Roundup: Slight mandate confusion

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The effort to turn the delay in André Pratte’s formal Senate appointment while he finalizes the purchase of property in the right Quebec senatorial district into some kind of controversy continues to be weak sauce, but it did expose a bit of a schism between what the advisory board believes their job to be – finding names to be recommended, leaving the PMO to do the final vetting – and the PMO’s communication around their expectations – that the board should only recommend qualified persons (which, let’s be honest, is a little bit of buck-passing). I’ve seen what purports to be the application form, and it did have the seven vacant districts listed, but that doesn’t mean that Pratte filled that form out as a self-applicant, but may have been approached, which could be why the issue of property was not entirely sorted before he was recommended. Regardless, it remains a bit of a damp squib in terms of a controversy or conspiracy, as Conservative MP Scott Reid would have us believe. Does this mean that there will likely be more vetting the next time around? Probably. Is this a fatal blow to the process? Hardly. Growing pains at the very least, which is why they had the interim process that generated these seven names first, so that they could work the bugs out of the system. That said, I will repeat Emmett Macfarlane’s note that the bigger problem with this process is people applying. That way is almost certainly the way that madness lies, as every egomaniac and self-professed “top minds” in their field will apply (and I know of at least one person who is wholly unqualified but believes himself to be who is trying to get support for a self-nominated Senate application). This should be a process where people are identified and nominated by others in recognition for a lifetime of good work, not a means of ego-stroking and self-congratulation without having to go through the rabble of the electoral process. It defeats the whole point of the Senate as being a place where people who would not otherwise seek office can be given an opportunity to contribute. If you are seeking a Senate appointment, your motives should be immediately considered suspect, and should almost certainly be disqualifying. After all, did we learn nothing from Mike Duffy’s decades-long campaign to get himself appointed? Let’s not do that again.

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/713744433011953666

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/713746943277735936

Good reads:

  • New money for the gong show known as Shared Services Canada may not be enough to do more than keep the legacy systems going.
  • Some rookie MPs, mostly Liberals, want more committee training, but it seems to me that most of their questions would be answered by reading the Standing Orders.
  • There are questions as to whether the government is slashing the funding of SIRC, and what that means for civilian oversight of CSIS.
  • The ministerial directives to CSIS regarding C-51 are largely being kept secret, and the current minister’s office says it’s not their place to release them.
  • The RCMP is being hit by a second class-action lawsuit around sexual harassment.
  • With the budget now tabled, Bill Morneau is set to return to the issue of CPP enhancement.
  • A programme set up by the previous government to support parents of missing or murdered children saw less than one percent uptake.
  • In a wide-ranging interview, the Clerk of the Privy Council talks about the need to modernize the public service to fulfil the government’s ambitious agenda.
  • Jane Taber recountes Jane Philpott’s tragic loss of her daughter 25 years ago.
  • Stephen Gordon takes a second look at the Liberal deficit reduction plan.
  • William Thorsell and Kevin Milligan try to take some of the fear out of the current deficit numbers with a bit of context.
  • Kady O’Malley takes note of the independent senators slowly changing the face of the Chamber.
  • Susan Delacourt wonders if party policy conventions are still relevant – but admits the Liberal platform hews closely to their last convention results.
  • James Bowden takes apart that Broadbent Institute report on Proportional Representation, and it’s a pretty good read.

Odds and ends:

Oh noes! Sometimes MPs in the same party can have vigorous discussions that might indicate disagreement on something!

The coroner has determined that Jim Hillyer died of a heart attack.