Roundup: The return of the Reform Act

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Despite hopes that we might be rid of this nonsense, Michael Chong is back with a vengeance, plugging for parties to implement the Reform Act when their caucuses meet in the coming weeks, and hey, he’s not done spouting a bunch of complete bollocks about the new legislation! A reminder: The Reform Act is de facto useless, and de jure harmful to our system of government. I’ve outlined it all before here, here and here, so that soil is well tilled, but suffice to say, it’s not going to empower MPs like he says as MPs already have that power but simply don’t exercise it. It will, in fact, do the opposite. But then there’s some troubling statements he made on Power & Politics last night regarding his idea of the role of the Senate when it comes to leadership votes. Not only did his bill define the caucus as MPs only, but he stated that senators have no role in the selection of an interim leader because it was about (in this case) choosing the “leader of the opposition” which had nothing to do with the Senate, since MPs didn’t choose their leader. Nope – all wrong. It’s about choosing the interim party leader, not just leader in the Commons, and senators are just as much part of the party as MPs are. That makes a difference, particularly if the interim leader is going to be making organisational changes within the party structure which senators are every bit as entitled to have a say in as MPs. Also, because that leader will be able to choose who the Senate leader is going to be (well, for the Conservatives anyway – mileage may vary for future Liberal interim leadership votes), they have a vested interest in who will be chosen. Chong insisting otherwise is being disingenuous. So why is he making the big pitch – other than for the sake of his legislative legacy? Because I’m pretty sure that he’s building himself up for a permanent leadership bid as the “great reformer.” It’s too bad that his reforms are a sham that only serves to entrench what problems have grown in our system. But it’s all about looking like you’re changing things, right? It’s cynical, and sadly, a great many people (my journalistic colleagues included) will lap it right up.

Good reads:

  • Parliament will sit before the end of year! Hooray!
  • Stephen Harper’s wife and daughter are moving back to Calgary, while he plans to commute for the time being. Also, Candice Bergen is talking interim leadership.
  • Chris Alexander continues to blame the media, and pretty much everyone but himself for his election loss.
  • Justin Trudeau met with Kathleen Wynne in advance of Ken Taylor’s funeral, and they talked infrastructure, environment and pension reform.
  • It’ll probably cost more than $10 million to fix up 24 Sussex thanks to inflation and increased security demands.
  • Rumour has it that Katie Telford will be Trudeau’s new Chief of Staff, while Gerald Butts will be his principal secretary. Both have previous Ontario government experience.
  • Here’s a look at some of the court challenges that the new government has inherited (and may yet abandont).
  • Over at Loonie Politics, I dispense some advice for new MPs.

Odds and ends:

As Peter Stoffer packs up his unique office, here’s one last look at it in all its glory.

With the election now over, the court challenge over public service sick leave is being postponed until March.

StatsCan is waiting for the official word before they begin work on restoring the mandatory long-form census.