A quiet cut?

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, May 2, 2013 at 12:09 PM - 0 Comments

Postmedia hears that as much as $800 million in funding for CIDA might have just lapsed.

But experts and critics charge letting hundreds of millions of aid dollars lapse is indicative of incompetence on Fantino’s part – or an intentional effort to reduce aid spending in the hopes no one would notice.

“We don’t find out until almost a year later,” said Canadian Council of International Co-operation president Julia Sanchez. “These are cuts in effect. Massive cuts without any transparency.” “The CIDA minister may spin this as prudent financial management, but the real fact is that the decision to not spend these funds was not debated in Parliament, not reported to Parliament or its budget office, and most obviously not debated publicly,” said Jackson.

Liam Sweet is concerned.

An anonymous former CIDA colleague of mine put it bluntly and suggested that several programs were indeed frozen in the same manner as Haiti, calling the Haiti freeze only the “tip of the iceberg.”  Indeed, the official stated that as of early January 2013 Pakistan had been without a country strategy for going on two years, and therefore had seen no new bilateral project approvals in that time. Between January and the end of March, a single new project to support elections in Pakistan was approved – the first in two years.  Other countries had been treated similarly.  Still, requests for much-needed support – even those in line with CIDA priorities like maternal, newborn, and child health – pile up awaiting ministerial approval. Arguing that this suits the government of the day perfectly as their top priority is deficit reduction rather than aid, my former colleague paints a bleak picture of the priorities of the leadership within Canada’s aid agency.  Through even the informal freezing of these programs, CIDA is wilfully under-spending its precious aid budget in some of the most complex and deserving of its recipient partner countries.

See previously: The quiet cuts

CIDA email talks about ministerial letters having to be in English

By The Associated Press - Monday, April 8, 2013 at 8:34 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – Another document dictating the language of communication from the office of International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino has surfaced a day after he denied the existence of any such directives ordering messages be in English only.

On Monday, The Canadian Press obtained an email dated July 11, 2012, that was a written by a manager to some employees at the Canadian International Development Agency.

The email listed seven instructions for ministerial correspondence which had been discussed at a previous meeting.

The fourth point, which was written in English, stated, ”Unless we hear otherwise, all letters are to be in English to be signed off.”

The directive was amended after it was questioned internally.

”As we discussed earlier, there has been a change to item 4,” the same manager wrote in a July 19 email. ”Please respond to correspondence in the language they were received — obviously this is limited to French or English.”

Seven months later, the directive was revived by Fantino’s office.

“I would like to reiterate that ALL correspondence signed by the minister be sent in English,” said the email from Fantino’s office on Feb. 14.

“In special cases, ie (Haitian Prime Minister Laurent) Lamothe, then it makes sense, but for example, for the Ethiopia trip thank you letters to staff, we noted twice that we had some in FR (French). I understand that we know the recipients first language is French however the minister can write in English if he chooses to do so.’”

Fantino was within his rights to do so under the Official Languages Act, the message noted.

Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser has agreed to investigate the matter after a complaint from the New Democrats, who say the order might contravene the Official Languages Act.

A report on Sunday by The Canadian Press about the emails brought a swift denial from Fantino.

“This is categorically false, there was no such directive,” he said in an email. “Francophones, like all Canadians will continue to receive letters from the minister in the national language of their choice.”

NDP MP Yvon Godin is pushing ahead with the official complaint even though he says civil servants working for Fantino were told verbally last Feb. 22 that people who write to the department in French can receive a response in French.

CIDA officials said the agency and Fantino respect the Official Languages Act.

The quiet cuts

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 12:36 AM - 0 Comments

The Harper government is withdrawing from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

The Conservative government is pulling out of a United Nations convention aimed at fighting droughts and desertification in Africa, making Canada the only country in the world to leave the agreement. The withdrawal from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification was ordered last week by the federal cabinet on the recommendation of Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, but only made public Wednesday…

Sources told CTV News that the decision was made more than a year ago as part of the government’s plan to cut the deficit. It was announced to the affected departments a few months ago and there was little, if any, consultation, they said.

Julian Fantino’s office apparently won’t say how much this will save. CTV says we were providing $350,000 per year to the convention. The Canadian Press says we were providing $283,000.

See previously: The quiet cuts

‘We should be thanked upside down and sideways’

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 4:14 PM - 0 Comments

Two weeks ago, officials from the U.S. State Department and the United Nations expressed concern about Julian Fantino’s comments about Haiti. In an interview with the Vaughan Citizen, Mr. Fantino responds.

