Oh, Peter MacKay. After claiming that the
helicopter ride he took from a fishing lodge to a waiting Challenger jet was
part of a preordained search-and-rescue exercise, new documents have shown that no, that was not indeed the case, that military officials warned him
against taking the helicopter, that the landing area wasn’t big enough for said
helicopter (resulting in their having to airlift him in a basket), and that they
would have to put said operation in the “guise” of a search-and-rescue training
mission because they knew that eventually someone would put in an access-to-information request and make this very uncomfortable for all of them. And lo
and behold, that’s what happened. Of course, judging from his history (ie –
swearing up and down that he would never lead a merger with the Canadian
Alliance and then whoops, suddenly he’s in bed with Stephen Harper), one has to
wonder just why people put any credence in what MacKay says at all.
Statistics Canada says that 93 percent of
Canadians don’t feel threatened by crime. Has anyone let the Conservatives
know? And that they probably can’t claim their “strong mandate” covers their
tough-on-crime bills? Just saying.
The technical amendments to the victims of
terrorism provisions of the omnibus crime bill will indeed be tabled in the Senate.
Because we don’t need the Senate, and every piece of legislation that comes
from the House of Commons is perfect through the magical wisdom bestowed upon
MPs by means of elections. Meanwhile, considerations for mental illness
continue to be ignored in said omnibus crime bill.
James Moore tells the heritage committee
that he’s cutting bureaucrats in his department to give more money to the arts.
Or for monuments to the War of 1812, anyway.
Here’s a bizarre video where Aboriginal
Affairs Minister John Duncan contradicts himself repeatedly on the situation in
Attawapiskat.
Julian Fantino says we can’t compare the
price we’re paying for F-35s to what Norway is paying because each country has
its own “separate and distinct formula.” Um, okay. Meanwhile, our new
helicopters are years late, and as a result it’s messing up DND’s budget
because of the money that has to be pushed around and delayed until we take
delivery.
What’s that? People who can’t get
doctor-assisted suicides will end up getting them from a “back-alley” provider as happened with abortions back in the day? You don’t say!
And the author of the Access to Information
Act, retiring Senator Francis Fox, suggests tying deputy ministers’ bonuses to
their departments’ access-to-information performance.
Why you can trust Xtra
