The Commons: A simple misunderstanding

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 5:29 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Thomas Mulcair had a simple question. And lest the House fail to appreciate the simplicity, he said so explicitly.

“Mr. Speaker,” the opposition leader prefaced, “I want to ask a very simple question of the Prime Minister.”

Specifically and simply, Mr. Mulcair wanted to know whether Mr. Harper thought it acceptable for a minister to knowingly mislead Parliament in the exercise of its functions.

Mr. Harper seemed to seek a word of clarity from Peter Van Loan before rising. “Mr. Speaker,” he said, “I am not certain of the subject of that question, but obviously I expect that ministers tell the truth at all times.”

That much established for the record, Mr. Mulcair moved to his second question. Continue…

Q&A: Bruce Hyer

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 3:45 PM - 0 Comments

On the occasion of his departure from the NDP caucus, Bruce Hyer and I chatted today via telephone.

Q: So I guess first off, when did you start to think about becoming an independent MP?

A: I first started to think about it under the whipping by Nycole Turmel after Jack’s death … Immediately after Jack’s death, I was very concerned about his—however it came about—choice of interim leader. I knew it would not be good for the party, which it was not. I was concerned for a variety of reasons.

Q: You were concerned specifically about Nycole Turmel’s leadership?

A: I was concerned about Nycole. But it really became very difficult when I and my constituents were muzzled after the long gun vote.

Q: What were your concerns about Nycole Turmel?

A: There’s no point in going there now … although she is still the whip, which I find quite ironic. We’re into an issue about whipping and Nycole has moved from the head whipper to the assistant whipper now.

Q: So just to clarify, you had two concerns: one, you were concerned about her leadership in general and two, you were bothered by the fact that you were punished after the long gun registry vote?

A: Absolutely. And it’s not about me or my ego, it’s about many things. It’s about my ability to do my job to which I was elected. And so my effectiveness was curtailed during that very long period. Continue…

The Commons: The government remains unapologetic

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 23, 2012 at 5:14 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. “Mr. Speaker, we do not apologize for the fact that Canada is following its laws and policies on procurement in securing replacements for the aging CF-18s,” Chris Alexander declared this afternoon of the F-35 mess.

It is unclear who demanded the Harper government apologize for following proper procurement policy. For that matter, it is unclear who has accused the Harper government of actually following proper procurement policy.

Indeed, the question here, from the NDP’s Jack Harris, the brusque Newf now back on the defence file, was something else entirely. “When,” Mr. Harris asked, “will the government stop making excuses for deceiving Canadians?”

Mr. Alexander’s response to this was to refuse to apologize. Twice. Continue…

Bruce Hyer goes independent

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 23, 2012 at 3:37 PM - 0 Comments

The MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North removes himself from the NDP caucus.

“Instead of cooperation and compromise, voters often see mindless solidarity, where political parties are always right and voters are always wrong. One example is the long gun registry, where there has been no real compromise at all. Mr. Mulcair has made it clear he will bring back the long gun registry, and will use the whip. I am also concerned that Mr. Mulcair does not seem willing to co-operate with other parties on important issues. And on climate change, parties are hopelessly locked to Cap & Trade or outright inaction, making compromise to achieve even piecemeal progress impossible.”

First elected in 2008, Hyer was left out the NDP shadow cabinet announcement last week. “One of the jobs of any new Leader is to unite their party, and there are different ways to do that. Being excluded from any position was a clear message that my constituents will be muzzled.”

Mr. Hyer broke with the party on the long gun registry last November and again in February. He endorsed Nathan Cullen during the NDP leadership race, but said he would be “very pleased” if Thomas Mulcair or Paul Dewar won. After Mr. Cullen was eliminated from contention at the leadership convention, Mr. Hyer moved to Mr. Mulcair.

Update 4:33pm EST. Below, a statement from John Rafferty, the other gun registry dissident in the NDP’s midst. Continue…

On the existence of an NDP base

By Paul Wells - Monday, April 23, 2012 at 12:02 PM - 0 Comments

This column, a couple of weeks ago, posed a question about Thomas Mulcair’s ability to appeal to a broad segment of the population with an environmentalist, oil-sands-skeptical, protectionist-on-trade message. “To beat Harper, he needs issues that can rally active and broad support,” I wrote at the end. “I’ll offer no predictions, but whatever happens in Montreal on April 22 will tell much of the tale.”

What happened in Montreal was a great big rally for Earth Day whose messaging was, in part, overtly anti-oil-sands. And it seems to have been a hit. Apparently something like a quarter of a million people marched in lousy weather.

