Monday, June 21, 2021

Parliament's Last Days and the Horror of the Cons

I decided to take my summer holidays earlier than usual this year, in case the Cons force Justin Trudeau's Liberals to call an election, just to keep his government running.

And it turned out to be a brilliant decision. 

For luckily Summer also arrived early. The harbour filled up with boats, including my own.  And I can't remember the last time I had so much fun, or laughed so much, after all those deathly Covid months.

But as for that early election, all I can say is that the deathly Cons are playing with fire.

For this is outrageous.

Opposition parties voted Thursday to declare the Liberal government in contempt of Parliament for refusing to provide unredacted documents to the House of Commons that could explain the firing of two scientists from Canada’s top infectious disease lab in Winnipeg, amid concerns over their ties with Chinese military research.

The motion adopted by the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois and NDP censures the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) for failing to produce the requested records. It also orders PHAC President Iain Stewart to appear before the Commons on Monday to be admonished and to produce the confidential documents.

Can you believe it? The Cons and their shabby NDP and Bloc stooges are threatening to drag the distinguished Iain Stewart before some kind of medieval or totalitarian bar.

He will be required to stand at the “bar,” a brass rod extending across the floor of the House of Commons, to be admonished. The last time an MP was summoned before the bar was 2002, and the last time a private citizen was called before it was 1913, according to the House of Commons’ website.

So that political thugs, like Pierre Poilievre can bully, insult, and try to humiliate Stewart, as well as try to force him to break his oath of secrecy, and compromise our national security.

While Outhouse O'Toole tries to turn a personnel problem at the lab in Winnipeg into yet another fake scandal to try to smear Justin Trudeau, fuel wild Trump-like conspiracy theories, and whip up hatred against Chinese Canadians,

Just like they did with Muslim Canadians in 2015...

And for the same crass political purposes.

Even though anti-Asian bigotry is a growing problem in Canada.

There has been a disturbing surge of anti-Asian hate, including physical assaults against children and elderly people being spat on, according to a first-of-its-kind report that breaks down the specific types of attacks that have occurred during the pandemic.

And as if that isn't horrifying enough, the Cons are obstructing the business of Parliament, and are threatening to let time run out on some important bills. 

With time running short, the government has prioritized the passage of four bills: C-30, which would implement measures from the spring budget; C-6, which would ban conversion therapy; C-12, the government's climate accountability legislation; and C-10, which would apply Canadian broadcasting regulations to some of the major online content hubs. 

Bills designed to help suffering Canadians, recharge the war on climate change, boost Canadian artists and creators, and prevent gay kids from being tortured by kooky religious fanatics.

It's absolutely disgusting, and while I don't expect anything from the Cons, Jagmeet Singh and his DipperCons can NEVER call themselves progressives again.

But the good news is that Iain Stewart says he has no intention of breaking his secrecy oath.

The head of the Public Health Agency of Canada is showing no sign he'll release unredacted documents about the firing of two scientists at Canada's highest security laboratory - despite the prospect of being publicly shamed in the House of Commons for his refusal to turn them over.

So if he so chooses, Justin Trudeau could impale the Cons and their shabby stooges on their own petard.

Mr. Trudeau could say he won’t provide the unredacted documents, leaving the opposition parties with only one option: force an election through a no-confidence motion.

Force them to bring down the government and look like saboteurs, or back down and look like poseurs and/or cowards.

They say Erin O'Toole isn't afraid of an early election.

The Conservatives don't seem worried about giving the prime minister an excuse to ask the governor general for an election. Or perhaps they've decided the prime minister is going to go regardless, so they might as well make things as difficult as possible in the interim.

But I bet he'll change his mind after he checks out the latest polls... 

For none of them are good for him. 

And this one is disastrous...


So I think it's safe to say that O'Toole is going to chicken out, and there won't be a summer election.

And that whenever an election is held, Justin Trudeau will emerge victorious.

Which is good enough for me. Summer is here at last.

And I'm celebrating already.... 


18 comments:

Jackie Blue said...

First off, just wanna say y'all have made a Habs fan out of a gal from the Bruins den. I wrote a bit about media reform and why hockey refs are to the poor Habs what the MSM is to the Liberals. Cons can sucker punch Trudeau all they want, but only he gets a penalty call for not lacing up his skates properly. Chris Lee would be a good fit at the Globe or SUN. He's just that stupid.

