Despair and the status quo: how federal politics touched Canadians this week

OTTAWA — A leaden blanket of despair stifled Parliament Hill this week, as politicians strained to come to terms with the Quebec City mosque shooting and the confusing Donald Trump ban on travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

The Liberals started the week negotiating exemptions and scrambling for clarity on how the travel edict would affect Canada’s 35,000 dual citizens from the countries on the U.S. president’s blacklist, while wrestling with how to react to the more general nature of the ban.

MPs from all three parties either quietly or overtly denounced the targeting of Muslim-dominated countries — even as what appeared to be anti-Muslim hatred crystallized into the killing of six men praying at a suburban mosque.

The long, dark week ended in funerals.

In the midst of the gloom, there were concrete developments on electoral reform and on the prospects for infrastructure, intended to give the economy a boost. Here’s how politics touched us this week:

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STATUS QUO ON IMMIGRATION:

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted last weekend that Canada welcomes refugees, many in Canada and around the world figured he would follow up with some tweaks to immigration policy that would deal with those no longer allowed into the United States.

Indeed, Minister Ahmed Hussen suggested as much on Sunday afternoon, leading the NDP to hope there may be some changes in the wind in time for its emergency debate on the subject Tuesday.

But by then, Hussen said there was no need for changes since the situation with the United States was evolving. And on Wednesday, his department issued a dry, technical analysis of the effect of Trump’s executive order on the American asylum system, concluding no action was necessary from Canada.

Still, the media are full of stories about travellers being stopped or fearing to go, and the opposition is hankering for a policy response.

STATUS QUO ON ELECTORAL REFORM:

Close observers of federal politics saw it coming from a mile away. But when Trudeau finally confirmed in a letter this week to his new democratic institutions minister that electoral reform was dead, the opposition hit the roof.

For the NDP and the Greens, as well as the many interest groups that have thrown themselves into the cause of bringing proportional representation to Canada, the move was a cynical slap in the face after Trudeau insisted for so long that he would keep his election campaign commitment to abolish first-past-the-post.

For Conservatives who resisted a new system all along, Trudeau’s decision to ditch plans for a new voting system was a gift — a clear broken promise that they can remind voters about every single day until the next election.

But for voters? Pollsters say the electorate is not broadly seized with the idea of electoral reform. Broken promises, on the other hand, garner more interest.

STATUS QUO ON FISCAL POLICY?

The parliamentary budget officer this week warned that the federal government’s much-vaunted infrastructure plan was not delivering results on schedule, and that the resulting economic growth — and federal revenues — may not pan out as hoped.

It wasn’t the only troubling sign for growth prospects this week.

Exporters say they’re becoming gun-shy about making new investments because of the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s stance on trade and investment, and the possibility he will dramatically cut taxes.

And household spending, which has propelled so much of Canada’s growth in the past, is slowing down.

But federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau says repeatedly that it’s business as usual with fiscal policy. He can’t say “continue” enough.

“I want to just keep repeating the fact that we are actually the government that reduced taxes on middle-class Canadians. We know we have a competitive corporate tax rate in this country. We know that it is important to continue to make investments in innovation in our economy. We know it is important to continue to focus on how we can help Canadians to get the skills they need in our economy,” he said this week in Question Period.

“That is our intention and I am very much looking forward to budget 2017 to continue that message for Canadians.”

Heather Scoffield, Ottawa Bureau Chief, The Canadian Press