The Commons: Bring it on

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 6:21 PM - 63 Comments

The Scene. Worried perhaps that his point had been lost amid yesterday’s unpleasantness, David McGuinty stood at the start of Question Period this afternoon and picked up approximately where he had left off the day before.

“Remember the facts,” he said. “One hundred million dollars of partisan propaganda without accountability, infrastructure funds distributed as if they were reward points and more than 60 investigations by the office of the Ethics Commissioner, a minister under investigation for his ties to lobbyists and federal agencies, a Conservative senator linked to key players in a scandal.”

Then, a simple-enough question. “When,” Mr. McGuinty wondered, “are the Conservatives going to clean up this ethical mess?”

The Prime Minister stood, buttoned his jacket, adjusted his left cuff and addressed the Speaker on another matter entirely.

“Mr. Speaker, this is a time of global economic recession,” he said, “but Canada’s performance exceeds that of many other countries and the measures of government are well-supported by Canadians and even the vast majority of provincial governments.”

This much had been said in French, the language employed for Mr. McGuinty’s first question. But, before sitting, the Prime Minister switched momentarily to his first language. “This question,” he said, “reminds me of the old saying: ‘When you throw mud, you lose ground.’”

So there. The Prime Minister returned to his seat then, entirely done dealing with the Liberals for the day. Continue…

MPs and Mental Health Awards

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 11:29 AM - 7 Comments

The seventh annual Champions of Mental Health Awards were held at the Fairmont Château Laurier ballroom. Margaret Trudeau, seen below with son Justin, got an award for being open about suffering from bipolar disorder.

Also on the awards list were Defense Minister Peter MacKay (left) and General Walter Natynczyk, Canada’s Chief of Defense Staff, for their work launching the “Be the Difference” mental health campaign in the Canadian Forces.

Continue…

Profanity in the House

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 11:15 AM - 28 Comments

Jay Hill, government house leader, relates his displeasure yesterday—as recorded by Hansard—with some sort of procedural issue.

That’s bullshit.

He quickly apologized and withdrew the offending word.

Do the shuffle

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 10:18 AM - 19 Comments

Four Liberals (Dhalla, Wrzesnewskyj, Silva and Wilfert) get advisory roles for various regions of the world, four new critic portfolios are created and various spots in the shadow cabinet are distributed as follows:

Navdeep Bains – Small Business and Tourism
Siobhan Coady – Treasury Board
Bonnie Crombie – Crown Corporations
Ujjal Dosanjh – National Defense
Kirsty Duncan – Public Health
Marlene Jennings – Government Ethics and Democratic Reform
Derek Lee – National Revenue
Joyce Murray – Amateur Sport and Vancouver Olympics
Robert Oliphant – Veterans Affairs
Justin Trudeau – Youth and Multiculturalism

The Commons: Huzzah, Mr. Ignatieff asks a question that is not entirely rhetorical

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, October 5, 2009 at 6:45 PM - 33 Comments

The Scene. We are—as a people, as a political class, as a town quite bored with itself—easily impressed. So it is that the Prime Minister’s overt display this weekend of something approaching personality is being roundly hailed as something approaching significance. Mr. Harper played the piano and sang. In public. And such is the state of things that, were you to judge only the reaction, you might assume he’d personally negotiated the surrender of the Taliban, or at least convinced Gary Bettman to move a hockey team to Hamilton.

By those same standards, similar huzzahs are almost certainly due to the leader of the opposition, who, let the record show, stood in the House this day and asked a question that was almost not entirely rhetorical.

This was, mere months ago, his trademark: an insistence that Question Period be something other than an exchange of slanders. Alas, since returning this fall, with a new mandate of opposition to justify, he’s been less reason and inquiry and more piss and vinegar. Take, for instance, the first of his questions on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week. Continue…

The Commons: Gerard Kennedy has some questions

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 5:45 PM - 86 Comments

The Scene. The Prime Minister was pleading humble competence, all shrugs and up-turned palms. But then Michael Ignatieff, having tried his first two questions in French, had to go and repeat his accusations in English.

“Mr. Speaker, Canadians should be able to count on their government to help them find jobs no matter how they vote and no matter where they live, but instead we have a government that is using infrastructure money like a rewards program,” the Liberal leader alleged.

Mr. Ignatieff leaned forward and put his fingers together. The Conservatives groaned.

