Politics on TV: Muzzling the Mounties

By Dale Smith - Friday, April 26, 2013 - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:

MPs discuss the muzzling of Mounties
Canadian companies with factories in Bangladesh
James Bezan’s bill

RCMP muzzling:

After CBC obtained an email that showed RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson instructing his senior staff to run any meetings with Parliamentarians through his office and that of the minister, warning of unintended or negative consequences to the government, Power & Politics hosted an MP panel Candice Bergen, Megan Leslie and Francis Scarpaleggia. Bergen said this was a practical protocol on communication and basic guidelines, because everything is being politicized in this atmosphere. Leslie said it was bizarre that the RCMP needs a minister’s stamp of approval to do their jobs, especially as MPs are a touchstone for their communities that the RCMP can access. Scarpaleggia said it was the government that was politicizing everything, and while there was no problem with the commissioner being informed of these meetings, having the minister looking over the commissioner’s shoulder like that undermines the morale and the independence of the force.

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Politics on TV: Pierre Poilievre diagnoses the cause of terrorism

By Dale Smith - Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 7:44 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Terror case revelations:

On Power & Politics, CBC’s Greg Weston showed documents from 2004 that showed that terror suspect Raed Jaser was before the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) on a deportation order. Jaser and his family had originally been ordered deported in Canada in 1998 because they had come into the country illegally, but over the next six years, won the right to stay in the country except for Jaser himself, who had racked up a number of criminal charges, but his deportation was delayed as he was a stateless Palestinian with nowhere to be deported. By 2012, Jaser was granted a pardon for his previous offences, and free to become a citizen.

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Politics on TV: Joe Oliver goes to Washington

By Dale Smith - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 7:51 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Thomas Mulcair:

Power & Politics had NDP leader Thomas Mulcair off the top for a wide-ranging look at the issues of the day. Mulcair said that Bill S-7 – which passed less than an hour later – was not necessary if one looks at the successful arrests over the past week, and that the violations of civil liberties therein wouldn’t survive a Charter challenge (never mind that many of the provisions of the anti-terror legislation were in fact upheld by the Supreme Court). On the topic of Joe Oliver’s trip to Washington, Mulcair reiterated his usual talking point that Keystone XL represents the loss of 40,000 jobs in Canada, and that their preferred route to get oil to tidewater is by the East Coast. On the Rehteah Parsons case, Mulcair said that Nova Scotia had done a good job with their proposed bill, and that his party has offered to help pass cyberbullying legislation before the end of June.

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Politics on TV: Tracking the VIA terror developments

By Dale Smith - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 7:53 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Terror case:

Updating the developments in yesterday’s terror arrests, Power & Politics had CBC’s Greg Weston detail that the suspect Chiheb Esseghaier was under surveillance by RCMP as far back as May of 2012 when he went to a biomedical conference in Cancun, Mexico, and that there was an incident with a flight attendant at the time. While Raed Jaser’s lawyer said the timing of the arrests was suspicious, RCMP and FBI say timing was a coincidence, as one suspect began exhibiting a change of behaviour, and they were concerned about his travel plans. There were also allegations that these suspects were in contact with a well-known al-Qaeda agent near the Afghanistan-Iran border. On Power Play, CTV’s Bob Fife said that the investigation was more far-reaching than just in Canada, that there will likely be arrests in the US soon, and that Esseghaier turned down court-appointed lawyer, saying charges are trumped up. On P&P’s Power Panel, Greg Weston made the additional observations that the absence of CSIS and the FBI at yesterday’s press conference was telling, as was the shuffling of CSIS Director Richard Fadden, which was announced at the same time.

