Tag: House of Commons

The Story: The second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump began on February 9 with arguments over constitutionality. Trump's defenders contended, among other points,...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With 35 days to go in the House, what can really get done? There are a lot of bills either in the House or in the Senate and time is ticking to turn them into law. A short sample of what still isn't law: Bill C-69, which would overhaul the pipeline approval process. In total, there are 10 bills still before the House and 13 in the Senate. Now, the leadership of all Senate parties and groups (it's never simple there) did strike a deal to hold third reading votes on or before June 6 for 10 of the 13 bills before senators. If the Conservatives are going to win the election in October, it will be due to significant inroads in Ontario, where the Liberals won 80 of the province's 121 seats in 2015. and Alberta elections and what they could mean for October's federal election. It is true that the United States and China produce significantly more emissions (they also have significantly more people), but there are also 200 countries that emit less than Canada. Canada's commitment is to reduce emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Email us your questions and we'll answer one in the next Canada Votes newsletter.

In fact, I make this claim based on Trudeau’s actions of the last week. Trudeau spent most of last week trying to link his Conservative opponents to white supremacist extremism. Meanwhile, he pushed through a removal of any reference to Sikh extremism from an intelligence report just before he visited one of the largest Sikh temples in Canada on Saturday. There is no evidence that Andrew Scheer the federal Conservative leader supports white supremacy let alone those that would use violence to push the idea for political reasons. They know that I have always 100% denounced white supremacy and racism and anyone who promotes those hateful ideologies,” Scheer said after Trudeau raised the issue to deflect from a question about the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Yet, there was Trudeau on Friday night linking Scheer to white nationalists in a speech to supporters in Mississauga. But to Trudeau, linking these two men to white nationalism, white supremacy, without proof is fine because it helps him politically. Originally it listed in order, Shia extremism, Right-Wing extremism, Sikh extremism, Sunni extremism, and Canadian extremist travellers. Now the reference to Sikh extremists is gone and is replaced by, “Extremists who Support Violent Means to Establish an Independent State Within India.” On the website of Public Safety Canada is a statement about the removal of Sikh extremism, which says, “The Government’s communication of threats must be clear, concise, and cannot be perceived as maligning any groups.” Funny that. Sunni Muslims are another group and they representing more than 1 billion people.

Trudeau spent most of last week trying to link his Conservative opponents to white supremacist extremism. Meanwhile, he pushed through a removal of any reference to Sikh extremism from an intelligence report just before he visited one of the largest Sikh temples in Canada on Saturday. There is no evidence that Andrew Scheer the federal Conservative leader supports white supremacy let alone those that would use violence to push the idea for political reasons. He did so last week as Trudeau again raised the issue and falsely claimed that Scheer supported the idea and stood with those that did. They know that I have always 100% denounced white supremacy and racism and anyone who promotes those hateful ideologies,” Scheer said after Trudeau raised the issue to deflect from a question about the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Yet, there was Trudeau on Friday night linking Scheer to white nationalists in a speech to supporters in Mississauga. But to Trudeau, linking these two men to white nationalism, white supremacy, without proof is fine because it helps him politically. Originally it listed in order, Shia extremism, Right-Wing extremism, Sikh extremism, Sunni extremism, and Canadian extremist travellers. Now the reference to Sikh extremists is gone and is replaced by, “Extremists who Support Violent Means to Establish an Independent State Within India.” On the website of Public Safety Canada is a statement about the removal of Sikh extremism, which says, “The Government’s communication of threats must be clear, concise, and cannot be perceived as maligning any groups.” Funny that. Sunni Muslims are another group and they representing more than 1 billion people.