“Quebec’s unemployment rate is higher than the national average, yet Quebeckers are receiving the lowest per capita infrastructure funding in all of Canada,” he continued. “How does the Prime Minister explain this? How does he explain his own numbers?”

Turns out he explains it quite simply.

“Mr. Speaker,” Mr. Harper reported, “of course, that is completely false.”

“Your numbers!” a Liberal cried in confusion.

And soon enough, Mr. Harper’s pointy finger was back out, poking a hole in the air before him. Continue…

Fancy footwear as The Hill Times turns 20

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 1:29 PM - 16 Comments

The Hill Times celebrated its 20^th anniversary at the Library and Archives Canada on Wellington Street in Ottawa. NDP MP Niki Ashton addresses the crowd below.

Montreal Liberal MP Justin Trudeau in Fluevogs.

Maclean’s columnist Paul Wells with a shoeless Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt.

Continue…

The Commons: This is a crucial time, apparently

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 6:15 PM - 61 Comments

The Scene. Having not had the opportunity a day earlier to add his unique voice to the discussion, Conservative Gord Brown stood a few minutes before Question Period with a bulletin.

“Mr. Speaker, throughout my great riding of Leeds-Grenville there are shovels in the ground, there are roads, sewers and other infrastructure works being built and repaired and folks are looking forward to the future. Everywhere I travelled in my riding this summer the people told me they are pleased with the direction our government has taken to help position Canada to face tomorrow,” he reported. “My constituents have one message: ‘Remain focused on the economy and do not have an expensive and unnecessary election.’ ”

No doubt. Our last exercise in electoral representation cost the national treasury some $280 million. Even with a drop in the price of oil, another one might add approximately the same to our already overdrawn account.

Mind you, that surely pales in comparison to the cost of sending several dozen men and women to Ottawa after each election so that they might stand in their places every so often and repeat the rote partisan rhetoric of the day.

Not that one should fuss too much over the numbers. For who among us, really, can put a price on precious democracy?

Continue…

The Commons: Fall comes early to Ottawa

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 14, 2009 at 6:53 PM - 67 Comments

The Scene. A week short of its official start, fall has arrived in Ottawa. The leaves on Parliament Hill are turning yellow. The faces inside the House of Commons are red. The voices are shouty. The Prime Minister’s pointy finger is once more unfurled, steady and strong and accusatory. Summer is gone. The air will soon grow cold and punishing.

The easy comparison, sure, is to the return each September of young children to school. Indeed, there is something to that—the anxiousness, the chaos, the new haircuts. Lawrence Cannon sported a particularly close shave. Lisa Raitt is back to blonde. Jack Layton, not blessed of much hair to begin with, trimmed his down nearly to the scalp. When you’re trying to Make Parliament Work it perhaps helps to be as aerodynamic as possible.

Here, too, those returning rise to report on their summers. Only here the stories have less to do with amusement parks, video games and family trips to major American landmarks. Continue…

UPDATED: Don't worry, the number-crunchers over at Finance are much better at this stuff.

By kadyomalley - Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 3:03 PM - 18 Comments

With Jim Flaherty’s surprise mini-budget-like-thing mere moments from being unveiled in Victoria, ITQ would just like to reassure readers that she’s almost positive that his numbers will hold up better under the scalpel-like scrutiny of Kevin Page, Parliamentary Budget Officer At Large than those put forward by certain cabinet colleagues:

Parliament’s budget watchdog has put a price tag of under $1.2 billion on the Liberal’s employment insurance proposal, showing the Conservative government “wildly overestimated” the cost at $4 billion for partisan purposes, Montreal Liberal MP Marlene Jennings said Wednesday.

The government rejects her accusation and stands by its $4 billion estimate as a “prudent” one that includes the impact on the labour market of making benefits easier to get, said Ryan Sparrow, a spokesman for Human Resources Minister Diane Finley.

Jennings told Canwest News Service a report prepared for the Liberals by parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page contains an estimated cost of less than $1.2 billion for the Grit proposal for a national eligibility standard for employment insurance benefits. That is less than the $1.5 billion the Liberals estimated themselves.

The finding shows the Conservative government distorted the price during bipartisan talks that broke down over the summer, Jennings said in a telephone interview from Montreal. A senior government official had put the $4 billion price tag on the proposal as the possibility faded of a consensus by the committee, of which Jennings is a member. [...]

