I ran into Liberal MP Mario Silva after Question Period today and asked him about his plans for the fall sitting.

Q: How was your summer?
A: It was good!

Q: What did you end up doing?
A: I had a few things – one is that I had obviously a lot of events to go to in the riding, and some meetings we had with constituents. I also went with my partner and my parents to my graduation at Oxford – I finished my Masters in International Law. I came back, and then I had bunion surgery, so I had my leg up most of August.

Q: What’s on your agenda for the fall?
A: We have a very busy agenda. I’m also working on a few things that are taking up a lot of my time, which is chairing up the inquiry that’s going to be taking place on anti-Semitism. We’ll have an important inquiry coming up, and it’s an important panel coming up. In addition to that, we also have committees – there’s Human Rights subcommittee and Trade committee, which are taking a lot of my time.

Q: The inquiry on anti-Semitism – I saw a few releases over the summer where you’d extended the deadline for submissions. Was this because you were getting a lot and you wanted more to come, or you weren’t getting very many?
A: We had gotten quite a few – we wanted more from different regions, as we wanted to make sure all the regions were represented. We want to make sure that was the case, and we have very large submissions, and we’re very happy with that. We’re going through them now, and figuring out which ones we’re going to be calling as witnesses in the fall.

You can almost imagine the conversation. “It’s not me – it’s you,” Harper might have said. “I’m a maniacal control freak, and you wouldn’t wear your muzzle.” And with that, Gordon Landon became the former Conservative candidate for Markham-Unionville. Landon accused his own party of not giving stimulus funds to the riding because it was currently held by the Liberals, and well, none of us expected him to last very long once that happened. But one has to wonder – do they have any other former PMO staffers they can parachute into the riding (like they did with Rahim Jaffer’s)?

During Members’ Statements, Liberal Anita Neville referenced this dismissal, along with the other item buried in the same Toronto Star article about how the Parliamentary Budget Officer isn’t being given the documents on stimulus spending that he requested. And what word did Neville keep using? “Scandal.” Just like Ignatieff and Martha Hall Findlay’s press conference last Friday. I’m starting to wonder if this is the new Liberal strategy – calling every bit of incompetence and mismanagement a “scandal” to employ the very same hyperbole the Conservatives employed so effectively in the past. If so, I’m disappointed that the political discourse in this country has continued to sink to that level.

Question Period talked a lot about forestry – a Quebec-heavy issue for those of you keeping score – especially given an International Tribunal decision which slapped Canada’s hands. Scott Brison lambasted the government’s performance on softwood lumber, saying this Tribunal decision came about because they violated their own agreement, responded to that violation with payments that further violated said agreement, and how could forestry workers trust them to help them out? Stockwell Day assured the House that he’s been talking to stakeholders who are “happy with the direction we have gone.” Um, okay, if you say so.

John Baird claims that the government has “put aside partisan politics” with the stimulus spending (now that Gordon Landon can’t criticise them any longer, it must be true), and later in Question Period, Baird took a quote from the NDP’s Linda Duncan about the infrastructure money flowing to her riding. Duncan later put out a press release that said the quote was entirely out of context. The government take something out of context for their benefit? That would never happen. Ever.

Jack Layton and Libby Davies were both railing about the incoming HST in BC and Ontario. Davies especially blasted the “$1.6 billion bribe to the provincial Liberals,” and wanted to know when they began negotiating with the province about implementation. Flaherty assured her that the province made the decision alone, after their last election. I’m stuck wondering if the NDP’s current focus on the HST isn’t an attempt at being too clever, because it’s a provincial issue that they can rail about without risking bringing down the government over in the immediate future.

Also, Martha Hall Findlay asked for the dollar figure the government has spent on advertising – and didn’t get it. Marc Garneau asked about Tony Clement’s officials blocking Ignatieff from attending a non-partisan Jewish event. Clement said that person was no longer working in his department. Garneau then asked again about the intimidation tactics used by the officials of the Minister of State for Science and Technology toward arms-lengths funding bodies. Goodyear called it false, and said the Liberals hate science. No really – this from someone who believes in creationism, saying this to a former astronaut. That’s rich.