And Mr. Fantino had strong words for anyone who would put Canada’s contribution to Haiti’s recovery in a bad light. “Shame on them. It’s unfortunate that people have run off without full information about what we’re going to do. These comments from (UN representatives and U.S. State department representatives) are irresponsible when matched with our commitment. We should be thanked upside down and sideways. We pledged $400 million over two years in March 2010 at an international donors conference and we are one of very few countries that actually meets its commitments,” he said in defending Canada’s participation in the rebuilding effort in Haiti since a devastating earthquake killed upwards of 300,000 people three years ago, left 300,000 homeless and caused an estimated $12.5 billion in damage.

Michaelle Jean on Haiti

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 12:22 PM - 0 Comments

The former governor general talks about Haiti, responds to Julian Fantino’s concerns and lightly burns Don Cherry.

When keeping it partisan goes wrong

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 9:28 AM - 0 Comments

A pair of missives from Julian Fantino have apparently been pulled off the CIDA website on account of the partisan sentiments expressed therein.

The note directed at the NDP appears to have been the op-ed Mr. Fantino wrote for the Huffington Post in December. The other appears to be this op-ed from the National Post.

This is not the first time this issue of using official channels to attack partisan opponents has come up: there was this in 2010 and these in 2009 and this in 2007.

Helping Haiti

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 10:27 AM - 0 Comments

Haiti’s Prime Minister responds to Julian Fantino’s concerns.

In an interview Monday, Lamothe agreed with Fantino, saying he had also hoped to see more improvements on the ground. Lamothe is now urging Ottawa to allow his government to assume a bigger role — alongside Canada — in the decisions involved in rebuilding Haiti, particularly on infrastructure projects.

“For any future co-operation, when it’s decided to resume, we will ask the Canadian government to focus on the priorities of the Haitian government,” he said by telephone after meeting with Canada’s ambassador to Haiti in the capital of Port-au-Prince. ”Basically, the development assistance, because of the perceived weakness of Haitian institutions, was routed directly to NGOs (non-government organizations) and Canadian firms… That weakened our institutions.”

Julian Fantino takes on Haiti

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 4:47 PM - 0 Comments

After seeming to suggest last week that foreign aid to Haiti had been suspended—CIDA later denied the suggestion—and musing aloud about garbage removal, Julian Fantino releases a statement to explain the government’s current position on assisting the country.

While the results of specific projects have largely met expectations, progress towards a self-sustaining Haitian society has been limited. Our government has a responsibility to maximize the value of Canadian taxpayer dollars. That is why Canada is reviewing its long-term engagement strategy with Haiti, like we do with all of our programs. We continue to make progress on areas of long-term development that we have previously committed to, and we stand ready to offer our support for the people of Haiti should future humanitarian crises arise.

However, we remain concerned with the slow progress of development in Haiti, in large part due to weaknesses in their governing institutions. We want to improve the results achieved and better address the needs and priorities of the Haitian people. Doing so requires greater leadership, accountability and transparency from the Government of Haiti so that they can take a greater role in the development of their country.

Hélène Laverdière vs. Julian Fantino

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 21, 2012 at 4:59 PM - 0 Comments

The NDP’s International Cooperation critic explains her concerns with some of CIDA’s recent moves.

Economic growth is essential for sustainable poverty reduction. But not all economic growth is sustainable or leads to sustainable poverty reduction. The private sector can contribute to international development, but we are deeply concerned by the approach the Conservative government is taking to its public-private partnerships. CIDA’s focus should be creating the best conditions for development for local communities, not for Canadian industry. It matters who is in the driver’s seat. Unlike Minister Fantino, we do not think extractive industries are the most appropriate partners for our aid agency … 

With Minister Fantino’s recent announcement, CIDA is straying away from what was once a clear and coherent vision for development assistance. While the private sector can play a role in development, CIDA’s objective should not be to open new markets for Canadian businesses abroad. That is the mandate of the International Trade department. It is time for Minister Fantino to learn his file and assume real responsibility for Canada’s development agenda.

Julian Fantino, the minister for international cooperation, responds (and manages to get a carbon tax reference into the second sentence).

I am also proud to say that CIDA works with the extractive sector to ensure it is transparent, accountable, sustainable and maximizes local benefits. The fact is that constructive NGOs understand this direction. They are working with us towards these objectives and are achieving meaningful results. CIDA’s collaboration with Plan Canada and IAMGOLD, for example, will train 10,000 youth in 13 communities of Burkina Faso so they can compete for higher paying jobs in their communities.

