Of love and politics and life

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 5 Comments

Jonathan McLeod notes Jack Layton’s use of the word “love.”

It is unfortunate that it requires the death of a man, and the words of a political leader, for the country to embrace an outlook of love over anger, but how glorious, should that be the legacy he leaves to us. Love is transcendant. Love is transformative. It appears Jack Layton understood this. We are fortunate to have such men among us, if only too briefly.

Mr. Layton used the l-word in his first statement last month announcing his new cancer diagnosis. It reminded me, at the time, of something Bill Siksay, citing Svend Robinson, said upon departing Parliament this spring—Mr. Siksay’s remarks had stood out to me as something I’d never heard before. Talking to Anne McGrath for this piece, she reminded of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians and mentioned former German chancellor Willy Brandt as a leader who had spoken about love and politics. Love was also, to cite perhaps the most celebrated example, at the heart of Martin Luther King’s rhetoric and philosophy.

More thoughts from Brian Topp, Tim Powers, Ralph Goodale, Niki Ashton, Glen Pearson, Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Kady O’Malley and Dan Arnold. From Torontoist, a panoramic image of the chalk tributes outside city hall in Toronto and another picture capturing the extent of the messages, a display that prompted this note last night from Mr. Layton’s son, Mike.

The Liberals' wake and some parting remarks

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, May 23, 2011 at 9:35 AM - 33 Comments

A new day: Peter Milliken with Ted Hsu

The final humiliation: a cash bar

Last week the Liberals gathered the night before what would be their final caucus meeting with both defeated and elected MPs. One Liberal staffer called the party a “wake”; a Hill security guard predicted it would end early because it was a cash bar. Surviving Toronto Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan arrived with a bandaged hand that will need surgery. “I fell on Wednesday and the government fell on the Friday,” she says. Five weeks campaigning didn’t help: “Even when you break your hand,” said Duncan, “people still want to shake it.” Some days ended with Duncan in excruciating pain. Defeated MP Marlene Jennings arrived with a white cane, announcing that she is now officially vision-impaired. The one person who spoke at the party was surviving MP Ralph Goodale, but no one seemed to be listening; former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff left before Goodale spoke. The Liberals’ only two rookie MPs were there: Sean Casey from Charlottetown and Ted Hsu from Kingston, Ont., which was previously represented by Speaker Peter Milliken. Hsu’s win was a surprise for the Conservatives, who for years said that once Milliken retired they would easily win the riding.

Continue…

The Commons: Repeat after them

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 6:19 PM - 54 Comments

The Scene. Yesterday and again today, the Prime Minister apparently decided that it was in “Canadians’ interests” that he excuse himself from Question Period. If the House of Commons isn’t going to listen to him, it seems he isn’t going to listen to it. Indeed, given yesterday’s unpleasantness, it seems possible that he has decided to seal himself inside his campaign bubble a bit early.

In his place these last two days, Mr. Harper has sent John Baird, now seeming the human equivalent of a television ad. In the space of 45 minutes and 16 responses, Mr. Baird managed this day to use the word “coalition” nine times. This was followed in frequency by the words “unnecessary” and “unstable” with four appearances each. Not to be outdone were “risky” and “reckless,” which were each employed thrice.

But first, a word of support for the troops. Continue…

Inside the Liberal effort to resurrect Michael Ignatieff

By Paul Wells - Monday, March 14, 2011 at 10:19 AM - 361 Comments

Photograph by Christopher Pike

Michael Ignatieff has been among the people.

“I’m in Newfoundland two weeks ago,” the Liberal leader said over tea in the sunroom at Stornaway, the official Opposition leader’s residence. On the wall behind him was a landscape by the Winnipeg artist Ivan Eyre, all slate-grey skies and autumn foliage. “And I’m in a training centre run by the operating engineers’ union. Great union. And this training site is training people in heavy machinery. Everything from bulldozers to cranes.

“A third of the kids in the course are women. Half of the women are on social assistance. They’re desperate to get a union ticket to be bulldozer drivers or crane operators. They’re fabulously determined. It’s a tough course. They put me into these damned cranes and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, and they look fabulous. One of the women said to me, ‘You know, this is my ticket out of here. This is the ticket that allows me out of social assistance. This is my ticket that allows me to feed my kids. But I can’t do this if I don’t get child care.’

Continue…

Political or ministerial?

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 12:33 PM - 73 Comments

More concerns are raised about what Jason Kenney does with his time.

… opposition parties are far from satisfied and maintain the letter has laid bare a more serious conflict of interest: Kenney’s dual role as immigration minister and the Tories chief political organizer in multicultural communities. “It seems to me that is the real problem here,” said deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale. “It’s a brutal conflict of interest that leads to the exploitation of the very people that he is charged as a minister to represent.”

