Roundup: The problem with giving everyone a title

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There has been a lot of talk over the past few days about the choices that Pierre Poilievre made with announcing a shadow Cabinet as large as he did, and lo, the CBC had even more commentary over the weekend about it. Suffice to say, I’m not sure I really buy the take of “it gives everyone something to do.” Why? For starters, the whole point of a shadow Cabinet, particularly as it is practiced in the UK, is to have people who are ready to go into ministries if there is a change of government, and these are people who know their files, and can slot into the positions easily and quickly. That doesn’t really happen in Canada because our Cabinets have a lot of other considerations in play, such as regional composition, and balance with gender and other diversity, but region is the big one, and therefore, we can’t really have people ready to go into ministries because we don’t know how the regional dynamics will play at a time when they form government. (This is one reason why I’m not keen on calling critics “shadow ministers,” because they don’t have the same function). If you give everyone jobs that are not related to how Cabinet is composed, you’re not really living up to the purpose, particularly if you’re assigning made-up portfolios to certain MPs to exercise their hobby-horses as a reward for loyalty, even though as a reward goes, it’s not much because there is no added pay that goes with it.

My other problem, however, is that MPs already have a lot of work that they’re already not really doing, and many of them have offloaded those responsibilities on to independent Officers of Parliament, and that’s a problem. Committee work is supposed to take up the bulk of an MP’s time, but if they’re playing “shadow minister” for their hobby horses, they’re spending less time doing the work in committee or elsewhere that they’re supposed to be doing. There is also participation-trophy syndrome at play, where (almost) everyone gets a title (but not pay), even though we should remember that backbenchers are supposed to play important accountability roles in our parliamentary system. If we’re training the caucus to all expect titles and roles and not that they have jobs to do as backbenchers, we’re really weakening the ability of our parliament to do its job, and that is worrying. Not that the current crop of MPs in the Commons seems to care much about Parliament and its ability to function correctly, and this goes for all parties (and it’s really not helped when the prime minister has been a constitutional vandal when it comes to the Senate and the role it plays). This is a problem, and we should be talking about it, rather than patting Poilievre on the back for such a “strategic” move.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 235:

Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk say that their mayor’s office was hit by a rocket, which the Ukrainian military has not claimed responsibility for, while Russian rockets struck the town across from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Over the weekend, a missile strike seriously damaged an energy facility near Kyiv,

https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1581636027487178754

Good reads:

  • François-Philippe Champagne talks about his travelling to make Canada an EV and electric battery powerhouse internationally. (Some of those announcements here).
  • Canada is sending armoured vehicles to Haiti to help police combat gangs who are blockading fuel depots and other critical infrastructure.
  • Mary May Simon says the way the media characterised the meal expenses on her Middle East trip is unfair (correct!) and that travel is essential for her job.
  • The NDP have their campaign post-mortem posted, and they cite a lack of credibility in what the leader was saying, along with the fact that his TikToks undermined him.
  • Chantal Hébert suspects that in spite of the sabre-rattling of provinces over the constitution and the environment, the real war will be over healthcare funding.
  • My weekend column takes apart Scott Moe’s laughable excuse for a “White Paper” on Saskatchewan needing to assert more authority over its areas of jurisdiction.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: The problem with giving everyone a title”

  1. Health Care Funding to the Provinces with conditions. Once made clear watch the premiers show their disdain for patients. They are experts at using Federal monies for things other than “health care.”

  2. Helping Haiti

    From The Canadian Press: “… the delivery was purchased by the Haitian government…“ with the headline: “Canada sends military equipment to Haiti ..” repeated by many papers in Canada.

    BUT
    From the PM in Facebook: “..delivering equipment and supplies – purchased by the Haitian government ..”

    and from Global Affairs: “…Haitian government-purchased security equipment, including tactical and armoured vehicles, and supplies…”

    The press have bolstered our feeling good by misrepresenting the good we did. UGH

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