Political Pulse panel weighs in on long-awaited online harms legislation

Week four of the House of Commons winter sitting saw MPS tabling a lot of documents Justice Minister Arif verani presented long-awaited legislation addressing online harms Health Minister Mark Holland and NDP Health critic Don Davies stood side by side unveiling the national pharmacare plan plus the government face questions over documents

It tabled about a case of suspected Chinese Espionage at Canada’s top infectious disease lab the Parliamentary business quickly came to a halt last night when the country learned that former prime minister Brian had passed away United in the country in moments of reflection about one of Canada’s most successful political

Leaders it’s time to bring in our panel of party insiders Greg mcran is a former liberal ministerial staffer Melanie reishe is a former communications director for the NDP and Fred delori is a former conservative campaign manager all right gang we’re going to talk about Brian money at the end but as you saw

There there was a lot this week uh that we want to touch on before we get to that so Greg let’s start you wanted to highlight the online harms legislation which the government has finally tabled on Monday which seems a lifetime ago yeah it was a very very long week um

Second attempt this time they get they got it right um I think you know I don’t want to talk too much about process or to be you know inelegant the sausage making but it was uh well-received you had for example the Facebook whistleblower saying probably one of the

Best pieces of legislation around this that you’ve seen um they had some really poignant stories from families who have been affected very negatively by uh online harassment um it’s it’s a really it was tough goinging sometimes to watch what they did I think the the government got

It right um we were talking not that long ago about how the conservative leader said that you know site on scene was going to be against it the conservatives were very quiet on it this week didn’t raise it in question period we’ll see if that lasts but um I think

It’s an important piece of legislation it affects a lot of people there still has you know debate will be helpful on this because this is brand new areas but there’s things in that bill that other countries have done and done well so I think it was a piece of legislation that has landed

Well yeah Mel there’s still some questions about the criminal justice component of it and and how the regulations are going to work and how these new Commissioners are are going to function um but Arif Rani rolled it out I thought effectively on Monday in a way we haven’t seen cabinet ministers

Rolling out their policies uh in a while totally it was thoughtful and um there seemed to be support ready to come out when the bill did come out obviously um the last time they tried to do something similar right away it was almost like they hadn’t considered what the blind

Spots were and right away they kind of were attacked from all angles whereas this time I think that there’s still people saying well what about this what about this but it’s more like well what what if what if it’s a joke then then am I going to get in trouble and it’s like

If that’s really the only thing that we’re worried about here they’re on a better path so I think uh long overdue um and they did um I think they did well this week I think with that they they rolled it out properly and um to your

Point it was hard for people to come out and criticize it openly so um we’ll see what happens with with it but um I thought I thought that that was done uh properly Fred it’s interesting it’s moved from a Heritage Bill to a Justice bill which is probably where it really

Belongs for for this sort of a thing and you know to Greg’s point the pre-action from the opposition you know I did a control left there’s no mention of Anne Frank that sort of stuff is not going to be captured by this what do you think of

The way uh it evolved and sort of the political opposition to it got very quiet it seemed well I think it goes to show you the value of having an actual Communications plan which the Liberals put into this for the first time I think we’ve seen anything like that in a long

Time and it’s paid off and that’s why we’re having this conversation now that they actually seem to have uh gotten something out there with actually stakeholders supporting it um and of course the opposition is going to to oppose uh there is some parts of the bill that the conservatives won’t um

Won’t be in favor of all of the creation of the new Commissioners that sort of thing then there’s maybe just toughen up the current laws but we’re going to be ex examining this as well as this unfolds but you know to Greg’s point about how it wasn’t raised a lot in the

House what big part of that of course was the so many other things to raise in the house yeah see there is that and and look and I’m curious to know how these Commissioners are going to work right uh because you know when you create something like this it’s got to be done

Right but I don’t know how you deal with something Greg just as a final Point like as immediate as online harms without some sort of like law enforcement yes but that’s kind of after the fact like you see it it’s got to be stopped the police can’t be at that you

Need some other way to do it right yeah we we’ve kind of have this um expectation that legislation is supposed to be perfect and arrives absolutely perfect which defeats the reason for Parliament there has been lots of times where bills are improved that is the point of parliament especially in an

Area like this that is you know um it’s tough goinging ter territory as I mentioned there are other countries that have done this but they have not been 100% successful uh either so Canada gets the opportunity to look at some of the things that they’ve used and put them in

This and see if they’re going to work here as well I I think is adorable you think there’s room for complexity and imperfection in politics way it’s being played in 2024 all right Mel let let’s get to your issue you wanted to highlight what what some people call anti-cab laws but anti-