For whatever it is worth, the Liberals point out that they’ve differentiated between multiculturalism and ethnic outreach (Rob Oliphant is assigned that job) and immigration (Justin Trudeau is the critic). Mr. Trudeau has penned a letter to the commissioner of elections to request an investigation of Mr. Kenney’s misdirected fundraising letter.

The Commons: Leaping over a low bar

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, March 7, 2011 at 6:12 PM - 121 Comments

The Scene. Aside from the obvious, what is the difference between Jason Kenney and Bev Oda?

Two weeks ago, the latter became the subject of various questions related to the ethical standards by which she takes her ministerial responsibilities. And so she sat. And sat. And sat. And sat. And sat some more. And when she did finally stand, she didn’t have much of anything to say.

Last week, the former became the subject of various questions related to the ethical standards by which he takes his ministerial responsibilities. And so, today, he stood and stood and stood and stood some more. Indeed, of the eight questions posed on the matter this afternoon, Mr. Kenney answered (or at least responded to) each and every one.

Perhaps the government took an operational decision to spare Mr. Kenney the sort of mockery that Ms. Oda had endured. Perhaps they have recently revived their commitment to ministerial accountability. Perhaps from now on there’ll be no more hiding of ministers in plain sight.

All of which would certainly go to what the Conservative side is fond of claiming: that it is a government of standards. That it, no matter how loudly the likes of Ralph Goodale protest, regards its responsibilities quite seriously. Continue…

The Commons: This unserious business

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 5:37 PM - 38 Comments

The Scene. To his credit, Pierre Poilievre, the fresh-faced and ambitious young parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, does not take himself too seriously.

“We are building the country,” he sighed in response to a Liberal question this afternoon about the in-and-out affair, “rather than tearing people down.”

Now so long as you have paid even a little attention—or watched even a little television—these last five years, you will understand this to be a hilarious statement. Indeed, so long as you do not believe Mr. Poilievre to be completely delusional, you must regard this statement as an attempt by Mr. Poilievre to make a joke—a knowing wink, a cheeky taunt.

Mind you, the punchline here is not merely that the government side hardly lives up to the genteel principles of respect and manners invoked by Mr. Poilievre. Rather, the joke here is that it’s all a joke. Continue…

The Commons: 'A five-year-old accounting dispute'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 28, 2011 at 6:04 PM - 141 Comments

The Scene. Imagine, if you will, that it was 2003 and several Liberal party officials, two of them sitting senators, were accused of violating the election laws of this country. Imagine that a department of government created by the prime minister had decided to pursue charges in this regard. And imagine that, in responses to questions about this matter in the House of Commons, the prime minister sent up his parliamentary secretary with something like the following.

“Mr. Speaker, this is, of course, a five-year-old accounting dispute.”

Imagine how incensed Stephen Harper, seated across the way in the opposition leader’s chair, would have been to hear such a response, how angrily he would have condemned this as galling and outrageous and unacceptable. Indeed, imagine how he might have waxed philosophic about democracy and the moral authority to govern.

Good thing then that Mr. Harper was absent this day, away from the House of Commons as his parliamentary secretary, Pierre Poilievre, stood to say this much on the Conservative party’s behalf. Continue…

The Commons: This era of shouted fragments and empty sentences

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 14, 2011 at 5:59 PM - 43 Comments

The Scene. The starry-eyed and shiny new mayor of Calgary—he who is presently hailed as a new kind of political ideal—uses a lovely phrase to describe what he is trying to do: Politics in full sentences. The sentiment contained therein—less a matter of grammar than tone and spirit—seems as much about what politics should be as what it presently is.

As it is, we speak mostly in slogans. The art of political messaging has been so finely tuned that debate is essentially an exchange of sentence fragments—aggrandizing nouns and accusatory adjectives. Sentences and paragraphs exist only to support memorable phrases. Indeed, in relaying the extent of most debates, we needn’t even bother reprinting full sentences. Continue…

The Commons: Lawrence Cannon sees what's going on here

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 7, 2011 at 6:23 PM - 46 Comments

The Scene. From the vantage point of the press gallery, perched several feet over the Speaker’s right shoulder, it is impossible to see whether Ralph Goodale actually underlines the words he wishes to emphasize when he writes out his questions for QP, or whether he improvises on the spot as the mood strikes him. Lecturing the House in his particular way, an affected baritone rising up out of a broad-chested, square-shouldered man, he lands with a certain thud on just about every fifth word, drawing our various pronouns, adverbs and adjectives so as to be sure he has our attention. Here one hears a man who has spent some time thinking about how he will be heard.

His particular concern this day was the government’s late admission of negotiations with the United States toward reimagining the 49th parallel.

“We need to ask,” Mr. Goodale asked, “what is the Prime Minister prepared to bargain away? For example, with respect to the admissibility of visitors, immigrants and refugees, will Canada apply its own standards, which many Canadians believe are better than American standards, or will a Republican Tea Party congress make the rules?”