It would caricature the rally to depict it as, specifically, an NDP triumph. Mulcair and much of his caucus took part, but so did Pauline Marois of the Parti Québécois, and Daniel Paillé, who is reputed to be the leader of something called the Bloc Québécois. And no news acoount I’ve seen from the rally quotes Mulcair or anyone else from the NDP.

So you can’t directly translate this crowd into sustained or renewed support for the NDP. But my original point, I think, still holds: if our politics is going to polarize, increasingly, on questions of reource development vs. the environment, of prosperity vs. equity, then Mulcair is sunk if there is not even an engaged, emotive, base of any significant size on his side of those debates. But there is such a base. He’s not sunk.

The opposition leader’s honeymoon

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 23, 2012 at 11:52 AM - 0 Comments

In light of the NDP’s recent bump in opinion polling, Eric Grenier looks at how the Liberals fared immediately after the arrivals of their two previous leaders.

When Stéphane Dion became Liberal chief in December 2006, he pushed his party ahead of the Conservatives. Though the Tories hardly budged, the Liberals saw their support increase to 34.2 per cent from 30.5 per cent in polls taken before and after the Liberal leadership convention by the same firms. The bump of 3.7 points came primarily at the expense of the NDP, who dropped 4.8 points overnight.

Michael Ignatieff became interim leader in December 2008 and also increased his party’s support, to 30.5 per cent from 23.8 per cent, a jump of 6.7 points. This was in the highly charged days of the coalition and prorogation, however, so the impact of Mr. Ignatieff’s arrival is somewhat blurred. But in this case, it was the Conservatives who took the hit.

By one poll, the New Democrats actually went into their leadership convention last month tied with the Conservatives, though that had more to do with a drop for the governing party. Similar findings of equality have held over the last few weeks.

Congratulations to the shadow cabinet

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 20, 2012 at 3:45 PM - 0 Comments

The Conservative press office sends its regards in a note entitled “Mr. Mulcair’s NDP Team.”

Late yesterday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair announced his new shadow cabinet. This was Mr. Mulcair’s chance to demonstrate to Canadians that the NDP is a serious party representing moderate, responsible policies. Yet Mr. Mulcair chose a team that threatens dangerous economic experiments and believes Canada needs higher taxes, bigger deficits and less jobs and prosperity.

The shadow of Mr. Mulcair’s team is long indeed. With 55 critics, the NDP now have significantly more critics than the actual Cabinet charged with running the government – and nearly half are former union bosses or employees.
Mr. Mulcair chose to promote activists who have lobbied against Canada’s ability to develop and sell its own resources. It is a team of those who have consistently put the rights of criminals ahead of victims, repeatedly blocking Conservative efforts to crack down on crime.

It is also a team that cannot be trusted, comprised of many NDP MPs who promised their constituents that they would vote to end the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry only to break their word when the time came to vote.

And, perhaps most demonstrative of all, Mr. Mulcair chose Libby Davies as one of his three deputy leaders. Ms. Davies’s radical record reveals the stark contrast between her priorities and the issues that matter to ordinary Canadians. Her record includes support for legalizing drugs (Vancouver Province, March 26, 2010); legalized prostitution (Postmedia News, July 8, 2011); and being one of the few MPs who voted against raising the age of consent (Hansard, May 3, 2007).

In the coming days, we will continue to help Canadians get to know Mr. Mulcair’s team and highlight those he has chosen and ways in which they do not stand for the interests of everyday hard-working Canadian families.

That first paragraph is great fun. Do the Conservatives mean to imply that Mr. Mulcair could have chosen a shadow cabinet that they would have praised and welcomed?

The NDP and Alberta

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 20, 2012 at 3:18 PM - 0 Comments

Greg Fingas puts some hope in Linda Duncan’s shadow cabinet assignment.

Second, the choice of Linda Duncan as critic for Public Works and Government Services may make for a neat bit of strategy. A strong Alberta figure charged with criticizing patronage, waste and mismanagement should serve to raise serious questions among the Cons’ base- and that may not only help to shake loose populist votes on the prairies, but also put at least somewhat of a dent in the Cons’ fund-raising and activist networks.

The NDP’s ability to win seats in Saskatchewan was a preoccupation of Thomas Mulcair during the party’s leadership race. But what about Alberta?

