[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[crazy canuck]

How is it a lie?   

McLachlin called, Harper didn't take the call.  This has been confirmed by both parties.

I refuse to believe you are that simple.  The implication in the press release and the statements made in the House are that the Chief Justice did something wrong.  That is the lie.  What the Chief Justice did was entirely appropriate and indeed required of her office.

Further the initial press release tried to suggest the phone call was related to the case that eventually came before the court.  Indeed the PM said in the House that the Chief ought to have known the case would be before the court when the call was made.  That in dishonest at the very least. At that stage nobody had been selected.  How was the Chief to know Nadon would be the nominee let alone that a case would be launched challenging his appointment.

As Malthus said, this does not survive any form of smell test.   

[crazy canuck]

I think Mulcair has gone a long way to reinforce his image of being a bit of an ass.   I sometimes wonder how the NPD would be doing if Jack was still the leader.

Thomas Mulcair was combative from start to finish as he testified in front of a committee of the House to defend the NDP's use of parliamentary funds under intense Conservative and Liberal questioning.

In a series of testy exchanges, the NDP Leader questioned the legal credentials of Liberal MP and lawyer Dominic LeBlanc, and dismissively referred to Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth as "coco" in French.

"It was not interdicted prior to that," Mr. Mulcair said. "There is no way that you can apply that retroactively."

Mr. Mulcair did not hide his dislike for the committee probe, stating other party leaders have not had to testify in front of their rivals in such a way. "In my 36 years in government, I've never seen the governing party get together with its hand-maiden in the third party to convene the Leader of the Opposition," Mr. Mulcair said.

After he answered a series of questions from Liberal MP Sean Casey, Mr. Mulcair said: "Sorry to destroy your Perry Mason moment, Mr. Casey."

He told Mr. LeBlanc, who has a master's of law from Harvard: "I thought you were a lawyer, maybe I was mistaken."

Mr. Mulcair also engaged in a series of vigorous exchanges with Mr. Woodworth, with the two lawyers lobbing Latin phrases back-and-forth at one point. Rejecting the arguments of Mr. Woodworth, Mr. Mulcair offered to send him a signed copy of his 1979 book on legal procedure.

"I guess we underestimated the extent to which you are able to make something out of nothing," Mr. Mulcair told Mr. Woodworth.

At another point, Mr. Mulcair told Mr. Woodworth: "I'm giving you a full answer, coco."

Mr. Woodworth had started off questioning by asking a series of "Yes or No" questions to Mr. Mulcair, but the NDP Leader rarely obliged, to Mr. Woodworth's displeasure. "Surely I'm entitled to ask questions about what I'm interested in, and not get prevented by the witness rambling on," Mr. Woodworth said.

The controversy goes back to shortly after the 2011 election, when NDP MPs in Quebec pooled their resources to hire staff that served their overall communications needs in the province. The staff first worked in Montreal, but new joint offices were set up in Toronto and Quebec City. There were also plans for an office in Saskatchewan, a province in which the NDP has no MP, but the move was nixed given the recent controversy.

Conservative MPs said the rules clearly state that parliamentary staff have to be based either in Parliament or a constituency office. After the committee meeting, Conservative MP Blake Richards accused the NDP of having misused parliamentary funds.

"They must repay the money," he told reporters.

Mr. LeBlanc told reporters that putting parliamentary staff in a party office wrong, and that the April change to the parliamentary bylaws was akin to an injunction to shut down the NDP satellite offices.

"I wouldn't find it acceptable that my taxpayers' funded staff would be working in a Liberal Party office in Fredericton ... Only Mr. Mulcair seems to think that that respects the rules of the House of Commons," Mr. LeBlanc said.

However, Mr. Mulcair said a number of times during the committee meeting that the NDP was behaving in many ways exactly like its Liberal and Conservative opponents, especially in terms of sending out partisan material by mail.

"We're not going to roll over," he said.

The Conservatives moved a motion toward the end of the meeting to call the Clerk of the House of Commons, Audrey O'Brien, as a witness on the matter. The Liberals are expected to support the motion when it comes to a debate at the next committee meeting.

[HVC]

Wrong thread.

[Grey Fox]

https://translate.google.ca/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lapresse.ca%2Factualites%2Fpolitique%2Fpolitique-canadienne%2F201405%2F19%2F01-4767974-le-quebec-doit-cesser-de-queter-dit-maxime-bernier.php&edit-text=&act=url

Son of a bitch, I agree with what a Conservative MP is saying.

[HVC]

Nice sentiment, but it'll never happen. Taking money while playing the victim is too easy and perhaps too ingrained. Plus you'd have to cut some funding and than your students would riot again.

[crazy canuck]

Sounds like the Ontario NDP have really stepped in it - causing an election to be called just so they can get destroyed at the polls.

I dont know much about the election other than what I have been reading in the Globe the last couple of days but after reading Simpon's piece it sure sounds like the NDP had no idea what they wanted to accomplish when they brought down the government - other than forcing an election.

[viper37]

Trudeau wants to interfere with province's management of education by dictating them what they should teach, letting them decide how to teach it, so, according to him, that would respect the Constitution's spirit.

Nothing new under the sun, Liberal party trying to get a dysfunctionning country even worst.

[crazy canuck]

Trudeau wants to interfere with province's management of education by dictating them what they should teach, letting them decide how to teach it, so, according to him, that would respect the Constitution's spirit.

Nothing new under the sun, Liberal party trying to get a dysfunctionning country even worst.

That seems an odd thing for him to choose to have a jurisdicitional battle over.  Is there a link?

[Josephus]

Sounds like the Ontario NDP have really stepped in it - causing an election to be called just so they can get destroyed at the polls.

I dont know much about the election other than what I have been reading in the Globe the last couple of days but after reading Simpon's piece it sure sounds like the NDP had no idea what they wanted to accomplish when they brought down the government - other than forcing an election.

Read this post of mine from May 3

Am very disappointed with Ontario's NDP and will likely vote Liberal. The Liberal's have put forth a fairly progressive (and pro-labour) budget, but the NDP decided not to support it thinking they can cash in on the scandals and win more seats. They may win more seats, but in a Conservative-led government. Stupid. I hope they get massacred.

[crazy canuck]

 

[viper37]

Trudeau wants to interfere with province's management of education by dictating them what they should teach, letting them decide how to teach it, so, according to him, that would respect the Constitution's spirit.

Nothing new under the sun, Liberal party trying to get a dysfunctionning country even worst.

That seems an odd thing for him to choose to have a jurisdicitional battle over.  Is there a link?

can't find one in english, so it must not have been talked about outside of Quebec.

[crazy canuck]

Trudeau wants to interfere with province's management of education by dictating them what they should teach, letting them decide how to teach it, so, according to him, that would respect the Constitution's spirit.

Nothing new under the sun, Liberal party trying to get a dysfunctionning country even worst.

That seems an odd thing for him to choose to have a jurisdicitional battle over.  Is there a link?

can't find one in english, so it must not have been talked about outside of Quebec.

If he said what you posted it would have been front page news here.  I suspect your interpretation/translation may not be entirely accurate. 

[Malthus]

I still have no fucking clue who to vote for in Ontario. All of the parties are terrible.

[Grey Fox]

I still have no fucking clue who to vote for in Ontario. All of the parties are terrible.

Be a good jew, vote Liberal.

[crazy canuck]

I still have no fucking clue who to vote for in Ontario. All of the parties are terrible.

Yeah, viewing the election from afar it sure seems a mess.