MPs will be participating virtually in the business of Parliament for another year under a plan announced Monday by the government House Leader.
Mark Holland said he has told House leaders from the other parties that the government is committed to having questions answered in person, barring serious health issues or the emergence of a new variant.
However, he said there’s a need to be mindful of the ongoing reality of COVID-19, noting that, last week, five MPs, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, had COVID-19 so could only participate by hybrid options.
“So this pandemic continues and so does the need to have flexibility,” he said, adding a motion on the issue is to be reviewed by a parliamentary committee.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, rules were enacted allowing MPs the option of virtual participation in the House and voting through an app on their phones.
But John Brassard, the Conservative House leader, rejected Mr. Holland’s proposal.
“When the Liberals talk about a hybrid Parliament, what they are really talking about is setting up a Parliament where they can be less accountable,” he told a news conference.
“Having MPs in this place, debating, standing up and having their vote counted is critical to, not just this institution, but the way our Parliamentary democracy functions.”
Mr. Brassard said the physical absence of ministers allows them to avoid media and opposition questioning, and is also causing stress for interpreters – a situation detailed here.
“There’s no reason the House of Commons can’t return to in-person sitting in the fall,” he said, adding it was “beyond me” why the issue had come up in the last week of Parliament.
He also said he would need to see some science and other evidence to justify the policy.
Still, he said he had spoken to Mr. Holland on Monday morning. “We’re preparing some things we think are going to make the motion better.”
The party House leaders debated plans for the fall Monday as the spring sitting nears its end. The House is scheduled to break on Thursday for the summer, but could rise sooner. House sittings are scheduled to resume on Sept. 19.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
GOVERNMENT COMMITS TO UPGRADE NORAD – The Canadian government will spend $4.9-billion over six years to help upgrade continental defences as part of a modernization of NORAD to deal with the growing threat posed by hypersonic missiles and advanced cruise missile technology developed by Russia and China. Story here.
MPS MAY GET PANIC BUTTONS: MENDICINO – Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says he is looking into giving MPs panic buttons to increase their personal security. Story here.
BOISCLAIR PLEADS GUILTY – Former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair has pleaded guilty to having sexually assaulted two men in 2014 and 2015. Story here from The Montreal Gazette.
LOBBYING COMMISSIONER PROPOSES CODE OF CONDUCT CHANGES – The federal Commissioner of Lobbying is proposing changes to the industry’s code of conduct, including shortening the “cooling-off” period for lobbyists who have worked on political campaigns. Story here.
SOVEREIGNTY BACK AS A POINT OF DISCUSSION IN QUEBEC – Talk of sovereignty has returned to Quebec politics. The government of Premier François Legault has made a series of gestures that have raised the periodic question of the province’s place within Canada. Story here.
LAWSUIT AGAINST FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CERTIFIED – The Federal Court of Canada has certified a class-action lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of off-reserve Indigenous children who were taken from their families and placed in non-Indigenous care. Story here.
TALIBAN TRACKING WORKERS ON CANADIAN-FUNDED AID PROJECTS – Two hundred Afghans, mostly women who worked on Canadian-funded aid projects in Afghanistan, are being tracked down by the Taliban and are in hiding after the militants obtained their names from a confiscated cellphone. Story here.
LIBERALS NEED TO DEFINE POILIEVIRE NOW: POLITICAL PLAYERS – With the presumed Conservative leadership front-runner Pierre Poilievre widely expected to become party leader on Sept. 10, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals should start to define their future opponent now before he gets a chance to define himself, say top political players. Story here from The Hill Times.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
POILIEVRE PROMISES “FREE SPEECH GUARDIAN” – Pierre Poilievre announced, in a statement, that, if he becomes prime minister, he would tie federal funding for universities through research funding and grants to upholding Section 2 of the charter, which includes freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication and freedom of association. And he would appoint a former judge, known as a Free Speech Guardian, who will report on compliance by universities and will investigate claims of academic censorship.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, June 20, accessible here.
FREELAND HOSTS YELLEN – In Toronto, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, also the Finance Minister, is meeting throughout the day with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The day includes a working lunch, an armchair discussion at the Rotman School of Management, a tour of Evoco, a Canadian biotechnology company, a joint press conference and a working dinner.
GUILBEAULT AND DUCLOS ANNOUNCE PLASTIC POLICY – Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, and Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos held a hybrid news conference in Quebec City to announce a new policy on how companies manage plastic bags. Details here.
O’TOOLE REFLECTS – Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, in an interview on CBC Radio’s The House, talks about the convoy, China and the caucus revolt that ended his leadership. Check here.
FORD ANNOUNCING CABINET FRIDAY – Ontario Premier Doug Ford will unveil his new post-election cabinet on Friday as he and that cabinet are sworn in in Toronto.