Repacement worker legislation totally so um this week we got to see the vote in the House of Commons and it was a unanimous vote uh meaning all parties supported uh the bill um I think this is something that you know you saw new Democrats out there celebrating with

Unions you saw liberals also um conservatives were a little bit less but uh in the last I think 10 years or something the amount of times that the NP has put this forward um was um I I can’t even tell you it’s been a lot so

For them to see this pass I think is really good um and to to minister Regan’s credit I think he also gave credit to the NDP and has you know welcomed um alexand bues at some of his press conferences and whatnot on this so uh that’s a win what what I’m going to

Be paying attention to and I think um what new Democrats and unions are also going to be paying attention to is what happens at committee um obviously the conservatives supported it to go to committee but what happens at committee do the conservatives try to weaken it

You know I’ve heard kind of in private conversation oh don’t worry you know they support it now but it’s just to go to committee so in the frame of uh PV is going out to um workers he’s trying to court unions how does you know your

Trying to get unions fit for you trying to get working class devote for you match up with your well telling businesses well maybe you know we can weaken it at committee so that interesting um context is what I’m going to be paying attention to and to see

Where that leads uh in the next little bit with this legislation okay so FR we’re going to put you in a tough spot here because you got a conflict on this you need to declare and and I and so I want to let you do that and I want to

Ask you what you think uh the conservatives are doing in terms of voting for it uh to send it to committee is it just a send it to committee or do you think they’re totally on board with this so tell us your conflict first sure so uh full disclosure I do represent uh

Federal regulated uh employers uh so they obviously have an interest in this bill right on the management side yeah right um in in terms of the conservatives you know Greg pointed out very well about how we look at bills and we have to examine them uh and I assume

That’s exactly what parliament’s for so steal your lines that you just gave you set them off beautiful I get a foot note I guess but this is how uh this is how parliament’s supposed to work um you look at a bill and you send it to committee and we’re going to see what

Happens there there’s going to be I’m sure we’ve if you listen to the speeches from all parliamentarians on this there was lots from all sides suggesting changes to this bill and that’s you know we’ll see what happens at committee with that that’ll be the debate that happens

Greg did you notice my lips didn’t even move time was repeating me yeah uh okay so you get you share a by line on that particular bit of analysis but how do you see this one going like I mean look Oregan was out they wanted it’s confidence supply all of these sorts of

Things but you know how do you think this plays politically as it moves through this legislative process so politically I want to go back to the fall of 20122 when Doug Ford uh threatened the notwithstanding Clause he was in a fight with q and it backfired and the Ford government had done really

Well with unions they had a big endorsements private sector unions yeah and Monty MCN was the Labor uh minister at the time mty is no longer in provincial politics um there has been continuing problems something just fell all right we’ll figure that out there’s been continuing problems with um you

Know Doug Ford’s government I think they learned the hard way the value of um what’s needed in terms of Labor Relations so um I’m not surprised that the conservatives at this point are going slow and have decided to support it at least at this level because I think that experience with Doug Ford

Woke up a lot of unions and they you know kind of flexed their power okay all right Fred we want to get to your pick um this is sort of the the big red meat one for the conservatives this week and this is all the documents we got from

The Winnipeg lab case what what are your thoughts there yeah my issue with this whole thing was how long it took for us to get this it was years in the making uh Parliament uh committees in Parliament Parliament itself all ruled for these documents to be released the

Speaker demanded them to be released and the government actually took speaker to court to fight this and then called an election and the whole thing got wiped out anyway so we’re finally seeing it now and we’re you know the excuse that we were hearing is that you know

National security reasons why it needed to be kept secret and it seems to be was just to save the government and this agency from embarrassment um I think this is a bad look for the Liberals to have been sitting on this for so long and it just it’s compounded the issue

And again Parliament has ruled over and over that it should be public and it’s it’s good that it is and the conservatives are going to be uh continuing to comb through this because there’s lots there now Greg I don’t think that was a ventriloquism act from

You like he did not get that line from you what your rebuttal there I mean this is a really strange case I mean it feels like Jack Ryan got you know renewed for a fifth season um when you hear some of the things that have gone on here there

Are a lot of heads scratchers here but at there was one point where the conservatives wanted the documents to be released unredacted and the government obviously for for security reasons didn’t want that judges were to to look at him it took a a a process I think there’s been some questions about you

