Roundup: You can’t replace committee travel with Zoom

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Another day, another story where I roll my eyes and sigh because nobody can seem to grasp some pretty fundamental points. To wit: Scandal and pearl-clutching because the Senate’s audit committee is planning a trip to Westminster to consult with their counterparts there. Someone fetch a fainting couch for all of the zeros attached to the costs of the trip! And of course, we couldn’t have cheap outrage without getting a quote from the so-called Canadian Taxpayers Federation, whose continued existence depends on being the go-to source for media when they need a cheap outrage quote.

Some context to this story—the Senate’s audit committee has been a long and hard-fought battle to come into existence because the previous Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Peter Harder, was trying to steer the nascent committee in a direction that would see it be completely staffed by outsiders, which is a particular affront to Parliamentary privilege and the status of the Senate as a self-governing body in and of itself. Eventually the current composition—a mix of senators and outsider, with senators in the majority—was adopted, years after it should have been, and very much in the model that the House of Lords employs. (Note that this model had first been championed by the late Senator Elaine McCoy, and we could have saved years of fighting had people just listened to her). And because this has to do with a parliamentary body, you can’t just get advice from any audit firm in Canada, as the CTF seems to think—you need best practices from those who have dealt with the particular issues that a parliamentary body has. Of course, none of this context is in the story, because nobody pays attention to the Senate unless it’s for a cheap outrage story like this one. Of course.

Meanwhile, the most galling part of the piece is the suggestion that all of this should be done over Zoom, both out of a concern for cost and carbon emissions. And honestly, this type of suggestion needs to have a stake driven through it. This kind of work relies on human interaction, and relationship-building, and that doesn’t happen and cannot happen over Zoom. This is one of the biggest problems with hybrid sittings (which, mercifully, the Senate has ended), but which MPs refuse to believe, and apparently a few senators do too—parliament is a face-to-face institution. It cannot effectively operate remotely. The pandemic was a short-term (ish) problem that required a solution, and while this was not the best one, it was a solution that nevertheless has emboldened people to think that Parliament is a job you can do from home. It’s absolutely not, and this kind of committee travel is no exception. You cannot replace the kinds of interactions that make this travel essential over Zoom, and we need to stop thinking of Zoom as the solution to problems that aren’t actually problems.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russia launched another overnight round of attacks on Kyiv, this time with drones, but all were shot down. The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces says it’s important that they maintain their hold on Bakhmut in advance of the counter-offensive (not the least of which because it’s degrading Russia’s forces significantly). The EU is hoping to increase production of ammunition in order to help Ukraine’s efforts. And here is one Ukrainian farmer’s novel way of de-mining his fields using parts from old Russian tanks.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1653390767329558530

https://twitter.com/war_mapper/status/1653169425749508100

Good reads:

  • Mélanie Joly says that Canada needs to do what it can to stop the crisis in Sudan.
  • Ministers are warning of delays for passports and immigration processing as a result of the civil service strike.
  • More criticism that the government’s latest amendment to their gun control bill makes the system in more of a patchwork than it already is.
  • The RCMP’s Management Advisory Board is sounding the alarm about recruitment levels and the need to reform their training programme.
  • Former members of PMPRB and Jean-Yves Duclos’ office are disputing each other’s version of events around what is happening with drug price regulations.
  • There are allegations being made in a lawsuit that a Canadian company supplying armoured vehicles for Ukraine broke the law in order to secure the contract.
  • The King will be meeting with both Mary May Simon and Indigenous leaders from Canada on Thursday, putting those leaders on par with other heads of state.
  • At the Hot Docs festival, there was some fun interplay between former Supreme Court justice Rosie Abella and US Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor.
  • Witnesses at the Senate’s communications committee suggested that Bill C-18 for online news exclude paying CBC/Radio-Canada as they need it least.
  • The House of Commons unanimously backed a non-binding motion calling for the establishment of a national alert system for missing Indigenous women.
  • Former Trudeau Foundation head Morris Rosenberg testified at Ethics committee, and the timeline he presented crumbles the ongoing conspiracy theories.
  • Paper Excellence members tried to contact members of the natural resources committee ahead of their planned appearance, which raises questions.
  • Michael Chong says that CSIS confirmed to him his family in Hong Kong were targets of Chinese authorities, led by a diplomat in Canada.
  • Scott Moe is vowing to do what he can to stop federal emissions regulations.
  • Philippe Lagassé challenges Canadian republicans to do the work and come up with a workable alternative to the Crown if they want it to actually happen some day.
  • My Xtra column sees an opportunity for Trudeau to use the coronation to meet with Commonwealth leaders about protecting LGBTQ+ rights in those countries.
  • My column calls out a number of MPs and senators who haven’t got a clue about the constitution when it comes to the monarchy, which is a worrying proposition.

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