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Who is saying what about the Via rail plot

By Dale Smith - Monday, April 22, 2013 at 7:56 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Terror plot:

A mere hour after the revelation that the RCMP and CSIS had made arrests in a Canadian terror plot to derail VIA rail trains, Power & Politics spoke first with CBC’s Greg Weston, who gave what details he could – that the two suspects were watching the route for some time rather than any specific train, that they are not Canadian citizens but in the country legally, that they are 30 and 35 years old, the investigation is ongoing. Over on Power Play, CTV’s John Vennavally-Rao mentioned that there was a separate briefing for the Muslim community in Toronto, that one of the men was from Tunisia and the other from the UAE, and that it was a tip from the Toronto Muslim community that helped the police make the arrests.

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Politics on TV: Reacting to the Boston manhunt

By Dale Smith - Friday, April 19, 2013 at 7:33 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
MP reaction:

As the manhunt in Boston continued, and with assurances by Vic Toews that CBSA and the RCMP are at a heightened state of awareness, Power & Politics hosted an MP panel of Kellie Leitch, Jack Harris and Francis Scarpaleggia to discuss this, and the government’s decision to reschedule opposition days next week in order to deal with the anti-terrorism bill, S-7. Leitch said that terrorism needs to be combated, and the government was focused on that by means of the bill, and by staying vigilant. Harris said that the bill doesn’t address the prevention of terrorism, and that the government needs to start finding ways of detecting when people go from radical thoughts to getting involved in violence. He also expressed concern about people making all ethnic Chechans suspect. Scarpaleggia said that the Liberals were supporting S-7, as it brings back many of the measures they first introduced in 2001 (which later sunsetted) and adds a new offence for those who leave the country to engage in an act of terrorism.

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Politics on TV: Naming and shaming the boss from hell

By Dale Smith - Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 7:54 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Mario Dion:

Public Service Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion released a report today that detailed the harassment and abuse that the former chair of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, Shirish Chotalia, subjected her staff to on an ongoing basis before her resignation. When Power & Politics spoke with Dion, he said that she was named in the report after consultation with the Privacy Commissioner because she occupied a unique position within the Tribunal, and because naming and shaming is part of his mandate as a deterrent effect. When confronted with Chotalia’s statement that she was targeted because the Conservatives appointed her and because “she’s a brown woman from Alberta who the unions don’t like,” Dion said that characterisation didn’t bear out in his interviews, though Chotalia never allowed herself to be interviewed as part of his investigation. With regards to NDP MP Mathieu Ravignat’s characterization in QP that she made the Tribunal enforce government policy, Dion said that was not in his report, and that Ravignat either misunderstood it or misrepresented it. On Power Play, Dion said that he had never seen anything like this case in his 32 years in the public service, and that Chotalia’s name is now on the web for people to find out about her actions.

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Politicizing the Boston bombing

By Dale Smith - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 7:55 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Politicizing Boston:

It all began with Peter Mansbridge’s interview with Justin Trudeau. A mere two hours after the Boston bombs went off, Mansbridge asked Trudeau how he would respond to the attacks, and after Trudeau gave his condemnation of the attacks and condolences to the victims, he said that there should be an examination of the root causes. This morning, unprompted while at the Baroness Thatcher funeral in London, Stephen Harper condemned Trudeau’s comments as “rationalizing” and “excusing” the attacks rather than simply offering a blanket condemnation. And before QP, Conservative MP Stella Ambler repeated that statement in the House, and afterward, Trudeau gave a brief statement condemning Harper’s politicizing the Boston bombing.

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Politics on TV: Security and the aftermath of the Boston bombings

By Dale Smith - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 7:32 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
MPs on security:

In the wake of the Boston bombings, and public safety minister Vic Toews’ assurances of a heightened state of vigilance, Power & Politics spoke with an MP panel of Candice Bergen, Randall Garrison and Wayne Easter for their comments. Bergen wanted to assure Canadians that are working together with their American counterparts and are exercising that increased vigilance at points of entry. Garrison said that this was a time to be patient and to let the investigators do their work. Easter, a former Solicitor General, said he was pleased with the government’s response to date, and wanted people to exercise caution with the kinds of speculation that is out there.

