Roundup: Contemplating compromised committees

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As the summoning of the new Parliament draws ever closer, we’re seeing more stories about the procedural intricacies of the first few sitting days, and the coming confidence vote on or before the 10th because of the Supply cycle and the need to pass the Supplementary Estimates before that date. Fair enough – those can be expected to pass pretty handily because nobody is going to want to head right back to the polls (and I wouldn’t expect the Governor General to grant an immediate election either – the developing convention is waiting at least six months, providing there is another viable governing party, though that would be the real trick given the current seat maths).

This all having been said, there was something in this interview with Pablo Rodriguez, the new Government House Leader, which sticks in my craw, and that’s the talk about possibly undoing the rule changes that prevent parliamentary secretaries from being voting members on Commons committees, and I. Just. Cannot. Even.

While the chances of this happening are fairly slim, given that it would require opposition support and they are unlikely to get it, it’s still crazy-making. This reflex to go super political in a hung parliament is understandable but deeply frustrating because it undermines the whole raison d’être of Parliament, which is to hold the government to account, and committees are one very big piece of the accountability puzzle. Parliamentary secretaries should have no business even being near committees because it undermines their independence. It’s bad enough that under the previous parliament, they were still on the committee in a non-voting capacity, but it still allowed ministers’ offices to attempt to stage manage what went on (to varying degrees, depending on which committee it was). Having the parliamentary secretaries as voting members simply turns committees into the branch plants of ministers’ offices, and we saw this play out for the better part of a decade under Stephen Harper. Committees are not there to simply take orders from the minister and waste everyone’s time, and it would be hugely disappointing if the Liberals returned to that way of thinking simply because it’s a hung parliament. If we think that the only time to let Parliament function properly is if there’s a majority for the government, then it’s a sad state of affairs for our democracy.

Good reads:

  • Of course Canada’s defence spending came up during Trudeau’s meeting with Trump in London, and a reminder that we don’t have the capacity to spend more.
  • The AFN is holding a special chiefs assembly in Ottawa, and part of the discussion is the need for guaranteed billions in federal spending to take over child welfare.
  • A special RCMP training centre for teaching spy craft is blamed for the deaths of several officers who were exposed to contaminants there.
  • Canada’s mining sector is being looked to in order to help provide streams of “critical minerals” for electrification, to prevent China dominating supplies.
  • The Federal Leaders Debate commission is abandoning their appeal of the Federal Court injunction that allowed Rebel Media and Rebel Lite True North accreditation.
  • Canada’s most visible LGBT advocacy group says they’ve had more outreach from the Pope than they have from Scheer and the Conservatives.
  • Former Liberal Cabinet minister Scott Brison has been named the new chancellor of Dalhousie University.
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column walks through the first few days of the new Parliament, with the debate on the Speech from the Throne and Estimates.
  • Susan Delacourt previews the Speech from the Throne.
  • Rosemary Barton explains why Conservatives can’t really compare 2004 and 2019 when it comes to the voice using it as the reason why Scheer should stay.
  • Kevin Carmichael looks at how central banks – including Canada’s – are alive to the economic dangers of climate change and are trying to exert what influence they can.
  • Heather Scoffield makes the case for the federal government to increase health transfers to the provinces.
  • My column sees the parallels between what Kenney is trying to do in Alberta and what happened during the Brexit campaign, and no good can come of this.

Odds and ends:

In advance of Thursday’s Speech from the Throne, here is a primer on the new thrones in the Senate chamber.

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One thought on “Roundup: Contemplating compromised committees”

  1. I’ve read A LOT about what the Liberals have to do and change in a hung parliament, but what the NDP and Conservatives? Do opposition parties have to change as well? I mean their rhetoric or overblowing the oppo research they leaked to G&M will always beg the question, “so why not just bring down the government?”

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