Second off, what an idiot is O'Toole if he honestly thinks this is a valid use of parliamentary resources and time, persecuting a public servant to feed stupid "Manchurian Canada-Date" conspiracy theories. Trudeau is already making the case for pulling the plug himself, but really it's just a formality at this point because the Cons and their orange stooges have made it for him. Really Jagmeet Jerkoff, how is hauling Iain Stewart before a star chamber supposed to get Canada any closer to Reconciliation or Pharmacare or any of the other things he claims Trudeau hasn't waved his magic wand to solve?

But isn't that ironic, as Alanis might say: O'Toole about to become the Con version of 2011 Iggy, forcing an election because the government wouldn't venture down to Kinko's. Only to see the Liberals decimated and Harper win a majority. At least with Harper there was a legitimate concern: Afghan prisoners were being tortured on Canadians' dime. This business about the "Wuhan lab" is McCarthyite nonsense imported from south of 49. An abuse of power from an opposition who've tried nothing and are out of ideas, with nothing else to run on but fake scandals and QAnon insanity completely unmoored from reality. It's "Impeach Fauci" Canadian edition.

Trudeau will call an election in August, and 36 days later Dumbfuck O'Toole will be relegated to the dustbin of history just like Weak Andy Scheer. Jagmeet might stick around as an annoyance in the nosebleed section, simply because the NDP are bereft of talent. How sad that this grandstanding, incompetent Tik Tok influencer has taken Tommy Douglas' life's work and run it straight into the ground.

Steve said...

I am pretty sure JT invented the covid virius and the crisis to further his own ambitions. The only reason I am not positive is I did not think he was that smart

Jsb said...

So I guess I agree with you this time... mostly...
I mean, yeah if the cons, bloc and NDP think that documents from this lab in Winnipeg are that important, then maybe they should express their non-confidence in the government...🤔

Anonymous said...

Failing to provide documents to a Parliamentary oversight committee was a bad look for Harper and is a bad look for Trudeau. We can't say this is a big nothing because stiff-arming oversight committees is what governments do when their actions won't bear scrutiny. The fact that it worked for Harper on the Afghanistan torture file isn't a good reason for Trudeau to copy the tactic. When all you've got is "Harper did it too," it's time to throw in the towel.

sisyphus said...

Simon, couldn't agree more; enjoy the summer while there is one and forget momentarily about the all pervasive dirty politics. So you're into boating of the wind harnessing or the stinkpot kind? I myself am an old avid sailor albeit restricted by prairie shores. Jackie, nice recap as usual with pointers toward sanity in these crazy times. I wonder if the America I love (Coltrane, Mingus, Dolphy, Evans Jazz, and authors who made it to Library of America's selection) will ever recover from the devious bloated orange clown and his brood? I'd rather identify with Jimmy Carter's redeeming approach to gain a humanitarian balance amongst the abject consumerism continuing to grow exponentially. All the best!

rumleyfips said...

Before the old fool's silly nose/face/spite thing, he had operatives inside the security committee reporting back to him. Maybe verbal or maybe he had someone read the document to him but the documents were delivered and the reformatories know all about them. They just think we're too stupid to figure it out.

Nice to watch a professional civil servant refuse to be intimidated by Peter Peckerhead's vitriol.

Jackie Blue said...

1) Anon, they did provide the documents to a special oversight committee, the NSICOP. NSICOP has national security clearances rather than the farcical partisan one that O'Toole pushed for last January, as a campaigning tactic to prove he was "tough on China" like Trump.

The Liberals just don't want the feckless and desperate opposition to go around leaking classified materials to the media to score dunks on the government leading up to an election. The concerns over Harper were legitimate. People were being tortured. This is just the opposition cosplaying as conspiracy theorists.

2) JSB is probably going to return to go 🤔 about this morning's Leger. I would add yet again that there seems to be something odd going on with their online panels (they've barely budged in months, while other sounders are talking majority of various sizes), and that Nanos is showing the Liberals at 50 in Ontario. Also, observe this clip from PnP for what Jenni Byrne of all people said about Abacus, taking note of the final point: "NDP always poll higher outside an election than what they eventually get."

Does that mean you don't hustle like you're 10 points behind? No, but it means a temperature check today isn't a foregone conclusion in two or three months. The Liberals will play the mantra louder and louder as the day actually gets closer: a vote for Singh is a vote for O'Toole. And they would be right.

I would add to that, Quebec doesn't usually move en masse until the day of. And last election, Leger had the BQ winning 50 seats. You know how Bogus Reid always has a con house effect? Leger hypes the BQ because they come from a long line of separatists. He wants Blanchet to happen.