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Politics on TV: Reacting to the Boston explosions

By Dale Smith - Monday, April 15, 2013 at 7:31 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
MP Ryan Leef:

Conservative MP Ryan Leef, who was participating in the Boston Marathon, told Power & Politics that he didn’t see anything as he had already crossed the finish line and was being moved through the finishing chutes with some two thousand other runners at the time, and was about four blocks away when the emergency personnel started racing to the scene. He said the atmosphere was already loud so he wouldn’t have been able to hear the explosions, and didn’t have any indication about the severity of the incident until he was changing clothes and getting ready to head back to Ottawa when the messages started flooding in. Leef said that the explosions were timed for the four-hour mark, which was a worst-case scenario as most runners finish at that time, and that it was a miracle more people weren’t injured as a result.

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Politics on TV: Mulcair blames Dunderdale for Penashue

By Dale Smith - Friday, April 12, 2013 at 7:41 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Thomas Mulcair:

From the NDP’s policy convention in Montreal, party leader Thomas Mulcair spoke to Power Play, and began by commenting on the Labrador by election, where Mulcair said that Peter Penashue broke the law, and that premier Kathy Dunderdale could blame herself because she was from the same party. (Apparently he missed the province’s Anything-But-Conservative campaign a couple of elections ago, or the fact that not all provincial Progressive Conservatives automatically line up with federal Conservatives). Mulcair also claimed credit for the ousting of three cabinet ministers – Duncan, Oda and Penashue – which he claimed was from the hard work of the opposition, as opposed to the journalists who dug up the information on them. Mulcair also dismissed the concerns of the more colourful and socialist resolutions up for debate at the convention, and said that by the end of the weekend, Canadians would see a party has a progressive vision and who are responsible public administrators. Over on Power & Politics, Mulcair avoided answering questions on the makeover from the “Angry Tom” image and instead said “If you’re not angry with Harper, you’re not paying attention.”

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Politics on TV: Reacting to Rehtaeh Parsons

By Dale Smith - Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 7:58 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Rehtaeh Parsons:

With the suicide of teen Rehtaeh Parsons grabbing international headlines, Power Play spoke with Nova Scotia premier Darrell Dexter, who said that as they get more information about what happened, they are trying to design a response that looks across the lines of individual departmental responsibilities. Dexter said that this was another case where there were many opportunities to provide support and assistance, and it begged the question of where the gaps were, and pointed to the province’s bullying task force. On Power & Politics, Dexter called Anonymous a cowardly group that makes claims with little or no basis, and said that vigilante action is not appropriate in a civilized society. At a press conference in Calgary, Stephen Harper said that he wants people to stop calling it “bullying,” which has the connotation of kids misbehaving when this is youth criminal activity. Evan Solomon then spoke with Wayne McKay, who wrote the provincial task force report on cyberbullying. McKay said that the province wasn’t moving fast enough on his recommendations, especially when it comes to clarifying questions of jurisdiction, implementing courses on digital citizenship, or hiring more guidance counsellors in schools. Solomon also had an MP panel of Kellie Leitch, Hoang Mai and Hedy Fry, where Leitch touted the action the government had already taken to combat bullying, Mai decried that his party’s national strategy to combat bullying was voted down by the government, and Fry said that there is fuzziness in the Criminal Code around how digital technology plays into critical harassment, libel and spreading false messages, but her own bill to address that was voted down by both the Conservatives and NDP.

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Politics on TV: The menace of temporary foreign pilots

By Dale Smith - Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 7:54 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Temporary foreign pilots:

On their third day of focusing on the rules around temporary foreign workers, Power & Politics spoke with Air Transat pilot Gilles Hudicourt, who decried that rival airlines Sunwing and CanJet use temporary foreign pilots from Europe during their busy season rather than hiring Canadian pilots, such as those laid off by Transat, and training them on their fleets. Hudicourt said that these two airlines are abusing the system to gain a commercial advantage. Evan Solomon then spoke with an MP panel of Kellie Leitch, Jinny Sims and Kevin Lamoureux for a third day in a row, and they gave largely the same points – Leitch agreed that Canadians should get first crack at jobs and the government was looking into the issue, Sims said the system was broken and was being abused, and Lamoureux agreed, though he did propose today that a Commons committee head to places like Alberta to study the seriousness of the problem there. A short while later, Solomon spoke with Mark Williams, president of Sunwing Airlines, who disputed Hudicourt’s claims, saying that the issue of training pilots for their fleet was more complicated than five weeks in a classroom, and that Sunwing sends their own pilots to Europe in the summer during the busy season there, and in return, they reciprocate by hiring those European pilots in the winter.