Know why the process took so long or why some documents weren’t released I think the problem is when the conservative leader takes this and he pushes it too far and all of a sudden is talking about how China helped Justin Trudeau win the 2021 election and that’s when everyone

Starts to go I think this is a bit odd I think you’re weaponizing this everyone needs to kind of catch their breath yeah there’s a lot of that going around Mel like um you know the government’s defense yesterday was oh we offered to send this NSI cop and the conservatives

Wouldn’t do it the NSI cop and then we find out in the foreign interference was like well NSI cop’s been recommending changes to this government years and the government isn’t listening to what NSI cop or at least hadn’t been listening so I this whole thing to me the political

Stuff is I Parliament isn’t working in a reasonable way when it comes to National Security issues because people are either ignoring or defying the institutions set up to deal with it right and then there’s the political angle what’s your thoughts that yeah sure I I I think what we saw in um now

That that it’s out in public it’s obviously deeply troubling and people obviously have questions about that but to your point about well what what was the reasoning for for keeping it um you know not public for so long and for the process for taking so long I think that

That is legitimate uh criticism it’s um we saw a lot of back and forth in the house and of course there was you know side deals about okay well we’re going to pass this version of a motion at committee so that this vers of the reducted papers get seen or don’t get

Seen so um those are legitimate criticism that process took so long but but to your point when you read it the angle of National Security is is I see it but to the point where the Liberals you know took the speaker to court made this big mellow this super dramatic

Thing all it does is now you’re kind of shining a red light or a yellow light or whatever on it so that people are now focused in on okay well why did the government not want this release um which I think doesn’t help the government especially as are trying to

Push forward other stuff yeah no that’s a good point okay we we want to end it there because we do want to get to the Brian Moone uh uh conversation and because he’s a San FX guy right like like Greg and Fred right those connections so I’m going to let you guys

Go last mail just your quick thoughts on on on what I’m Brian Mor when you heard the news yesterday for sure the the nice way that people were describing him about how States Statesman he was I think we we can all agree on and the kind of politics that we don’t really

See these days the you know we oppose each other we disagreed but then we went out for a drink afterwards or we we um got along afterwards and and you know when when Mr Mone was uh on your show not that long ago talking about Ed Broadbent after his passing I think we

From the hospital you know and I think we got to see that kind of um uh Stans statesmanship like from him so that that you know Mark of a good man so um yeah leave that there Fred your thoughts uh it’s been very uh obviously very sad to

Have lost a man of this uh magnitude um but uplifting at the at the same time to see all sides uh Embrace him and talk about his legacy in such positive ways I remember decades ago listening to him give a speech to conservatives at a leadership convention and he was talking

About how um in the future uh people will look back on the Legacy his government left in a very positive way uh CU they didn’t for a while there was always you know when you leave government there’s issues and people will uh point out things but today on

Like social media it was overwhelming people from the left and the right in Canada coming together and talking about the amazing things and a laundry list of the things that he and his government did yeah political careers rarely have good ends if you stick around for a long

Time and take some big swings right because you’re going to accomplish some things and you’re going to make some enemies and and the kind of is is Greg is Central to the to the Brian Mor story right yeah and he he did Big Ideas not all them worked out but but we’re still

You know we still are living with them and and when the Liberals came in in 93 they didn’t get rid of the gstd they didn’t get rid of the Free Trade Agreement and then when we had to renegotiate the Free Trade Agreement he stepped in but from a personal point of

View all politics is local and in 1988 my first election I noticed there was a lot of age confession May one I fought hard against the free trade deal I was driving the MP around the MP Tob and then in 1999 I went to the S ofex uh

Homecoming my father was class of 59 like Mr Mor roon I didn’t know if my dad really knew him and mor roone came over and the Liberals in Nova Scotia had just lost and everybody was heading to the exits and so I got a better job

And I was Mr Moon asked me what I was doing I was kind of sheepish and I told him and he stopped and and no one else is in the room at that moment when you’re talking to Brian and he told me i’ made the right choice this

Was going to be great for my career this was huge opportunity so I went in 11 years from viscerally fighting against this guy to being a puddle as I watched my dad with pride through this conversation and everything that I’ve heard about him is that Personal Touch

The the Winston church will give me my foulweather friends he was somebody that when you were going through a rough time uh he was in your corner no uh that that is definitely something that came through in all the conversations we had yesterday as we did this breaking news

Event is that personal connection whatever you thought of the public man the private man was very sincere and and uh and cordial and and dignify right

Power & Politics’ panel of party insiders is here to unpack another busy week in Canadian politics.

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