Boisterous fall session leaves MPS bruised, abashed
For 52 days this autumn, Canada’s MPs walked into the House of Commons to represent their constituents and spar with their political opponents.
Some emerged from the fall session with their reputations intact or enhanced. Others stumbled and suffered the consequences. Some just disappeared into the woodwork. Here’s a snapshot of what happened to a handful of the country’s 308 MPs. Peter MacKay He was once a powerful figure in Parliament: a party leader in opposition, and later foreign affairs minister and then defence minister.
But this was the fall MacKay fell silent — forbidden to answer repeated questions about the increasing costs of the F-35 plane he once touted. Instead, the public-relations task fell to Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose. MacKay’s future in defence is in doubt. Thomas Mulcair Chosen as NDP leader in the spring, this was the session for the Montreal MP to prove himself. Would he fall flat on his face as an ill-tempered politician or would he shine as a credible opposition leader?
Despite some instances of raw anger directed at Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mulcair’s performance delivered what his supporters wanted: Tough but measured questions without too many histrionics. Justin Trudeau He is the supposed Golden Boy who many Liberals, and the media, are assuming will win the party leadership next April. He’s also the MP who had virtually no presence in the Commons — speaking only once this fall in the chamber.
Instead of bolstering his reputation with queries in question period, Trudeau spent the fall elsewhere — travelling throughout the country drumming up votes among Liberals for the leadership contest. Peter Van Loan Normally, a Government House Leader’s work is done quietly, behind closed doors. Van Loan departed from that practice one afternoon in the dying days of the session. Angered by an NDP tactic, Van Loan stormed across the aisle, glared at his NDP counterpart (Nathan Cullen) and hurled some “unparliamentary” language at him before being pulled back by MacKay.
In other words, it would seem, he cursed. The next day, he publicly apologized. Still, the verbal dust-up confirmed the public’s view that parliamentary decorum is in decline. Gerry Ritz The agriculture minister was far from polished or consistent in his handling of the sweeping beef recall after a virulent strain of E. coli was found in meat from Alberta’s XL Foods plant.
He told MPs early on that the government had done a “tremendous job” and he looked forward to getting the beef “back into that lucrative American market.” Ritz spoke too soon. The problem was worse than advertised. Then, as the crisis intensified, the minister was absent from the House for three days. Eventually, his department appeared to find its footing with consistent communication to the public. Too late to repair Ritz’s tattered image. Stephen Woodworth For a brief time this fall, a backbench Conservative MP known primarily to his own Ontario constituents became nationally known.
Woodworth ignited a debate about abortion — even though he claimed that wasn’t his purpose. MPs voted on his motion to have parliamentarians study whether a fetus is a human being before the moment of birth.
It was defeated by a vote of 203 to 91, but the vote revealed a split among Tory MPs. Eighty-seven of the 163 Tory MPs supported the motion.
Among those with Woodworth were eight ministers and two ministers of state — including Immigration Minister Jason Kenney (a possible successor to Harper as Conservative leader), and Ambrose, whose duties in cabinet include “status of women.”