Roundup: An escalation of props

The moment that “remote sittings” began, which morphed into “hybrid” sittings, MPs began with the stunts. First it was signs in their backgrounds – which were ruled out of order as props, then it was dress code violations, and during the first “hybrid vote,” we saw MPs have their kids and dogs in the frame, and one of them was conspicuously driving while he voted. None of this is good for the practice of parliamentary democracy (and no, I don’t care what people say about how great it is they had their kids with them). And of course, one MP decided to take it to the next step.

https://twitter.com/davidakin/status/1313542759727484929

How this particular stunt wasn’t declared a de facto prop I’m not sure, but you can expect that this sort of thing is only going to escalate the longer it goes on unless the Speaker puts his foot down right now and stamps it out. And to be honest, when I’ve been cautioning against the problems that normalising “hybrid” sitting was going to bring, I didn’t think to include that MPs would start pulling stunts in the name of being “first” or “historic,” as they keep patting themselves on the back for these days, and yet they found new ways to surprise me. This is not a good thing. And because the Speaker didn’t say anything yesterday, I can only imagine how many more locales we’ll start seeing in the coming days, ever-escalating until someone comes to their senses and declares this to be the same as using props. Because honestly – this is going to be a very bad precedent.

Rideau Hall

In an unusual move, Governor General Julie Payette has contracted the services of former Supreme Court of Canada justice Michel Bastarache to be a “constitutional advisor” in the ongoing saga of the investigations of her office for harassment and bullying issues. It’s very odd and problematic, and here is professor Philippe Lagassé to provide some added context:

https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1313577963565322240

https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1313578978368802820

https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1313581941103493121

Good reads:

  • Prime minister Justin Trudeau has spent the past couple of days calling big city mayors in Ontario and Quebec to offer pandemic assistance.
  • The Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne – a confidence vote – passed with the assistance of the NDP.
  • Health Canada approved a rapid antigen test for use in Canada, and the government has moved to procure 20.5 million of them.
  • The government’s search for a used icebreaker to refit and use on the Great Lakes leads to the usual hand-wringing about shipbuilding in this country.
  • The Chief Electoral Officer is calling on the government to pass a “temporary” law that would allow it to more safely conduct elections during the pandemic.
  • The Parliamentary Budget Officer says the government’s “supercluster” plans are not living up to their initial expectations.
  • Here’s a look at how the election platform analyses helped prepare the PBO and his office for all of the analyses they are putting out during the pandemic.
  • While a lot of Americans say they want to move to Canada after an unpopular president is elected, the ones actually moving are non-citizens.
  • The Conservatives’ attempt to force the Procedures and House Affairs committee into another WE Investigation has been ruled out of order.
  • The NDP are planning to introduce a motion to create a special committee to examine pandemic spending, that could call the prime minister to testify.
  • Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal had his first court appearance on charges of breach of trust, and had the next date put over until the New Year.
  • Former Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose released a children’s book that aims to help teach about systemic racism and inequality.
  • Kevin Carmichael talks to the CEO of CAE about how they are adapting to the pandemic, especially in their focus on R&D and creating hybrid aircraft.
  • Heather Scoffield calls on Chrystia Freeland to outline her “fiscal beacon” to guide the economic recovery.
  • My column takes a closer look at Annamie Paul’s suggestion that the mainstream parties are “intellectual exhausted,” and determines whether or not that’s the case.

Odds and ends:

The state funeral for former prime minister John Turner was held yesterday, in much reduced circumstances because of the pandemic.

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: An escalation of props

  1. Talk about intellectually exhausted. Wasn’t there *already* a COVID-19 committee? Now the NDP wants a special “COVID-19 committee” (that’s really just a WeGhazi committee) to repeat the same tired nonsense, this time casting libelous aspersions that *all* the pandemic spending was graft?

    This is just more GOP-style grandstanding for television from dangerously desperate saboteurs who have SFA to offer in terms of policy alternatives, so their last-ditch recourse is to smear the prime minister and other public officials and “spin conspiracy theories” as Trudeau so aptly put it when he fired back at Pigeon Pierre. “Where’s the money Catherine” is a garbage hashtag from the swill trough of Rebel and the Post Millennial, and I’m disgusted to see the so-called conscience of parliament going along with it.

    The pandemic isn’t even over yet and they’re pretending like it is. Why can’t they wait for the fiscal update? Oh, right, because that wouldn’t give them an excuse to go around screeching that Liberals are corrupt, Trudeau is an elitist, the private sector is evil, the infrastructure bank is a shadowy cabal, COVID never would have happened if capitalism was overthrown, etc. etc. etc., more populist drek, more meat for the base.

    Giroux, meanwhile, is another one who needs to stop shooting his mouth off and undermining the government’s response. The man never met a microphone or a camera he didn’t like. Petty politics getting in the way is leaving people in the lurch, and there’s *actual* corruption going on with the Con premiers, but pay no attention to those crooks behind the curtain, Trudeau bad because reasons and this nonsense is more important somehow. Way to go NDP, your shade of orange is no different from Donald Trump.

  2. If your near constant critique of the federal political parties is that they’re too leader-focused, which doesn’t seem even close to be what the quote you started your article upon, I would have thought you’d be even harsher on Green Party which has just been the Elizabeth May Party for some time? Was May even mentioned in your piece?

  3. RE: Payette
    I worked on the Public Service Employee Survey for damn near a decade and a half, and will tell folks that small entities (and the Office of the Secretary to the GG is considered as one) always rank among the best and worst places to work, going by what employees say. The reason is that one problematic manager (which is what Deputy Heads and their equivalents are) makes a bigger difference when there aren’t very many managers in the organization. I can assure you that there are plenty of directorates scattered around the PS, of a size equivalent to the GG’s office, that are every bit as “toxic” as as the GG’s office is alleged to be. However, large departments have the luxury of blending such problematic workplaces in with much more pleasant directorates/branches in their departmental average. Nothing is being deliberately “hidden”; it just escapes our notice as one of the details that doesn’t show up in briefing notes. Not unique to the Canadian federal PS, either. The Americans have been doing annual employee surveys for a while now (a very bad move IMHO), and the same pebbles-at-the-top-and-bottom-and-boulders-in-the-middle pattern is observed there as well.

    Mme.Payette needs to improve her people-management skills, but that does not mean she is irredeemable, like some “dangerous offender” of a manager. I would hope that some changes are made that allow her to improve her people-management style and carry out her full term.

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