Posts Tagged ‘Dominic LeBlanc’

The Backbench Spring: Dominic LeBlanc asks for time

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 22, 2013 - 0 Comments

The Liberals had said they wouldn’t get involved in Mark Warawa’s question of privilege, but after Question Period today, Liberal House leader Dominic LeBlanc stood to make a submission. He expressed his support for Mr. Warawa’s cause, but also asked that the Speaker to “resist” ruling on that question of privilege until the House has had a chance to debate and vote on the related Liberal motion.

Mr. Speaker, I am intervening with respect to the question of privilege that was brought before the House by the member for Langley. Without any doubt, freedom of speech for members of Parliament is paramount in any democracy. In fact, you will be very familiar with this text, Mr. Speaker. Erskine May’s 19th edition states: “The freedom of speech is a privilege essential to every free council or legislature”.

Mr. Speaker, the sheer number of interventions you have had on this question clearly displays the considerable concern surrounding the current management of members’ statements. That concern is reflected clearly on all sides of the House.

The Liberal Party has until now not intervened in this question of privilege. I want to make it clear, on behalf of my colleagues, I am rising to intervene in support of the concerns raised by the member for Langley and I do so with the proviso that perhaps a solution is at hand, a solution that may negate your needing to find a prima facie breach of privilege.

As you will know, Mr. Speaker, the leader of my party, the member for Papineau, gave notice late last week of a motion that in our view would resolve the issue and perhaps lead the member for Langley to conclude that his question of privilege need not be debated in the House and subsequently at the procedures and House affairs committee.

We had hoped to be able to debate the motion today. The motion from my colleague, the member for Papineau, would take control of members’ statements away from the party whips, every party whip including our own, and give it back to members themselves because we believe that it is very important for members to be able to rise in the House in a consistent and reliable way to represent their constituents and speak for the women and men who have elected them and sent them here to this chamber.

We had been told in last Thursday’s statement by the government House leader that we would have a Liberal opposition day today and therefore the House would have been seized of this very issue today. Unfortunately, the government decided to change the order of the proceedings today. We would have preferred to be discussing this today, but we are hopeful that in the coming days, perhaps even this week, the House will again be seized with the motion from my colleague from Papineau.

The motion, from our perspective, and I hope from other colleagues as well, would provide not only direction to the Chair by, we hope, changing the actual standing orders, but would reduce the need for the question of privilege to continually be debated in the House and for the procedure and House affairs committee, which is currently dealing with the rather lengthy and complicated electoral boundaries reports from each province, to take up its time with this particular matter.

The question of privilege has been before the House for several weeks. There have been regular interventions from members on all sides. Mr. Speaker, I would urge you, and believe it would be prudent for you, to wait only a few more days in the hope that the House is able to pronounce itself through a vote on the motion presented by the Liberal Party on an opposition day, which we believe may, in a very common sense and democratic way, resolve the issue. A ruling by you, Mr. Speaker, before the House has had a chance to speak and to vote on this Liberal motion could in fact lead to the procedure and House affairs committee’s important work on electoral boundaries being delayed. I think there is no better way than to get the consensus of the House in a stand up vote on a thoughtful, democratic motion brought forward on an opposition day.

Therefore, I would urge you, Mr. Speaker, to resist ruling on this question of privilege, to give the House, I hope, in the coming days a chance to pronounce itself on a motion that we think is very important to restore the democracy of this House of Commons and Canadians’ faith in their elected representatives to speak on their behalf at every available opportunity in this chamber.

  • Justin Trudeau’s next big test

    By John Geddes - Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 6:06 PM - 0 Comments

    Today’s Liberal showcase event in Toronto is over, so the next big date for Justin Trudeau to mark on your calendar would be Sunday, April 14, when the winner of the Liberal leadership race is to be announced in Ottawa.

    Unless you are among those—and you wouldn’t be entirely alone—who think that outcome is a foregone conclusion, in which case maybe the next big day for Trudeau is Monday, April 15, when he is expected to debut in the House of Commons as Liberal leader.

    Which promises to be interesting. Trudeau proved himself a more than competent campaigner in this leadership race. But of course the crowds have been friendly, even adoring, and the atmosphere lends itself to Trudeau’s conversational, unthreatening style.

    Continue…

  • Photo Gallery: A Very Liberal Xmas

    By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 10:02 PM - 0 Comments

    Photos by Mitchel Raphael

    Liberals gathered at the Westin Hotel for their annual holiday party. Northern Ontario MP Bruce Hyer, who quit the NDP to sit as an Independent, was the date of  Liberal leadership candidate and MP Joyce Murray.

