Inside Politics

Orders of the Day - Tuesday, December 15, 2009

by Kady O'Malley Posted: December 15, 2009 10:30 AM Last Updated: December 15, 2009 12:00 PM
First off, my apologies for the lateness of this post -- it couldn't be helped, really; there was, after all, some serious Liberal scolding business that took priority. As far as the Hill goes, the must-see event of the day is, of course, this afternoon's hotly anticipated emergency meeting of the Afghanistan committee, which gets underway at 4pm -- in camera, at least at first, although I don't expect that edict to survive the full two hours, particularly if they go ahead with the first two witnesses on the Liberal wish list: Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Chief of Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk, whose respective presences were requested in a letter sent to the chair of the committee last week. 

The letter -- which can be found here -- also specified that the putative witnesses should be prepared to appear separately, and not as a panel. Oh, and if the defence minister could also bring along those uncensored documents that the House has ordered the government to produce, that would be just, well, super. 

Of course, that assumes that the meeting will go forward as planned, and not be held hostage by procedural shenanigans, so plan your afternoon viewing accordingly. Me, I'll be liveblogging from the hall outside the committee room from 4pm until whenever the doors are opened.  

UPDATE:  So it seems that those invitations to the minister and Natynczyk may not have gone out yet, despite the fact that the chair received the request last week, and, as we've seen in the past. it's not unusual for a meeting convened under Standing Order 106(4) to be followed immediately by one at which witnesses appear, to save everyone from having to travel back to Ottawa all over again. If that's the case, the meeting will probably be dominated by plans for future meetings -- and future witnesses -- as well as, one can assume, more bickering between the two sides of the table over those still elusive uncensored documents. 

In other news -- hmm, well, I've already dealt with the Liberals' puffin moment. 

Oh, the Senate! Of course! 

They're scheduled to sit today as well, with the big question being whether or not they actually get around to voting on C-6 -- that's the consumer safety bill, which a Senate committee amended to make it slightly more difficult to get a warrant for inspection, and slightly easier for companies to defend themselves from subsequent lawsuits. Which, to hear the health minister tell it, will render it a toothless, spineless, pointless exercise in futility. In case you drifted off during yesterday's senatorial liveblogging, the amended drug bill -- C-15 -- made it through third reading yesterday, and has already inspired an outraged press release from the justice minister, who is demanding that Liberal MPs agree to restore it to its original form when it comes back to the House next year. 

Oh, and finally, speaking of the House coming back next year, turns out I'm not the only one hearing the rumour that the PM may prorogue the House until after the Olympics. I swear, as far as idle Hill speculation goes, prorogation is the new cabinet shuffle. 

That's all for the moment -- as usual, I'll update this post if anything earth-shattering -- or even Hill-shattering -- breaks. 

Tags: blackberry jungle, orders of the day