Friday QP Recap: A few bad habits creeping in

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I’m generally not in the habit of writing up Friday QP recaps, but I wanted to make a few observations of how Friday QP unfolded under the new Liberal government. Fridays, as most people know, are generally B-team days, with leaders rarely present, and only ever a small number of ministers, meaning one tends to generally get deputy critics quizzing parliamentary secretaries. It had been my hope that the Liberals would phase out the practice of letting said parliamentary secretaries answer questions in QP, because it ultimately have issues with the accountability role of QP – questions are asked of the government, which means cabinet, because they have access to the answers. Parliamentary secretaries, despite getting some briefing notes, don’t have those actual answers, so it generally becomes much more about the show than anything else. Over the past number of years, the scene has degenerated so that the painful scripted performances from either side of the aisle are unbearable to watch. Sure, you had a handful of parliamentary secretaries who could outshine their own ministers because they had learned their files while their ministers still read from the prepared talking points in front of them, but it also reached the point where parliamentary secretaries became the human shields for their ministers, absorbing the blows from bad media stories by taking fire on their behalf during QP. It’s why Paul Calandra became the spokesperson for all things unpopular on Harper’s plate. It’s a perversion of our system.

So far, the Liberals are doing better, we had a lot of ministers in the Commons today – more than on a usual Friday – and most of the ministers are answering without reading prepared lines. That’s a vast improvement. But there are provisions for ministers to cover off for one another in the Chamber rather than turn the answers over to parliamentary secretaries (who do have other duties, such as answering in the late show), which is preferable from a strict accountability perspective than using parliamentary secretaries to do the job for them.

I would also note that I saw far more examples today than other days of backbench Liberals asking obsequious softball questions to the ministers – particularly those from portfolios that haven’t seen a lot of other attention this week. This is one of those practices that bugs me to no end. Backbenchers have issues in their ridings, and they have their own duty to hold the government (as in cabinet) to account. This nonsense of asking puffballs instead of real questions is gross, and I had hoped that with their talk of more respect for parliament that they would avoid the practice. Perhaps I was too optimistic about those promises of a renewed parliamentary vigour.

One thought on “Friday QP Recap: A few bad habits creeping in”

  1. I’ve said this before, and I must again. I thoroughly enjoy your daily updates and look forward every morning to see a clearer picture of what happened in the HoC. Thanks.

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