Roundup: Enter the QP scolds

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With the return of Parliament comes the inevitable return of the sanctimonious commentary around the behaviour of MPs in the House of Commons. Already we had Scott Gilmore insisting that MPs “not be assholes,” and this eyeroll-inducing plea from Tamara Miller that goes on about grade eight students. What Miller seems to forget is that the House of Commons is not a classroom. Question Period is not a lecture or a seminar course where all sides discuss this week’s assigned reading. It’s political theatre, and it’s an exercise in holding government to account, and that isn’t always done with dry recitations of scripts and polite golf claps.

The other thing that I keep needing to drill into people is that Question Period is not the totality of what happens in the Commons. The rest of the day you are more likely to be in danger of narcolepsy than you are of hearing heckling or other boorish behaviour. Committees are generally fairly well behaved, but if there’s a contentious issue then parties will send in their ringers to put on a show when they know people are watching. It’s political theatre. Is it always pleasant? No. But most of the hours of the day aren’t anywhere near what happens in QP, and that’s fine. There is also nothing wrong with heckling per se – some of it is very legitimate, whether it’s cross-talk when ministers are saying things that aren’t true, or when they’re not answering the question but rather just reading non sequitur talking points – as happens too often. I don’t think that MPs should just sit on their hands and be silent when they’re being spun or insulted to their faces by some of what governments – regardless of stripe – pull. Does this mean that all behaviour is acceptable? No – there is a lot of behaviour that is more akin to jeering, hooting baboons than to parliamentarians, and yes, some of it is sexist and bullying, but not all of it, but it should be incumbent upon parties and the Speaker to police the excesses, but the constant tut-tutting about any heckling is frankly gag-inducing.

This having been said, should MPs behave better in QP? Sure. The clapping ban the Liberals instituted helps tremendously (when it’s obeyed – it had pretty much broken down toward the end of the last parliament), and frankly, it makes Scheer and Singh look terribly insecure by comparison if they require ovations every time they stand up to speak when Trudeau doesn’t. But honestly, I can’t think of anything worse than the way that these scolds imagine that QP should be.

Good reads:

  • Her Excellency Julie Payette and Justin Trudeau were in Montreal to mark the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.
  • In light of the Montreal Massacre commemorations, Bill Blair says their planned new gun restrictions and assault rifle ban is coming “as soon as possible.”
  • The government has agreed to Alberta’s carbon pricing scheme for major emitters – provided it increases with the national benchmark rate.
  • Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz has decided not to seek a second term when his seven-year mandate expires in June.
  • StatsCan reported the single largest month-on-month job losses since 2008 (though about a sixth of them were election workers). Expect an opposition meltdown.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada made another ruling supporting the polluter-pays principle, and this case affects the mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows.
  • Andrew Scheer’s reply to the Speech From the Throne was all about championing oil and gas and fighting carbon pricing.
  • Jason Kenney and eight of his ministers will be in Ottawa next week to make their case to federal politicians about their “Fair Deal” nonsense.
  • Kevin Carmichael lists what the future Governor of the Bank of Canada needs for the job, and also previews the likely six top candidates for the job.
  • Chantal Hébert makes the trenchant observation that Trudeau’s capacity for unforced errors are what is likely to bring his government down.
  • Andrew Coyne points out the way the Throne Speech used euphemisms to appeal to the Bloc, and signals which was the higher priority for the government.
  • Colby Cosh delves further into the Federal Court decision that denied the “Church of Atheism” tax-exempt status.
  • My weekend column dispels a few wrong notions about what constitutes independence in the Senate, and what is just being dickish.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: Enter the QP scolds”

  1. I hate that cliche about school children behaving better than MPs, too. It’s up there with comparing federal budgets with household budgets (you wouldn’t put your family in debt blah blah blah) in terms of tedious non sequiturs.

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