  • As previously heckled

    By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 8, 2012 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

    During yesterday’s QP, Bob Rae put Dominic LeBlanc’s heckle on the record.

    Bob Rae: Mr. Speaker, yesterday the government House leader announced, in all solemnity, that the Department of Foreign Affairs had conducted a full and open competition with respect to the cost of $20,000 limos in Davos, Switzerland. If the government can conduct a full and open competition for limousines in Davos, can the government please tell us why it cannot have a full and open competition for a $9 billion purchase of F-35 planes?

    Peter Van Loan: Mr. Speaker, as we know, Canada’s aging CF-18 aircraft are nearing the end of their lifetimes. Therefore it is necessary, if people believe in supporting the military, something the Liberals do not have a record of doing, as we do by purchasing new equipment and by providing them with the equipment they need to do their jobs, to make a commitment to purchasing those aircraft. We have established a secretariat to deal with the purchase of new aircraft to meet those needs. We have in place a seven-point plan that deals with the best process to ensure the military gets the equipment it needs and taxpayers’ interests are protected.

  • A question that won’t appear in Hansard

    By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 9:34 AM - 0 Comments

    The NDP pressed the government again yesterday afternoon to explain the limo tab of three ministers who attended the Davos conference last year. Peter Van Loan’s explanation is that the vehicles in question were selected after a “competitive” process. This explanation prompted a voice from the Liberal corner—belonging to Dominic LeBlanc, I believe—to yell a query at the Government House leader.

    You had a competition for limos, but not for fighter jets?

  • What they said about the F-35 (II)

    By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 13, 2012 at 2:17 PM - 0 Comments

    Two weeks before the Liberals formally called for a reset of the fighter jet procurement process, representatives from Boeing and Dassault testified before the defence committee about their warplanes. The full transcript of those committee hearings is here.

    That testimony prompted more questions in the House. Continue…

  • What they said about the F-35

    By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 2:26 PM - 0 Comments

    The Harper government announced its decision to acquire the F-35 in July 2010. The House was on break at the time and did not resume sitting until September 20 of that year.

    Here is some of what ensued in the House during the first two weeks of the fall sitting. Continue…

  • Don’t call it a doctrine

    By Aaron Wherry - Monday, July 11, 2011 at 3:57 PM - 11 Comments

    John Baird proudly announces a boycott of the UN conference on disarmament on account of North Korea’s chairmanship.

    “Our government has consistently taken a principled approach to dealing with North Korea’s nuclear aspirations. As a result, today we are suspending our participation in the UN Conference on Disarmament.

    “North Korea is simply not a credible chair of this UN body. The regime is a major proliferator of nuclear weapons and its non-compliance with its disarmament obligations goes against the fundamental principles of this committee. This undermines the integrity of both the disarmament framework and the UN. Canada will not be party to that.”

    Liberal foreign affairs critic Dominic LeBlanc is unimpressed. Continue…

  • Team Rae

    By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 3:08 PM - 6 Comments

    The interim Liberal leader has announced his House line-up.

    Dominic LeBlanc takes Mr. Rae’s old spot at foreign affairs and Irwin Cotler takes Mr. LeBlanc’s old spot at justice. Rookies Sean Casey and Ted Hsu get veterans affairs and science respectively.

  • The Night of 1,000 Delusions

    By Scott Feschuk - Friday, May 6, 2011 at 7:00 AM - 57 Comments

    Layton imagined Harper would be psyched to meet with him to discuss NDP priorities. It was adorable.

    The Night of 1,000 Delusions

    Adrien Veczan/Reuters

    The most surreal moment of election night 2011 took form as it became apparent to one and all that Jack Layton, leader of the Opposition, had lost his mind.

    It’s well and good to celebrate a historic surge in one’s popular support. A wide smile and a jubilant bit of cane-waving are undoubtedly in order. But a few lines into Layton’s speech, a nation gaped as it grew clear the NDP leader had mistaken his moral victory for, you know, an actual victory. He seemed to labour under the impression that he would hold sway in the next Parliament. Indeed, Layton went so far as to imagine that Stephen Harper would be psyched to meet with him to discuss NDP priorities.

    It was kind of adorable, like a kitten pawing at a vacuum. One envisioned Layton’s aides whispering between themselves:

    Continue…

  • The Commons: Law and points of order

    By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 7:07 PM - 99 Comments

    The Scene. Bev Oda stood this to day to audibly commit various words to the official record. Really, it was the least she could do.

    In keeping with the government side’s “operational decision,” John Baird stood to take the first two questions asked of the International Cooperation Minister this afternoon, but then the Liberals asked generally about the functioning of Canada’s development agency. Here Ms. Oda motioned to Mr. Baird that she could take this one and so she stood and mouthed various platitudes.

