Coming Up In the House
- The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, will provide an Economic and Fiscal Update in the House of Commons on Tuesday, December 14 at approximately 4:00 p.m. ET. A relevant Ways and Means vote is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
- Bill C-5 (An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act) will begin debate at second reading this week.
- Should they proceed through committee, Bill C-2 and Bill C-3 may be sent back to the House for third reading and adoption.
- The House is scheduled to adjourn on Friday, December 17th for the holiday break.
- Defence Minister Anita Anand, Chief of Defence Staff Wayne Eyre and Deputy Minister Jody Thomas will deliver a historic apology today to the women and men who experienced sexual assault and misconduct in Canada’s military.
ICYMI
- Committee memberships have been established, though many may not meet until some time in 2022.
- On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Minister of International Trade Mary Ng penned a letter to United States Senators outlining various retaliatory measures Canada may be willing to take should the Biden Administration’s current proposal on electric vehicle incentives not be amended. The Government of Canada has alleged the U.S. tax credit would result in a 34% markup on electric vehicles manufactured outside the United States.
- Also on Friday, Government House Leader Mark Holland tabled Bill C-7: An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts. The bill is largely housekeeping.
- Thursday saw the release of the annual report to Parliament from Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien. This will be Therrien’s last report as his term comes to an end in June of 2022, having served in this position since 2014.
- Thursday also saw the Auditor General of Canada table four reports in the House of Commons, all of which looked at Covid-19 public health measures implemented by the federal government.
- Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday that Canada will not send government officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics taking place in Beijing. This follows similar announcements from the governments of the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Australia.
- On Tuesday the Minister of Labour, Seamus O’Regan, announced that the Government of Canada would propose regulations under Part II of the Canada Labour Code to make vaccination mandatory in all federally regulated workplaces.
- The Senate passed Bill C-4 on Tuesday after Sen. Leo Housakos rose in the upper chamber to seek unanimous approval to move the bill through all legislative stages. The bill quickly received Royal Assent on Wednesday, making providing, promoting or advertising conversion therapy a criminal offence.
- In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Justice Minister, David Lametti, tabled Bill C-5 which, if passed, will eliminate mandatory minimum penalties for a number of tobacco, firearms and drug offences.
- The Conservative party used their first opposition day to pass a motion to create a new special committee of MP’s to study the Canadian response to the fall of Afghanistan.
- Canadian Ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, tendered his resignation on Monday. The former Global Managing Director of McKinsey and Company was appointed as the top Canadian Diplomat in Beijing in 2019. He will remain in his position until December 31st of this year.
- On Monday, Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole called on House of Commons Human Resources to investigate fellow Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs over allegations of workplace harassment, as reported by the Globe and Mail.
- Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez announced on Monday that the government will convene a national summit of the country’s arts, culture and heritage sectors between January 31st and February 1st 2022 – thus fulfilling a Liberal campaign promise to convene such an event in their first 100 days of forming government.
- Over the last week former NDP candidate Avi Lewis has been promoting a movement among grassroots NDP supporters calling on the B.C. NDP to remove the RCMP deployed to the land of the Wet’suwet’en people. NDP MPs Leah Gazan, Lori Idlout and Matthew Green have already demonstrated support for the movement. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has so far refrained from opposing the policies of B.C. Premier, and fellow New Democrat, John Horgan.
Last Week In the Senate
- The Senate’s budget is set to increase by 5.4 per cent in 2022-23, with individual Senator office budgets increasing by only 1.9 per cent.
Last Week At Committee
- The Finance Committee met for the first time on Monday, electing as chair former Olympian and former member of Dalton McGuinty’s Cabinet, Peter Fonseca.
- Another Committee elected its chair on Wednesday, with former Minister of Natural Resources, Jim Carr, taking the reins of the Public Safety and National Security Committee.
#ONPoli
- On Friday, the Ontario government announced they would drop plans to end its vaccine passport program, as well as pause its plan to lift capacity limits on high risk businesses. The Chief Medical Officer of Health also advised employers to encourage workers to work from home where possible, and reduce gatherings over the Christmas holidays.
- Also on Friday, the Ontario government announced COVID-19 booster eligibility will be expanded to those aged 18 and above on January 4th, 2022.
- The fall session of the Ontario Legislature came to a close on Thursday. MPPs will return to Queens Park on February 22, 2022.
- Last Monday, a motion was passed in the legislature which authorizes the finance committee to meet for up to 18 days during the winter adjournment period. This likely means that pre-consultations are returning after being discounted as a result of the pandemic
- Bill 37, the long-term care reform bill, passed third reading and received royal assent last week. This bill provides Provincial inspectors and directors with more powers, as well as introduces fines of up to $1 million for operators of unsafe or neglectful homes.
#BCPoli
- The Economic Forecast Council is projecting the B.C. economy to grow by 5.3 per cent this year followed by 4.2 per cent in 2022
- The Special Committee to Review the Personal Information Protection Act released its report in which it made 34 recommendations to update the act which is reviewed every six years.
#ABPoli
- According to the latest labour force survey from Statistics Canada, Alberta’s unemployment rate has remained the same over the month of November.
#ATLPoli
- Nova Scotia has opened appointments for COVID-19 booster shots for those aged 60 and over.
- The Government of New Brunswick has reached tentative agreements with two bargaining units representing thousands of nurses, nurse practitioners and nurse supervisors.
- New Brunswick recorded a single day high of 174 COVID-19 cases.