You know what would be helpful? If both sides would actually release their respective reports, rather than just battling it out in the press using distinctlyunhelpful phrases like “prudent” and “wildly overestimated”. Just show us the numbers, y’all. We can make up our own minds as to which numbers seem more reflective of reality.

UPDATE: Hey, way to go, Liberals:

Liberals Release PBO Report on Government Costing of EI Proposal

Event: Mr. Ignatieff will speak with the media regarding the Parliamentary Budget Officer`s report on employment insurance costing.

Date: Friday September 11, 2009

Time: 10:00am

Location: Main Foyer

House of Commons

Please note that all details are subject to change. All times are local.

Alright, over to you, government.

The first step is admitting you've got a problem

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 11:12 AM - 25 Comments

I was to have spent part of this afternoon participating in the Public Policy Forum’s Back to School celebration (Kady’s there), specifically as part of an afternoon panel alongside Don Newman, Ian Brodie and Carleton’s Katherine Graham on the topic of how we might “improve the Canadian political system.” Suffice it to say I would’ve been the least insightful of the panelists and it’s largely for my own good that a scheduling conflict means I can’t be there.

All the same, here is what I would have said were I to be there. Continue…

No talk

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 3:06 PM - 12 Comments

CTV says Diane Finley says the Liberals say that the Liberal side of the Employment Insurance working group won’t be meeting with the Conservative side, as scheduled, tomorrow. CTV says Liberals say Conservative side wasn’t responding to Liberal proposals.

Marlene Jennings twittered earlier today that she was going to skip a joint interview with Pierre Poilievre. So obviously things were going well.

marlenejenningsdeclining invitation to appear on The House with Pierre Poilievre; given the Conservs record of no proposal and disrespectin EIWG decisions!

And this is why ITQ should have been allowed to liveblog the meetings …

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 8:09 AM - 35 Comments

The question of who was “screaming at the top of her lungs” and who is “ridiculous” could have been cleared up with a quick check of her post from the day in question.

From the Toronto Star’s Susan Delacourt:

Marlene Jennings, one of the Liberal MPs working on employment insurance reform this summer with Conservatives, says she reached her political breaking point several weeks ago, in a sweltering Ottawa conference room, with no air conditioning.

Jennings had just heard that thousands of cancer tests were being postponed in Quebec because of a lack of medical isotopes due to the protracted shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear reactor. Across the table from her, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley was yelling – “screaming at the top of her lungs,” said Jennings. [...]

Finley spokesman Ryan Sparrow said Jennings’s version of events is “ridiculous” and “considering the source does not even warrant a formal response.”

'69 is a Liberal position'

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 11:59 AM - 7 Comments

Dale Smith looks at Liberal courting of the gay community.

Also at Montreal Pride this weekend, I was reliably informed that the Liberals were out in full force with a cheeky slogan that says “69 is a Liberal position” – referencing of course the fact that it was in 1969 that Trudeau’s bill to decriminalise homosexuality was enacted.

This is going well

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 9:28 PM - 55 Comments

Stephen Harper, June 17. I’m also pleased that the Official Opposition will work with us on the issue of employment insurance.  I indicated we were looking at some changes for the fall and I’m hopeful we’ll be able to find some common ground over the summer but I’m delighted that we will have a dialogue and hope that it will proceed in good faith and arrive at some degree of common ground.  So we will work at that in anticipation of the fall. And, you know, really in summary that is what people want in a minority parliament.  Nobody wants crises.  Nobody wants yet another election.  Nobody wants the opposition coalition to get back together.  They do want to see the parties where possible trying to find some common ground and working on the economy.  So that’s what we will be doing.  And let’s hope it all moves – continues to move in a good direction.

Canwest, tonight. A federal Liberal proposal to slash the minimum work requirement to qualify for employment insurance benefits to 360 hours across the country could be four times more costly than the party has estimated, according to an analysis done by the Conservative government. A synopsis of the costing analysis — provided to reporters on Thursday by a senior government official — said the proposed change could add more than $4 billion to the annual cost of the EI program, as opposed to the $1-billion figure cited by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff when he promotes the 360-hour standard as a means of easing the plight of the unemployed during the economic recession.

