Senate QP: Brison talks out the clock

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Senate Question Period resumed this week, after a hiatus of several weeks, and the special guest star this week is Scott Brison, president of the Treasury Board and temporary minister of democratic institutions. Senator Larry Smith led off, and he worried about marijuana regulations not being pre-published in the Canada Gazette. Brison said that Treasury Board’s work from a regulatory perspective was to work with Health Canada to ensure that the framework was in place by the time that the legislation comes into force. He assured them that there would be no corners cut, before launching into the worn talking points about the point of the legislation. Smith tried to puzzle out the timelines around regulations being published, and he wanted the rationale being made public in terms of why the regulations were not pre-published. Brison reiterated that they were trying to ensure that the regulatory framework was in place prior to the law effect.

Senator Stewart Olsen got to press on the same point, saying that many of their concerns could have been alleviated if they had more clarity on why they didn’t take those steps. Brison said that Treasury Board and Health Canada would ensure that the process was rigorous, before launching into the same talking points about why they were legislating, not really answering the specific point.

Senator Day asked about the review of the Access to Information Act, as well as ensuring that the Act would ensure there was access to records in PMO and ministers’ offices, which were left out of Bill C-58. Brison named improvements in the legislation, and insisted that legislating proactive disclosure provided the transparency that was being demanded, and then went on about high high demand volumes were a signal that they should move to proactive disclosure rather than demand-based.

Senator Omidvar asked about the public service pilot project around blind hiring, which found no bias, but problems were raised around the methodology, and she hoped for an improved process to try again. Brison went into a tale about the value of diversity, and that he was glad that he wanted to continue to apply the name-blind pilot in other departments and agencies, and address some of those methodological shortcomings.

Senator Boniface returned to Bill C-58 and the concerns of First Nations that it had no consultation with them and that claims research groups felt that they were ignored. Brison says that they have given assurances to the chiefs about this, that their concerns were being addressed.

Senator Frum raised her particular bugaboo of foreign funding contributions in elections, and Brison noted her bill on the Order Paper, assured her that there are already robust election financing laws, and said that they were continuing to review the issue and the recommendations that had been put forward to date.

Senator Carignan asked about the programme spending review not turning up recommendations to cut. Brison assured him that they were continuing their examination and that they were trying to innovate to create more robust and efficient programs — before he launched into a series of jabs at the previous government for some of their foolish cuts, such as with the Phoenix pay system.

Senator Downe asked about federal public service jobs in the regions being in decline while growing in Ottawa. Brison said that Treasury Board was trying to push departments to consider if those jobs needed to be in Ottawa or if they could be in the regions, and they were trying to develop a policy framework to increase investments and public service representation in the regions.

Overall, it was one of those experiences where you have  minister who likes to talk, and so talk he did. Without the 35-second constrains of Commons QP, Brison expounded upon his responses, and spoke for so long that the Speaker wound up having to warn him to cut it short, because there was a long list of questioners, and not enough time to get to them. And if you’ve noticed that this recap is shorter than usual, it’s because Brison spoke for so long in each response that they didn’t get to nearly as many questions as usual. That said, there were some very good questions asked, some of them fairly pointedly, so that was good to see as well.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Senator Linda Frum for a navy jacket with a black top and slacks, and to Senator René Cormier for a neatly tailored dark grey three-piece suit with a white shirt and dark blue tie. Style citations go out to Senator Larry Smith for a taupe suit with a butterscotch shirt and brown spotted tie, and to Senator Pierrette Ringuette for a red, black and white patterned dress with a tan and black sweater.