Roundup: The casework distraction

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Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel has sounded the alarm that the Liberals sound like they are about to cut off the special access for MPs’ offices to inquire about immigration files in favour of the directing their inquiries to the Ministerial Inquiry Division. Rempel’s concern is that this makes it harder for MPs to deal with immigration files on behalf of constituents – casework, as it is known. The department has thus far said there is no change, but in the event that there is, I’m actually not sure that this is such a bad idea. Why? Because, quite simply, this isn’t work that MPs should be doing. They shouldn’t be service providers on behalf of the public service, and I’ve heard from some staffers that the department won’t even start looking at files until the MP’s office forwards it to them, which is both appalling and a red flag that the system isn’t working the way it should be. An MP’s job is to hold the government to account, and to do so by controlling the public purse. Their staff should be focused on this work, and helping them with legislation as it happens. The expansion of the civil service, however, has prompted the development of MPs into ombudspersons for civil service interactions, which starts getting uncomfortable because it takes away from their actual roles. The fact that you have MPs who wind up dedicating staff to dealing entirely with immigration casework is quite simply wrong, and indicative of a system not working. Making immigration casework reliant upon MPs offices – no matter how non-partisan the work is – is a half-step away from a corrupt system where who you know is the determining factor for whether your files get looked at or not. It’s a civil service job to process files – not an MP’s job. If the Liberals are trying to clamp down on this abuse of process and focus on getting the department to do their jobs, while MPs to do theirs, I don’t actually see the problem with that. It’s how things should work, and if they’re trying to right that particular ship, then all the power to them. MPs should be focusing on their actual work, which let’s face it – most of them don’t, because they don’t actually know what their job is (see: crisis of civic literacy in this country). If the government of the day takes away from their distractions (work that they actually shouldn’t be doing), then maybe we can hope that it’ll help steer their attention back toward the work they should be. But maybe I’m being a wildly optimistic dreamer again.

https://twitter.com/markdjarvis/status/717130956398682113

https://twitter.com/ldobsonhughes/status/717139036670992388

Good reads:

  • While everyone talks about the Panama Papers, the Revenue Minister looks to get ahold of that information for CRA to verify, while the PBO says he still wants tax gap data.
  • Richard Fadden, former national security advisor and head of CSIS, talks about the threat of ISIS, and has a few bitter comments about opposition to C-51.
  • General Jonathan Vance talks about the mission against ISIS, and the difference between combat and fighting missions.
  • A Transport Canada report warns that the aging Coast Guard fleet is understaffed and new ships are coming too slowly.
  • There are questions asked about the Liberals’ commitment to compensating supply-managed farmers for potential TPP losses – assuming they ratify the deal.
  • Six of the 14 senators who still owe for questionable expenses have now repaid, while most who have not are now retired.
  • The head of the National Research Council has suddenly gone on leave with no explanation, and restructuring the Council has been put on hold.
  • Some former NDP MPs are pushing the party to adopt the Leap Manifesto, while other former MPs know it’s political poison for them.
  • Tasha Kheiriddin offers some of her own cautions to the Liberal plan to blow up the party membership to be a “movement” instead.
  • Emmett Macfarlane suggests a new approach to vetting potential Supreme Court of Canada nominees.

Odds and ends:

New DND buildings will have gender-neutral washrooms. The Canadian Forces have had openly trans members for close to two decades (and they paid for transition).

Brad Wall won a third majority mandate in Saskatchewan.

One thought on “Roundup: The casework distraction”

  1. If it is true that MPs will have now to go through the Ministerial enquiry line instead of directly to Immigration Offices abroad to push a case, that is a great improvement. MPs some of them had the nasty habit of browbeating PS to get what they wanted, a visa for someone whose family lived in their Constituency. Some MPs made a career of that and did little else, I am thinking of one in particular who was a nasty SOB. Indeed by taking an inordinate amount of their time, budget and Office staff to look into immigration case they are not doing the work they where elected to do. Too many confuse multiculturalism with pushing immigration files. But it means money and votes, something MPs understand too well.

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