Roundup: The AG’s disastrous advice

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The Senate’s internal economy committee is signalling that they are looking into setting up an independent audit committee, and my alarm bells are going off so hard right now because if they follow the path that the Auditor General wants them to go down, then they are risking serious damage to our entire parliamentary system. And no, I’m not even exaggerating a little bit. You see, Michael Ferguson wants to ensure that if there are any senators on this independent committee, that they are in the minority and not in a position to chair it, because that would mean they’re still writing their own rules. And the answer to that is of course they’re writing their own rules. They’re Parliament. Parliament is self-governing. In fact, it’s not only ignorant but dangerous to insist that we subject our parliamentarians to some kind of external authority because that blows parliamentary privilege out of the water. If you don’t think that Parliament should be self-governing, then let’s just hand power back to the Queen and say “thank you very much, your Majesty, but after 168 years, we’ve decided that Responsible Government just isn’t for us.” So no, let’s not do that, thanks. And it’s not to say that there shouldn’t be an audit committee, and Senator Elaine McCoy has suggested one patterned on the one used in the House of Lords, which would be five members – three senators, plus an auditor and someone like a retired judge to adjudicate disputes, but the Senate still maintains control because Parliament is self-governing. It allows outsiders into the process to ensure that there is greater independence and which the senators on the committee would ignore at their peril, but the Senate must still control the process. Anything less is an affront to our democracy and to Responsible Government, and I cannot stress this point enough. Ferguson is completely wrong on this one, and senators and the media need to wake up to this fact before we really do something to damage our parliamentary institutions irreparably (worse than we’re already doing).

Good reads:

  • Bardish Chagger has now been named Government House Leader, which will be a challenge for a rookie, particularly given how unreasonable some of her opponents have a reputation for being. Dominic LeBlanc will be full-time fisheries minister.
  • There’s no indication that LeBlanc filled Hunter Tootoo’s spot on the procurement cabinet committee, but people are still freaking out about the possibility.
  • The Liberals spent $100,000 in order to win Nunavut, only for Hunter Tootoo to be out of caucus months later.
  • The Jane Philpott cheap outrage performance continues because someone said “limousine” when “car service” would be more appropriate, and I can’t even.
  • The cost to fix the Phoenix Pay debacle has jumped to $25 million, because this is what happens when you don’t implement consolidation properly.
  • Part of the problem with the new mandate for diversity on the Supreme Court of Canada is that Atlantic Canada is the least diverse region of the country.
  • Defeated MPs Julian Fantino, Corneliu Chisu and Joe Daniel have all joined Deepak Obhrai’s leadership campaign, because those are quality catches.
  • Most Conservative MPs aren’t bothering with town halls for electoral reform, while some NDP MPs are using them for confirmation bias.
  • F. Leslie Seidle enumerates the problems with the current electoral reform process, while Kady O’Malley wonders if there really is any enthusiasm for consultations.
  • Susan Delacourt profiles new NDP MP Scott Duvall, who thinks that QP isn’t long enough every day.
  • Paul Wells offers some perspective for the Liberals over the issue of Philpott’s car service.

Odds and ends:

Cabinet ministers will be bunking together in student dorms for their cabinet retreat in Sudbury, Ontario.