Polls before the campaign are a starting mark. They're like spring training in baseball. Wait for the campaign when Singh and O'Toole's bullshit claims have to stand up to actual scrutiny, the electorate (and not just self-selected skewed panels torqued for a particular narrative) starts actually paying attention coming out of the pandemic fog, and the Liberals start bombarding the airwaves with "it's us or O'Toole". If pre-campaign polls were predictive of the final outcome, right now we'd be talking about PM Mulcair or Scheer.

Jsb said...

Well I am not going to go 🤔 about Leger... I know they usually have the bloc a bit higher than others...
Anyway, that nanos poll seems like an outlier though, so I wouldn't be so confident in it... but yeah, I mean it the opposition feels like they have no confidence in the government, then I guess they will express it somehow... innit? 🤔😁

Jackie Blue said...

JSB, the Nanos poll is in line with Mainstreet, Innovative, Research Co (not Campaign Research, that's Kouvalis), and within the same MoE as EKOS. Leger looks to be the outlier, and Reid isn't even worth paying attention to.

The opposition aren't going to actually vote down the government on the last sitting day. The shameful publicity stunt with the PHAC clerk was a roundabout way of saying "you suck" without actually committing to a vote. If they were really confident in their chances, they would have put their money where their mouths are. They're chickenshits. The most they accomplished was stretching out debate for so long that bills will die in the senate. Stupid strategy.

Ivison is distraught, Mulcair is making up stories, and Trudeau is getting punchy. That's how you know what's going on. I expect an October election at the absolute latest but September more likely.

https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2021/06/22/toxicity-and-obstructionism-trudeau-tells-canadians-parliament-is-dysfunctional/

Simon said...

Hi Jackie…..How about those Habs? I’ve been a Canadiens fan since I arrived in Canada, but even I have had trouble believing how well that young team has done, despite the bad refereeing and the hostile media coverage in English Canada. So I really enjoyed your blog post on the playoffs. It’s brilliant, and everyone should read it:

https://missfuddleduddle.blogspot.com/2021/06/jerking-refs.html

As for the situation in the parliamentary arena it couldn’t be more grotesque, but at least the Cons seem to be scoring in their own net, and have revealed their true colours, as has their stick boy Jagmeet Singh. And he’s going to pay for that too. The guns of August can’t come soon enough….

Simon said...

Hi Steve…It’s beyond belief, but that’s what some Cons are suggesting. Trudeau created the virus in his secret Chinese lab, and helped spread it all over the world. They should of course be confined to a mental hospital, but their bizarre conspiracy theories aren’t doing them any favours. No sane person could vote for a party that crazy or that Trump-like. They’re killing themselves and they don’t even know it….

Simon said...

Hi Jsb….I’m glad that for once you agree with me. If the opposition parties believe that the Covid virus was born in Winnipeg, and that Justin Trudeau helped spread it all over the world, they must bring down the government. But I very much doubt they have the guts to do that, so they will stumble on playing their obstructionist games until Trudeau brings down the hammer on them. And I can only hope that the sooner the better….

Simon said...

Hi anon@8:22 AM….Don’t be an idiot or a Con drooler. There is no comparison between Harper’s Afghanistan torture story, and the absurd Winnipeg lab story. Isn’t that obvious? The Cons had a chance to view the documents in a national security committee designed for that purpose, but instead O’Toole pulled his Cons out of that committee. And hopefully he will pay the price for that in the next election…

Simon said...

Hi Sisyphus….I have been enjoying every minute of this summer even before it officially arrived. For the weather has been magnificent, one beautiful blue sky day after the other, and the first crop of strawberries and cherries are the most magnificent I have ever tasted. Due to the Covid lockdown I was not able to retrieve my boat from the marina where I keep it during the winter. But it.s in the water now, and soon I’ll be in the water too, or at least at the beach….😎

Simon said...

Hi Rumleyfips….The Cons have always had access to the documents they claim they need, but they are just using that grotesquely overblown fake scandal to try to accuse Trudeau of being a Chinese agent, and use that to obstruct the working of Parliament. They do think we are to stupid to figure that out, and yes it was good to see Iain Stewart stand up to his would be inquisitors. Now imagine what it would be like if those fascist Cons were ruling Canada again. Sooner or later we’d all be at the bar….

Simon said...

Hi Jackie at @2:22Pm….Thanks for explaining things to that annoying anonycon, who would compare a real scandal about torture to a contrived scandal about some personnel problem at the Winnipeg lab. Also thanks for explaining how polls work to Jsb. And in most brilliant fashion I should add. Between your hockey post and your poll explainer you really are a renaissance woman…

Steve said...

Jody Raisin Blowfield

Simon said...

Hi Steve….I’ve been trying to ignore JWR, she’s just too toxic for me to handle when I’m on holiday. But since it’s raining I may have something to say about her…😉