Development is not about dependency; it is about helping those in need get a leg up so they can prosper. This is a concept that the tax-and-spend NDP fundamentally do not understand. While the NDP would prefer to fund endless talk shops, I am committed to ensuring our development assistance is accountable, transparent and results-focused.

See previously: Is this foreign aid?, ‘To the benefit of large corporations’ and ‘I really don’t separate them’

The Commons: The joke is on you, Canada

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 17, 2012 at 7:25 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. John Baird pointed at Thomas Mulcair and laughed.

Conservative MP Andrew Saxton was on his feet a couple rows back, claiming that the leader of the opposition had spent the summer promoting the idea of a tax on carbon. Mr. Baird apparently thought this was funny. Mr. Saxton had been preceded by Shelly Glover. And Mr. Saxton and Ms. Glover would be followed by Conservative MP John Williamson, all rising in the moments before Question Period to recite their assigned talking points.

Peter Van Loan had accused Mr. Mulcair of favouring a carbon tax this morning at a news conference to mark the start of the fall sitting. Two hours later, the Conservative party press office had then issued a “fact check” repeating the claim. Veteran Affairs Minister Steven Blaney posted the talking point to Facebook. Tim Uppal, the minister of state for democratic reform, tweeted it. Minister of International Co-operation Julian Fantino tweeted it too.

Last week it was Conservative MPs Phil McColeman, Susan Truppe, Joe Preston and Ed Holder. The week before that it was Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver. Back in June, the Conservatives launched television attack ads that repeated the claim.

All of this, each and every missive and every single individual willing to put their name to this claim, is part of a remarkable farce. Continue…

The quiet cuts

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:43 AM - 0 Comments

Julian Fantino tries to parse CIDA’s budget.

“In actual fact, the CIDA budget has not been cut. We’ve just been more selective, if you will, in how we spend Canadian taxpayers’ generosity,” Julian Fantino told reporters on a conference call from Burkina Faso, in West Africa. The federal budget tabled by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in April called for almost $380 million, or 7.5 per cent, to be cut from the Canadian International Development Agency, which is Fantino’s department…

Stephanie Rea, Fantino’s spokeswoman, contacted The Canadian Press after the conference call to clarify her minister’s remarks. While she agreed that CIDA’s overall budget had in fact been cut, she said Fantino was referring to the portion of his budget that dealt with “humanitarian assistance.” ”Our budget measures protected all of our humanitarian dollars,” said Rea. She was unable to provide specific figures as of Tuesday evening.

Postmedia reported in April that a dozen countries would see their foreign aid from Canada reduced.

Chris Alexander is confused

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 12:24 PM - 0 Comments

Adrian Wyld/CP Photo

Participating in a panel on Power & Politics yesterday, Chris Alexander offered the following version of recent history on the F-35.

“There was a misunderstanding, to some extent, in the Canadian public opinion, to some extent perpetrated by the opposition who claimed that a decision had been made, contracts had been signed, obligations had been undertaken and that is not the case.”

This is a rather remarkable assertion.

Mr. Alexander is relatively new here—he was just elected last May—so perhaps he was unaware of what the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister were saying about the F-35 procurement through 2010 and early 2011. And perhaps he was so distracted with the adjustment to public office that he missed what Julian Fantino was saying last November. But here are a bunch of quotes to compare and contrast with Mr. Alexander’s understanding of the “misunderstanding” that concerned the F-35. Continue…

What did we accomplish in Afghanistan?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 2:15 PM - 0 Comments

The Toronto Star’s Paul Watson spent a month in Afghanistan and reported back in a series of articles—see here, here and here—on Canadian development efforts. Julian Fantino is unimpressed.

It’s really unfair—and that’s why I take exception to the Toronto Star article—how you can be so critical of a nation, in our own country, that is so lauded, and appreciated, and recognized elsewhere in the world…be it NGOs, Canadian government, Canadian funds, are touching the most needy people, in the most destitute situations all over the world. And yet right at home here we’re being [pilloried]. And that’s so, so childish. It’s immature. It’s total lack of appreciation for the goodness of Canadians and what we’re doing around the world.

Guns, crime and public policy

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 8:01 PM - 0 Comments

To the official statements on last night’s shooting in Scarborough, the Globe adds comment from Julian Fantino and John MacKay.

“This is not a time for panicking. It is a time for people to work together at all levels and find solutions that actually will deal with these people in a preventable way,” Mr. Fantino, the International Development Minister, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Perpetrators of these types of crimes have not been deterred by the criminal justice responses that existed for many years, he said. “That is why we are stiffening things up somewhat to make the consequences more meaningful and more certain. And, although that’s not the cure-all and the end-all, it does provide some answers.”