    Then though, Liberal Anita Neville stood with her supplementary, wondering if, while she had the minister’s attention, she might ask some questions specific to the handling of KAIROS. And so she did. And so Ms. Oda apparently felt compelled to stand again. What followed from her had absolutely and precisely nothing to do with the particular issue at hand. But she spoke words. And she did so while standing. And that was apparently more than enough for members of the government side to leap up and applaud her when she’d finished.

    Less enthusiastic was the response to another day of questions about how the Conservatives funded their campaign for high office in 2006. Continue…

  • Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen and Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada

    By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 8:58 PM - 0 Comments

    New Brunswick Conservative Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen hosted the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada…

    New Brunswick Conservative Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen hosted the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada at the National Arts Centre. The event was the world premier of the company’s Ghosts of Violence, a work that tackles the subject of women who have died at the hands of an intimate partner. Below is Stewart Olsen with Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc.

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    Liberal MPs Michelle Simson (left) and Anita Neville.

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    (L to R) New Brunswick Premier David Alward, Carolyn Stewart Olsen and Public Works and Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose.

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    Continue…

  • 'No public figure can be completely immune'

    By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 11:50 AM - 35 Comments

    Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc, recently the subject of death threats, considers the reality of public life.

    “It makes us all stop and think,” LeBlanc told the Star on Monday. “No public figure can be completely immune from any threat whatsoever if you’re taking public positions on controversial issues. But it’s the responsibility of the police to ensure that public persons’ freedoms aren’t restricted by these threats.”

    … Events like in Arizona, certainly that incident involving Mr. Chrétien, remind everybody that there’s often a violent fringe element that doesn’t live in any kind of real world, or any kind of reality, and can resort to senseless violence without any warning,” LeBlanc said.

    Last year, a Guelph court dealt with a mentally ill woman who had been threatening the Prime Minister.

  • 'The process is a serious one'

    By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 11:29 AM - 46 Comments

    From yesterday’s scrums after QP, here is Liberal defence critic Dominic LeBlanc’s response to the NDP’s impatience.

    My understanding is that the process is going quite well. Mr. Dion and others don’t identify any disruptions in the process. The NDP were not serious from the beginning in finding a way to make a process work. They sabotaged the discussions and walked out prematurely as they had always planned to do. So this is as predictable as their publicity stunt around the discussions with the government. I think it is a little disingenuous to pretend that former Supreme Court justices and senior judges would somehow be involved in a sham process and as a front for some government obstruction. My understand is that the process is a serious one and is proceeding well and I’m quite confident that we will see some documents released very soon.

    Separately, Gilles Duceppe said there would be documents made public in January.

  • The Commons: Sergeant Harper deploys his decibels

    By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 6:50 PM - 0 Comments

    The Scene. Flirting dangerously with a public demonstration of intellect, Ralph Goodale opened with a reference to Einstein. “The definition of insanity,” Mr. Goodale mused, referring to the father of modern physics, “is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

    This could’ve been understood as a comment on most of the actors in our political process, but in this case was apparently intended as a reference to the Prime Minister. ”In the case of the Chinook military helicopters, the Conservative sole-sourced, untendered, non-competitive process caused overruns of 100 percent and at least five years delay. The Auditor General says that fiasco could well be repeated on the F-35 purchase; sole-sourced, untendered, non-competitive,” the Liberal deputy continued. “Why will the government not listen to Sheila Fraser, define the specifications and get competitive bids?”

    The Prime Minister stood here to dismiss this. “Mr. Speaker, of course, nothing could be further from the tooth,” he shrugged, quickly correctly himself to say “truth.” Continue…

  • Shadow cabinet shuffle

    By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 12:20 PM - 0 Comments

    Michael Ignatieff has significantly restructured his government-in-waiting. Ralph Goodale is elevated to deputy leader, David McGuinty becomes house leader, Scott Brison replaces John McCallum in finance, Gerard Kennedy takes over environment, Dominic LeBlanc goes to defence, Ujjal Dosanjh goes to health, Marlene Jennings gets justice and Denis Coderre returns to the shadow cabinet as natural resources critic.

    Full list after the jump. Continue…

  • The Commons: A day like any other

    By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 8:35 PM - 40 Comments

    The Scene. As Bob Rae began the first question of the last Question Period before this third session of the 40th Parliament pauses for the summer, a respectful silence took hold.

    The subject matter was this morning’s release of the final report from the inquiry into the Air India bombing. Mr. Rae commended the government and the inquiry’s commissioner. The Prime Minister stood and added his thanks to Justice Major. Mr. Rae probed for specific details of the government’s expected response, Mr. Harper offered assurances. The two danced quite delicately on the edge of combativeness, this adversarial system at its most sensitive.

