Liberal Express goes bus-less

Michael Ignatieff is headed to Iqaluit to meet with locals in Nunavut, and understandably, the Liberal Express bus will not be joining them. Not to worry though, as Ignatieff already explained, the Liberal Express is much more than a bus; its about meeting Canadians all across the county, 10 provinces, 3 territories. As he has told us, time and time again, its about showing Canadians the "clear Liberal alternative", and welcoming them into he big red tent at the center of Canadian politics."

In other news, Liberal MP Bob Rae is holding a press conference in Ottawa to discuss the census and the recently released census documents. Ah, the census documents (and more of them here). They clearly show that StatsCan issued tons of warnings to the Government regarding why they shouldn't scrap the long form census. From the documents I have read, Tony Clement's assertion that StatsCan approved the scrapping of the long form has absolutely no truth to it. There is quite a bit of information to read over in these documents, and I haven't had time to read them all yet, but I am sure that there is more startling (or lack there of) revelations buried in them.

Following Bob Rae's statement, NDP Leader Jack Layton takes the stage to discuss aid to the areas in Saskatchewan affected by the recent flooding, but there is a good chance that the reporters will push the questions into the census direction.

And the Prime minister is out of service today; that is, he has no public engagements planned. He will be in Barrie tomorrow to help at a hockey tournament.

Is that Harper I see in the distance?

Our elusive Prime Minister will finally be showing his face next week, as he meets with Conservative MPs and Senators at the Conservative Summer National Caucus meeting. As stated previously, we have barely heard from the Prime Minister, who is said to be spending time with his family at his official summer retreat, despite all the hype about the G20, the F-35s, and the long form census.

Perhaps we will learn next week just why the PM has made the decision to scrap the long form census, however it is more likely that we will just hear more about "the threat of jail time" being inappropriate. We might even hear a response to NDP Leader Jack Layton's request for a meeting. Or a response to MP Helena Guergis request for a meeting!? Doubtful, to say the least.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Leader, Michael Ignatieff continues to tour Ontario on the Liberal Express.

Other than that, a brief programming note: I am off to the cottage this weekend in beautiful (but insanely busy) Turkey Point, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Erie. I most likely won't be posting, but I will likely still be tweeting. In the event that something major comes up over the weekend and I do hear about it, I will try to post, though don't count on it because we only have dial up at the cottage, and that is a scary thought.

Where is the PM?

He hasn't been heard from in weeks! In fact, we have barely seen our elusive Prime Minister since the census scandal broke, or since the G20 for that matter. This of course raises not only the question of where he is, but also why he is being so silent.

Is it that he doesn't want to face questions about the G20 protests? Or perhaps he is avoiding the F-35 questions? Or the census questions?

Since the G20 protests, he has basically left the Toronto Police Service and Ontario Government to fend for themselves. Well that's not really fair; I guess Conservative MPs, presumably on orders from PMO, did prevent the Public Safety committee from launching a public inquiry into G20 security. Don't get me wrong, I fully support the Toronto Police Service. I think they did a fantastic job securing the largest city in Canada during some of the worst protests I have ever seen in this country. But it is possible, and even likely that some officers made mistakes, poor choices, and may have even abused their power. A public inquiry seems like the logical next step. Perhaps the PM thinks he is protecting his government, the Ontario government, and the police by preventing a public inquiry, but really all he is doing is hurting our democratic roots.

And what about the F-35s? Well we know that the government did not use the appropriate bidding process before awarding the contract to an American company. Opposition MPs were on them for it for a while, but staying out of the light seems to have worked on this front because we aren't hearing much about it anymore.

Then again, that is probably because everyone is focused on the census scandal. This is another issue that the PM has been oddly silent on. While his ministers have been rigorously defending the decision to scrap the mandatory long form census, the PM himself hasn't uttered a word about it. Why is he leaving his ministers to take the blame for it? Perhaps he realizes that this could haunt him in an election and is therefore trying to distance himself from it? Two things are certain; opposition MPs aren't backing down on the census, and neither is the Government. Who will win? Seemingly the Government, as it is within their power to make this change, but only time will tell for sure.

And now, the last question. Where is the Prime Minister? We know where the Leader of the Opposition is, as he travels across the country meeting Canadians. But where is the Prime Minister? He could be at his official country retreat, a cottage on Meech Lake, relaxing and soaking up the sun. Or perhaps he is relaxing in his official residence, 24 Sussex Drive. Or of course he could be working away in his office in Langevin.

