The Liberals have decided to take to the airwaves to step up their criticism of the Conservatives’ decision to prorogue Parliament. There are a couple of different radio ads, but both have this similar tone:
The ominous tone of the “cover-up” does hearken back to the days of the Conservatives’ hidden agenda, which isn’t so hidden (or at least isn’t so hidden if you’re paying attention, which sadly not enough Canadians are). But hey, it’s good to see that they’re actually saying something and not being too shy about calling a spade a spade around this.
Just hours later, the PMO responded, and what are the talking points? Quite predictably, they’re calling this another attack against our men and women in uniform. Really? No matter how many times the Opposition says point blank that this isn’t about the soldiers, but rather about the government issuing the orders? It’s tiresome, pedantic and above all, utterly absurd in its falsehood. I’d say ‘nice try,’ but it wasn’t even.
Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre told CTV’s Question Period yesterday that the government needs those six weeks to consult “directly with business owners” across the country, rather than have the Commons finance committee do it. So basically, he’s admitting that they consider Parliament to be unnecessary. I don’t think you could ask for a clearer example of their utter disdain for parliamentary democracy in this country.
Elsewhere, Liberal Senator Colin Kenney is threatening to release the information from the Senate national security committee’s report on the RCMP before Parliament comes back. Why? Because the Conservatives will have the plurality in the Senate, he’s no longer going to be the chair of said committee – and he’s certain the Conservatives won’t release the report. Hence, it won’t be an official report, but he wants to ensure the information gets out there.
Despite the continuing demonstrated need for better learning in Canada, in the face of the global economic slowdown and a restructuring economy, the Conservative government has decided to cut funding to the Canadian Council on Learning. Human Resources Minister Diane Finley says the decision wasn’t taken lightly, and her spokesperson gave some bafflegab about how the need for education aligned to economic priorities was beyond the CCL’s mandate, or some such nonsense, but it does seem rather petty, considering how many plaudits the CCL was getting across the board. (And call me cynical, but I’m just waiting for Jason Kenney to declare that they lost their funding because they’re “anti-Semitic” or some other overblown nonsense.)
The CBC’s Don Newman still believes there’s a spring election in the making – despite Harper’s protests to the contrary, and he has some pretty compelling evidence to back it up.
This week – Michael Ignatieff heads out on a cross-country campus tour, where he hopes to tell students not to fall for the cynicism, and to get involved in politics.
Why you can trust Xtra
