Roundup: Priority but not a priority

Posted on by

There are officially three sitting days left for the House of Commons before they rise for the summer, and lo, the bill to reform mandatory minimum penalties is nowhere to be seen, in spite of the government saying it’s a priority. In fact, it’s still at second reading stage, meaning there’s no chance they’ll get it through at this point, in spite of their professed need to do this as a way of combatting systemic racism in the justice system. Nor has there been any debate on the bill to make some of the modernisation plans forced upon the courts by the pandemic to be more permanent (some of it very needed, other aspects a little less so).

The government, meanwhile, is introducing another bill today on a new disability support credit, after they tabled their bill to make changes to the Official Languages Act last week, and you can read this as either promises for an election platform, or a sign that they have plans they want to get to work on in the fall. This being said, it’s been deeply weird to have a sitting of Parliament go by without their being a metric tonne of justice-related legislation in the process, churning its way through both Chambers (and I was remarking in a forthcoming column that the fact that the Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee isn’t already overloaded is virtually unheard of).

The procedural shenanigans that have dominated this sitting have been more acute than I’ve seen in all of my years on the Hill, and it’s meant a lot fewer bills making it over the goal line than we’ve seen in a very long time. The fact that you have private members’ bills outpacing government legislation is also virtually unprecedented. This whole session has been nothing but procedural warfare, and it’s only bolstered the narrative of the need for an election. I’m still not convinced anyone actually wants one (other than bored pundits), but the narrative is there if the government wants to grab it, and doesn’t look too nakedly opportunistic in doing so (which is probably easier said than done).

Good reads:

  • New rules are expected to be laid out this morning for travellers who have been fully vaccinated, which should mean loosening some restrictions.
  • Here is a look at how the government strengthened the language in the UNDRIP bill in order to reject doctrines of discovery and terra nullis.
  • The Canadian Press interviewed former Justice Morris Fish about his report into the military justice system, and why it needs to be civilianized.
  • Here is Rosemary Barton’s interview with departing Supreme Court of Canada Justice Rosalie Abella.
  • Here is a look at how the Liberals plan to retake their lost seats in Atlantic Canada.
  • Ontario is committing $10 million to help search residential school grounds for more bodies, but there is still no framework for how that gets distributed.
  • Susan Delacourt talks to Omar Alghabra about Islamophobia, Bill 21, and listening to Muslim Canadians about whether or not they feel safe in their communities.
  • Chantal Hébert notes how the various non-parliamentary political piece are set to start moving over the summer, which could affect Trudeau’s fortunes.

Odds and ends:

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

One thought on “Roundup: Priority but not a priority”

  1. Not only bolstered the need of an election, but of a “strong, stable, Liberal majority government” (to borrow a line from, well, Harper). NDP have no airtime in a majority government, but at the same time it gives the Cons leverage to obstruct and do publicity stunts and made-up scandals, like WeGhazi and this latest nonsense whereby the PHAC chair is being hauled before the speaker for not giving in on their conspiracy theories. NDP will just have to get used to being useless or wearing the stain of being foot soldiers for the Cons. They really should just dry up and go away already as all they do is split the vote. The Cons wouldn’t have been able to do a fraction of what they’ve been doing if it wasn’t for NDP going along with it “to own the Libs.”

    They don’t really have any “pull” with the government anyway. The Liberals are already on board with the broad outlines of the same progressive agenda, but not the (unconstitutional) central-planning way NDP wants to go about it: 99% of what they want is provincial jurisdiction and requires negotiation that NDP ignores. Jagmeet just helps O’Toole every step of the way by turning a blind eye to Kenney and Ford while blaming Trudeau for being “uncaring”. Bring on a Liberal majority and let’s get these obstructionists out of the way.

Comments are closed.