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Politics on TV: Are companies abusing the temporary foreign workers program?

By Dale Smith - Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 7:52 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Temporary Foreign Workers:

After obtaining Access to Information documents detailing the kinds of service industry businesses applying for the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion program for temporary foreign workers – a program which is supposed to fill niche demands for highly skilled workers – Power & Politics spoke with Gil McGowan of the Alberta Federation of Labour. McGowan said the documents tell a story of abuse, with 5000 employers being granted approvals that never should have been granted, and that this accelerated program has fewer checks and balances than the main temporary foreign workers program. Evan Solomon then spoke with an MP panel of Kellie Leitch, Jinny Sims and Kevin Lamoureux, where Leitch insisted that the government is reviewing the program to ensure that it would be improved. Sims said the government was failing to do its due diligence, while Lamoureux said the government needs to take responsibility for the flaws in the program and that it has done nothing to fix them. Over on Power Play, Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner said that the government used the temporary foreign worker program to create a cheap, submissive labour pool.

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Politics on TV: RBC’s outsourcing and Thatcher’s passing

By Dale Smith - Monday, April 8, 2013 at 7:52 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
RBC:

With RBC being accused of replacing Canadian employees with temporary foreign workers, and chairman of RBC saying that there may be one single temporary foreign worker as part of the transition process, Power Play spoke to immigration lawyer Chantal Desloges. Desloges said that it’s not illegal for RBC to hire a company to provide workers on an outsource basis, but the questions revolve around whether Service Canada dropped the ball in their labour market analysis, or if the outsource company, iGate, was not being transparent. Desloges stressed that it’s not an immigration issue, but an outsourcing issue. On Power & Politics, an MP panel of Kellie Leitch, Jinny Sims and Kevin Lamoureux to discuss it, and all three agreed that it was unacceptable if RBC was in fact replacing Canadians with temporary foreign workers. While Leitch pointed to the investigation that the government would carry out on the matter, Sims said that the temporary foreign worker rules had been so elasticized that they no longer worked, and Lamoureux noted that the government’s own study on the system was being kept under wraps.

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Politics on TV: Mark Adler mansplains the job numbers

By Dale Smith - Friday, April 5, 2013 at 7:47 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Job numbers:

With the Statistics Canada numbers showing that the economy shed some 54,500 jobs in March, and unemployment going up 1.2 per cent, Power & Politics spoke with an MP panel of Mark Adler, Peggy Nash, and Scott Brison to get some insight. Adler, however, was looking only to obfuscate and deliver his prepared lines about how great the overall trend was thanks to the government’s efforts, to the point that he appeared to be mansplaining it to Hannah Thibedeau, to her frustration. “These are very ugly economic numbers,” Nash said, and said that the government can’t take credit when things go well if they also don’t take the blame when they go badly. Brison noted the continued plight of youth unemployment, and said that the budget freezes training dollars at 2007 levels when they should be investing in a robust training strategy, lest they lose the potential of an entire generation of Canadians.