Sartorially I didn’t see anything particularly deserving of snaps or citations in the House, but Martha Hall Findlay’s black-trimmed pink jacket did catch my eye. And the Megan Leslie outfit watch reports a light grey suit jacket over a black top and trousers with a chunky rose stone necklace. Granted I couldn’t see if the shoes were hideous, but it looks like she may finally be developing a dress sense.

Behind the scenes, the whole Denis Coderre fallout continues, and while some pundits obsess over the gift that Coderre gave to the party’s rivals (most especially the Bloc), other Quebec Liberals are calmly downplaying the issue. And despite some calls to name a new Quebec lieutenant immediately, others are saying that this is the perfect opportunity to phase out such a position and actually do politics differently in Quebec. Difficult to say how this will all turn out, but I suppose it also depends on whether it’s another fairly slow news day today…

And finally, the architect who worked on the National Portrait Gallery has called bullshit on the grossly exaggerated figures that James Moore has been giving out about the gallery’s “ballooning” costs. He says that the project’s initial estimate was $22 million – and not $2 million like Moore claimed – which was made while the building was still occupied and they couldn’t do a proper survey. He also says that the final figure was pegged at $45 million, and certainly nowhere near $100 million like Moore has said on several occasions. Moore’s spokesperson says that the costs escalated so it’s not untrue – but giving wildly inaccurate numbers devoid of context for political gain? From this government? The same way they gave overly inflated numbers they gave for the Liberals’ EI proposals? Would never happen!

Up today: After talking about Security Certificates yesterday, NDP MP Bill Siksay will be introducing his Department of Peace legislation today, to be seconded by Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis.

It was quite a day for drama on the Hill. Not only did the Prime Minister deliver a speech about the economic update that was full of rather grandiose claims about the economy (Stimulus spending is 90 percent committed! 4000 projects under way!), but while the Liberals declared that this economic report card merited a fail, there was a minor eruption in their ranks in Quebec.

In a rather stunning hissy fit, Ignatieff’s Quebec lieutenant, Denis Coderre, resigned his post as said lieutenant and as defence critic, and was absent from the House. That he may also have taken some key organisers with him could be the bigger bout of damage for the party.

“This is another great day in the life of the Leader of the Opposition,” Ignatieff quipped in the scrums that followed, but did offer that he wasn’t planning on naming another Quebec lieutenant for the time being.

When I arrived on the Hill right before Members’ Statements, I witnessed Liberal MP (and honorary drag queen) Hedy Fry scrumming about the extradition of BC’s “pot prince” Marc Emery to the States, and this government’s policy of picking and choosing which Canadians it chooses to help abroad. “A Canadian is a Canadian,” she stated.

As Members’ Statements began, the NDP’s Bill Siksay had one immediately to offer:

Mr. Speaker, on October 19 in Montreal, Svend Robinson, the former MP for Burnaby—Douglas, will be honoured by the Conseil québécois des gais et lesbiennes with their Grand Prix. This honour recognizes Svend's outstanding and courageous leadership over many decades in support of the full equality of members of the GLBTTQ community.
On September 18 at a fundraiser for the Qmunity Centre, Vancouver's GLBTTQ community centre, the Canadian Queer Hall of Fame, was launched. Founded by Paul Therien, the Queer Hall of Fame's first five inductees were the Right Honourable Pierre Trudeau, marking the 40th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality, Olympic gold medallist Mark Tewkesbury, freedom of speech activist Janine Fuller, Dogwood Monarchist Society founder ted northe and Vancouver fundraiser and entertainer extraordinaire, Robert Kaiser, better known as Joan-E.
Congratulations to all these great community leaders.

Once Question Period started, Ignatieff disputed the government’s 90 percent! claims, saying their own research showed it was more like twelve percent. Baird talked up the 90 percent figure, talked about contracts tendered, but didn’t quite back up his figures. I will also note that when Jack Layton asked critical questions, Baird has stopped calling him a socialist and mocking him with his usual bombast. In fact, Baird’s answers were almost subdued. But I suppose that’s not such a surprise considering that Layton has vowed to prop up the government.

