outrage Watch

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 17, 2008 at 3:57 PM - 0 Comments