While Conservative leadership hopeful Michael Chong is trying to run a campaign based on actual ideas rather than cheap slogans, it needs to be pointed out that not all of his ideas are good ones. The latest example is his plans to stop the “abuse of parliament,” taking a few gratuitous swipes at the legacy of Stephen Harper along the way. The problem is that, like his ill-fated Reform Act of 2014, Chong has a bunch of solutions in search of problems. In this case, he wants to look at the issue of prorogation.

https://twitter.com/michaelchongmp/status/818523622126026752

Did Stephen Harper abuse prorogation to avoid a confidence vote? Yes. Did he later abuse it in a much more cavalier fashion by phoning up the GG on New Year’s Eve in order to prorogue parliament for the duration of the Vancouver Olympics? Absolutely. Is changing the rules, or “establishing a new constitutional convention” the answer to what happened? Absolutely not. (Also, I’m trying to think of when Liberal governments prorogued parliament to avoid non-confidence votes or debates over scandals at the federal level, as he alleges, but I’m drawing a blank).

The problem with trying to ensure that a PM can’t shut down parliament to avoid a vote of non-confidence is that the alternatives are always worse. Chong proposes that Parliament sit an additional two days to deal with unfinished business and votes before dissolution or prorogation is granted, but this is inherently problematic. Aside from the fact that it gives no time for bills to pass with proper scrutiny, it sets up a situation where a government that has lost the confidence of the chamber has a grace period for pushing through legislation, regulation, or Orders in Council. That’s a problem. The demand that Parliament meet two weeks after a general election (rather than six to eight weeks) is also mystifying. I know that Mark Jarvis and company thought it was a swell idea in their Democratizing the Constitution book, but what problem is it solving? It’s a major logistical challenge to get 338 MPs to Ottawa in two weeks, get them offices, orientation sessions, oaths sworn, and a cabinet chosen and sworn in, not to mention the entire transition of a government and writing a Throne Speech in two weeks. The rush to test the confidence of the new chamber is a bit of a false premise considering that barring the formation of a coalition government, it’s a pro forma exercise. If the GG is genuinely concerned that the PM won’t have confidence, he or she either won’t appoint them as PM, or he or she won’t start signing Orders-in-Council or making appointments until that confidence is tested. It does absolutely nothing to rein in the power of the PMO or to hold a government more accountable. If anything, it would lead to bigger problems because as the saying goes, haste makes waste, and this is a lot of unnecessary haste.

If you want something that will have a more meaningful impact on the practice of prorogation, then restore the tradition of a prorogation speech, which forces a government to justify why it’s doing so in a public manner and to explain their accomplishments rather than just being able to phone up the GG when Parliament isn’t sitting. (More on this in my forthcoming book). It will have a greater impact than anything that Chong suggests with this plan.

Good reads:

• The rumour is there will be a cabinet shuffle today. And look – speculation!
• Mélanie Joly is off to China to promote Canadian arts exports.
• The Hill Times has a profile of Chrystia Freeland and the tough work she did in 2016, and the uphill battle she’ll have in 2017 with the Trumpocalypse.
• Here’s a look at the alt-right and white supremacist movements in Quebec.
• Maclean’s profiles potential NDP leadership candidate Charlie Angus.
• Here’s a look at how the rules of the NDP leadership contest make its calculations different from the Conservative race.
• Here’s a look at caucus endorsements and how they do and don’t matter in the Conservative leadership race.
• Erin O’Toole pledges not to make personal attacks in the leadership race.
• Kevin O’Leary took to Facebook to talk bollocks yesterday, which Global fact-checked. He also apparently met with potential donors in Florida last week.
• Bruce Anderson decries the reporting on Nick Kouvalis as feeding cynicism and the fascination with “dark arts” that justify dirty politics.
• Susan Delacourt thinks that Chrystia Freeland is the one to watch in the potential cabinet shuffle.
• Andrew Coyne talks about the planned guaranteed income test projects.
• Stephen Gordon gives us a more informed take on that Finance Canada report (which no, is not portending doom).

Odds and ends:

The Federal Court of Appeal ruled that former NDP candidate Emillie Taman’s firing was unjustified, but it criticised how the decision was reached, not the decision itself.

Over in the Law Times, I look at a bill to create independent oversight for CBSA, which is currently stalled in parliament.