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Orders of the Day - Friday, November 27, 2009

t's Friday, which means that committees aren't in session, but it's still Justice Week in the House, although it appears that, despite its presumed success amongst target viewers -- by which, of course, we mean voters -- this particular parliamentary reality show may be out on temporary hiatus next week, when, as the Globe and Mail reports that the government is planning to celebrate the first anniversary of the Economic and Fiscal Update that very nearly got them thrown out of power by a coalition of opposition parties by ... introducing legislation to implement the wildly unpopular harmonized sales tax in Ontario and British Columbia, and daring the Liberals to defeat it. 

Meanwhile, when he takes his seat in the Chamber later this morning, Speaker Milliken may find himself dealing, once again, with a claim that privilege has been breached -- this time, the privilege of the Afghanistan committee, and possibly parliament itself:  

Yesterday, he ruled in favour of Liberal MP Irwin Cotler's complaint from last week, giving him leave  to bring his prima facie case against that now notorious Conservative ten-percenter that seemed to call into question his support for Israel to the Procedure and House Affairs committee -- which, as it happens, is just getting started with its investigation of another, similar case involving Conservative ten-percenters that targeted NDP MP Peter Stoffer. 

Today -- or possibly Monday morning, depending on his availability -- the Speaker will hear a broader, potentially more serious claim from members of the Afghanistan committee, which passed the following motion yesterday afternoon: 

That, the committee report to the House that it believes a serious breach of privilege has occurred and members' rights have been violated, that the Government of Canada, particularly the Department of Justice and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, have intimidated a witness of this committee, and obstructed and interfered with the committee's work and with the papers requested by this committee. Therefore this committee reports the breach to the House so that it can consider the matter.  

Although there's no way to predict what will happen once the House is seized of the matter, it's probably safe to say that even the initial debate over whether a breach has occurred will be worth watching, so keep an eye on CPAC during routine business, and if you see committee chair Rick Casson stand up, take the TV off mute. (Or just watch this space, since I'll be doing just that, and will keep y'all posted.) 

UPDATE: I've posted some background material on the privilege question here. 


Tags: blackberry jungle, orders of the day