Opinion: David Eby abandoned Robinson after one weekend because the NDP couldn’t afford the political hit in Surrey, a community whose votes and financial contributions it needs in an election year
VICTORIA — Premier David Eby tried this week to rationalize why he abandoned his support for Selina Robinson, and instead insisted that she resign from cabinet over her ill-advised comment on Palestine.
He told reporters that Robinson had violated his standards for cabinet ministers by attacking a vulnerable community.
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He had initially thought that she could repair the damage by reaching out and trying to placate those she had hurt.
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But after taking further soundings over the weekend, Eby felt she had too much repair work to do. He believed she couldn’t also fulfil her responsibilities as minister of post-secondary education.
“The math doesn’t add up,” he claimed.
But there are good reasons for doubting the premier’s version, starting with his insistence that he has established standards for behaviour for cabinet ministers that will be enforced consistently.
Take the case of Mitzi Dean, until recently Eby’s minister of children and family development.
Starting last June, she was under fire over the “house of horrors” case. Two Indigenous children were repeatedly tortured by their foster parents to the point where one died and the other endured severe injury.
Dean’s ministry failed to do its duty to check up on the children for months at a time.
There were multiple calls for Dean to accept responsibility for her ministry’s failings and resign. Critics also questioned her competence to carry on.
“We’ve heard from the minister herself,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, whose wife Joan was the newly elected NDP MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant. “She (Dean) has about three or four speaking points and pretty much every time she responded that yes, it was a terrible situation.
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“She will not acknowledge that it was a homicide or anything like that. She just keeps repeating that it is a terrible situation and she’ll do better. That’s not good enough. A child has died here needlessly.”
If there’s a more vulnerable group in the province than Indigenous children in the care of a ministry that neglects to care for them, I can’t think what it would be.
Still, Eby stood by his failing minister and her failing ministry.
“She has my confidence,” he told reporters. He pleaded that Dean herself was “profoundly affected” by the case, as if she were some sort of victim.
Eby’s stance was in keeping with the rule of “no trophies” in politics. Premiers fear that to dump a minister means conceding that the critics are right, whetting appetites for more and acknowledging that the appointment may have been a mistake in the first place.
The premier stood by his beleaguered minister of children and family development through the summer and fall, letting her twist slowly in the wind while under fire in the legislature.
Not until last month did Eby finally remove Dean from the ministry. Even then it was merely a demotion to a junior ministry of state, not an outright firing. So much for the notion that Eby demands high standards of ministers and disciplines them accordingly.
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The premier characterized the Dean downgrade as “a reluctant decision” that he and the MLA “reached together.”
He made the same claim Monday regarding the outright ouster of Robinson: “We reached the conclusion together.”
Alas for the premier, the supposed willing partner in this exercise in joint decision-making, Robinson, was nowhere to be found.
The New Democrats can’t make it through a news conference without lining up a half-dozen stakeholders to thank the government and attest to the wisdom of the day’s announcement.
But there was Eby, justifying one of the tougher decisions of his time in office, and having to do it solo because the minister he had pushed out the door declined to be present to validate it.
The third dubious aspect of Eby’s presentation was his explanation for what changed between Friday — when he was still standing by Robinson — and Monday when he decided she had to go.
Over the weekend, a dozen-and-a-half Muslim leaders announced that New Democrats would no longer be welcome in their communities so long as Robinson remained in cabinet.
The New Democrats were also forced to cancel a fundraising dinner in Surrey, an all-hands-on-deck event in a community critical to the NDP in this election year.
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The mosque boycott and the cancelled fundraiser showed Eby the political stakes of standing by Robinson. It was a “math” problem all right, but one of votes and dollars, not time management.
Eby maintained Dean in her ministry for seven months because it was not in his political interest to hand a trophy to the relatively powerless critics calling for her resignation.
He abandoned Robinson after one weekend because the NDP couldn’t afford the political hit in a community whose votes and financial contributions it needs in an election year.
The premier frames himself as a leader of principle, governing with high standards.
But with the cases of Mitzi Dean and Selina Robinson, he looks more like a politician who makes the decision that suits his political interest, then rummages around for some principles to justify it.
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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax
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