New Government House Leader Mark Holland is brimming with optimism that the things that paralyzed the previous session of Parliament will be behind them post-election. It’s a nice idea, but I wonder just how it will actually play out. Yes, the Liberals have broken some of the deadlocks that plagued them (a fact that they didn’t articulate during the election, even when pressed on the subject), and they have a bit of leverage now in that none of the other parties can even contemplate another election anytime soon – the Conservatives are consumed with internal disputes over vaccine mandates and just when they plan to put Erin O’Toole to a leadership review, and the NDP are very broke having spent record amounts of money to gain themselves a single new seat, and the Bloc have no desire to go back to the polls, particularly since their play to be François Legault’s voice in Ottawa didn’t play well for them in the election. This will allow the Liberals to play some hardball and use confidence to their advantage for the time being.

But in spite of this, I would not put it past any of the opposition parties to engage in some of the other shenanigans that got us the election, whether that is tying up the committees in interminable attempts at witch hunts, or drowning in document production requests – and that may yet still happen. The election did end some of that, but much of it could very easily be revived once the committees are back up and running (likely in the New Year).

“There was a very clear message sent to all parties that there’s an expectation that we work together, and I’m operating on the presumption that we will have all heard that message and that we all come ready to work and to collaborate in a constructive and positive way,” Holland told The Canadian Press.

I’m not sure that such a presumption is a good one to make. There was an expectation that all parties should work together during the pandemic, and while they did a bunch of backroom negotiations around emergency legislation – and kept any of the debates off-the-record – they stalled all other bills until the very end, when the NDP and Bloc realized they needed to start playing ball again. I’m not sure what the appetite for playing ball will be on most bills, or whether the political calculus will be to try and stymie the Liberals once again (which could lead to showdowns over confidence). I wish Holland all the luck in the world on this, but I suspect he may start losing the hair he has left because the current state of our parliamentary discourse is pretty toxic, and things like the Liberals’ desire to keep hybrid sittings going will only exacerbate that problem.

Good reads:

• At the COP26 Summit, Justin Trudeau reiterated the election promise to put a hard cap on oil and gas emissions and to start decreasing them.
• The Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health say that there is still no demonstrated need for third vaccine shots in the majority of the population.
• The dairy cartel is raising the prices of supply-managed milk and butter – and while Erin O’Toole will cry foul about this, it’s the system he and all other parties support.
• As many as 27,000 federal civil servants and RCMP missed the deadline to attest that they are fully vaccinated, and have until November 15^th before they lose pay.
• The Senate has extended their own vaccine mandate to all staff and spaces, which closes the final gaps in Parliament’s vaccine mandate.
• A number of senior ministerial staffers are leaving the political scene, which is going to mean some big shifts in those offices in the next few weeks.
• The Manitoba PC leadership contest has gone south, as Shelly Glover demanded that today’s swearing-in be delayed until she can get a court to invalidate the results.
• Maclean’s has a longread detailing how Jason Kenney’s short-sighted decision making turned deadly in the fourth wave, and sunk his political prospects.
• The BC government is applying to the federal government to decriminalise small amounts of illicit substances, as a means of combating opioid deaths.
• Jennifer Robson worries that the government didn’t provide a smooth transition for those who were relying on pandemic benefits when they turned off the taps.
• Heather Scoffield recaps some of what is being heard at the first day of COP26, not only Trudeau’s speech, but what other leaders and activists are saying.
• Paul Wells finds himself impressed by the state of municipal politics in Montreal, wits its more interesting personalities and positions than in other levels of power.

Odds and ends:

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