Roundup: Aftermath of The Elbowing

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In the aftermath of The Elbowing, the opposition decided to use it as leverage to their advantage. The morning was spent, first with a third apology by Trudeau, followed by endless debate on a privilege motion about the incident, and because privilege motions take precedence over everything else, it essentially held the Commons hostage to endless lamentations that compared Trudeau’s actions to those of a domestic abuser and drunk driver. No, seriously. The intent was clear, however – this procedural gamesmanship would keep up until the government dropped Motion 6 – their procedural nuclear option – and eventually the government did. Of course, because they backed down after showing their hand, it means that they’re going to have a much more difficult time controlling the debate in the future, with the likes of Peter Julian and Andrew Scheer opposite Dominic LeBlanc in House Leaders’ meetings, and future attempts by the government to move their agenda forward will be hard to handle as any future attempts will be met with more emotional blackmail, and already it now looks like the assisted dying bill is going to miss its June 6th deadline because of the government’s fumbling and the opposition shenanigans.

Reactions to The Elbowing were also all over the pundit class, but possibly the one that needs to be read first comes from Ashley Csanady, who reminds us that comparing Trudeau to Jian Ghomeshi after this kind of incident is really an insult to actual survivors of violence. Kate Heartfield notes that this incident is unlikely to damage Trudeau’s brand, while Matt Gurney sees the incident as one where Trudeau was trying to stay true to brand and show Decisive Leadership™ when it all went wrong. Susan Delacourt sees this as a teachable moment for the PM and his impatience with dissent in the Commons (which I don’t entirely buy given how much leeway he’s given dissent in his own caucus), and Tim Harper also sees a disdain for dissent coming out of Trudeau. Paul Wells sees this as the culmination of the corner the Liberals have painted themselves into, promising infinite debate on an infinite number of bills, while Don Braid sees flashes of Trudeau’s father and his infamous temper in this episode.

Good reads:

  • For Maclean’s, I wrote an explainer about votes in the Commons and how it all went wrong with The Elbowing.
  • The RCMP announced that they have ended their probe of Pamela Wallin’s expense, but don’t expect a refund for her suspension.
  • The National Energy Board gave the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion a conditional approval, but the government has promised further consultations.
  • The Information Commissioner says that the floated idea of a “ministerial veto” overriding access requests would make her powers a mirage.
  • Federal Crown Prosecutors in Alberta are seeking a Federal Court injunction against demands that they be made available 24/7 for bail hearings in that province.
  • John Geddes sees many parallels between Michael Chong’s leadership bid and Marco Rubio’s doomed presidential nomination campaign.
  • Chris Selley punches the holes in Maryam Monsef’s logic that the opposition refuses to in Question Period.

Odds and ends:

Surprising nobody, Justin Trudeau is against the Brexit.

Here are some photos of actual parliamentary fistfights from around the world.