I find myself losing all patience with the state of Commons committees in the current parliament, and the shenanigans happening at the Procedure and House Affairs committee right now are really not helping matters – and to be clear, it’s all sides that are to blame here, with particular blame going to the prime minister himself for starting this particular farcical exercise of tabling a prorogation report and patting himself on the back for it, and then watching it all blow up in his face.

The notion of a “prorogation report” was always stupid. I get that the idea was supposed to be about trying to increase openness and transparency, and finding a way to demonstrate that tactical prorogations would be avoided, and so on, but it was dumb. The better alternative, as I pointed out in my book, was to restore prorogation ceremonies, where the government would have to have a public accounting of what they accomplished in the session and outlining how they felt that they accomplished the goals set out in the previous Throne Speech, before they set out for a new one. You get public accountability, and you get some pomp and ceremony from the Governor General or the deputy reading that speech (and it should be the GG – the practice of it being the Chief Justice is another one of those particular pieces of historical trivia that is infuriating in how it perverted norms that were carried on unthinkingly). But Trudeau didn’t go that route, despite having publicly mused about it, and here we are today.

The fact that the Liberals are filibustering at the committee is everyone’s fault. Yes, Trudeau should appear at committee to testify why he decided to prorogue – it’ll be a useless exercise in him delivering talking points, but it’s his decision and he should be questioned for it if this is the route that he chose to go. But trying to get Katie Telford violates the issue of not calling staffers because of ministerial responsibility, and summoning the Kielburgers and the people who run Speaker’s Spotlight to testify as well is beyond ridiculous, because they have absolutely nothing to say about the prime minister’s decision. Sure, the prime minister quite likely prorogued because of the constant WE Imbroglio circus going on – but those particular figures aren’t going to say anything useful to the committee about the prorogation report, which is what they are supposed to be debating. It’s all about trying to keep the WE Imbroglio in the spotlight for as long as possible, never mind that most Canadians have long since moved on from it, because the opposition parties think they can still use it to score points. Nobody is doing their jobs anymore, the notion of a prorogation report is a sham, and this whole exercise is just wasting parliamentary time, and exhausting the limited resources of hybrid sittings (especially the interpreters). Everyone needs to grow the hell up, and maybe, just maybe, Trudeau will have learned his lesson that this report was a dumb idea and he’ll do the right thing next time and restore the prorogation ceremony instead.

Good reads:

• Health Canada has now authorised use of the Pfizer vaccine for 12-year-olds and up, which will help ensure safer schools in the fall.
• NACI has put out a statement to clarify that they weren’t calling AstraZeneca a second-rate vaccine (because they were talking about risk assessment).
• The 90,000 new immigration spots for new grads and essential workers is set to open today, and the department has been beefing up their website to avoid a crash.
• Here is a bit more on the discussions happening federally about vaccine passports, and the different ministers that are involved.
• The head of the Royal Canadian Air Force says he has “full confidence” in the Cyclone helicopters despite the fatal crash of one last year off the coast of Greece.
• The RCAF is also finalizing plans to purchase armed drones in the next three or four years, with plans to have drone operations across the country.
• The PBO says that the budget overstates the effect of stimulus and understates the size of the deficit; Freeland says the figures are based on private sector forecasts.
• Unions are providing examples of how civilian employees of DND and Veterans Affairs are not having their harassment claims taken seriously.
• Canada has sent its first shipment of ventilators and anti-viral drugs to India.
• The Conservatives are continuing to stall debate on Bill C-19, which would ensure safe elections can happen in a pandemic.
• When the military found horrific conditions in some Ontario nursing homes, Doug Ford promised accountability. That was yet another lie.
• John Michael McGrath proposes the government fight vaccine hesitancy by paying people to get vaccinated (but doesn’t provide a realistic mechanism to do so).
• Colby Cosh has a fascinating look at the problem of China’s use of rockets and not tracking where they come back down on the planet.

Odds and ends:

For the CBA’s National Magazine, I took a deep dive into Bill C-10 and talked to the cited experts and found this is a bill with problems, but it’s not about censorship.

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