The Scene. Michael Ignatieff stood to report that some 23 former ambassadors had put fingers to keyboard to express their support for Richard Colvin and John Baird took the opportunity to rise and expound on the fine work of our troops.

Rising for his second question, Mr. Ignatieff offered the obvious follow. “Field notes by Canadian soldiers make it clear that a detainee was beaten in Afghan custody after being transferred by Canadian troops, way back in June 2006. Our soldiers saw it firsthand. They took photographs. They did the right thing. They rescued the man. They reported it up the chain of command. However, the government did nothing,” he ventured. “What kind of Canadian government refuses to act on firsthand accounts by its own troops, credible accounts, of detainee abuse in Afghan jails?”

There were various catcalls from the Conservative side. Laurie Hawn, seated in the front row beside Peter MacKay, loudly objected.

Mr. Baird was ready with a response. “Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. Let us talk about the facts,” he boldly declared. “The then-Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, General Walter Natynczyk, a decorated war hero, someone who has served our country in uniform for decades, stated very clearly more than two and a half years ago that the Afghan in question was not detained, was not captured by Canadian Forces, and he repeated that statement yesterday. I say to the Leader of the Opposition, why can he not trust General Walter Natynczyk?”

On this highly contentious file, the government’s explanation for itself is now entirely semantic. Continue…

The Scene. Bob Rae stood first, with what sounded like a reference to a particularly demented game of Clue.

“We were told yesterday at the Afghanistan committee that a braided electric cable, which is undoubtedly an instrument of torture, was found in the office of the director of investigations at the National Directorate of Security,” he reviewed. “I would like to ask the Minister of National Defence, would he not agree with us that a discovery like that points to a systemic problem rather than simply a single instance with respect to a discovery of that kind?”

As Mr. Rae spoke, there was some discussion on the Conservative side as to who should answer. Since the Liberal critic had requested the Minister of Defence, it was apparently decided that the Transport Minister would rise. Mr. Baird duly rose to list all the times Canadian officials have searched Afghan prisons without finding anything like a braided electric cable.

“In other words, in 2007 alone, we visited the prison on 33 occasions, the National Directorate of Security on 12, and the Afghan National Police Detention Centre on two, for a total of 47 visits,” Mr. Baird explained. “These were usually unannounced and there was nothing discovered.”

“Au contraire,” Mr. Rae said, reminding the Transport Minister of the braided electric cable to which he had referred just seconds earlier.

The Transport Minister rebuffed this too. Over then to Ujjal Dosanjh, the increasingly frustrated Liberal defence critic.

Continue…

The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) held a reception to persuade MPs to create a federal Aquaculture Act. Gail Shea (left), Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, with the executive director of CAIA, Ruth Salmon. Yes, her last name really is Salmon.

Conservative commentator and Summa Strategies VP Tim Powers and Liberal MP Judy Foote.

Continue…

The Scene. The Conservatives cheered as Bob Rae, perhaps their preferred opponent, stood to start Question Period. Then, though, he spoke.

“Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister responsible for public health and for H1N1,” said the white-haired one. “It is very clear that there was a delay in the decision of the federal government to order the vaccine. It is very clear that there has been a delay in the distribution of the vaccine. I would like to ask the minister, in light of these two clear facts that are delineated by the evidence, does she not understand that these delays have cost and will cost lives?”

The Conservatives groaned, having apparently expected something more laudatory of their efforts.

On this question of health policy, it was of course Tony Clement, the Industry Minister, who was offered up to respond. Just as Christian Paradis, the Minister of Public Works, would later take a question on climate change, the Treasury Board President Vic Toews would expound on the scourge of organized crime, and Heritage Minister James Moore would stand and account for the government’s approach to taxation.

“Mr. Speaker, in fact our Minister of Health has been working with the Chief Public Health Officer and has been working assiduously with the provinces and territories across this land to deliver the vaccine,” Mr. Clement informed the House

And surely we can all agree that assiduously is a very impressive-sounding word. Continue…

The Scene. Thomas Mulcair had tried to reason with the government.

“According to StatsCan, of the 300,000 people who have lost their jobs since the election, only four out of 10 workers have qualified for EI. Parliament has spoken and called upon the government to reform employment insurance. Today, the conference board repeated that,” he said. “Why is it doing nothing to help?”

“Mr. Speaker, let us not quibble about the statistics that he is citing,” sighed Diane Finley, accusing Mulcair of misconstruing the situation and “playing petty partisan politics with the futures of real people.”

Now, the NDP deputy leader was merely mad, yelling and pointing across the aisle. “Mr. Speaker, in September, the Conservatives were saying there would be no recession and no deficit. In November, it was a technical recession and small surplus. In January, it was a recession and some deficit. In the past 24 hours, both the parliamentary budget officer and the TD Bank are predicting record deficits and a long recession,” he reported. “What purpose is served by continuing to misstate the facts as she just did on the deficit, the recession and unemployment? Start telling the truth to Canadians. Start respecting the votes in the House and we can start implementing resolutions like the EI proposals adopted two weeks ago. Start helping Canadians and stop lying.”