The New Democrats currently hold just Ms. Duncan’s seat in the province, but over the last seven elections the party’s share of the popular vote in Alberta has gone from 4.1% to 5.7% to 5.4% to 9.5% to 11.6% to 12.7% to 16.8%. It hasn’t been that high since 1988 when the NDP took 17.4% of the vote in Alberta. (At that time, the NDP was the official opposition in the provincial legislature.) Ms. Duncan’s victory over Rahim Jaffer in 2008 was supposed to have been a fluke, but she increased both her vote and her margin of victory in 2011.

The provincial party is only polling at 11% in the current Alberta election, but the math is complicated and presuming the NDP wins a smattering of seats, it’s not inconceivable that they could end up being relevant players in a minority parliament.

The popularity of taxing the rich

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 20, 2012 at 2:06 PM - 0 Comments

Further to this post last week, a new poll in Ontario finds massive support for a proposal of the province’s NDP.

Ontarians overwhelmingly favour NDP Leader Andrea Horwath’s proposal to raise taxes on people who earn more than $500,000 a year, a new poll suggests. Horwath has put forward the wealth surtax as one of her party’s conditions for supporting Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s budget, which will be voted on next Tuesday.

More than three-quarters of people surveyed — 78 per cent — like her idea with only 17 per cent opposed and 5 per cent unsure, according to the Forum Research poll. “It’s hugely popular. You never see that — that’s huge,” Forum president Lorne Bozinoff said Wednesday.

Ms. Horwath would tax those earning more than $500,000 at a provincial rate of 13.16% (up from 11.6%).

There are no such proposals presently on offer at the federal level. During the NDP leadership race, Brian Topp proposed a tax rate of 35% for those earning over $250,000 and Nathan Cullen suggested a rate in the “low 30s” for anyone earning over $300,000 per year. Thomas Mulcair questioned the wisdom of those proposals.

Three years ago, the Bloc Quebecois suggested taxing those earning more than $150,000 an additional 1%.

A scouting report on Team Mulcair

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 20, 2012 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

Here again is the roster for Thomas Mulcair’s shadow cabinet. What to make of it? Here are several observations.

-First, the obviously big promotions go to Megan Leslie (who stays with environment, but becomes a deputy leader) and Nathan Cullen (who becomes House leader). Both are confident, impressive, fresh-faced MPs who are quick on their feet and under the age of 40 (Mr. Cullen’s 40th birthday is in July). Very interesting to see them put not just in prominent positions, but positions of leadership. Your premature, baseless, futile, wild-eyed “next leader of the NDP” speculation probably starts somewhere here.

-That’s a rather large number of people with titles: 78 out of a caucus of 102. Granted, the Conservative cabinet numbers 39 and the Prime Minister named another 28 parliamentary secretaries, so the sides are somewhat close to even. Put the two teams together and they represent just less than half of the House.

-The shadow ministers of finance, justice, human resources, transport, aboriginal affairs, public works, industry, immigration and the environment—nine of the top files—are women.

-All of the elected leadership candidates—Niki Ashton, Paul Dewar, Mr. Cullen, Robert Chisholm, Romeo Saganash and Peggy Nash—were placed in prominent spots. Of the 13 NDP MPs who endorsed Brian Topp, 10 of them—Charmaine Borg, Jean Crowder, Libby Davies, Chris Charlton, Yvon Godin, Francoise Boivin, Jinny Simms, Jasbir Sandhu, Kennedy Stewart and Alexandre Boulerice—were put in critic roles. Continue…

Team Mulcair

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 5:57 PM - 0 Comments

The NDP shadow cabinet, as announced this evening by Thomas Mulcair.

Tom Mulcair Leader of the Official Opposition, Intergovernmental Affairs
Libby Davies Deputy Leader, Health
David Christopherson Deputy Leader
Megan Leslie Deputy Leader, Environment
Nathan Cullen House Leader
Sadia Groguhé Deputy House Leader, Deputy Immigration, Citizenship and Multiculturalism
Nycole Turmel Whip
Phil Toone Deputy Whip, Deputy Fisheries (East Coast) Continue…

‘That has been the problem since 1982′

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 5:08 PM - 0 Comments

A footnote to Mr. Mulcair’s official statement on the 30th anniversary of the Charter: Paper Dynamite digs up a speech Mr. Mulcair gave two years ago in the House during debate on representation in the House of Commons.

The biggest problem is the attitude the Liberal Party has had for the past 40 years. That has been the main problem with the Canadian federation since the time of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. The Liberals pay lip service to the idea of recognizing Quebec, but when push comes to shove, they always vote against such recognition.

The sad fact is that the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords, which were negotiated in good faith, were necessary because the Canadian Constitution that Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Jean Chrétien repatriated includes the law passed in English only in England, with a bilingual schedule. The law begins with the words “Whereas Canada has requested”.