… Liberal MP John McKay, in whose riding the shootings took place, said there are better ways to spend crime-fighting dollars than the measures introduced by the Conservatives. But “to be candid about it, I frankly don’t know that any legislation can deal with something like this,” Mr. McKay said. “This is some immature individual who decided that they are going to solve their problems at the end of a barrel of a gun.”

Meanwhile, Vic Toews laments for judges who have refused to abide by mandatory minimum sentencing legislation.

“We are very concerned about the courts doing that, because illegal firearms — especially those smuggled in from the United States … minimum prison sentences are absolutely essential to create a strong deterrent against that kind of activity,” Toews said in an interview with Prairie network Golden West Radio. ”These guns are being used by gangs in order to perpetrate the kind of violence that we’ve seen on our streets.”

For last week’s print edition, Colby Cosh looked at the two rulings this year in Ontario that have found the mandatory sentences inappropriate.

Reaction to the Danzig shooting

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 4:52 PM - 0 Comments

A joint statement from Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino (the Conservative MP for Vaughan) on the shooting in Scarborough last night.

“Our Government was very saddened to hear about this shooting in Toronto last night.  We condemn this brazen shooting and extend our heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families.

“Canadians are concerned about violent crime, that’s why over the past six years our Government has introduced tough-on-crime legislation, like the Safe Streets and Communities Act, to keep dangerous criminals and gang members off the streets and out of our communities. We have also taken steps to ensure our border is open to legitimate travel and trade but closed to criminals and gun smugglers.

“Our Conservative Government has introduced mandatory minimum penalties for all serious firearms offences. We call on the Opposition to support victims and our actions to improve the safety of Canadian families. Canadians can count on us to stand up for victims and to continue strengthening our justice system so that those who commit serious crimes, particularly with firearms, serve serious jail time.

“Illegal guns and the criminals who use them have no place in our society.  Our Government is committed to ensuring criminals are held fully accountable for their actions and that the safety and security of law-abiding Canadians comes first in Canada’s justice system.”

A statement from NDP MPs Rathika Sitsabaiesan and Dan Harris is here. Statements from interim Liberal leader Bob Rae and Liberal MP John McKay are here.

Happy to see Oda go? Really, you shouldn’t be.

By Adam Goldenberg - Thursday, July 5, 2012 at 11:56 AM - 0 Comments

(Ben Fisher/CP Images)

Adam Goldenberg is a Kirby-Simon Fellow at Yale Law School. He was Michael Ignatieff’s speechwriter. Follow him on Twitter at @adamgoldenberg.

Bev Oda’s resignation had as much to do with abortion as it did with foreign aid.

She left with neither a bang nor a whimper. After eight years in Parliament, six as a minister, she was simply gone, vanished, disappeared. Pushed out of the helicopter of political expediency, perhaps, or fed to the sharks beneath the Cabinet table.

Since her OJ trial, the international cooperation minister’s prospects, long a stretch, had turned to pulp. She could have resigned herself to the backbenches. She resigned her seat instead.

Her departure is no cause for celebration; it says much more about our politics than it does about Ms. Oda. Our standards have become so superficial that, where once we expected accountability, we demand damage control, instead.

Ministers are now mouthpieces. We judge them by their spin in Question Period and their sound bites in scrums. The federal Cabinet is so flimsy, so insubstantial, that a six-year veteran can be felled by a single glass of $16 orange juice.

Continue…

Cabinet (mini-)shuffle: Mulroney-era veteran moves up a notch

By John Geddes - Wednesday, July 4, 2012 at 5:41 PM - 0 Comments

In the wake of Bev Oda’s announcement yesterday that she is leaving politics and her post as minister of international cooperation, the Prime Minister announced a quick, compact cabinet shuffle today. It’s interesting primarily because Bernard Valcourt, a veteran of Brian Mulroney’s cabinet who returned to federal politics in last year’s election after an 18-year hiatus, now rises into the sensitive position of overseeing military equipment purchases.

That job opens up because Julian Fantino is being moved over into Oda’s slot, which puts the former head of the Ontario Provincial Police in charge of the foreign aid file.  It is, for the most part, a responsibility that need not be particularly high-profile or high-pressure—Oda managed to draw the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

But the far more intriguing element here is that Fantino had previously been associate minister of national defence, charged specifically with overseeing major procurements. And into that important niche Harper has decided to place Valcourt, the New Brunswick MP who was, in different stints, Mulroney’s minister of consumer and corporate affairs and minister of fisheries and oceans.