    Not until the Speaker called on the polarizing member for Ajax-Pickering, the Liberal Mark Holland, did the noise return to the chamber, government members groaning and moaning as Mr. Holland abruptly and loudly changed topics. Continue…

  • The Backbench Top Ten

    By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 4:00 PM - 40 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 new new deadline on Afghan detainee documents

    By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 4, 2010 at 9:37 AM - 22 Comments

    And so next week looks potentially pivotal in various ways for various parties.

    Bloc Quebecois House Leader Pierre Paquette says the time has come for opposition parties to set a deadline and proceed with a contempt of Parliament motion if the government fails to meet it. NDP justice critic Joe Comartin agrees, however Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale is urging all sides to take a deep breath and concentrate on finalizing the deal.

    Update 10:36am. A meeting of all parties has been convened this morning and may even still be happening at this very moment. More to come later. If there is, in fact, more to come.

    Update 2:32pm. Not much more, but here are Joe Comartin’s comments after QP today. Continue…

  • The Commons: Aboard this tiny ship

    By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 6:48 PM - 87 Comments

    The Scene. As Dominic LeBlanc proceeded with his opening statement, a general denunciation of the government’s spending on this month’s meeting of the G20, a young man from the opposition research department made his way along press row, passing out photos of what appeared to be a rundown tugboat. The vessel in question would turn out to be a steamboat, but this would take a moment to become clear.

    “Mr. Speaker,” proclaimed John Baird when Mr. LeBlanc finished, “we have brought in Canada’s economic action plan designed to encourage job creation, more hope, more opportunity, and the good news is the plan is working.”

    Mr. LeBlanc made his second intervention, wondering aloud how security costs had so dramatically multiplied. Mr. Baird returned to his feet to explain that this was somehow Michael Ignatieff’s fault (“Who also supported the location of Huntsville for the G8 summit? In fact, it was the Liberal leader.”).

    Here, finally, did Mr. LeBlanc turn to the small matter of this mysterious marine vessel. Continue…

  • Someone should do something to make things somehow better

    By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 10:40 AM - 13 Comments

    This video has been posted to YouTube under the headline “Jason Kenney calls for more civility in the House.” It features two of the more prominent members of Parliament lamenting for the tone and tenor of debate in Ottawa and if you look closely you can just about make out the halos that hang above each’s head.

  • Senators boogie on the dance floor at All-Party Party

    By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 9:15 AM - 7 Comments

    The final All-Party Party organized by NDP MP Peter Stoffer packed 200 West Block….

    The final All-Party Party organized by NDP MP Peter Stoffer packed 200 West Block. The building is scheduled for major maintenance and will be closed for years. Below, Liberal Senator David Smith (left) and Tory Senator Nancy Ruth take to the dance floor.

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    Liberal MP Siobhan Coady.

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    Continue…

  • The Backbench Top Ten

    By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 9:35 AM - 20 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 Commons: ‘Whoops!’

    By Aaron Wherry - Monday, May 3, 2010 at 6:09 PM - 28 Comments

    The Scene. Dominic LeBlanc stood and did as so many great rhetoricians have done before him. In this moment, he stood and sought solace in a complicated law that governs the professional behaviour of elected officials.

    “Mr. Speaker, the Conflict of Interest Act specifically states that a public office holder is in a conflict of interest when he or she exercises an official power, duty or function that provides an opportunity to further the private interests of their friends,” Mr. LeBlanc stated.

    And so the echoes were sufficiently stirred.

    Funny thing about this Gaffer Affair, the longer it remains with us, the more substantive it becomes. What once was a simple tale of well-endowed prostitutes and illicit narcotics is now something to do with the Conflict of Interest Act, a 13-page code of conduct that is understood by perhaps one person in the capital. This is progress. Continue…

  • Day 6 of 14

    By Aaron Wherry - Monday, May 3, 2010 at 10:33 AM - 4 Comments

    Joe Comartin and Jack Harris have just now briefed reporters on this morning’s negotiations. Progress is apparently being made, specifics are being dealt with, no roadblocks as yet. Mr. Harris observes “good faith from all sides” and he repeats that the solution has to be “parliamentary.” Some suggestion the government would like a resolution by Friday.

    Liberals Ralph Goodale and Dominic LeBlanc are similarly positive. Both stress compliance with the Speaker’s ruling. One idea that has apparently been floated is that the committee be made up of one member from each party—but that seems to be just one of many options under discussion.

    More from the Canadian Press, Globe, Sun, CBC and CTV.

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