For sure, if we owe the Americans anything in these discussions, it is surely for the endless number of cartoonish villains they have supplied for the sake of our fear and ridicule these many years. For the sake of Michele Bachmann alone we should perhaps consider sending them Don Cherry and a few cartons of Cold-FX.

So challenged, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon was apparently compelled to acknowledge that for which the government had previously pleaded ignorance. Continue…

The world's longest April Fool's joke

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 6, 2010 at 12:54 PM - 25 Comments

Despite not having done anything with the bill since April 1 and despite anonymous government sources saying the initiative was doomed, the government sent up Tom Lukiwski last week to affirm that there is a commitment to moving forward, at some unspecified date, with Bill C-12, an act to amend the constitution to add more seats to the House of Commons.

For the record, the Liberals (in the form of Ralph Goodale) professed on Friday a desire to see the bill advanced to committee hearings for due scrutiny and witness testimony, while the NDP (in the form of Joe Comartin) expressed a desire for a debate. Only the Bloc Quebecois (in the form of Pierre Paquette) stated outright opposition to the bill.

The Commons: Yelling into the abyss

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 7:07 PM - 110 Comments

The Scene. If the leaders of the opposition parties have not yet realized that it is futile to ask the Prime Minister to account for the things he says and does—what he has said so far having only passing relation to what he has done and what he did yesterday having no necessary bearing on what he might do tomorrow—Mr. Harper is perhaps beginning to understand that he is best off bringing as little attention to himself as possible. So it was this afternoon that he yawned his way through three questions from Michael Ignatieff on the government’s policies on climate change and shrugged away three questions from Jack Layton on the extension of this country’s military mission in Afghanistan. When Gilles Duceppe asked about the risks entailed in offshore oil excavation, the Prime Minister didn’t even bother to stand.

However wise of Mr. Harper this may be, it does deprive the gallery spectators of a good show—the House rarely as exciting as when the Prime Minister is up and shouting some bold declaration to which he possesses at least a fleeting commitment.

Lucky then for those who turned up to watch today that the Finance Minister has not yet learned that it is, in the long view, better to speak softly and avoid any statement that might be construed as a nod to objective reality. Continue…

The Commons: What alien hordes may come

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 22, 2010 at 6:30 PM - 110 Comments

The Scene. With the opposition persisting for another day to question the allocation of some $16-billion for new warplanes, it was Laurie Hawn, a former air force colonel himself, who rose to impress upon the House a most profound question—perhaps the single most daunting dilemma that faces this or any government.

Earlier in the day, the Finance Minister had invited himself in for coffee and cookies at the house of some nice suburban family to demonstrate that, from here on, his government was done spending taxpayer dollars recklessly (or words to that effect). That next year’s budget, unlike previous attempts, would be prudent and responsible.

At this, the opposition was easily puzzled. ”This government continues to spend billions of dollars on wasteful purchases for fake lakes, untendered stealth fighter jets and Republican-style prisons that Canadians are convinced we do not really need,” moaned Liberal Bryon Wilfert. “How is putting $16 billion, and counting, at risk for the purchase of untendered stealth fighter jets, using the minister’s own words: ‘practical, pragmatic and moderate?’ Is he serious?”

Here then came Mr. Hawn, moved to lay bare the existential crisis at the heart of good governance. “Mr. Speaker, what we are very serious about is giving the Canadian men and women who carry out the very difficult missions on behalf of the people of Canada and others the very best equipment to do the job tomorrow and for the next 20, 30 and 40 years,” he said. “We do not know what is coming in the next 20, 30 or 40 years and neither does the member opposite.”

Indeed. Here is what every government must confront in directing its citizens forward. We do not know what may come, we cannot know what may come, but we must prepare for it all the same. We must make our best guesses and act decisively, but ultimately we can only imagine. And so we must push ourselves to consider every possibility, prepare ourselves for every eventuality and dream impossible dreams of every potential doom.

To understand why we might need $16-billion-worth of new fighter jets then, think not simply of Russians or exploding printer cartridges, but cast your mind even further forward to the threats of the future—to the time of 2050 and perhaps the most dire possibility of all: the looming spectre of alien invasion.

Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 8:05 PM - 2 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The Commons: This government of powerless men

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 7:02 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Once more, Ralph Goodale stood and beseeched the Prime Minister to explain himself, at least as it pertains to the potential sale of Saskatchewan’s PotashCorp. To his credit, the Prime Minister stood and did just that. Which is to say, he rose and explained that he and his position were in this case entirely irrelevant.

“I can assure him,” Mr. Harper assured Mr. Goodale, “the Minister of Industry will make a decision according to a legal process.”