Continue…

Never mind that cabinet shuffle

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 4, 2012 at 5:17 PM - 0 Comments

Per the announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Julian Fantino moves to International Cooperation to replace Bev Oda and Bernard Valcourt becomes the associate minister of defence, replacing Mr. Fantino at that spot.

And per this tweet from the Prime Minister’s director of communications, that’s it.

So much for all that cabinet speculation.

Fantasy baseball

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 22, 2012 at 1:33 PM - 0 Comments

The only thing more fun than a cabinet shuffle is speculating about a cabinet shuffle. The Star, Huffington Post, CBC and Postmedia have your first guesses, including mentions of Peter MacKay, Bev Oda, Julian Fantino, Christian Paradis, John Duncan, Peter Kent, Vic Toews, Maxime Bernier, Denis Lebel, Rob Nicholson, Jason Kenney, James Moore, John Baird, Chris Alexander, Michelle Rempel, Candice Hoeppner, Kellie Leitch, James Rajotte and Greg Rickford.

That leaves just 144 Conservatives (excluding the Prime Minister) left to be speculated about between now and whenever Mr. Harper goes to Rideau. Actually, 145 if you include the stuffed dog that participated in last week’s C-38 vote marathon.

Checking DND’s math

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 10:56 AM - 0 Comments

From QP yesterday, Rona Ambrose explains why new cost estimates for the F-35 won’t be released for awhile yet.

Mr. Speaker, it is true that the costing figures are available from the joint strike fighter program in the United States, but what we have said is that we want those figures, that would be cost estimates from the Department of National Defence, to be independently validated. The secretariat has asked for more time to do that. It wants to do this comprehensively. It is also looking at independently validating the cost assumptions that the Department of National Defence is using and meeting the recommendation of the Auditor General.

In other news, it’s now been 50 days since I asked Julian Fantino’s office to account for the auditor general’s suggestion that National Defence already had the numbers for a 36-year lifecycle estimate.

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…

The Commons: Jason Kenney again surveys the scope of history

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 6:18 PM - 0 Comments

Adrian Wyld/CP Images

“Mr. Speaker,” the Immigration Minister declared, “the reality is that no government in the modern history of Canada has done more to invest in giving the equipment necessary to our men and women in uniform.”

The general concept of “modern history” is said to describe all time since the end of the Middle Ages, or something like the last 500 years. In that sense, the governments that saw this country through the first and second world wars might quibble with Mr. Kenney’s presumption of peerlessness. If, on the other hand, Mr. Kenney meant something like “recent history,” he might be right. Of course, it might also be noted that none of this country’s other recent governments have spent so long at war.

“The government has consistently reacted to support our men and women in uniform, giving them the modern equipment that they need,” Mr. Kenney continued, “and at every step of the way, the NDP and Liberals have opposed our efforts.”

Mr. Kenney’s proclamations had actually been prompted by news that the government’s promised support for the troops was now deemed to be “unaffordable.” Continue…

Public policy and the real world

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Michael Geist dismisses Vic Toews’ attempt to link the case of Luka Rocco Magnotta and the government’s “lawful access” legislation.

The Toews comments continue the longstanding trend of unsubstantiated claims by government officials about lawful access. In this case, there is simply no question that law enforcement can obtain the necessary warrant on customer name and address information (if an ISP refused as part of an investigation) and police have presumably obtained warrants for far more detailed information. Moroever, the surveillance capabilities at ISPs mandated by C-30 – which focus on real-time surveillance – appear completely irrelevant given that Magnotta fled to France. In fact, reports indicate that there were early warnings about Magnotta and the video openly available that were dismissed by police.

Bruce Cheadle considers the Eaton Centre shooting in the context of Conservative crime policy.

That the lesson — do the crime, do the time — apparently hasn’t sunk in after more than six years of Conservative rule could be construed as an admission of failure. Nicholson declined an interview request Monday but his office, in an email, listed various gun crime provisions it has enacted and stated “our government has a solid track record when it comes to cracking down on gun crime.”

Christopher Husbands faces one charge of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder in regards to the shooting at the Eaton Centre. The mandatory sentence for first-degree murder of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years was established in 1976. In December 2011, the Harper government repealed the “faint hope” clause for those convicted of first-degree murder.

Today in parliamentary wit

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, June 4, 2012 at 4:11 PM - 0 Comments

Following an exchange this afternoon between the NDP’s Christine Moore and Associate Minister of Defence Julian Fantino, the NDP’s Matthew Kellway goes for the joke.

Mr. Speaker, with responses like that from our colleagues, it is no wonder the Minister of Public Works and Government Services is “tired of procurement problems”. She should join the club. It is big and we are getting jackets made.