Roundup: Enter the new Whip

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Newly-appointed Chief Government Whip Steve MacKinnon had a conversation with CBC over the weekend, and there are a few interesting bits in there. For one, I didn’t actually realise that the term came from 18th-century hunting slang for “whipper-in, as the rider who keeps hounds from straying from the pack. So it’s not about any kind of literal or metaphorical whipping of MPs to vote a certain way, and now we’ve both learned something new today.

What I did know before is that there is more to the whip’s job than just ensuring MPs vote in certain ways, particularly if there’s a confidence vote upcoming. Rather, the whip and his or her office has a lot of work in juggling assignments – who is on what committee, who can stand in for that MP if they are away, and to an extent, who has House duty. And because the whip is largely the person in charge of MPs’ attendance (even if said attendance is not made public), I have it on very good authority that the Whip spends a lot of time listening to MPs as they unburden themselves, and talk about what is going on in their lives as to why they can’t attend a committee meeting or vote. The whip also becomes responsible for the staff in a riding office if that MP resigns or dies in office. And then comes the discipline part, which is different between each party. Some parties are very strict about it, some have unofficial ways of enforcing discipline – largely through in-group bullying – and some are fairly relaxed over the issue provided it’s not a matter of confidence.

The other thing I would add is that at the advent of the era of “Senate independence,” as Justin Trudeau and others would have you believe, the whip in the Senate was equivalent to in the House of Commons, and they instructed senators how to vote – or else. This was simply not true – the whip in the Senate was always rather illusory, and the Whip’s office was more about doing things like committee assignments, finding alternates for those who were absent, and assigning things like office space or parking to incoming senators who joined the caucus. They had little to no leverage of senators and their voting patterns because of institutional independence, and I heard a former Liberal senate leader once remark that on one occasion when the leader’s office on the Commons side called them up and said they’d really like it if senators could vote for a certain bill, that these senators turned around and voted the other way, just to prove a point around their independence. So there is a lot more to the role than people may expect from the outside, and best of luck to Steve MacKinnon as he takes on this new role.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau says he was hoping for more ambitious climate goals to be set at the G20, in advance of the COP26 summit in Glasgow.
  • Here is a primer on the COP26 summit, getting underway today.
  • Chrystia Freeland promised 73 million more vaccines for the developing world while at the G20.
  • Anita Anand is planning to take a hand’s-on approach when it comes to tackling the issue of sexual misconduct in the military, and bringing about culture change.
  • Here is a look at Ahmed Hussen’s blueprint for his work as Housing Minister (and he’ll be housed out of the Infrastructure department, which is an interesting choice).
  • The Star spoke with both Jonathan Wilkinson and Steven Guilbeault about the challenges they face when it comes to their portfolios in advance of COP26.
  • The Post has a deeper dive into Guilbeault’s activist history.
  • A mere 484 people have applied for marijuana-related pardons since the programme was unveiled two years ago, as it is overly burdensome.
  • AFN national chief RoseAnne Archibald says that if they want to raise the flags again, another symbolic gesture to acknowledge unmarked graves needs to be made.
  • Heather Stefanson narrowly won the Manitoba PC leadership contest and is due to become premier, but Shelly Glover has not conceded and may challenge the results.
  • One of the “elected Senators-in-waiting” from Alberta’s bogus “consultative election” says she’ll apply using the arm’s-length process, and good luck to her.
  • Althia Raj hears from more Liberal backbenchers upset about the delayed caucus meeting, and the remoteness of the leadership and ministers from their concerns.
  • Heather Scoffield remarks on the conversation as it pertains to China’s GHG emissions is playing out at the G20 in advance of COP26.
  • Scoffield also makes note of the fact that the G20 pledge to stabilize oil prices means more production, which goes against pledges they need to make at COP26.

Odds and ends:

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