The CBC caught up with Senator Lynn Beyak yesterday, and she essentially doubled down on her insistence that she’s said nothing wrong about residential schools, and then compounded the whole thing by insisting that she’s been “suffering with” these residential school survivors because she lives in the area with them and she once went on double dates with an Aboriginal fellow. The mind boggles.

Here is Senator Beyak's full exchange with @CBCKatie and @JPTasker #cdnpoli #pnpcbc pic.twitter.com/MEa4lySD8s

— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) March 27, 2017

So with this having been said, and Beyak insisting that she’s not going anywhere, people are starting to wonder what’s next (as they demand her resignation, if not from the Senate then at least the Aboriginal Peoples committee). Let’s deconstruct this a little first, shall we?

To start off with, as a member of the committee, Beyak is not really making decisions around Indigenous policy in this country, as some people are suggesting. The government – meaning Cabinet – still makes that policy, and the Senate and in particular the committee does their due diligence in holding them to account. They’re not actually making policy themselves. Add to that, Beyak is one vote out of fifteen (remember that committees in this current session are now oversized because that was how to add in new independent members without a prorogation to reset committee selection), so her vote is even more diluted than it would be in a regular parliamentary session. And given that her views are off-side with her own party’s, it’s not like she’s really going to be the swing-vote in any case. So let’s calm down about that. While the committee chair has suggested that Beyak step aside, it’s not really her call as to whether Beyak is a member or not – that’s up to caucus leadership (or in the case of the Independent Senators’ Group, they volunteered for committee assignments), and there’s nothing the Chair can do about it. But if the Conservative Senate leadership is aware that Beyak being on that committee is a problem, they can probably arrange to have her rotated off of it (if not right away, then certainly when the committees reset at the next prorogation).

Some people has suggested that Beyak be kicked out of Conservative caucus, but I’m less certain that that’s a good idea. For one, her being in caucus allows the Conservative leadership to maintain some level of control over her, and if she’s forced out, where is she going to go? The ISG, where she can look at Senator Murray Sinclair every organizing meeting?

As for the comparisons between Beyak and Senator Don Meredith – because people have been making them – it’s a specious comparison that needs to stop. He’s broken ethics rules (and possibly the law), whereas Beyak’s crime is wilful ignorance. That’s not actually illegal or against the ethics code, and no, you can’t expel her for it. What they can do, however, is maybe consider a policy of phasing her out – making it as unrewarding as possible for her to be there that she eventually leaves. It’s an inexact science, particularly for someone as clueless as Beyak, and this whole episode should serve as one more reminder as to why it’s important to take some care in choosing who to appoint, because they’ll be there for a long time with little recourse for removal (and Stephen Harper quite obviously was not taking care).

Good reads:

• For the first time in about a decade, Parliament will finally get to vote on government borrowing, as they’re supposed to, and yes, this matters.
• If you need a recap of where the whole Standing Order debate is with the committee filibuster, the Hill Times has you covered.
• Apparently, the government’s math when it comes to their export growth potential in the budget doesn’t quite add up.
• There’s a race for the Senate leadership for the Conservatives, and here’s a look at who’s vying for the job.
• As of last November, Environment Canada said that we’re on track to miss our emissions targets, not that this should surprise anyone.
• It looks like the promised legalization of marijuana legislation will leave most details to the provinces, as with alcohol and tobacco sales.
• It looks like the government reversed a Conservative decision and granted a Chinese company the right to take-over a Canadian tech company (with some limits).
• Some diplomats behave very badly in Canada, and thanks to immunity can’t be prosecuted here.
• The service contract for the fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft competition may be headed for the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.
• Michael Chong appeared to confirm that weird Leah McLaren column, but said that was the last he’d say about it.
• After Kevin O’Leary said he’d invoke the Notwithstanding Clause to keep irregular asylum seekers out, Maxime Bernier one-upped him by saying he’d call in the army.
• O’Leary also doesn’t seem to grasp fiscal federalism and thinks he can bully provinces with transfer payments. Good luck with that.
• Stephen Gordon has the good news and the underlying bad news about the state of the Quebec economy.
• If you’re not tired of the Andrew Potter debacle, yet, Colby Cosh has a good piece with the best headline of the day.
• Andrew Coyne penned a deeply cynical (and in my opinion not entirely correct) denunciation of the whole Standing Orders debate.

Odds and ends:

With the next steps of Brexit about to take place, here’s a look at what it all means.