There is a serious problem in the Commons
right now, where the Conservative government has invoked
time allocation after a mere two hours of debate on eight bills now. They tried
to invoke closure on clause-by-clause examination of the omnibus crime bill in
committee (though that dispute came to a compromise). They are trying to neuter
the role of Parliament to examine bills and to hold the government to account
through debate and scrutiny of the public accounts; they are mere steps
away from shuttering the place entirely and simply issuing press releases and
shrugging. And what do We The Media focus on? Pat Martin said a bad word on
Twitter! Oh noes! But he did it to draw attention to closure! Um, right – so
why are We The Media still talking about Martin’s F-bomb and not the very real
problem of closure and time allocation? Oh, right. It’s a process story, and nobody
cares about those. Carry on then.
Conservative chief apple polisher Candice
Hoeppner took the klassy move of attacking the Canadian Association of Chiefs
of Police because they were trying to argue that the long-gun registry is a
useful investigative tool that traces firearm ownership history (which makes
gun owners more accountable). But hey, since when does evidence trump ideology?
A Conservative MP wants to make it a crime
to wear a mask during a riot. Um, okay. So what is your definition of “unlawful
assembly”? And riots are generally illegal already? I fail to see the point of
said bill, other than trying to cash in on the Vancouver riots.
Despite the fact that it would affect
military operations that the plane is used for, Stephen Harper has won his
battle with DND and is getting his main Airbus plane repainted next year to be
more “prime ministerial.” Or is this not the right juncture to cough
“presidential envy”?
The RCMP Public Complaints Commission is going to investigate harassment claims only back to 2005, which may not be far
enough.
It took only 28 years to get there, but
it took the Supreme Court all of 20 minutes to rule unanimously in a pay equity fight against Canada Post.
NDP leadership candidate Peggy Nash says that Canada
isn’t a “normal” country under the Harper Conservatives. Erm, we still have a
functioning economy, the rule of law, democratic institutions, an independent
judiciary, a military under civilian control, people don’t get “disappeared,”
and for the most part, civil liberties and human rights are pretty firmly
entrenched. So what exactly is Nash’s “normal” baseline?
On the topic of the NDP leadership, Paul
McLeod of the Chronicle Herald finds
the party has been a bit disingenuous with the membership numbers they’ve been
posting.
And Justin Trudeau gives a little striptease for a liver disease fundraiser.
Why you can trust Xtra
