Contemptible behaviour
Why do Liberals behave badly? Because they can
If the Liberals are trying to bait the opposition parties into finding the government in contempt of Parliament and thereby sparking an election, they are doing a fine job.
It would be hard to conceive a more convincing display of disrespect toward open government than Pablo Rodriguez's performance before the ethics committee on Monday, where the Government House Leader recited the Three Graces of rebuttal — “no,” “not that I know of” and “I don't think so” — to every question put to him.
There is a good reason for Rodriguez's encyclopedic ignorance on the WE Charity issue, which is the subject of the committee's investigation. By his own admission, he was nowhere near the action. The opposition members at committee wanted to hear from Rick Theis, a senior adviser in the Prime Minister's Office, who made a 25-minute phone call to WE Charity on the day it started spending money related to the multi-million dollar student grant program WE was awarded. But the Liberals have instructed senior staff to ignore any calls to appear at committees, calling opposition efforts “an abuse of power.”
Rodriguez worried about the impact of partisan intimidation on the delicate sensibilities of ministerial advisers — clearly a ruse, given most Hill staff are as ferocious as honey badgers.
But it explained Theis's non-appearance before the ethics committee and the absence of senior exempt staff at the committee investigating how the government handled sexual misconduct allegations against the country's top soldier, Jonathan Vance.
We were left with the ridiculous spectacle of Rodriguez providing non-answers to questions about a phone call in which he wasn't a participant.
He said the call was aimed at ensuring the grant program met diversity and inclusivity requirements but couldn't offer specifics. “You're testifying on (Theis's) behalf here today but you claim not to know anything about what he did,” said Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre.
Members of all three opposition parties expressed their frustration at a Liberal Party that is blatantly disregarding the will of Parliament (the House of Commons backed a Conservative motion requiring ministerial staff to appear at any committee — a motion the Liberals say they will ignore).
We've had elections over less. In fact, almost exactly 10 years ago, the country went to the polls after the opposition parties found the Harper government in contempt of Parliament for failing to disclose the full cost of spending on various programs, including the F-35 fighter jet. Despite being around 10 points behind the Conservatives in the polls, Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal leader, proposed a motion of no confidence and triggered an election that nearly wiped out his party.
The opposition parties are furious at a government that is clearly thumbing its nose at established parliamentary procedure. Political staff have appeared at many committees, including Justin Trudeau's chief of staff, Katie Telford, on the WE saga and his former principal secretary, Gerald Butts, during 2019's SNC-Lavalin affair. The requirements for ministerial staff are stipulated when it comes to conflict of interest rules, for example. They should be as accountable as public servants, who are regularly called before committees, without impacting their ability to provide confidential advice to ministers.
Political assistants are paid from the public purse, after all. Yet Rodriguez and his government want to provide exempt staff a cloak of invisibility when it comes to accounting for their actions. The ambiguous position of senior staff should be clarified and codified, not further obscured.
The ethics and defence committees should be free to call the people with direct knowledge of the events they are investigating. One element common to the WE and Vance inquiries is the murkiness around the roles played by staff.
The Trudeau government's position is certainly worthy of parliamentary censure. But whether the Official Opposition should provide the Liberals with the pretext to call an election over parliamentary procedure is another matter. New polls by Nanos Research and Leger both have the Liberals in majority territory and the Conservatives at less than 30 per cent support. Nanos's poll, in particular, makes grim reading for Erin O'Toole, who might have hoped for a post-convention bump.
Instead, his party trails the Liberals when it comes to support among women (by 20 points) and men (by 2.5); it has the backing of just 30 per cent of voters in seat-rich Ontario; and, it is in third place in British Columbia.
As a student of history, the Conservative leader will know that if he takes the bait, he is liable to go the way of General Custer, the Light Brigade or worse, Ignatieff.