It is a bald-faced lie to say that Canada requested this, because Quebec was not included, unless the point was to show that to Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada, Canada did not include Quebec. That has been the problem since 1982. The Canadian Constitution, which was adopted despite both sovereignist and federalist opposition in Quebec City, still exists. In spite of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords, which were negotiated in good faith, the government has never managed to accommodate Quebec to this day.

Happy Charter Day

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 8:01 AM - 0 Comments

The Prime Minister isn’t quite ready to celebrate.

Harper alluded to the fact that Quebec did not sign on to the Constitution Act of 1982, of which the Charter was a part. Two other attempts to bring Quebec into the constitutional fold — the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords — failed. “In terms of this as an anniversary, I think it’s an interesting and important step, but I would point out that the Charter remains inextricably linked to the patriation of the Constitution and the divisions around that matter, which as you know are still very real in some parts of the country,” Harper said.

Thomas Mulcair wasn’t too keen on the Charter ten years ago when he was a member of the Quebec assembly. Jean Chretien says the Night of the Long Knives is more myth than reality. And, on the same note, former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford wants his due.

‘Our time has come’

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 16, 2012 at 4:33 PM - 0 Comments

Courtesy of an amateur videographer, Thomas Mulcair’s speech to the Ontario NDP convention this weekend.

To 2015 and beyond

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, April 16, 2012 at 9:29 AM - 0 Comments

Greg Fingas catches the apparent arrival of nuance to Thomas Mulcair’s views on coalition government. Last month, a possible coalition with Liberals was categorically out of the question. Yesterday, in an interview with CTV’s Question Period, Mr. Mulcair committed only to fielding 338 candidates and running to form a majority government. “Anything beyond that,” he said, “is pure speculation.”

Until Mr. Mulcair is asked again directly about his position and whether it has changed, it is likely too early to say to what degree his mind remains open to the possibility of a coalition, but Greg considers the ramifications.

In effect, merely in recognizing that any talk of a post-election coalition will depend on the circumstances at the time, Mulcair is taking a more cooperative line than the leaders of the Official Opposition in the previous two elections. Which means that the NDP will preserve at least some of its hard-earned reputation as the party most willing to work pragmatically toward progressive goals.

Mind you, the statement that we’ll need to see what happens doesn’t serve as quite the strong defence of cooperation that I’d most like to see. But it does open the door for a neat contrast against Libs past and present – allowing Mulcair to say he’ll consider working with the Libs and others toward common goals, while highlighting just what those goals are for the NDP. And if the Cons decide to follow up with another bizarre anti-cooperation crusade that pushes Mulcair to make stronger statements about the importance of working together rather than being as insular and narrowly-focused as Harper and company, then the result for the NDP figures to be all the better.

To win, Mulcair needs the full heft of the left

By Paul Wells - Friday, April 13, 2012 at 9:47 AM - 0 Comments

Mike Cassese/Reuters

And suddenly the left is on a roll in Canada. Sort of. “Canada’s got a new leader,” an NDP ad says. “Tom Mulcair.” This is not strictly accurate—Canada has the same old leader and merely a new Opposition leader—but never mind.

“We started something special together,” Mulcair says in the ads, eyes glinting. “Now let’s get the job done.”

As if on cue, the polls are lining up to offer a semblance of support for the idea that getting the job done is possible. A Léger poll published April 7 found the NDP at 33 per cent Canada-wide, the Conservatives 32 per cent, and the Liberals down at 19 per cent. That’s an eight-point decline for the Conservatives since last year’s election.

Continue…

‘Jack’s vision is in good hands’

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 10:14 AM - 0 Comments

As viewers of last night’s Blue Jays game know, the NDP has launched the English portion of its ad campaign.

The clip follows the script that was leaked to the CBC last month. If you watch Hockey Night in Canada, American Idol or the Good Wife you’ll apparently be seeing it.

Sleeves: rolled up

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 9:54 AM - 0 Comments

The NDP launches its campaign with an ad for the Quebec market.

Rae vs. Mulcair

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 9:21 AM - 0 Comments

Joan Bryden and Susan Delacourt note that, in addition to calling for Stephen Harper to resign, Bob Rae has turned his attention to Thomas Mulcair.

“If there was any doubt in anyone’s mind in Canada, let me just say that the era of love and good feeling is clearly over inside the NDP. It’s a new regime.”

Invoking Layton’s deathbed social democratic manifesto, Rae added: “We’ve now moved to a world where anger apparently is better than love, arrogance is now better than humility and petulance is much stronger than respect.”