The Conservative side howled at the allegation. The Speaker reprimanded Mulcair. And Jim Flaherty stood to offer a rare response. Continue…

The Newfoundland Four are free. For now. At least symbolically.

“Tonight they will have a one-time vote against the budget in order to send a clear signal to Newfoundland and Labrador and to the whole of Canada that this is not a way to run a federation.”

His is a cautionary tale.

Two years ago, Bill Casey objected to his government’s budget—something to do with an obscure agreement with some obscure East Coast province or another. He voted against that budget in the House of Commons and was subsequently told to go sit on the other side of the House where his poor example would be less likely to influence the sorts of impressionable government backbenchers who might be tempted by the notion of free will.

Stubborn to the end, Casey ran for reelection this past fall. So shamed by their duly elected representative’s refusal to put Parliamentary tradition and partisan allegiance ahead of personal conviction, the people of Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley publicly admonished the partyless Casey with 5,000 more votes than he’d received as a Conservative in 2006. And so scolded, Casey quickly announced he would soon retire from federal politics, resigned to returning to his obscure East Coast province to live out his life as a mere folk hero. Or possibly run for premier.

For sure, the Newfoundland Four—Siobhan Coady, Scott Andrews, Judy Foote and Scott Simms; three of them rookies, the other just very short—may be full of righteous indignation now. They may think they are doing what they should.

But, rest assured, the good people of this country take their three-line whip votes and caucus loyalty very seriously. And no attempt to undermine the historical foundations of our democracy goes unnoticed.

The leader of the opposition was on one of the TV chat shows this evening and, in between mixing his metaphors (bridges to cross, balls in various courts and so forth), he offered a not-inconsiderable assessment of our present situation.

“I think Canadians are saying this right across the board… let’s raise our game,” he said. “Let’s ask real questions in the House of Commons and seek real answers. Let us see whether there’s times when we can cooperate. Let’s do our job as opposition, which is hold these guys’ feet to the fire.”

A week old, it must be said, this new era of real questions is already proving dreadfully boring. Take, for instance, Mr. Ignatieff’s efforts this afternoon.

“The U.S. legislation was not written overnight,” he observed first of some unfriendliness to the south. “How did the government get caught off guard? What is it doing right now to ensure that Canadians do not lose further jobs to the rising tide of American protectionism?”

When this, understandably, failed to elicit much of a response, Mr. Ignatieff restated his query more clearly.

“What action,” he wondered, “is the government taking now, both with the administration and with congress, to secure Canadian exemption from these protectionist measures?”

Straightforward, fair, not a hint of invective nor defamation. Whatever his fancy foreign schooling, Mr. Ignatieff could learn much from the government’s subsequent response.

“Mr. Speaker,” Stockwell Day sighed, “for somebody who has lived his last 30 years in the United States, we would think he would be familiar with the fact that we actually do not get involved in drafting legislation in the United States.”

Patronizing, irrelevant and unnecessarily personal. Whatever his actual grasp of foreign policy, Mr. Day has well earned his spot on the frontbench of life.  Continue…

The Liberal backbencher, freely expressing his thoughts during Question Period today as Jim Flaherty answered a question on equalization funding for Newfoundland.

“That’s garbage! That’s garbage! You’re garbage!”

In other news, Simms says he’s not going to be voting in favour of Mr. Flaherty’s budget.

Michael Ignatieff on the Newfoundland Two.

“Lets not talk about discipline yet. If there is discrimination against and broken faith with Newfoundland, we are going to make our position very clear to the prime minister and in the House.”

At the risk of asking a silly question, why talk about discipline at all? Shouldn’t discipline be reserved for actual wrongdoing? And can voting as you see fit—and, theoretically, in the bests interests of your constituents—ever be classified as wrongdoing? If the Prime Minister or, in this case, the leader of the opposition, want a piece of legislation passed, isn’t the onus on them to persuade a sufficient number of MPs to vote their way?

There seems to be some gnashing of teeth over Michael Ignatieff’s apparent efforts to enforce discipline on his Liberal side.

But then he would seem to be proving a rather tolerant authoritarian, wouldn’t he? What with two rookies MPs now freely talking of voting in contradiction of the leader’s stated position, and Glen Pearson still possessing access to WordPress.

From Pearson’s latest post. Continue…

Krista Balsom (below), who works in newly-elected Liberal MP Judy Foote’s office, organized a fundraiser which welcomed new MPs at the Ottawa club Diesel.

Newfoundland MP Foote.

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For the Liberals…

Re-elected: Scott Brison, Todd Russell, Scott Simms, Gerry Byrne, Rodger Cuzner, Lawrence MacAulay, Dominic LeBlanc, Mark Eyking, Geoff Regan, JC D’Amours, Shawn Murphy, Brian Murphy

Out: Charles Hubbard, Robert Thibault, Paul Zed

New: Judy Foote, Scott Andrews.