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Thursday March 2, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 2, 2023

Trudeau slaps down questions about public inquiry into election meddling

February 25, 2023

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back at questions Friday about calling a public inquiry into claims that Beijing interfered in Canada’s recent elections, telling reporters that the probes already underway are sufficient.

Trudeau is under pressure from his political opponents to launch an inquiry after media reports citing unnamed sources said the Chinese communist regime has co-opted some Canadian politicians. A Commons committee passed a motion Thursday in an attempt to compel the government to act.

Speaking to reporters at a child care announcement in Winnipeg, an animated Trudeau said his government has been seized with the issue of foreign interference for years and put in place a system to actively monitor meddling by China and other bad actors.

When asked why he won’t call an inquiry now, Trudeau said senior public servants working on the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP) already have reviewed the 2019 and 2021 campaigns and concluded that, while there was some Chinese interference, those actions did not compromise the final outcomes.

During the news conference, Trudeau appeared to be annoyed by reporters repeating questions about the calls for an inquiry.

February 20, 2021

Former senior public servant Morris Rosenberg released his review of the 2021 campaign earlier this week.

He found that the Government of Canada did not detect foreign interference that threatened Canada’s ability to hold free and fair elections in 2019 and 2021. He also offered a series of recommendations meant to prevent foreign interference in the future.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said the Rosenberg report isn’t credible because Rosenberg previously held a role with the Trudeau Foundation, a non-profit named for the prime minister’s father. That foundation also received a $200,000 donation from an individual with ties to China’s government — money that was returned this week.

Trudeau said Friday the public service picked Rosenberg for the job — and his government had no role in the appointment.

December 5, 2017

Trudeau also pointed out that the House of Commons procedure and House affairs committee is also in the midst of its own probe and the top-secret National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), which was created by the Liberal government, is reviewing all of the intelligence about the 2021 vote.

“All of these processes are going on and demonstrate the seriousness with which this government and this country needs to take the question of foreign interference,” Trudeau said.

“Canadians can have confidence in our institutions, in our democracies and our ability to defend ourselves.” (CBC) 

 

Friday July 31, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 31, 2020

Whether Trudeau’s testimony worked or not, the winds of change are blowing for Liberals

October 23, 2000

Jean Chrétien used to tell his cabinet a folksy allegory that suggests how he would have handled the WE affair.

A farmer is covered in cow dung but knows that if he tries to wipe the manure away while fresh, he will spread it all around and make it worse. So he waits until it dries and then brushes it off.

Reprehensible perhaps but that’s how he survived in politics for 40 years.

Justin Trudeau adopted a different approach, agreeing to appear before the House finance committee, while the muck is still moist.

Dec. 15, 2006

No prime minister in my nearly two decades on Parliament Hill has appeared before a House committee (Stephen Harper once testified before a Senate committee on his reform bill).

More wily operators were aware that no good could come from allowing lowly opposition MPs a free kick at the prime minister.

As a defensive manoeuvre, it is unproven.

But it is a measure of how much trouble Trudeau’s government is in that he believed only he could come to its deliverance. What self-assurance. What swagger.

July 24, 2020

But the Liberals need a game-changer, and Trudeau clearly believed he could be it.

The verdict is still out on whether he succeeded but he emerged from his 90 minutes before the finance committee relatively unscathed. It’s possible he even convinced some people of his own innocence, beyond the failure to recuse himself from the awarding of a lucrative contribution agreement to the WE Charity.

“I didn’t do anything to influence that – I didn’t even know it had been made until May 8,” he said, by which point the public service was already recommending WE.

A hirsute-looking prime minister said he pulled the WE contract from the cabinet agenda on May 8 because he knew there would be questions asked about his links to WE (it finally went to cabinet on May 22). But he insisted WE received no preferential treatment.

On its own merits, Trudeau might be able to brush off the WE affair without too much muck being spread around.

But political sins, like sweaty feet, rarely come singly. (National Post) 

 

Tuesday February 26, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 26, 2019

PM waives attorney-client privilege in SNC-Lavalin affair

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has waived attorney-client privilege and cabinet confidence to allow Jody Wilson-Raybould to speak openly when she appears before the House Justice Committee as part of its study into the SNC-Lavalin affair.

February 15, 2019

The government made the directive in an Order in Council posted Monday evening. The order authorizes her, as well as “any person who directly participated in discussions with her,” to speak to the committee and ethics commissioner, about the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.  

“We obviously take very seriously the right of everyone to share their perspectives in various ways,” Trudeau told reporters on his way to the Commons Monday, before first signalling that Wilson-Raybould would be able to “address relevant matters at the committee while ensuring that the two active court cases are not jeopardized.”