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Tax havens vs. iPod taxes

By Dale Smith - Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 7:44 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Offshore tax havens:

In the wake of the CBC’s major story on the leak of offshore tax haven information, Power & Politics spoke with Liberal Senator Percy Downe, who has been on the tax haven crusade for several years. Downe said that the CRA’s $4.6 billion figure of lost revenue is a low figure, and criticised their refusal to disclose what the tax gap in Canada is. Downe wondered how the government could identify what kinds of resources they need to fight offshore havens if they won’t identify the scope of the problem, and noted that of the 106 Canadians found to be hiding revenue in Lichtenstein six years ago, no charges were ever laid and the cases are considered closed. On Power Play, Don Martin spoke with the director of the International Consortium of Journalists, Gerard Ryle, about the leak that they received, to which Ryle replied that what surprised him the most was that the secretive world of tax havens was not the exclusive domain of the super-rich, but had plenty of doctors and dentists from every country in the world.

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Politics on TV: Pathogens and tax evasion

By Dale Smith - Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 7:57 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Pathogens:

Power Play got a briefing from reporter Daniele Hamamdijan about the charges laid against two former CFIA scientists – Dr. Klaus Nielsen and Wei Ling Yu. Nielsen was arrested at the Ottawa airport carrying 17 vials of brucella, while there is a warrant out for Yu’s arrest, though she is believed to be in China. Both are charged with breach of trust. Don Martin then spoke with Keith Warriner of the University of Guelph, who said that brucella is a rather nasty pathogen, more common in the days before pasteurizing milk, which is highly contagious and can cause flu-like symptoms for months. Warriner said he suspects the pair were not trying to sell it to Chinese agents, but were likely trying to get samples to someone doing research on the pathogen there. On Power & Politics, it was noted that China has seen rampant brucella outbreaks, and that Nielsen helped to develop a test for the pathogen that can save whole herds from being culled.

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Politics on TV: Radicalization and pipelines

By Dale Smith - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 7:55 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Radicalized Canadians:

After the revelation of the identities of those Canadians killed in Algeria during the assault on the gas plant there, Power & Politics spoke with immigration minister Jason Kenney, who said that radicalization was hardly a new phenomenon, and pointed to the Toronto 18. Kenney said police and intelligence agencies have been effective with early interventions against radicalization, which are not publicized. Evan Solomon then spoke with MPs Paul Dewar and Francis Scarpaleggia, where Dewar said that Baird’s previous diplomatic blunders made him question how much the government was coordinating with intelligence agencies, and Scarpaleggia noted that they supported the requests for new measures by CSIS as part of the anti-terrorism bill that just passed. Power Play spoke with security analyst Robert Barrett, who said it wasn’t fair to say that CSIS dropped the ball with these two given the challenges of finding intelligence that would allow agencies to intervene.

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Politics on TV: Iraq, muzzles, and Bill Vander Zalm

By Dale Smith - Monday, April 1, 2013 at 7:35 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Iraq visit:

After Foreign Affairs minister John Baird made a surprise visit to Baghdad to announce expanding our diplomatic presence in the country, Power & Politics spoke with an MP panel of Chris Alexander, Paul Dewar and John McKay. Alexander said that the region is an important trading partner, and the government is focused on potential investment opportunities, as well as the need to be engaged because the country borders Iran, Syrian and Turkey. Dewar felt that the promotion of our diplomatic personnel from a part-time desk in the UK embassy to a full-time desk wasn’t newsworthy, while McKay said that it was better late than never, though he wasn’t sure what the presence would accomplish because the region is still too unstable to get to the point of meaningful trade and business opportunities. On Power Play, Don Martin spoke with Bessma Momani from the Centre for International Governance Innovation, who noted that while eyes and ears on the ground were a good thing, Baird’s real mission was about markets, and that the Middle East is a growing market.

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Politics on TV: UN conventions and robocall legislation

By Dale Smith - Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 7:48 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Desertification:

Power Play spoke with former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, who was also a former UN Special Envoy for Ethiopia-Eritrea, about the decision to pull out of the UN convention on drought. Axworthy called it a “quirky move” that didn’t make a lot of sense, especially considering that it is a treaty about getting countries and NGOs engaged on the issue and not a humanitarian aid project. Axworthy said that the “talk” that the Conservatives are criticizing is part of international diplomacy, and that the move to make Canada more of a hermit country is not plausible or reasonable. On Power & Politics, an MP panel of Chris Alexander, Paul Dewar and John McCallum looked at the issue, where Alexander rather petulantly said the move was about cost savings and achieving better results with other programs. Dewar noted that recently the Prime Minister said good things about the very same convention, and McCallum felt that the Conservatives were using this as a test case to gauge the reaction before they started pulling out of other things.

