National Post (National Edition)
Canada needs Parliament
On June 17 MPs will meet for what may be the most expensive half-day shift in the Canada’s history. They will have four hours to debate and approve $150 billion in emergency spending.
Parliament has effectively been cancelled and the Liberals, with the backing of the NDP, have the free rein of an unaccompanied child with a bag full of cash in a candy store.
I am old enough to remember when former prime minister Stephen Harper’s 2008 two-month prorogation of Parliament was met with furious protest and lamented as being an unprecedented assault on democracy. In law school, my first-year constitutional law professor made us debate it for an entire class.
The Great Prorogation was a national scandal that consumed the media and academia for months. I am sure some earnest PhD student somewhere even wrote a thesis on it.
Fast-forward to 2020. As our nation is experiencing an unprecedented health and economic crisis, the prime minister has seemingly decided that Parliament is an inconvenience he would prefer not to deal with, like a daily meeting he would rather turn into a bimonthly email.
The House of Commons hasn’t had normal operations since March. It has mostly been adjourned, with the exception of scattered meetings with a vastly reduced number of MPs in order to pass emergency legislation. It’s a poor substitute for the real thing.
Bizarrely, as businesses across the country are reopening their doors, the Liberals were busy hatching a plan to keep Parliament’s doors firmly shut. If the thrift shop and Mexican restaurant down the street from my house can reopen, why can’t Parliament?
On May 26, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s motion to extend the adjournment of the Commons’ regular operations until Sept. 21 passed with the support of the NDP. As if this was not bad enough, the Liberals, also with the NDP’s backing, shut down all debate about the shutdown.
Hours after this farce occurred, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh took to Twitter to demand the government “put in place core funding to Indigenous groups providing services to women and girls in need of help.” After giving up his ability to hold the government to account, Singh must have had an epiphany that he is still the leader of an opposition party and is being paid to do a job. So he took to Twitter, perhaps hoping some PMO communications staffer may take notice.
This stunning spectacle is almost hard to believe. Where is the mass outcry? The focus by the press instead has largely been on Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and his alleged audacity to dare try and do his job.
As we look at the chaos unfolding south of the border, and the daunting economic realities that our country faces, a functioning Parliament is needed now more than ever. So why have the Liberals taken these extraordinary measures to kneecap the Commons?
The House of Commons, where he has to answer questions, think on his feet and be held to account, has never been Trudeau’s comfort zone. When the House is in session, his numbers usually take a dip.
For the first time in a very long time, Trudeau’s popularity numbers are soaring high at pre-Lavscam levels. Long forgotten are the scandals from the not-so-distant days. He is occupied too, with other matters. Last Thursday, he co-hosted a major United Nations conference, as his campaign for a seat on the Security Council continues in full force.
His daily press conferences, which are now seeming excessive and unnecessary, are clearly something he has no intention of ceasing anytime soon to make room in his calendar for Question Period.
On Saturday, five of Trudeau’s cabinet ministers made the time to go kayaking. They posed for a photo, grinning ear to ear, alongside their physically distanced kayaks. The tonedeaf photo, posted to Twitter, received a flurry of backlash. Surely if they can find a way to play, they can find a way to do their jobs.
There has been no credible explanation provided by the government as to why it cannot resume normal proceedings, especially as businesses everywhere are, with some modifications. The Liberal and NDP talking point is that Parliament doesn’t normally sit in the summer, and we should all be grateful that the government is “allowing” a few meetings to proceed over the next several months.
But these are far from normal times. The government has just got away with cancelling Parliament during a major crisis, and with an ease that should make every Canadian very uneasy.