The order relates to any information or communications that have to do with Wilson-Raybould’s time as the attorney general and exercising her authority under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, and only in regards to the two ongoing probes of the matter, and not a blanket permission for Wilson-Raybould to speak.

February 13, 2019

As well, the order states that Director of Public Prosecutions Kathleen Roussel is exempted from this waiving of privilege and any information or conversations between Wilson-Raybould and Roussel cannot be disclosed, “in order to uphold the integrity of any criminal or civil proceedings,” the prime minister’s office states in the Order in Council.

The prime minister has faced calls to waive solicitor-client privilege in the matter to allow Wilson-Raybould to speak publicly about allegations of political pressure being placed on her by members of the PMO in regards to an ongoing criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.

Citing unnamed sources, The Globe and Mail reported on Feb. 7 that Trudeau’s office pressed Wilson-Raybould to drop a criminal prosecution against SNC-Lavalin when she was attorney general. It was alleged that the PMO wanted Wilson-Raybould to instruct federal prosecutors to change course and pursue a remediation agreement rather than criminal prosecution in the corruption and fraud case against the Quebec engineering and construction giant. CTV News has not independently verified the story.

Animated!

When she was attorney general, Wilson-Raybould had the ability to direct federal prosecutors to take a different route with the charges against SNC-Lavalin but she did not, despite several meetings and conversations on the matter before and after federal prosecutors decided to carry on with the criminal case in the fall.

In January, Wilson-Raybould was shuffled into the veterans affairs portfolio, and was replaced as attorney general and justice minister by David Lametti, a Quebec MP. Wilson-Raybould accepted her new position, but then resigned from cabinet days after the Globe story broke. So far, she’s maintained solicitor-client privilege as the reason she’s yet to speak out publicly about the allegations, though she’s signaled a desire to “speak my truth,” and reportedly told cabinet members when she met with them last week at her request, that the pressure was improper. (Source: CTV News) 

 

Tuesday June 20, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 20, 2017

Ottawa wants provinces to keep pot tax low

The federal government will be urging the provinces and territories to keep pot taxes low, according to a senior government source.

March 28, 2017

Finance Minister Bill Morneau will make the pitch to his provincial and territorial counterparts, during a series of meetings to be held in Ottawa over the next two days.

Although the source says a price for pot is not expected to be set during these talks, provincial and territorial leaders will be urged to keep taxes low in an effort to undercut prices on the black market.

The discussions will take place at the semi-annual gathering of the country’s finance ministers, and will be the first formal sit down chat about the issue at this level.

Earlier this year, the federal government introduced legislation that will make the recreational use of marijuana legal by July 1, 2018. Many of the decisions about how the drug will be sold and taxed are being left up to individual provinces.

April 21, 2016

The source says Ottawa wants the provinces and territories to agree to three broad priorities when coming up with their marijuana strategies: a co-ordinated approach, a low taxation rate, and a commitment to ongoing collaboration and co-operation.

The co-ordinated approach is an effort to ensure prices and policies are similar across the country. The source says Ottawa does not want to see any “divergent regimes” spiking or dropping prices.

The low taxation rate is an effort to eliminate the black market. The Liberals have repeatedly said the purpose of making marijuana legal is to keep it out of the hands of children and criminals. By setting a low rate, the source says it will help drive drug dealers out of the market. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Friday June 16, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 16, 2017

Netflix tax? Trudeau says no to MPs’ proposed broadband internet levy

February 11, 2016

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has flatly rejected a controversial recommendation from a parliamentary committee calling for a five per cent tax on broadband internet services.

The new levy, included in a majority report of the Canadian Heritage committee released Thursday, was intended to boost a media sector struggling to adapt to technological changes and evolving consumer habits.

“We respect the independence of committees and Parliament and the work and the studies they do, but allow me to be clear: We’re not raising taxes on the middle class, we’re lowering them,” he said during an event in Montreal. “We’re not going to be raising taxes on the middle class through an internet broadband tax. That is not an idea we are taking on.”

September 24, 2014

Trudeau said his Liberal government was elected on a promise to lower taxes for the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent.

The committee’s report suggested the proposal would add hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues to the Canadian Media Fund, which already receives a levy on cable bills to finance the production of Canadian content.

The tax, levied on broadband internet providers, would apply to high-speed internet services that allow for the streaming of music, movies and TV shows, but not to slower and less costly services.

Revenue generated by the current cable levy is no longer seen as sufficient in an age of cord cutting and “over-the-top” services that stream content over the internet.

The Heritage committee has spent more than a year studying the industry, which has been steadily losing advertising revenue and market shares to online giants such as Facebook, Netflix and Google. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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