Roundup: Impressing the Scots

Posted on by

The Speaker of the Scottish Parliament paid a visit to Ottawa’s Parliament earlier in the week and was apparently so impressed with our Question Period that she plans to write a report to take suggestions from it. I’m frankly a little dumbfounded, because our QP is pretty gods damned terrible in pretty much every respect, but let me first take what her observations are.

One of them is that ours operates bilingually fairly seamlessly. Well, she didn’t see the seams, in any case. In Scotland, they have translation available for those who speak Gaelic, but it’s not automatically provided like English/French is here. But she didn’t seem to see the stress that the pandemic has caused our simultaneous interpretation abilities, from the injuries to interpreters, or the strains to resources that are now severely limiting the function of our Parliament because MPs didn’t care enough about those interpreters as they abused them over Zoom, and lo, we’re staring down a crisis.

She was impressed with the “brevity” of our QP, where it operates in thirty-five second questions and answers. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, frankly, because it has largely just created a demand for talking points, both in asking and answering questions, and so much of the exercise is useless—the questions must contain key phrases (and that’s getting worse), while the answers are frequently non-sequiturs or just bland pabulum that is disconnected from what has been asked. I’m not sure what she saw that was so impressive. The fact that it happened at a rapid pace and bilingually looks impressive from afar, but spend more than a day here, and the uglier underside quickly becomes apparent. Yes, ours can be more dynamic than Westminster’s because we don’t require questions be asked in advance in order for briefings to be prepared, so the PM must be nimble when answering, but again, most of those answers are going to be vague and superficial.

It’s kind of flattering that they’re seeing the good we have to offer, but these days, our rules and system has given rise to an increasingly unserious Chamber, and that’s not something we should be exporting to anyone.

Ukraine Dispatch:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the border with Poland and Belarus, citing a need to be ready in case Belarus became another invasion route for Russia.

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1648688637670830083

Good reads:

  • Here’s a look at how all three party leaders are trying to position themselves over the civil service strike, and why that’s harder for some.
  • Leaked documents suggest Trudeau told NATO that Canada will never meet its two-percent spending target…which is probably true? And not shocking.
  • The government got unanimous consent to pass a bill at all stages that splits out the “grocery rebate” and the increased health transfers to the provinces.
  • The government plans to extend the current equalisation formula until 2029 as part of the budget implementation bill.
  • Mélanie Joly has named the Japanese ambassador as her Indo-Pacific envoy and co-ordinator, which is a big job on top of the one he already has.
  • It turns out that Canada doesn’t have a framework to declassify documents, and this came up during Katie Telford’s testimony, which might lead to changes. Might.
  • The interim Ethics Commissioner stepped down, just days into the job, but will remain senior counsel at the office. (Good luck finding a replacement!)
  • DND’s top procurement official wants defence companies to actually deliver what they promised instead of focusing on trying to win more contracts.
  • Here’s a look at the first day of the civil service strike in Ottawa, and a few of them have the self-awareness to know the broader public doesn’t support them.
  • There are questions about the monitoring of a soldier who was suicidal while facing sexual assault charges.
  • Early results from a Senate study on Islamophobia in Canada are showing just how entrenched the problem is.
  • Senator Marilou McPhedran told the immigration committee that she “lost track” of the number of travel documents she produced for Afghans fleeing.
  • The chair of NSICOP was at the Commons’ public safety committee to dismiss the narrative that the prime minister somehow controls his or the committee’s work.
  • The Commons’ justice committee heard from aid groups operating in Afghanistan who find loopholes around the anti-terror laws, and how the bill needs fixing.
  • A private member’s bill around judicial training around domestic violence has now passed, and the slippery slope of judicial training bills has now begun.
  • Jamil Jivani, who most recently headed the Formerly-Known-As-the-Manning Conference, is planning to run in Erin O’Toole’s soon-to-be vacated seat.
  • Alberta released “aspirational” climate plans, which was mostly just hand-wringing and pretending that they didn’t spend the last four years ignoring the NDP plan.
  • Colin Horgan posits that social media has helped change the way people interact with politicians, and how politicians act to please social media.

Odds and ends:

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