Roundup: Trudeau’s troubling QP pledge

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In an interview with Huffington Post, Justin Trudeau mused somewhat about his proposed changes to Question Period, where he is looking to institute a once-weekly Prime Minister’s Questions Period, akin to Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK, but wouldn’t commit to showing up any more days than that. Under Harper’s time in office, he went from three days to one or two, and only answering the questions of the other leaders when he did show up. Even if a theoretical Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were to show up once a week and answer all of the questions put to him, I’m a bit sceptical because it does limit availability. Part of what’s been the beauty of our QP as we have structured it is that the PM can be called upon to answer any question on any day, with no advance notice. That’s not the way it works in Westminster, where the PM is given questions in advance. Trudeau is also talking about staying out on the road to connect with Canadians, but insists that it’s not a diminution of parliament but rather the opposite, because he’ll have a capable cabinet that can handle things in his absence and it not be a one-man government. Fair enough, but anytime politicians insist that their time is better spent away from Parliament Hill is diminishing the role of parliament. We have a representative democracy, which means that people send their representatives here to debate and make the decisions. If those representatives decide they have better things to do, then what’s the point? I do find it a troubling sentiment because parliament matters. Pretending it’s a distraction from “the real issues” or just a “bubble” ignores that the work that does go on here is important and needs to be accorded with some actual respect. There is more to governing a country than doorstep issues, and it might behove a future Prime Minister to acknowledge that.

On the campaign:

  • Stephen Harper was trying to shore up Conservative support and defending the mistruths his party has been spreading about Liberal positions.
  • Thomas Mulcair was shoring up support in Halifax and Quebec ridings.
  • Justin Trudeau was visiting NDP and Conservative held ridings in Ontario, and acknowledging when asked that he would prefer leading a majority government.

Good reads:

  • The Liberal campaign co-chair stepped down after his letter to TransCanada Corp advising them on how to lobby future Liberal or NDP governments became know. He wasn’t a paid lobbyist, and Kady O’Malley explains why this matters.
  • CBC put together a decent mini-doc about minority government formation.
  • The Privy Council Office has been compiling party platforms for months to prepare for the eventuality of a change in government.
  • Despite government promises to hire injured veterans in the public service, they’ve managed all of 25 in the past decade.
  • CBC fact checks more of what the Conservatives are claiming the Liberals will raise taxes on.
  • Two legal scholars advise that it may be better for former Supreme Court justices to be seen and not heard opining about things.
  • Rob Salerno laments the NDP’s shift to populism that is harming their appeal with the LGBT community.
  • Former GG, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, gives some thoughts on minority governments.
  • Terry Glavin writes about Trudeau and the politics of idealism.
  • Paul Wells writes a scathing piece on the decline of the Conservative campaign and the circularity of Harper being undone by a Trudeau.

Odds and ends:

It looks like we won’t see the TPP text before the election (but we can blame the other 11 countries in the agreement).

Federal prosecutor turned NDP candidate Emilie Taman has lost her court challenge regarding being fired for her decision to run without permission.

Can we muster some cheap outrage for Joe Oliver upgrading flights and hotel rooms?

3 thoughts on “Roundup: Trudeau’s troubling QP pledge”

  1. I see the suggestion of Justin T. as a reaction to an evolving system. Parliament was instituted at a time where communications were prisoners of limited education within the population, transport was difficult and the centre of power was in the Capital. Today with Instagram, Twitter, FB and other devices politicians can communicate and connect quickly with millions, given people their message undiluted or without outside commenters. Trudeau is reacting to our age of technology and also to the boredom most people feel when they think of Parliament. PM Harper hastened the demise of the old Parliament model by ignoring it, now this process is well entrenched. So Trudeau is simply picking up this idea, maybe he should refine it more and propose maintaining a video link with Parliament instead of being physically in the House. A Parliament of the future where your PM is with you and in the House at the same time. As for the question of representative democracy, today most people speak of electing a PM when in fact all they do is voting for their MP. But clearly the mind of Canadians is focused on the PM since Members only carry the Party’s agenda and are salesperson of that agenda, they are no longer the MP’s of old when connection with the population was more face to face and they represented a region or a town, this is no longer the case. So Justin T. simply wants to answer what he sees as a desire by Canadians to feel included in issues and debates. Or maybe it is just old fashion populism.

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