Roundup: Plans to half-ass maternity leave

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A piece that caught my eye over the weekend was an interview with new Government House Leader Karina Gould about how she plans to deal with her maternity leave on the second time around, and how it’ll be different from the first time (when she was the first Cabinet minister to give birth while in office). Significantly, she doesn’t want to come back as quickly as she did the last time, where she only took ten weeks off, and then returned with her husband in tow to help with child care duties while she did her job.

What Gould says she wants to do differently this time is to not travel to Ottawa, but attend virtually from her constituency office, while the government whip assumers her duties during her absence. But this gets back to what I have been repeatedly warning about when it comes to remote and hybrid sittings, which is that this is going to create an expectation of presenteeism that is unrealistic, particularly for new parents. And while they absolutely should take the time they need off, it should actually be time off in a proper leave of absence, rather than constantly hovering by their computers to follow proceedings along over Zoom, and being ready to vote using their remote app at a moment’s notice. That, frankly, not only doesn’t help anyone, but creates even more stress on the MP or minister while they’re on leave.

More to the point, it will be exceedingly difficult to do House Leader duties remotely, because part of the job is stage-managing answers in Question Period, and directing who should be responding (though not always effectively as we have seen). That can’t be done remotely, and indeed, Mark Holland got into trouble a couple of times for trying to do it over hybrid format at the height of the pandemic, because he was trying to do so with a phone, and that was forbidden. The best thing is for her to simply take the time she needs, and resume her duties from Ottawa when she’s ready, because she won’t be doing anyone any favours trying to half-ass it from her constituency office when she should be spending time with her newborn.

In case you missed them:

  • My column on the Conservatives preparing a “stolen election” narrative by deliberately confusing basic Westminster parliamentary dynamics
  • My Xtra column on why conservatives posing with “Straight Pride” and “Leave Our Kids Alone” t-shirts are no accident—and a sign of their moral cowardice.
  • My column on the signal that Chrystia Freeland has sent to premiers and mayors when it comes to their plans to beg Ottawa to bail them out.
  • My piece for National Magazine about how competition law has failed the media sector in Canada, and why Bill C-18 was a flawed attempt to deal with it.
  • My column on why a public inquiry into Canada’s COVID response may actually prove impossible, because federalism.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian missiles slammed into an apartment complex and a university building in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, killing six and wounding 75. Russian drones also hit Kharkiv, partially destroying a college dormitory. Ukrainian forces say they have reclaimed 15 square kilometres of occupied territory in the past week, while describing that the fight has been tougher than expected because the Russians have fortified themselves. Meanwhile, a drone struck an office building in Moscow’s financial centre, which Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for, and Russians claim that they destroyed three Ukrainian drones headed for their ships in the Black Sea.

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1685580157254307840

Good reads:

  • At a housing announcement in Hamilton, Justin Trudeau had a bandage on his forehead, allegedly from bumping his head while playing with his kids.
  • The Canadian government is denouncing the coup d’état in Niger, but is not yet threatening to cut off aid.
  • Health Canada clawed back $13 million from Alberta’s health transfer this year for charging for medically-necessary diagnostic services.
  • The Canada Industrial Labour Relations Board warned against the BC port unions backtracking on a possible deal as an “unfair labour practice.”
  • Nav Canada has launched a social media account to track the causes of delays at four major airports (as they move to fill vacancies in air traffic controllers).
  • A now-former sniffer dog handler with CBSA talks about the campaign of harassment she suffered at work around her maternity leave.
  • The usual chorus of Liberal backbenchers are grumbling that they didn’t get the Cabinet posts that they really deserved.
  • Members of the New Brunswick PC party have failed to get enough support to launch a leadership review of Blaine Higgs at this point.
  • Doug Ford is smarting and demanding answers as to why he lost two by-elections in the province last week.
  • A Manitoba Cabinet minister is claiming Métis heritage, but his family disputes this, as do census records, and other Métis groups.
  • Stephanie Carvin traces the growth of polarisation and Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism in Canada over the past decade, as exemplified by the “convoy.”
  • Vincent Rigby and Thomas Juneau outline their hopes and expectations for the recently announced National Security Council.
  • Susan Delacourt looks at two of the new Cabinet ministers who both arrived in Canada as refugees.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take looks at the signal being sent by Bill Blair being appointed minister of defence, and what that means for civilian control.

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