Roundup: Fix nominations how?

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Over in the Globe and Mail, Andrew Coyne points to Hogue Report’s comments on party nomination races as a possible vector for foreign interference, and declares that they need to be cleaned up, but declines to say how. He disputes that parties are entirely private clubs, because “Their sole purpose is to seek and wield coercive power over the rest of us. How they go about it is therefore a matter of vital public concern, and regulation in the public interest – at the least, transparency – is entirely justified.”

But how exactly does one propose to do that? Involve Elections Canada with all internal deliberations of these parties, whether it’s a nomination contest, leadership race, or policy convention? While I get the temptation, we have to ask ourselves if any of this is practical, not only because when an election happens, there are a tonne of last-minute nomination meetings, but there are hundreds of registered political parties. Should they only concern themselves with parties that have seats in the Commons? Would they create disparate sets of rules for the big four parties than any others? Could they get away with that in the courts? I’m not sold that this is a solution because it would involve a massive expansion of their powers and bureaucracy, and because they are ultimately reporting to an Independent Officer of Parliament who has no real accountability, the potential for abuse if enormous.

This isn’t to say that things don’t need to change, because they do, but it’s not exactly something that external monitors can fix. In fact, the solution on its face is much less mysterious than it might sound, but it goes back to the original sin of Canadian politics—the decision to remove leadership selection from the caucus to the party membership. Restore this to caucus selection, and you can start separating the parliamentary and constituency party powers again, so that the parliamentary party leader can’t exert outsized influence on the nomination races, and the constituency party is motivated to keep a closer eye on the nomination races, particularly because that’s their job rather than the parliamentary leader trying to stuff the races with its parachute or hand-picked candidates. I would also note that the number of races that would be vulnerable to foreign interference is actually very small, given that you’re not going be able to find diasporic communities in most rural ridings, so again, we should beware what we’re talking about here. I think we need to better appreciate the scope of the problem, and ensure that the right incentives are there for the parties to clean up their own messes rather than involving Elections Canada.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian infantry has been trying to breach local defences in the Kharkiv region, but so far, Ukraine has been holding them off. Ukraine is due to start receiving their first F-16s by summer.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau was in West Kelowna to discuss wildfire preparedness, and took a few shots at Facebook while he was at it for their decision to block news.
  • Canada abstained from a UN vote on Palestinian statehood, which is a change of position and Trudeau says this could be part of getting to a two-state solution.
  • Canada is putting $76 million toward a German-led attempt to get air defences to Ukraine faster than the slow pace at which they’re being built by the Americans.
  • Canada is also pressuring Germany to get production lines re-started for parts for Leopard tanks that we use and have sent to Ukraine, as there is a shortage.
  • Mark Miller met with provincial counterparts to discuss the situation with non-permanent residents, and pitched more pathways to permanency for those here.
  • The Logic chronicles the demise of the Ontario Digital Service, and where the Canadian Digital Service appears to be headed under a new minister.
  • The CEO of Canadian Blood Services has apologised for past donation policies that increased stigma for men who have sex with men and some trans women.
  • MP Francis Drouin’s outburst at the official languages committee is still reverberating, and stoking tensions between Quebec and non-Quebec francophones.
  • Matt Gurney exhorts the Ontario government to stop lying to everyone and just pay doctors more, particularly for primary care.
  • My weekend column looks at some recent clown shows at committee, and points out why this is very bad for democracy overall.

Odds and ends:

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