Seeing as we haven't heard from him in so long, I'm inclined to believe that he is taking it easy somewhere, watching his government swaying dangerously close to an election.

UPDATED: Slow day?

Well I don't want to say it is going to be a slow day today, because I've said that before and was clearly proven wrong. From my vantage point however, it certainly seems like not a lot will be going on.

The Industry committee will be meeting to discuss the controversial long form census, but the powers that be have deemed it "in camera." Which means no media coverage. I am assuming the Kady O'Malley of the CBC will be making the trip to the Hill just in case of the unlikely event that they change their minds. I will be following her closely and if the "in camera" status changes, I will be sure to post it here.

Apart from that, the Liberal Express is in Quebec still, and is actually holding an interactive townhall. However, due to the fact that is in Montreal, it will probably be french which means little or no coverage from me as I regrettably am not fluent in our other official language.

UPDATE: The committee meeting today was a very short, in camera meeting. Committee members aren't saying who is invited, however it is fairly safe to assume that Industry Minister Tony Clement and the former chief statistician will be invited. Also, a short correction notice: Kady O'Malley of the CBC is off today, so therefore wasn't able to bring us updates. Karina Roman filled in luckily.

Libs behind Cons in poll

According to the latest EKOS poll, the Conservatives are ahead of the Liberals by 7 percentage points. The poll suggests that 32.4% of Canadians would vote for the Conservative Party while 25.5% of Canadians would vote for the Liberal Party. The Conservatives were ahead in every region of the country except Quebec according to the poll. The poll was conducted from July 14 to 20. This poll isn't looking very promising for the goals of the Liberal Express. Perhaps by the next poll we will see a bit of an improvement on the Liberal part as a result of the Express visiting a little more of the country.

On the census front, the Liberals have begun slamming the Government for its decisions, with Ignatieff claiming that the government wants to "fly blind." Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale is accusing the Conservatives of throwing Statistics Canada into chaos, with the Chief Statistician resigning over the census scandal.

Yesterday I informed you that the RCMP had cleared MP Helena Guergis, stating that the issues forwarded to them by the PMO contained no substance. Well CBC is also reporting that her husband, former MP Rahim Jaffer has also been cleared as the RCMP found no evidence of any wrongdoing by either of them. The Ethics commissioner is still investigating, but if that report is anything like this RCMP report, PMO is going to have a lot of explaining to do. And some apologizing. According to a statement from PMO, their decision to remove Guergis from caucus still stands, and they do not regret it.

WOW

WOW! What started out as a very slow day has turned into by far the most exciting day of the past few weeks! Emotions are all over the place for people tonight; even professional journalists can't keep it together.

First off, the RCMP has announced that all issues forwarded to them regarding Helena Guergis are unfounded. They have cleared the MP, and said no further action will be taken. This is good for Guergis, not so good for PM Harper. While this must provide some satisfaction for Guergis, this is one scandal that will follow her for the rest of her political life. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens in the next election.

Next, more census controversy as the Chief Statistician at StatCan was forced to cancel his town hall meeting explaining the agency's opinion on the decision to scrap the long form census, after Industry Minister Tony Clement issued a statement reminding everyone that Statistics Canada is not an independent organization, but is in fact an agency of the Government, and therefore has the same opinion as the Government. Several hours later, the Chief Statistician resigned in protest with the Government still unwavering in its decision. This marks the end of another great public servant.

This proved too much for some journalists. One journalist in particular, Andrew Coyne, National Editor of Maclean Magazine finally blew up on the Conservatives. I recommend visiting his Twitter page and reading his last few posts, as they are quite astounding. Mr. Coyne is one of my most inspirational role models in the journalism world, and he usually presents himself with the upmost professionalism. I do hope that he is ok, and I can't help but feel a little sympathetic towards him as in my opinion, he is mostly right.

Chief NumberCruncher to resign?

The head of StatCan, the Chief Statistician of Canada Munir Sheikh has canceled his internal Town Hall meeting with staff, stating that he needs to reflect on his position on the census debate, as well as that of StatCan, fueling suspicion that he may be planning on resigning.

Fear not, the CBC town hall is going on as planned, and is in fact live right now.

Quiet day in politics

As slow as yesterday was, today is likely to be slower. No committee meetings, no press conferences, Liberals in Quebec, and the other leaders are no where to be found. The only remotely interesting thing happening is that StatsCan will be holding a town hall meeting today on the decision to scrap the mandatory long form census. But even that is internal only, meaning no press or public, only StatsCan personnel.

