We might still get around to having a real conversation in this country about why and how the Correctional Service of Canada decided to transfer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security facility.
But it’s increasingly unclear that Marco Mendicino will still be the public safety minister if or when that conversation happens.
In the meantime, the Conservative leader’s decision to demand the minister’s resignation on Wednesday likely only ensures that Mendicino remains in place until a cabinet shuffle expected sometime later this summer.
The demand for Mendicino’s exit was prompted by the CBC’s report that staff in the minister’s office were aware of Paul Bernardo’s pending transfer as far back as March 2. Subsequent reporting confirmed that the Prime Minister’s Office was also made aware in March and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was himself briefed on the transfer on May 29.
According to the version of events presented by the government, the minister’s staff did not feel it necessary to tell him about the transfer of one of Canada’s most notorious murderers until May 30, a day after the move was made and a day after Trudeau was briefed.
It’s not obvious why Mendicino’s advisers would keep their advance notice to themselves.
According to the minister’s spokesperson, the office spent those weeks exploring whether the minister had any discretion to overturn the CSC’s decision — and determined or decided that no such option existed. That is an important point that should be part of any debate about prison transfers.
But that apparent lack of options doesn’t mean there was no reason to tell the minister about something that he inevitably would be asked about by reporters anyway.
Poilievre, Mendicino trade heated words over Bernardo prison transfer
During an intense exchange in question period, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre asked Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino about what he knew of Paul Bernardo’s transfer to a medium security prison. Poilievre has called on the minister to resign.
And if they really did neglect to alert the minister to Bernardo’s impending transfer, it’s still puzzling that they also apparently failed to keep him from describing the transfer as “shocking” when he released a statement on June 2. That’s not the word to use when, conceivably, you could have known about the event in question for three months.
In that same statement, Mendicino expressed concern with how the transfer was handled and said he would be speaking to the CSC commissioner directly. But it’s now obvious that Mendicino could have done that before the transfer occurred.
Mendicino has now issued a new directive that stipulates, in part, that the CSC must “formally and directly” notify the minister when a dangerous or high-profile offender is transferred. That only reinforces the fact that something went terribly wrong here.
Is a minister about to lose his job?
Despite the highly emotional and traumatic subject matter, this episode might still be marked down as only an unfortunate breakdown — except that it’s difficult to view this latest controversy as an isolated incident, either for the minister or this government.
The Conservatives presented their own lengthy list of Mendicino’s mishaps on Wednesday. And while some of the items on that list may have been unfairly framed, Mendicino’s time at public safety has also been much messier than it needed to be.
A year ago, he talked himself into trouble when he suggested that the advice of law enforcement agencies had led the federal cabinet to invoke the Emergencies Act. A lack of clarity about what that advice entailed eventually culminated in an earlier round of demands for Mendicino’s resignation.
Several months later, Mendicino’s gun control legislation turned into an unnecessary problem for the government. After it passed comfortably at second reading, the Liberals decided to try to amend the bill while it was at committee.
Pandemonium ensued and the government ultimately was compelled to back down. More than a year after C-21 was first introduced, it is still winding its way through the Senate.
In the media realm, three similar things in a row constitutes a trend — and so now Mendicino will be described as “embattled” or “beleaguered.”
If it still seems unlikely that Mendicino will resign or be fired, that’s only because a government almost never gains anything from such transactions. If anything, the resignation of a minister usually only confirms that something went sideways. And when the Official Opposition is demanding someone’s resignation, a government has all the more reason to deprive their rivals of a victory.
A prime minister is more likely to hold on and wait for the next cabinet shuffle, at which point a minister can be given a different portfolio (or dropped entirely) as part of a series of moves. For that reason, the consequences flowing from this latest episode might not become apparent until the prime minister — as expected — resets his cabinet this summer.
Another problem with the flow of information
But the government’s problems go beyond Mendicino and questions about the corrections system. As NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh noted on Wednesday, this is not the first paperwork-related breakdown for the Liberals.
“I think this is a problem that’s bigger than just a minister resigning,” Singh told reporters. “There’s a culture in this government where multiple ministers have had serious allegations of not properly reading emails.”
In April, International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan had to admit he had missed emails that might have alerted him to the fact that a senator was distributing unauthorized travel documents. And one of the major findings in David Johnston’s report on foreign interference was that a key memo from CSIS failed to reach Bill Blair, Mendicino’s predecessor as public safety minister.
Poilievre calls for Mendicino to resign
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre calls for Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino to resign following a CBC News exclusive that says staff in the minister’s office were notified of Paul Bernardo’s prison transfer months in advance.
One such incident looks unfortunate. Two seems sloppy. Three suggests there might be a real problem.
A year ago, this government was struggling to gain control over a series of breakdowns in service delivery — things like issuing passports. The ministers involved eventually got their departments back on track but the government came away from that experience with the sense that it needed to put a renewed focus on basic competence — on simply making sure the machinery of government runs smoothly.
The last few months suggest that the flow of information within government might be as big a problem now as passports used to be.
There is, as always, some chance that these are merely isolated incidents, that there won’t soon be another example to add to this list of email-induced controversies. But the Liberals probably can’t afford to assume that.
Even if there is no new public safety minister come the fall, the government has much more to fear from very basic — and damning — questions about its competence.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.
Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.
Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.
“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”
Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.
Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.
Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.
Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).
“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”
Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.
Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.
“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.
UP NEXT
Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.
Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.
Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”
The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.
King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”
SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.
The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.
Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.
Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”
He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.
In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