A House of Commons committee is making a cross-party call for the federal government to offer financial incentives to political parties that nominate more women candidates to run for election. "Despite their growing political participation, women represent just 35 per cent of all legislators in Canada and remain under-represented at all levels of government," the report said. "Increasing women's participation in electoral politics is essential for achieving greater gender equality. Having more women in elected office is about more than achieving equality in a traditionally male-dominated field — it could also have significant effects on public policy." One potential fix, the committee says, would be to offer cash incentives, such as subsidies, to encourage parties to help more women get nominated and then elected. The federal per-vote subsidy was eliminated in 2015. But the rules and processes associated with nomination and election campaigns can be complicated, and decision-making within parties was described by some as "opaque." The committee said Ottawa should also consider encouraging parties to set voluntary quotas for how many female candidates they plan to field and publicly report on efforts to recruit female candidates after every general election. Other recommendations include a call for publicly funded education campaigns and training to counter the negative effects of gender-based harassment of female politicians, both in traditional and social media. The MPs who worked on the report plan to ask to another Commons committee, which studies electoral issues, to consider looking into ways to eliminate gender bias in the design of voting ballots.

The Peace tower is reflected in a window in Ottawa, Tuesday March 26, 2019. A House of Commons committee says government should offer financial incentives to political parties that nominate more women candidates to run for election. This is one of 14 recommendations of the status of women committee, which studied the ongoing under-representation of women in politics. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA — A House of Commons committee says the government should offer financial incentives to political parties to nominate more women candidates to run for election. This is one of 14 recommendations of the status of women committee, which studied the ongoing under-representation of women in politics. Despite being active in their communities, women represent just 35 per cent of all legislators in Canada, according to Statistics Canada. The committee suggests political parties should be working harder to get more women to run by eliminating sexism and biases that might be built into their recruitment efforts. One potential fix would be to offer cash incentives, such as subsidies or weighted formulas for public financing to encourage parties to help more women to get nominated and then elected. The committee also says government should consider requiring political parties to publicly report on their efforts to recruit female candidates after every general election and should also encourage them to set voluntary quotas for how many female candidates they plan to field.

Boris Johnson has been accused of “an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house” after a Commons standards watchdog found he had failed to declare his share of a property in Somerset on time. The Commons standards committee said the former foreign secretary had breached rules by failing to declare a financial interest within the required time limit. The committee dismissed Johnson’s claim that he had not fully understood the rules. The committee said this offence followed a previous failure to register a financial interest. “The committee noted with concern that two investigations by the commissioner in rapid succession demonstrate a pattern of behaviour by Mr Johnson which reinforces their previous view that he had displayed an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house,” the ruling found. “Although Mr Johnson argued that the house’s rules were confusing, the committee concluded that the problem lay not with the relevant rules, which they consider to be clear, but with Mr Johnson’s failure to consult the guide to the rules. He has apologised for the breach. The ruling follows an earlier warning from the watchdog after Johnson was found to have failed to declare almost £53,000 of earnings before the 28-day deadline. Johnson apologised in the House of Commons for the breach. Last year, Johnson was also found to have broken rules that prevent former cabinet ministers taking up new jobs for three months after leaving office, by signing up for his £275,000-a-year Daily Telegraph column.

Talks between Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May will break down if Labour insists on putting any compromise deal to a confirmatory referendum, government sources have said. As part of the compromise, legislation will be proposed to lock in the bulk of the proposals on workers’ rights and environmental standards. A swashbuckling global Britain free to do its own trade deals? Senior cabinet ministers appear to be willing to accept a customs union as the price of a deal. It is seen as a red line that the government is not asked as part of the deal to tell its MPs to back a confirmatory referendum in the Commons. On the other hand, a deal in the next few days will preclude the need for Britain to hold European parliamentary elections – something both parties wish to avoid due to the unpredictable results, and charges of betrayal over Brexit. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is determined to prevent the economic damage of a no-deal Brexit. Watson insisted Labour had entered the talks with an open mind. But speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “We went into the discussions with the idea that there would be a confirmatory ballot. We are genuinely in good faith trying to find a solution to this.” He also confirmed Labour had begun selecting candidates for European elections in May, which the UK would have to hold if an extension was agreed.