With the Speaker’s ruling on those questions of privilege – basically, is Parliament the supreme authority or the executive (and we know it’s Parliament) – due anytime this week, there has been a bit more written on how so much of this whole drama continues to draw parallels between Harper and Charles II. And this is something that we should keep in mind when these questions of the supremacy of Parliament, or the notions of accountability that Harper pays lip service to but actually shuts down, are discussed.
Friday’s Question Period drinking game saw nine instances of “culture of deceit.” Conservative Pierre Poilievre was clever and retorted once about the Liberal “culture of repeat.” And then Vic Toews classed it up with the “opposition coalition of deceit.” Klass-with-a-k, everyone. Also, NDP MP Bill Siksay also got in a question:
Mr. Speaker, there is a treaty banning chemical weapons and one banning biological weapons. However, so far, no similar effort has been successful to ban nuclear weapons. The danger they pose cannot be underestimated.
Over 500 members of the Order of Canada continue to press the government in their campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons. They have joined the UN Secretary-General in calling for the negotiation of a treaty to ban nuclear weapons.
Will Canada support a nuclear weapons convention? Better still, will Canada seek a leadership position in its negotiation?
In response, Lawrence Cannon told him that Canada was taking a “leadership role.”
The Conservatives are trying to resurrect two of the more controversial lapsed provisions from the anti-terrorism bill. Funny thing – the country’s former chief spy says that this is not only useless, but a very bad idea. Perhaps his is an opinion we should pay attention to – unless of course this government decides that he’s not “credible.”
The music industry says the iPod levy won’t help the industry survive the digital age. But therein lies the rub – it wasn’t the industry it was supposed to help, but the artists directly. Perhaps we should keep that in mind.
It looks like the Liberals will succeed in getting their members to toe the line on the gun registry votes, and most are saying publicly that they’re satisfied with the compromise that Ignatieff has proposed.
If you want to see the mainstream media completely miss the point on the CHVI facility cancellation story, compare the Canadian Press story with the one I wrote here.
And finally, Her Excellency’s trip to Africa challenges some of the notions about the country as an “aid receptacle,” but also shows the dangers of Canada’s decreasing engagement with the continent.
Up today – Debate begins on the refugee reform bill.
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