(Incidentally, the Liberals unveiled their non-confidence motion for later this week. It reads, “That this House has lost confidence in the government.”)

Baird, incidentally, tried to come up with some really interesting justifications for the inconsistent figures during the scrums after Question Period.

Sartorial snaps go to Hedy Fry for her fierce leopard-print dress, and Lisa Raitt for her pink leather jacket over a low-cut black top. Also, Rob Clarke deserves a snap or two for his fuchsia shirt and tie. Style citations go to Bev Oda for the dark green autumnal-themed floral jacket she was wearing over an orange dress and scarf. You’re not an autumn – those colours don’t work for you. Also, Brad Trost’s greige suit, shirt and tie were probably a reflection of the colour of the kind of mediocrity that I’m sure he’d prefer Canadians to display (since Pride parades are too colourful for him). The Megan Leslie outfit watch reports all the right colours – a dark grey suit and a plum top, with heels. Yes, heels! I didn’t think I’d see the day. That said, the jacket was waaaay too short, but hey – props for effort.

Elsewhere, the government now claims that they declared Suaad Hagi Mohamud an impostor because she gave “contradictory” statements, and couldn’t name Lake Ontario, or say what the TTC stood for. Um, sure. It’s a nice story, but it could have used a vampire.

Up today: NDP MP Bill Siksay holds a press conference about the case of Adil Charkaoui and his security certificate. You can read more about it in my interview with Siksay here.

I caught up with NDP MP Bill Siksay after Question Period today to ask him about his plans for the fall sitting of Parliament.

Q: How was the rest of your summer?
A: It was great. It ended with a visit to Pride in Ganges on Salt Spring Island. So, a small community on one of the Gulf Islands in British Columbia had a fabulous pride parade. A long parade which wandered and backtracked on itself around the downtown of the community, and then a great afternoon-long series of events in the local park. There were huge numbers of people watching too, so it was lots of fun.

Q: Your statement earlier today – tell me a little more about that.
A: Well Svend [Robinson]’s being honoured by the Conseil québécois des gaies et lesbiennes for his many years of service to he gay and lesbian community, and it’s a very prestigious award – he’s receiving it on October 19th at their annual gala. Last year it was Louise Arbour who received it, so this is a big deal, and I think it’s great that Svend’s being recognised in that way, because of the years of hard work. He was blazing that trail when other politicians were afraid to go there, and it’s good that folks are recognising his achievement there.

The other part of it was recognising the founding of the Queer Hall of Fame in Vancouver, which was at a fundraiser for the Qmunity Centre, and they inducted their first five folks – Pierre Trudeau for the decriminalisation of homosexuality; Ted Northe who is one of the founders of the Dogwood Monarchist society – the Imperial Court System in Vancouver; Robert Kaiser who’s known as Joan-E, a great fundraiser [and drag queen] in Vancouver; Mark Tewkesbury; and Janine Fuller from Little Sisters bookstore, who’s an activist on freedom of speech issues. So that was a great evening. Paul Therien was the guy who’s taken the main initiative around this, supported by a great committee, and it’s a great new project to recognise leadership in the community and started off with five appropriate inductees.

Q: Tomorrow morning you’ve got a press conference with Mr. Charkaoui. Tell me a little more about that.
A: I’ve been a long-time critic of the security certificate regime in Canada. Security certificates are a piece of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which was originally intended to be an expedited deportation mechanism, but sadly over the past eight or nine years in Canada, they’ve been used to incarcerate people without charge, without trial and without conviction. They were never intended to be used in that way, and I think that’s one of the most important violations of civil liberties that are ongoing in Canada. I think it’s time we got rid of those. I’m glad that the courts are finally losing patience with the security certificate programme. They’ve increasingly in recent weeks been removing some of the conditions that are on the detainees, and I think that’s very appropriate, but I’d like to see us get rid of the whole regime. It’s been NDP policy for a while. Mr. Charkaoui and others took it to court a few years ago, the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional but suggested that it could be fixed with the addition of special advocates. The government did that, but special advocates only add a façade of respectability to a very problematic piece of legislation. The sooner we get rid of it, the better. Tomorrow I will also tabling a private members’ bill to repeal the security certificate provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act as well.