Canadian Press, tonight. During the meeting, Liberals said, federal officials admitted that their estimate of the number of people affected by the “360” plan includes new entrants to the work force, re-entrants and those receiving special benefits, such as maternity leave — none of whom Mr. Ignatieff’s proposal is intended to cover.

See previously: What exactly is the disagreement here?

The eternal question

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, July 27, 2009 at 1:08 PM - 21 Comments

A few interesting reads from the weekend: Susan Delacourt looks at new research into the electability of women in Canada, Alice Funke adds her own analysis, and Linda Silver Dranoff reviews Canada’s Unfinished Democracy. From the latter.

She points out that this “women+power=discomfort” equation makes people focus on the contests that women lose and extrapolate from that, that women are losers. Many do run in ridings they have no chance of winning, or for parties that have no chance of governing.

The examples she provides are persuasive, including Agnes MacPhail, Thérèse Casgrain, Kim Campbell and Belinda Stronach, but the one that resonated with me was Flora MacDonald. In 1976, she was considered a shoo-in for the Progressive Conservative leadership; members of her party had promised her enough votes to assure a win. But when they went into the voting booths, they didn’t vote for her. Has Bashevkin provided the explanation about 30 years later? Were MacDonald’s supporters just plain uncomfortable with a woman in power? It would seem so.

One other way of looking at this: what precisely is the model for female political leadership in Canada? Who would you tell a 25-year-old women thinking of getting into politics to model herself after? Continue…

Mitchel raphael on the NDP MP who got bubbly from a Tory

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 12:00 PM - 2 Comments

Poet laureate a traitor?
Pierre DesRuisseaux is Canada’s fourth parliamentary poet laureate. At his April inauguration ceremony, his predecessor John Steffler had only two words for him: “Good luck.” The post is part-time with a $20,000 stipend and up to $13,000 in travel expenses. “The job consists mostly of having [media] interviews,” says DesRuisseaux. So far he has not written one poem. Senate Speaker Noël Kinsella has asked him to write a piece commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Canadian navy. DesRuisseaux is not obliged to write any poems if he so chooses—his job description says only that he “may” do so, and may also do such things as sponsor poetry readings and advise the parliamentary librarian—but he has asked Kinsella if he could get onto a navy ship for inspiration. Most people in DesRuisseaux’s native Quebec are not accustomed to poet laureates. “It’s mostly an English tradition. It is not a good thing to be the poet laureate in Quebec. It’s not very sexy.” Some in Quebec, he says, call him “a traitor.” But “I consider [the post] an honour.” DesRuisseaux is hoping other politicians will call him and utilize his services. “I think I have some power but it depends on the seriousness of the politicians. Do they take this post seriously or not? This is a question I ask myself. They are mostly interested in other subjects.”

Bev Oda’s jazz moment
Cabinet ministers Rona Ambrose and Bev Oda, who are seatmates in the House, spent a short vacation together in Niagara-on-the-Lake. They went for dinner at the Peller Estates Winery Restaurant with the area’s MP, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. When Ambrose got up from the table she saw NDP MP Joe Comartin, who was there celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary. Ambrose joked to Nicholson, “Your critic is here.” She then sent champagne to Comartin and his wife. Oda and Ambrose also caught a jazz festival at the Hillebrand Winery and saw musician Paul Novotny. The first jazz CD Oda ever got was Novotny’s but she was too shy to meet him. Ambrose dragged her over to say hi. Continue…

MPs do their part and chow down on lobster

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, July 6, 2009 at 6:00 AM - 33 Comments

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea hosted a packed reception at the Westin Ottawa for PEI Seafood Processors Association, in an effort to bring awareness to current low-price challenges facing the lobster industry.

Shea and Alberta Tory MP Ted Menzies.

Defence minister Peter MacKay.

Montreal Liberal MP Justin Trudeau.

Continue…

Liberals gather in the courtyard

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 1:18 AM - 12 Comments

Quebec Liberal staffers held “Soir des plaines sur la Colline,” a summer bash in the East Block courtyard. Below are Quebec Liberal MPs Marlene Jennings (left) and Alexandra Mendes.

Montreal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler.

Montreal Liberal MP Justin Trudeau.

