I felt a tiny glimmer of hope over the weekend as I read this piece that talked to three MPs from each of the main parties about their experience with hybrid sittings, and lo, MPs are unimpressed. Praise be! Mind you, it’s a small sample, and it’s all Manitoba MPs (given that it was a piece in the Winnipeg Free Press), but props for having this conversation with them, and props for not letting it simply go by unquestioned, as is often the case.

This being said, I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet in terms of what the lasting implications of these hybrid changes will be, particularly when there are west coast MPs who are loudly praising the hybrid format, and when groups like Samara Canada are already lining up the excuses to allow it to keep happening, which is exactly the kind of slippery slope that I have been warning about since before this began. Don’t forget that the Liberals were pushing for these kinds of changes for nearly five years before the pandemic hit, and this was the perfect excuse for them to finally implement them, even if it was under the rubric of it being for the duration of the emergency. But as you’ve heard me warn before, they will soon find a list of excuses – just as Samara provided for them – to keep them going in some capacity, which will have a long-term erosion on our system and the norms therein. I am especially worried that there will be pressure to keep the voting app system going, even though, as the interviews in the article pointed out, this system greatly benefits the government because it doesn’t allow opposition MPs to use the votes to register displeasure (such as slow-voting). So while it’s great that some MPs want a return to proper sittings (one of them being an advocate for a parliamentary bubble, to little avail), there is still going to be a fight to ensure these changes stay are relegated to the dust heap once the pandemic is over.

Good reads:

• Chrystia Freeland says she didn’t know anything about the General Vance allegations, but wants to apologise to women in the Canadian Forces anyway.
• Freeland is also warning that while an important part of the budget, childcare isn’t the “magic bullet” for the economic recovery, as it will take time to build.
• Anita Anand says she is still negotiating with the US for more AstraZeneca doses, since they are still not approved in that country yet.
• The federal government is giving notice that they could introduce back-to-work legislation for the Port of Montreal this week.
• While sexual misconduct in the military is often framed as happening to women, here is the tale of a male member of the Forces who was raped and not believed.
• Canadians looking to avoid hotel quarantine have created a boom for taxi and limousines driving up to land borders from the US.
• Conservatives on the defence committee now want the prime minister’s chief of staff to testify on the General Vance allegations.
• Outgoing Conservative MP David Sweet offered a non-apology after saying that the current mockdowns are the greatest civil liberties breach since WWII.
• Chantal Hébert walks through the implications on the court ruling on Quebec’s “secularism” law, and the consequences it will have on the province.
• Heather Scoffield talks to Chrystia Freeland about how her own personal experiences helped to craft the government’s “feminist recovery” budget.

Odds and ends:

My book #UnbrokenMachine is currently 25% off at the @dundurnpress site, as is the book I contributed to, #RoyalProgress. If you haven’t checked them out yet, this is your opportunity. https://t.co/knf87Htrad

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 5, 2021

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.