Unsatisfied, Mr. Goodale turned to the Minister of Agriculture, wondering if perhaps the honourable Gerry Ritz, the elected representative for a larger parcel of land in Saskatchewan, might have something to say about the matter. Mr. Ritz leaned forward as if willing to respond, but it was Tony Clement who stood, the Industry Minister so emboldened as to refer to himself in the third person.

“There is a process under the Investment Canada Act which leads to the assessment by the Minister of Industry of the net benefit to Canada test,” he said of himself. “That is what is being done and that will be delivered to the people of Canada in the due course of time.”

One will forgive Mr. Clement if he lingers for the fullness of this allotted time, if he revels in this newfound regard. For in this moment, Tweeting Tony is quite possibly the most powerful man in Ottawa. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 31, 2010 at 5:43 PM - 0 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The Commons: Sergeant Harper deploys his decibels

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

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

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

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

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 1:31 PM - 0 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

The Commons: Sound economic theory

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 8:01 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Michael Ignatieff stood to relate the concerns of another individual he’d recently met—the latest in his 33-million-part series on the lives of average Canadians. “Mr. Speaker, on Monday, at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Guelph, a young student named Diane asked me a question,” he recalled.

Across the way, various Conservatives groaned. But the Liberal leader would not be troubling anyone on the government side to respond to Diane’s question. In fact, he had already answered for them.

“‘We’re caring for my grandmother at home. If elected, what would you do to help people for caring for the sick and elderly at home?’” Mr. Ignatieff reported this young lady as having wondered. “I replied to Diane, ‘Our answer is the family care plan.’ The Conservatives’ answer is, ‘Use your vacation time.’”

No doubt the Conservatives appreciated that Mr. Ignatieff had saved them the trouble of telling Diane that much themselves.

“The question is this,” Mr. Ignatieff continued, now seemingly speaking for himself. “How can the Prime Minister justify tax breaks for profitable corporations instead of helping families like Diane’s?” Continue…

'I am not a pirate'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, October 18, 2010 at 12:07 PM - 0 Comments

Here is the prepared text of Liberal deputy leader Ralph Goodale’s speech to the Economic Club in Ottawa this afternoon, a direct response to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s speech four weeks ago.

This was the centrepiece of a three-speech campaign—including Scott Brison in Toronto and Marc Garneau in Montreal—apparently intended to confront directly Mr. Flaherty’s economic stewardship and metaphor.

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for coming. May I specifically express my appreciation to Fraser-Milner-Casgrain for their sponsorship of this luncheon, and to the Economic Club of Canada for hosting.

I’m grateful for this chance to talk with you today – in a serious, measured way – about how the Liberal Party sees the economic prospects facing Canada … About the growing burden on this country’s middle-class families … And about the appropriate role for government in responding to a situation that’s becoming more, not less, concerning.

I want to offer a sober, unfiltered perspective on the international economic outlook. And what that means, from a Liberal point of view, for the priorities we need to pursue here at home … To protect ourselves from international risk … To position ourselves to succeed in an economy that has grown more perilous … And to prosper in the years ahead notwithstanding trying times right now.

This examination will contrast sharply with that offered by the Harper Conservatives. Our approach is far more responsive to the real hardships taking hold of Canadian families as they struggle with this challenging time.

Continue…

The Commons: Vic Toews makes a funny

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 27, 2010 at 6:57 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. It should not ever be said this government goes about its business too quietly, that it attempts to hide or conceal its true feelings or intent. Indeed, to the contrary, it wears its gleeful disregard quite proudly.

Consider, for instance, today’s display from Vic Toews. Take note particularly of the really, very hilarious thing he said. Continue…

What you can do with a lot of money (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 24, 2010 at 1:49 PM - 0 Comments

The Globe, Star, Post, Canadian Press, CBC and CTV take turns pointing out their favourite expenditure lines from the G8 and G20 reports. The government commends itself on its transparency in this regard.

The matter, rather predictably, led this morning’s QP scrimmage. Here’s the exchange between Ralph Goodale and John Baird. Continue…

Get in line

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 1:30 PM - 0 Comments

Saskatchewan is quite keen to see a new football stadium in Regina.

“We are in serious negotiations and we’re relying on our members of Parliament to carry that message to the federal table,” Cheveldayoff added, declaring that “we need them to be a full partner.” He said that means “full participation” and federal funding for “a large percentage” of the facility — in the “range” of 25 per cent.

“My job is to encourage them and give them the information they need to make a decision of that magnitude,” he continued. ”It’s going very well. I’m liking what I’m hearing. I could see a way where they could do that and I’m encouraging them to look at that amount. Time is of the essence. It’s getting to a critical point.”

Liberal deputy leader Ralph Goodale figures the federal government should contribute something in the neighbourhood of $100-million.

Shadow cabinet shuffle

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

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

Full list after the jump. Continue…