Q: Assuming we don’t still go to an election, what are your plans for the fall?
A: This week I’ve got another Private Member’s Bill, which is on establishing a Department of Peace for Canada. There’s been an initiative here in Canada and around the world to establish departments of peace as a way of putting peace making, restorative justice, mediation, peaceful dispute resolution at the heart of government rather than at the fringes of government. I’ve been working with the Department Peace Initiative people to take their suggested bill and turn it into a piece of legislation, so that’ll be tabled on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to working on that, along with some other peace initiatives that I’ve been working on.

Q: But being as you can only really do one piece of Private Members’ Business, have you chosen what that’s going to be?
A: The long-standing commitment is on changing the Canadian Human Rights Act to include prohibitions against discrimination of transgendered and transsexual folks by including gender identity and expression to the list of prohibited grounds. I should be up this fall if the House lasts, so we should be able to hopefully at least start debate on that. Given the instability of the Parliament, it may not get all the way through the process, but I’m hoping that we at least can start that, and of all the Private Members’ Bills and motions that I have, that’s the priority. It’s the commitment I made five years ago.

It’s time for the Conservatives to table their third economic “report card” today, but don’t expect Harper to do it in the House. No, he’s off to do it in St. John, New Brunswick. You know, a place where he won’t have to face the House, the national media, or any of those pesky means of accountability in a Parliamentary democracy. Okay, okay – it will simultaneously be tabled in the House, but for Harper to do his big speech outside of the Commons demonstrates his contempt for Parliament, if you ask me. John Baird can claim that it’s to “get out of the Ottawa bubble” all he wants – the fact is, the Commons exists for a reason, and for Harper and company to make their announcements outside of it is a demonstration of their desire to make our legislative body irrelevant in the political discourse of the nation. This is all about Harper trying to look and sound more presidential, and we should remind him that this isn’t America, and that in Canada, these kinds of things happen in the House of Commons.

On the subject of those partisan ads, there appears to be an advertising department in the PMO, but no one knows what they do. And PCO hasn’t really spent money on advertising in the past, and now they’re suddenly handling a $34 million dollar advertising campaign on the Economic Action Plan? It all does start to sound even more suspicious.

There’s been some resolution to the Liberal feud brewing in Outremont. Ignatieff ended up reversing his previous decision and allowed Martin Cauchon to run in his old riding once again. And that female candidate that Ignatieff wanted to install as the candidate? She offered to run in Jeanne-Le Ber, a riding currently held by the Bloc. While both want open nomination races in those respective ridings, it looks like everything has worked out in the end.

The Conservatives are getting set to finally table their bill to add new seats to the Commons based on a new distribution formula. While this new formula is fairer to fast-growing Ontario, Quebec is worried that they’re going to lose influence, as their population isn’t growing enough to keep pace. Nevertheless, these new seats (going to Alberta, BC and Ontario) will be reflective of the urban, multicultural growth in those provinces, which could reshape the way that the Commons is made up, finally wresting away some of the control that the rural ridings have over the urban population.

There’s talk of plans to possibly grow poppies in Alberta for pharmaceutical reasons, which immediately begs the question of why we don’t just get them from Afghanistan and make a legitimate cash crop to starve out the drug lords there, rather than pursue the failing policy of burning poppy fields there without compensating farmers (thus driving the push for militancy). Makes you want to shake your head.

Heritage Minister James Moore says the Portrait Gallery isn’t dead – but they have no plans to deal with it any time soon. Naturally.

 And finally, a little bit of patriotic acrobatics (and eye candy). He performed on the Hill for Canada Day and was amazing, and this still blows me away.