Continue…

The Commons: Private peace, public war

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 6:35 PM - 8 Comments

The Scene. In the sandstone bunker named for John A. Macdonald’s public works minister, a man one biography describes as having left politics in “utter disgrace,” Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper honoured their forefathers with a meeting. According to one account, Mr. Ignatieff entered the building, home to the Prime Minister’s Office, around 2pm and exited about five minutes after three. A Canadian Press reporter on the scene claims the Liberal leader left through the Elgin Street exit, skillfully avoiding said reporter’s attempt to question him.

Requests for details of the proceedings would not go completely ignored though. Indeed, in short order there were identical statements from those assigned to speak on behalf of both men. The meeting was described as “productive”—a word that would seem to indicate there was a minimum of swearing and likely a complete lack of physical violence. There are vague promises, as of this writing, that the two will meet again later today. The adjective used to describe those discussions will surely be the subject of intense negotiation.

Across the street and up the hill, the business of Parliament was compelled to proceed without them. And not yet sure of how “productive” the negotiations would be, the parties of Messrs. Ignatieff and Harper were compelled to loudly and forcefully make their claims. Continue…

The Commons: A thoroughly unsexy day

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 9:12 PM - 58 Comments

The Scene. Michael Ignatieff wasted few words on the way to a rather devastating question.

“Mr. Speaker, in private, the Minister of Natural Resources said that the isotope crisis was sexy, a means to advance her career,” he began in French. “So how can the Prime Minister explain the words of his minister to a woman who has just discovered she has breast cancer, is waiting for a test, but who cannot due to the isotope crisis?”

Standing opposite and speaking evenly, the Prime Minister proceeded directly to the government’s pat response.

“Mr. Speaker,” he said, “the crisis of isotopes is very serious.”

He reassured the nation and enthused about his minister and then returned to his seat.

Mr. Ignatieff seemed genuinely surprised.

“Mr. Speaker,” he exclaimed, “there was no apology, nothing. It’s amazing.”

The Liberal leader proceeded then to up the rhetorical ante. Continue…

When keeping it partisan goes wrong (V)

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, June 1, 2009 at 4:34 PM - 13 Comments

Marlene Jennings’ statement before QP today.

Hon. Marlene Jennings (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, last Friday, the Prime Minister’s hand-picked parliamentary secretary twice used the expression “tar baby.” As a child, I was taunted with this name by people who wished to demean me and make me feel inferior. The mountain of correspondence I have received in the last few days shows my experience among Black children was not unique.

The parliamentary secretary has stated he was unaware the term is also a pejorative description of Blacks. I accept his explanation. I am concerned, however, at that MPs tendency to make hurtful statements. One year ago this week, he was forced to apologize for his offensive comments toward first nations people. Now this. Now that he knows the negative connotation of this expression for Blacks, Black Canadians hope he will publicly pledge to remove this pejorative term from his vocabulary, and we hope all Canadians will do so as well.

The Conservative side groaned when she mentioned last year’s incident. Mr. Poilievre did not appear to react to Ms. Jennings’ remarks.

When keeping it partisan goes wrong (IV)

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 1:11 PM - 31 Comments

For what it’s worth, Marlene Jennings, the lone black MP in the current parliament, would prefer you avoid using the term entirely.

“As a Black child growing up, I was called all sorts of pejorative names based on the colour of my skin, including the ‘n-word’ and ‘tar baby’ – and believe me, it was hurtful,” said Ms. Jennings. “I am offended by Mr. Poilievre’s insensitive remarks – and I know leaders in the Black community across Canada feel the same way.”

The Commons: And so Stephen Harper finds himself in agreement with the Toronto Star

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 6:18 PM - 25 Comments

The Scene. Relaxing in the moments before Question Period, Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper looked across the aisle and nodded at each other—the Prime Minister no doubt recognizing the man opposite as the guy in all those bootlegged VHS tapes he’s been watching.

A short while later, Chuck Strahl, the Indian Affairs Minister, strolled across the aisle and engaged the leader of the opposition in what seemed a friendly conversation. Though the substance of the discussion was unclear, by all appearances Mr. Strahl understood clearly the words that were coming out of Mr. Ignatieff’s mouth.

As demonstrations of bipartisan collegiality, these were heartening scenes. As demonstrations of human ability, they were important clarifiers. Indeed, if these moments are any example, let there be no question that government and opposition do acknowledge and, at least passably, comprehend each other, whatever misconceptions today’s asking of questions and airing of accusations may have left you with. Continue…