To combat this slow day, and show StatsCan we don't need their town hall meetings, CBC Politics will be hosting an online town hall meeting with a panel of experts. You can start submitting questions at 1 and the actual meeting will start at 2 with the panel of experts answering your questions.

Other than that, I fear that their wont be much to write about today. Enjoy the slow day people.

Industry meeting a success!

The Industry committee meeting today was a success. Yes all three of them! They were in camera unfortunately, meaning we don't know exactly went on. But we do know that the committee will reconvene next Tuesday, one week from today, to discuss the long form census. No word on the witness list yet, but we can probably assume that Industry Minister Tony Clement will be on it.

Industry Committee

The House committee on Industry is currently meeting in Ottawa, however little to no updates on what is happening inside is available, on account of it being "in-camera," meaning closed to media. The meeting was originally called to discuss the closure of the Shell refinery in East Montreal, however it is widely believed that a motion to debate the long form census will take place as well.

According to the latest updates from Kady O'Malley, they will be hearing from witnesses about the Shell refinery until about 2:30 this afternoon. At this time, someone could introduce a motion to debate the long form census. In order to actually debate it however, the committee would need unanimous consent from the members. If you recall, the Conservatives recently prevented the Public Safety committee from debating an inquiry into the G8 and G20 security measures by introducing what the opposition refer to as useless motions. Then, before the opposition could table the motion, a motion to adjourn the committee was introduced and passes, thus ending the meeting.

Let us hope that the Industry meeting goes better than that for the opposition. How, after all, is the opposition to do their job if they can't even debate the policy changes that the government plans to make?

Anyways, Kady O'Malley of the CBC is on the Hill today, just hoping that the meeting returns from "in-camera" sessions. A liveblog has been set up in the hopeful event that it will. I will of course be posting updates as they are made available.

The force is weak with these ones

The NDP has responded to PMO Director of Communications Dimitri Soudas' statement about Jedi Knights residing in Canada with the following statement:

REALITY CHECK: Dimitri Soudas uses the Jedi defence

Dimitri Soudas created an instant internet classic with his line of defence on eliminating the Census long form:

"21,000 Canadians registered Jedi knight as a religion in the 2001 census.

Religion is asked every 10 years. We made the 40-page long form voluntary because government should not threaten prosecution or jail time to force Canadians to divulge unnecessary private and personal information. Canadians don't want the government at their doorstep at 10 o'clock at night while they may be doing something in their bedroom, like reading, because government wants to know how many bedrooms they have."

What do 21,000 Jedis have to do with the Long Form Census? Nothing. What does the long form census have to do with government officials showing up at 10 o'clock at night at Canadians' doors? Nothing. What does bedtime reading have to do with an accurate statistical portrait of our country's demographics? Nothing.

But there you have it: the spokesperson for the Prime Minister of Canada talking about Jedis.

The force is weak with these ones.

That last line a clear poke at the intelligence of not just Soudas, but the entire PMO, and seemingly Conservative party. Odd that the NDP are the only ones to have responded, although I suppose the NDP are often the first to respond to the Conservatives. Hard to tell if the Liberals will take the bait and go after the Cons for it, but so far nothing from them.

Its possible we won't hear from them for a few days as Ignatieff takes a much needed rest. The Liberal Express sits idle until Wednesday, when they start Quebec. Good luck.

Jedi Knights in Canada?

About 21,000 of them to be exact, according to PMO Director of Communication Dimitri Soudas. In an effort to promote the conservative plan to scrap the long form census, PMO has released the following statement:

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21,000 Canadians registered Jedi knight as a religion in the 2001 census.

Religion is asked every 10 years.

We made the 40-page long form voluntary because government should not threaten prosecution or jail time to force Canadians to divulge unnecessary private and personal information.

Canadians don't want the government at their doorstep at 10 o'clock at night while they may be doing something in their bedroom, like reading, because government wants to know how many bedrooms they have.

The Ignatieff Liberals promise to force all Canadians to answer personal and intrusive questions about their private lives under threat of jail, fine, or both.

Dimitri N. Soudas

Director/Directeur

Communications

PMO-CPM

(613) 992-xxxx

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Sure, the threat of jail or fines seems a little extreme, but this is the kind of data that guides social policy for years to come. Without a little incentive people are clearly not going to complete a 40 page census. How do the Conservatives plan to govern the country, if they don’t know what the people need or want? Oh wait, conservative political ideology should cover that, right?