Roundup: Making adjustments on the fly

Posted on by

Lots of developments in the Senate, so let’s get to it, shall we? Kady O’Malley looks into the ways that the Senate is going through the process of reshaping itself to fit the new reality that they find themselves in, and so far they’ve been doing it in a fair-minded way, tempering some the partisan excesses of the previous parliament while they start adjusting their rules around things like Question Period in the new scheme they’ve developed. I’m still a little hesitant, considering that they’re losing some of the pacing and ability to make exchanges that made Senate QP such a refreshing change from Commons QP, but we’ll see once they start working out the kinks. Meanwhile, the Senate is trying to adapt its Conflict of Interest committee to a reality where there are no “government” senators, and more debate about how to include the growing number of independent senators into that structure. We’ll see how the debate unfolds in the next week, but this is something they are cognisant about needing to tackle, just as they are with how to better accommodate independent MPs with committee selection as a whole. Also, the Senate Speaker has ruled that the lack of a Leader of the Government in the Senate does not constitute a prima facia breach of privilege, convinced by the argument that the lack of a government leader doesn’t affect the Senate’s core ability to review and amend legislation, and that the primary role of the chamber isn’t to hold government to account. I would probably argue that it may not be the primary role, but it is a role nevertheless, but perhaps I’m not qualified enough to say whether that still constitutes an actual breach of privilege, as opposed to just making the whole exercise damned inconvenient and leading to a great number of unintended consequences as they venture into this brave new world of unencumbered independence. At this stage, however, things are all still up in the air, and nothing has really crashed down yet, but it’s a bit yet. By the time that Parliament rises for the summer, we’ll see if all of those broken eggs wound up making a cake, or if we just wind up with a mess.

Good reads:

  • Big city mayors have been in Ottawa for meetings, and are praising Trudeau for “rebooting” the relationship with cities, as infrastructure dollars start flowing.
  • Also visiting was Christy Clark, who wants federal dollars for transit and the hydroelectric grid between BC and Alberta, and to call for TPP ratification.
  • Some of the sanctions against Iran are being lifted, to which the Conservatives are apoplectic.
  • Jim Carr was in Calgary to talk to the resource sector, saying he is looking to get resources to tidewater but won’t cheerlead any one project.
  • It looks like the sick leave showdown is ramping back up between public service unions and the new government.
  • The election cost 53 percent more than the one in 2011, which is just fine because this one was longer, engaged more people and voter turnout went way up.
  • The Globe and Mail has a leak about some of the plans for the next phase of the ISIS mission. Meanwhile, there are concerns about our Kurdish allies in the region.
  • Some veterans are concerned about what the promised return to lifelong disability pensions means.
  • Rona Ambrose is talking to the women in her caucus about the work-life balance, citing her own failed first marriage.
  • Thomas Muclair has started to campaign the party membership to keep his job.
  • Colby Cosh writes about what fiscal stabilization means for Alberta.
  • Tabatha Southey casts her sardonic eye at the US Senate hearings on Canada’s refugee policy.

Odds and ends:

BuzzFeed has a look at why the Germans still keep getting blamed for the Great Centre Block fire, even though the theory is constantly disproven.

The Mother Canada statue project has officially been axed.