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Politics on TV: Robocalls, Warawa and drug seizures

By Dale Smith - Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 7:51 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Robocall report:

Power Play spoke with PostMedia columnist Stephen Maher about the Elections Canada report on misleading robocalls that was tabled this afternoon. Maher said that the report doesn’t have any information on the ongoing investigations into the robocalls, but rather that it makes recommendations on how Parliament can change the Elections Act. Those recommendations include stiffer penalties – up to $250,000 in fines or five years in jail – and the ability to compel testimony from witnesses, as Maher noted that three people in the Guelph investigation have refused to testify. As well, the report calls for proper identification on the calls, and a registry for all robocalls being made.

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Warawa and Rathgeber take off their muzzles

By Dale Smith - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 7:41 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Muzzled backbenchers:

With the issue of MPs feeling muzzled around Private Members’ Business and Members’ Statements, Power & Politics spoke with Conservative MP Mark Warawa, whose motion on sex-selective abortions was deemed non-voteable and who was denied a chance to speak about it in the House. Warawa said that the expert from the Library of Parliament said the motion was voteable, and he plans to appeal the committee’s decision to the House as a whole if he has to. He also says that his motion is not about reopening the abortion debate, but is about discrimination against women and girls, and cited the UN figure of 200 million missing girls in the world before invoking the Montreal massacre and Malala. Evan Solomon also spoke with Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber, who said that he is concerned that members from all parties are being too controlled from their whips and leaders’ offices, and it is an issue about Parliament because it’s the role of MPs to hold the government to account. On Power Play, former Speaker Peter Milliken said there was a time when the Speaker controlled the speaking lists, and it may be worth returning to that system, as the content gets more partisan.

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Politics on TV: Nishiyuu Walkers and panda diplomacy

By Dale Smith - Monday, March 25, 2013 at 7:35 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
Nishiyuu Walkers:

After the young Cree walkers arrived on Parliament Hill after their trek from James Bay, Power & Politics spoke with an MP panel of Greg Rickford, Charlie Angus and Carolyn Bennett to discuss what it means. Rickford said that the government has common ground with those who aren’t content with how all levels of government aren’t working for them, and that they are taking steps in moving forward. Angus called the walkers “heroic” and said that their message was about creating a new relationship. Bennett noted that the government didn’t consult with First Nations or youth for the budget, and noted the oppositional language that the government employs when it comes to First Nations. Evan Solomon also spoke with Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of Northern Quebec, who said that this is about youth questioning the treatment of their people.

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Politics on TV: Budget fallout

By Dale Smith - Friday, March 22, 2013 at 7:29 PM - 0 Comments

Here are the three things you should not have missed:
CIDA:

Power & Politics spoke with Foreign Affairs minister John Baird, who said that bringing CIDA into the Foreign Affairs umbrella is a more streamlined approach to the conduct of foreign policy, as humanitarian assistance is part of foreign policy, and it brings all of the experts under one roof. Baird said that the move wasn’t too controversial, and that the department already has two parts and two ministers, the other being international trade, so a third won’t be a big change. In response, Chris Hall spoke with Julia Sanchez, President of the Canadian Council for International Development, and former Foreign Affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy. Sanchez said that they have been calling for a stronger CIDA, but that they are not convinced this is the right time for such a move because there is no clear policy direction in place. Axworthy said there needs to be a more integrated relationship between trade, development and diplomacy, as the world is not divided into silos. On Power Play, Anthony Scoggins, Director of International Programs at Oxfam, said that while he buys into the efficiencies argument, he fears that there will be less of a focus on the reduction of poverty.

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