THE DECIBEL
On Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast,Bill Curry, the Globe’s Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief, explains the limits to the levers the governing Liberals can pull on for the economic quandary of dealing with skyrocketing prices and correcting prices in grocery stores and at the pump. Last week, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled the Liberals’ plan to tackle inflation, which was 6.8 per cent in April. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
OPINION
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail)on whether the Liberal Party can replace Justin Trudeau: “Any other party, with any other leader, would already have plans, or plots, to replace him. Yet for the Liberal Party of Canada, the big challenge would be finding a replacement leader who isn’t seen as a pale imitation – a Trudeau Liberal who isn’t Justin Trudeau. By profile, the obvious contender is Chrystia Freeland, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, who now delivers budgets, handles major policy files, steps in for the Prime Minister on key occasions, and often stands next to him for major announcements. But if the problem with Mr. Trudeau seeking re-election in 2025 is that it’s been too much Trudeau, and Canadians are tired of the way he’s done things, it’s hard to imagine Ms. Freeland being seen as the wind of change. And for all the weight Ms. Freeland has in Mr. Trudeau’s government – she led NAFTA talks with Mr. Trump’s administration, helped build political peace with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and is responsible for the pandemic-recovery fiscal plan – she isn’t a political performer like the PM. Few people are.”
Tanya Talaga (The Globe and Mail)on following seven sacred teachings in this graduation season: “June is graduation season. It is also National Indigenous History month, four weeks set aside to celebrate and reflect on what it means to be First Nations, Métis or Inuit. It is not lost on me that the quintessential juxtaposition of Canada is experienced this month, in two starkly different realities: a celebration of obtaining a diploma in a country where, for about 100 years, children were forced to attend so-called schools that worked to erase who they were – places that took so much that generations afterward continue to pay the price of what Canada did.”
Charlie Angus (Policy Magazine) on being an MP in the age of conspiracy: “Parliament Hill security is advising elected officials to scope out public events before entering, to be briefed in advance on potential threats, and have an escape plan in case things go wrong. The security experts admitted that the toxicity, rage and threats faced by elected officials have become so amped up it’s difficult to come up with workable solutions.”
Steve Paikin (TVO) on the hard questions that Ontario Greens to ask themselves: “Let me state right here that Green-party acolytes aren’t going to like what I’m about to write, because I’m going to put some uncomfortable facts about the Greens on the record. Green candidates have been contesting elections in Ontario since 1985. That’s 11 election campaigns. During those campaigns, 1,290 seats have been up for grabs. The Greens have won one seat, twice — leader Mike Schreiner’s, in Guelph.”
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The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
VANCOUVER – An incumbent BC United legislative member has reversed her decision not to seek re-election and has announced she’ll run as an Independent in the riding of West Vancouver-Capilano in the upcoming British Columbia election.
Karin Kirkpatrick has been a vocal critic of BC United Leader Kevin Falcon’s decision last month to suspend the party’s campaign and throw support behind the B.C. Conservatives under John Rustad.
Kirkpatrick announced her retirement this year, but said Monday that her decision to re-enter the race comes as a direct result of Falcon’s actions, which would force middle-of-the-road voters to “swing to the left” to the NDP or to move further right to the Conservatives.
“I did hear from a lot of constituents and a lot of people who were emailing me from across B.C. … that they didn’t have anybody to vote for,” she said. “And so, I looked even at myself, and I looked at my riding, and I said, ‘Well, I no longer have anybody to vote for in my own riding.’ It was clearly an issue of this missing middle for the more moderate voter.”
She said voters who reached out “don’t want to vote for an NDP government but felt deeply uncomfortable” supporting the provincial Conservatives, citing Rustad’s tolerance of what she calls “extreme views and conspiracy theorists.”
Kirkpatrick joins four other incumbent Opposition MLAs running as Independents, including Peace River South’s Mike Bernier, Peace River North’s Dan Davies, Prince George-Cariboo’s Coralee Oakes and Tom Shypitka in Kootenay-Rockies.
“To be honest, we talk just about every day,” Kirkpatrick said about her fellow BC United incumbents now running as Independents. “We’re all feeling the same way. We all need to kind of hold each other up and make sure we’re doing the right thing.”
She added that a number of first-time candidates formerly on the BC United ticket are contacting the group of incumbents running for election, and the group is working together “as good moderates who respect each other and lift each other up.”
But Kirkpatrick said it’s also too early to talk about the future of BC United or the possibility of forming a new party.
“The first thing we need to do is to get these Independent MLAs elected into the legislature,” she said, noting a strong group could play a power-broker role if a minority government is elected. “Once we’re there then we’re all going to come together and we’re going to figure out, is there something left in BC United, BC Liberals that we can resurrect, or do we need to start a new party that’s in the centre?”
She said there’s a big gap left in the political spectrum in the province.
“So, we just have to do it in a mindful way, to make sure it’s representing the broadest base of people in B.C.”
Among the supporters at Kirkpatrick’s announcement Monday was former longtime MLA Ralph Sultan, who held West Vancouver-Capilano for almost two decades before retiring in 2020.
