The final days of the federal parliamentary session suffer from obstruction
With barely ten days remaining in the parliamentary session before its adjournment for the summer, the House of Commons was still bogged down in endless waste of time on Thursday, which further weakens the hope of seeing the bills adopted. law dear to the Trudeau government. A situation that could serve as a pretext to call an election, according to experts.
Conservative MPs monopolized the time allotted for debate on Thursday by increasing points of order and questions of privilege, including a hopeless attempt to suspend the sitting. This, while the Prime Minister has mentioned several times in recent months the possibility of calling an election if Parliament becomes dysfunctional.
"At some point, you know you won't be able to function as a Parliament like this anymore," said Justin Trudeau last Friday, when asked what would push him to use his power to launch the country on a campaign trail. electoral.
Even if the Prime Minister made it clear that "nobody [does] want an election for the moment", he could theoretically start the next electoral campaign as early as this summer, that is to say two years before the end of his minority mandate. This scenario was deemed credible enough for all parties to agree to set aside time next Tuesday to hear speeches from members who do not intend to stand again.
The House could not even agree on Thursday on extending the debates in time to add a few hours of deliberation to Friday. The government's proposal was to extend evening sittings on Mondays and Wednesdays for the next two weeks, as well as Friday afternoons. Without this extra time, the government may not be able to pass its flagship bills before the end of the session on June 23.
Elections?
No party wants to bear the brunt of launching the country on an election campaign, believes Geneviève Tellier, professor of political science at the University of Ottawa. Parliamentary obstruction could thus be a pretext for the government to try to elect a majority.
“I feel the Liberals are ready, but what would be their reason for calling the election? It would be valid to say: “We tried to move bills forward, but we are not capable, so we would like a clear mandate”, says the political scientist.
"It effectively becomes an additional argument for the Liberals to seek new legitimacy with an election," also believes Frédéric Boily, professor of political science at the University of Alberta. “Parliament has been dysfunctional for a long time now. It has been less dysfunctional than in other minority governments, but it is characteristic of minority parliaments that they function poorly, ”he adds.
This is precisely why minority terms very rarely complete their full four-year term and instead survive two years on average, according to Boily. In addition, the provincial elections that took place during the last year of the COVID-19 pandemic, in British Columbia , Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, resulted in the majority re-election of outgoing governments.
For their part, the Conservatives reject any blame for the parliamentary delays, which they blame on the Trudeau government, in particular for having prorogued Parliament last year. At a press conference Thursday morning, deputy Gérard Deltell indicated that the "extraordinary zeal" of the Liberals wasted 167 hours of work in various parliamentary committees. He is opposed to any extension of House business which does not also extend that of committees.
Shortly before, the Leader of the Government, Pablo Rodriguez, accused the Conservatives of being solely responsible for the current blockage. “Unfortunately, there is a party in the House that stands in the way of progress. A party that uses its minority in the House to block the will of the majority. It is Conservative Party Erin O'Toole's . According to him, however, there is still hope that three important pieces of legislation will be adopted before the summer.
The first is Bill C-12 , tabled in November and which targets Canada's carbon neutrality by 2050. The text left committee stage on Wednesday and is due to return to the House for a review. third reading before being sent to the Senate. The government also hopes that C-6, which aims to be passed criminalize conversion therapy , will , also at third reading.
Finally, all the spotlight is on the controversial Bill C-10, which seeks to force web giants to share their revenues and increase the reach of Canadian content, just like traditional broadcasters. The Conservatives see it more as an attack on freedom of expression .
With the help of the Bloc Québécois , the Liberals managed to impose a gag order to limit debates at the Parliamentary Heritage Committee, which is due to complete its study of C-10 on Friday, after six weeks of painful procedural debates. As with other bills, it will have to go through the entire Senate process before receiving Royal Assent. Success is far from guaranteed. If an election campaign kicks off this summer, all legislation still under review will have to be thrown out, joining the long list of dead bills.
Conservative MPs monopolized the time allotted for debate on Thursday by increasing points of order and questions of privilege, including a hopeless attempt to suspend the sitting. This, while the Prime Minister has mentioned several times in recent months the possibility of calling an election if Parliament becomes dysfunctional.
"At some point, you know you won't be able to function as a Parliament like this anymore," said Justin Trudeau last Friday, when asked what would push him to use his power to launch the country on a campaign trail. electoral.
Even if the Prime Minister made it clear that "nobody [does] want an election for the moment", he could theoretically start the next electoral campaign as early as this summer, that is to say two years before the end of his minority mandate. This scenario was deemed credible enough for all parties to agree to set aside time next Tuesday to hear speeches from members who do not intend to stand again.
The House could not even agree on Thursday on extending the debates in time to add a few hours of deliberation to Friday. The government's proposal was to extend evening sittings on Mondays and Wednesdays for the next two weeks, as well as Friday afternoons. Without this extra time, the government may not be able to pass its flagship bills before the end of the session on June 23.
Elections?
No party wants to bear the brunt of launching the country on an election campaign, believes Geneviève Tellier, professor of political science at the University of Ottawa. Parliamentary obstruction could thus be a pretext for the government to try to elect a majority.
“I feel the Liberals are ready, but what would be their reason for calling the election? It would be valid to say: “We tried to move bills forward, but we are not capable, so we would like a clear mandate”, says the political scientist.
"It effectively becomes an additional argument for the Liberals to seek new legitimacy with an election," also believes Frédéric Boily, professor of political science at the University of Alberta. “Parliament has been dysfunctional for a long time now. It has been less dysfunctional than in other minority governments, but it is characteristic of minority parliaments that they function poorly, ”he adds.
This is precisely why minority terms very rarely complete their full four-year term and instead survive two years on average, according to Boily. In addition, the provincial elections that took place during the last year of the COVID-19 pandemic, in British Columbia , Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, resulted in the majority re-election of outgoing governments.
For their part, the Conservatives reject any blame for the parliamentary delays, which they blame on the Trudeau government, in particular for having prorogued Parliament last year. At a press conference Thursday morning, deputy Gérard Deltell indicated that the "extraordinary zeal" of the Liberals wasted 167 hours of work in various parliamentary committees. He is opposed to any extension of House business which does not also extend that of committees.
Shortly before, the Leader of the Government, Pablo Rodriguez, accused the Conservatives of being solely responsible for the current blockage. “Unfortunately, there is a party in the House that stands in the way of progress. A party that uses its minority in the House to block the will of the majority. It is Conservative Party Erin O'Toole's . According to him, however, there is still hope that three important pieces of legislation will be adopted before the summer.
The first is Bill C-12 , tabled in November and which targets Canada's carbon neutrality by 2050. The text left committee stage on Wednesday and is due to return to the House for a review. third reading before being sent to the Senate. The government also hopes that C-6, which aims to be passed criminalize conversion therapy , will , also at third reading.
Finally, all the spotlight is on the controversial Bill C-10, which seeks to force web giants to share their revenues and increase the reach of Canadian content, just like traditional broadcasters. The Conservatives see it more as an attack on freedom of expression .
With the help of the Bloc Québécois , the Liberals managed to impose a gag order to limit debates at the Parliamentary Heritage Committee, which is due to complete its study of C-10 on Friday, after six weeks of painful procedural debates. As with other bills, it will have to go through the entire Senate process before receiving Royal Assent. Success is far from guaranteed. If an election campaign kicks off this summer, all legislation still under review will have to be thrown out, joining the long list of dead bills.
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