Roundup: The whinge of the everyman

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I had hoped that after the last round of appointments that we were done with the vapid narcissistic “everyman/woman” wannabe candidates for the Senate would finally go back into the woodwork, but no, I see that we are indulging them once more in a plaintive wail about how terribly unfair it is that deserving, qualified candidates with decades of community and specialty experience got the nod and not them. Because who wouldn’t want an expert in the field when you could get a hot dog vendor or a draftsman who will totally enrich the legislative experience by…um, well, I’m not really sure. I mean, that’s kind of why we have a House of Commons, right? So that the everyman/woman can run and get their chance to do their part and influence policy and so on? And then the Senate goes over their work to ensure that they haven’t made mistakes with the legislation and that it’s all looking good. You know, that whole sober second thought thing? Still failing to see what value a hot dog vendor is going to add to that process. But oh noes! Elites! To which I simply reply “So what?” Do you, hot dog vendor and draftsman who are complaining to the media that your application was passed over, actually know the role and function of the Senate? Because based on everything you’ve said here, I’m not seeing that indication at all.

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/795439635535110148

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/795440234980839424

Meanwhile, Senator Peter Harder is coming to the defence of the new appointment system (as he obviously would, being a recipient of its beneficence already), but takes a few gratuitous swipes at the partisans still in the Senate while he’s at it. But there’s a key paragraph in there toward the bottom, where he talks about how Trudeau “voluntarily relinquished one of the traditional levers of power of his political party and of his office” when he expelled his senators from his caucus, and it rankles just a bit. Why? Because Trudeau didn’t so much give up one traditional lever of power so much as he used the show of relinquishing his lever to gain control over a bunch of other levers instead that are less obvious, from centralizing power over the MPs in his caucus with their institutional memory driven from the room, or his now using ministers to meet with individual senators to try to cut deals for support and using Harder’s own empire-building efforts to “colonize” the new independent senators with his offers of “support” and constant attempts to bigfoot the efforts of the Independent Senators Group to establish their own processes. So no, government influence has not been driven from the Senate – it’s just changed forms, and not necessarily as transparent as it was before, and yes, that does matter.

Good reads:

  • Here’s a look at two private members’ bills that Liberal backbenchers adopted and helped pass despite Cabinet signalling they would vote against them.
  • SIRC may have helped to uncover that metadata storage that the Federal Court spanked CSIS over, but their budget is drying up and they may lay off staff.
  • Bill Morneau defended ministerial fundraising as support for democracy, and that their ethical obligations are satisfied by not relying on fundraising for consultation.
  • Former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley thinks the key to this fundraiser nonsense if to ensure that MPs can only fundraise in their own ridings.
  • Here’s a look at the greater need for regulation of private police forces.
  • The Governor General has wrapped up his state visit to Jordan and Israel.
  • Lisa Raitt says that “values test” rhetoric can put a chill on needed immigration to Canada.
  • Aaron Wherry looks at the way in which Conservatives are slowly embracing carbon pricing.
  • Michael Den Tandt sees the value in the unanimous vote on Yazidi refugees (but fails to note where the debate still rings hollow).
  • Paul Wells looks at polling data on underlying attitudes that drive Trump’s voters and how prevalent they are in Canada.

Odds and ends:

It tends to happen every parliament, and once again we have a bill to make November 11th a national holiday, over the objections of the Legion.