The Metro Vancouver riding has been a stronghold for the BC Liberals — the former BC United — since its formation in 1991, with more than half of the votes going to the centre-right party in every contest.
However, Kirkpatrick’s winning margin of 53.6 per cent to the NDP’s 30.1 per cent and the Green’s 15.4 per cent in the 2020 election shows a rising trend for left-leaning voters in the district.
Mike McDonald, chief strategy officer with Kirk and Co. Consulting, and a former campaign director for the BC Liberals and chief of staff under former Premier Christy Clark, said Independent candidates historically face an uphill battle and the biggest impact may be splitting votes in areas where the NDP could emerge victorious.
“It really comes down to, if the NDP are in a position to get 33 per cent of the vote, they might have a chance of winning,” McDonald said of the impact of an Independent vote-split with the Conservatives in certain ridings.
He said B.C. history shows it’s very hard for an Independent to win an election and has been done only a handful of times.
“So, the odds do not favour Independents winning the seats unless there is a very unique combination of circumstances, and more likely that they play a role as a spoiler, frankly.”
The B.C. Conservatives list West Vancouver School District Trustee Lynne Block as its candidate in West Vancouver-Capilano, while the BC NDP is represented by health care professional Sara Eftekhar.
Kirkpatrick said she is confident that her re-entry to the race will not result in a vote split that allows the NDP to win the seat because the party has always had a poor showing in the riding.
“So, even if there is competition between myself and the Conservative candidate, it is highly unlikely that anything would swing over to the NDP here. And I believe that I have the ability to actually attract those NDP voters to me, as well as the Conservatives and Liberals who are feeling just lost right now.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Egypt on Tuesday for his 10th trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began nearly a year ago, this one aimed partly at refining a proposal to present to Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire deal and release of hostages.
Unlike in recent mediating missions, America’s top diplomat this time is traveling without optimistic projections from the Biden administration of an expected breakthrough in the troubled negotiations.
Also unlike the earlier missions, Blinken has no public plans to go to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this trip. The Israeli leader’s fiery public statements — like his declaration that Israel would accept only “total victory” when Blinken was in the region in June — and some other unbudgeable demands have complicated earlier diplomacy.
Blinken is going to Egypt for talks Wednesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and others, in a trip billed as focused both on American-Egyptian relations and Gaza consultations with Egypt.
The tamped-down public approach follows months in which President Joe Biden and his officials publicly talked up an agreement to end the war in Gaza as being just within reach, hoping to build pressure on Netanyahu’s far-right government and Hamas to seal a deal.
The Biden administration now says it is working with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to come up with a revised final proposal to try to at least get Israel and Hamas into a six-week cease-fire that would free some of the hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Americans believe public attention on details of the talks now would only hurt that effort.
American, Qatari and Egyptian officials still are consulting “about what that proposal will contain, and …. we’re trying to see that it’s a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday.
The State Department pointed to Egypt’s important role in Gaza peace efforts in announcing last week that the Biden administration planned to give the country its full $1.3 billion in military aid, overriding congressional requirements that the U.S. hold back some of the funding if Egypt fails to show adequate progress on human rights. Blinken told Congress that Egypt has made progress on human rights, including in freeing political prisoners.
Blinken’s trip comes amid the risk of a full-on new front in the Middle East, with Israel threatening increasing military action against the Hezbollah militant organization in Lebanon. Biden envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel on Monday to try to calm tensions after a stop in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has one of the strongest militaries in the Middle East, and like Hamas and smaller groups in Syria and Iraq it is allied with Iran.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged strikes across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas started the war in Gaza. Hezbollah says it will ease those strikes — which have uprooted tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border — only when there’s a cease-fire in Gaza.
Hochstein told Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help get Israelis back in their homes, according to a U.S. official. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, said Hochstein stressed to Netanyahu that he risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon.
Hochstein also underscored to Israeli officials that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the tensions on Israel’s northern border in conjunction with a Gaza deal or on its own, the official said.
Netanyahu told Hochstein that it would “not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north.” The prime minister said Israel “appreciates and respects” U.S. support but “will do what is necessary to maintain its security and return the residents of the north to their homes safely.”
Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, warned in his meeting with Hochstein that “the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action,” his office said.
In Gaza, the U.S. says Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal in principle and that the biggest obstacles now include a disagreement on details of the hostage and prisoner swap and control over a buffer zone on the border between Gaza and Egypt. Netanyahu has demanded in recent weeks that the Israeli military be allowed to keep a presence in the Philadelphi corridor. Egypt and Hamas have rejected that demand.
The Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people. Militants also abducted 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. About a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, said Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count. The war has caused widespread destruction, displaced a majority of Gaza’s people and created a humanitarian crisis.
Netanyahu says he is working to bring home the hostages. His critics accuse him of slow-rolling a deal because it could bring down his hardline coalition government, which includes members opposed to a truce with the Palestinians.
Asked earlier this month if Netanyahu was doing enough for a cease-fire deal, Biden said, simply, “no.” But he added that he still believed a deal was close.
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
