Virtual House of Commons a challenge for many MPs
OTTAWA — Conservative MP Cathy McLeod tried gamely Wednesday to adhere to a longstanding parliamentary tradition, heckling her rivals across the aisle in the House of Commons for an answer that wasn’t up to snuff.
But her target — Carolyn Bennett, the Liberal Crown-Indigenous Relations minister — wasn’t there in person to catch it, instead engaging in the proceedings via the internet as the debut session of a COVID-19 era Commons got underway.
McLeod’s heckle echoed around the airy ceilings of the West Block chamber, while Bennett’s face simply disappeared off the screen, no chance for her to rebut or even potentially hear what had just happened.
In a hybrid House of Commons, many things just won’t be the same as a regular day of Parliament. Wednesday marked the beginning of the latest effort to ensure some measure of government accountability during the COVID-19 pandemic, while respecting physical distancing guidelines.
A COVID-19 committee, made up of all MPs, will meet four times a week until June 18, and MPs will have a choice to be there in person or log-in remotely.
On Wednesday, around four dozen were present in the chamber while at one point as many as 171 were signed-in from afar, according to Speaker Antony Rota’s office.
“Ok, let’s make history,” he said before he formally kicked off the roughly two-hour session that marked the first time Canadian MPs have gathered in a such a fashion.
The idea behind the hybrid set up is to ensure MPs from all areas of the country are represented without them having to travel to Ottawa, exposing themselves, their families and others to possible COVID-19 infection, and keeping the number of people in the Commons chamber down for the same reason.
Not all of those logged-in were actually in their ridings. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan was among the first cabinet ministers to field questions from outside the chamber. Though he represents a Vancouver riding, he was actually in his Ottawa office a few blocks away.
From their kitchens and offices and living rooms, many MPs appearing remotely wore headsets, looking and sounding more like managers on the sidelines of a football game than players on the field.
Bennett’s appearance from the comfort of a well-appointed sitting room gave her responses the air of a fireside chat, as opposed to the fiery political debate that’s a hallmark of the normal House of Commons. She’d been fielding questions on a deal with the Wet’suwet’en nation in B.C. that the government hopes will eventually allow for the construction of a pipeline.
That Bennett was discussing the subject at all reflected another element now part of the meetings: MPs can ask about subjects other than the pandemic.
Wednesday was dominated by COVID-19, with a focus on the crisis in long-term care homes, the overarching cost of the federal government’s COVID-19 response and issues with various programs.
But MPs also pressed the government on environmental concerns, rules for pilots, CanadaChina relations and a smattering of other subjects.
But it’s still not the regular return of Parliament.
Parliament first adjourned back in mid-March just as the country was shutting down to slow the pandemic.
It has sat to pass emergency aid legislation, and in exchange for supporting those bills opposition MPs won the right to return more regularly to their obligation of holding the government to account.