The Commons: Accepting responsibilities without taking responsibility

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 5:48 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. ”Who was responsible for the F-35?” Thomas Mulcair asked at the outset.

This was both straightforward and profound. A direct question, but a philosophical riddle. If a massive abuse of procedure and accountability falls in the forest, but no one is named, blamed and shamed as the culprit, did it ever really happen? One is reminded of the moment last November when Tony Clement could not say precisely who had broken the rules in the G8 Legacy Fund affair.

“Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General is very clear regarding the responsibilities in this respect,” the Prime Minister offered by way of response.

Mr. Mulcair seemed to feel a lesson was in order. Our parliamentary system, he said, is based on the principle of ministerial responsibility. The minister is responsible for his ministry. The Prime Minister is responsible for picking his ministers.  ”Does the Prime Minister think,” Mr. Mulcair wondered, “that the Defence Minister has done his job?”

“Yes,” Mr. Harper offered. “The government and ministers accept their responsibilities.” Continue…

Selling the opposition

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 11:12 AM - 0 Comments

In a release this morning, the NDP announced the creation of an official app and hinted at more to come.

This new social media tool is the first step in a national outreach and advertising campaign that will be rolling out over the coming weeks.

The Commons: Stephen Harper’s Royal Canadian Air Farce

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 5:44 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. “They knew it.”

What did they know? They knew the cost of purchasing the F-35 would be higher than they had let on. This much, Thomas Mulcair explained, had now been proven by the Auditor General.

“Why,” the leader of the opposition thus asked, “did the Conservatives deliberately gave false information to Parliament and Canadians?”

The Prime Minister stood here, shrugged and dismissed it all. “Mr. Speaker, I do not accept these conclusions of the opposition leader,” Mr. Harper said, without elaborating. The Auditor General had, Mr. Harper explained, made “certain findings” and “identified the need for greater supervision.” The government accepted this much.

Switching to English, Mr. Mulcair was sharp and stinging in response. Continue…

Peter Julian’s one-man show

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 1:45 PM - 0 Comments

The NDP finance critic officially began his response to the budget with a few remarks shortly before 5pm last Thursday. The House then adjourned.

Mr. Julian picked up again on Friday morning at 10am. He spoke for an hour, then paused for statements by members and Question Period, then resumed around 12:15pm. He spoke for three hours until the House moved on to private members’ business.

On Monday at noon, the House returned to the budget debate and Mr. Julian picked up where he’d left off. He spoke for two hours until it was time for statements by members and Question Period. He resumed speaking at 3:30pm and remained on his feet until just about 6:30pm, when the House began adjournment proceedings.

Shortly after the House opened for business this morning at 10am, Mr. Julian rose to continue with his remarks. He informed the House that, after pausing for QP, he should be done speaking sometime around 4:30pm.

As the opposition member responding to the Finance Minister, Mr. Julian is subject to no time limit. He has invited members of the public to write in their comments on the budget and has been reading them into the record as he goes. The budget debate itself is subject to a maximum of four days of debate. By the time he’s finished, he will have taken up just less than three days of that.

Thomas Mulcair was asked yesterday about Mr. Julian’s speechifying and explained as follows. Continue…

Don’t call them ‘tar sands’

By Colby Cosh - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 11:39 AM - 0 Comments

Larry MacDougal/Newscom

It’s been said that there is no polite non-euphemism in the English language for the place we go to perform excretory functions. Most of the terms we consider neutral like “bathroom” or “water closet,” allude to the washing up that goes on there, and not the other stuff. Even “lavatory,” “latrine,” and “toilet” originally referred to cleansing and primping, and yet those words are still used, by necessity, to describe rooms without plumbing that are nothing but boxes on top of open pits. (Nobody bathes or washes in a traditional military “latrine,” yet the Latin etymology of the word implies bathing.)

Nobody minds, or really notices, this odd lexicographic situation. But something like it seems to be happening with that vast ocean of hydrocarbon gunk in northeastern Alberta that preoccupies policy-makers. To refer to them as the Athabasca “tar sands” has become a signal of opposition to their uninhibited exploitation. Calling them the “oil sands,” the industry-approved phrase, indicates that one is comfortable with digging them up and selling them to the highest bidder, whether Chinese or Chicagoan.

When Canada got a new permanent Opposition leader this week after seven months of waiting, not a full day passed before he was challenged on his record of criticizing the “tar sands” by that objectionable name. And Thomas Mulcair took the challenge seriously enough to try wriggling out of it.

Continue…