♪ ♫ don't let the sunny ways go down on me ♫
If, in the days following his open-air swearing-in ceremony on the grounds of Rideau Hall, you had warned newly installed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that within the next six months, his government would find itself on the wrong side of two parliamentary privilege complaints in a single day – and that he, personally, would be directly responsible for one of them — he likely would have laughed you out of his new digs in the Langevin Block.
In fact, even six weeks ago, such a dire prediction would undoubtedly have sparked a similarly sceptical response.
It wasn’t until April 19 – the 42nd sitting day of the 42nd Parliament – that Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc first served notice of his intention to use his party’s majority clout in the Commons to impose a time limit on an ongoing debate: in this case, second reading consideration of a proposal to change the terms of the Air Canada Public Participation Act.
Up until that point, he and his opposition counterparts had evidently been able to work out a mutually agreeable timeline for shuttling legislation through the Chamber in a reasonably orderly, if not particularly punctual, manner.
We may never know exactly how and why those comparatively convivial relations between the parties broke down, but the consequences of LeBlanc’s decision to circumvent his colleagues in order to dispatch the bill to committee without further discussion were immediate, and immediately apparent.
Over the next three weeks, LeBlanc was obliged to exercise his power to cut the House microphones during debate on three additional legislative initiatives, including, most controversially, the government’s proposed new laws on physician-assisted dying, which were already under a Supreme Court-imposed deadline of June 6.
Not surprisingly, the reaction from the other side of the aisle was similarly swift, and played out exactly as anyone with even a nodding familiarity with parliamentary dynamics would – and, in the case of LeBlanc, really should – have expected.
mo
Kady O’Malley: Liberal legislative meltdown is an early lesson for Trudeau and his government | National Post
If, in the days following his open-air swearing-in ceremony on the grounds of Rideau Hall, you had warned newly installed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that within the next six months, his government would find itself on the wrong side of two parliamentary privilege complaints in a single day – and that he, personally, would be directly responsible for one of them — he likely would have laughed you out of his new digs in the Langevin Block.
In fact, even six weeks ago, such a dire prediction would undoubtedly have sparked a similarly sceptical response.
It wasn’t until April 19 – the 42nd sitting day of the 42nd Parliament – that Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc first served notice of his intention to use his party’s majority clout in the Commons to impose a time limit on an ongoing debate: in this case, second reading consideration of a proposal to change the terms of the Air Canada Public Participation Act.
Up until that point, he and his opposition counterparts had evidently been able to work out a mutually agreeable timeline for shuttling legislation through the Chamber in a reasonably orderly, if not particularly punctual, manner.
We may never know exactly how and why those comparatively convivial relations between the parties broke down, but the consequences of LeBlanc’s decision to circumvent his colleagues in order to dispatch the bill to committee without further discussion were immediate, and immediately apparent.
Over the next three weeks, LeBlanc was obliged to exercise his power to cut the House microphones during debate on three additional legislative initiatives, including, most controversially, the government’s proposed new laws on physician-assisted dying, which were already under a Supreme Court-imposed deadline of June 6.
Not surprisingly, the reaction from the other side of the aisle was similarly swift, and played out exactly as anyone with even a nodding familiarity with parliamentary dynamics would – and, in the case of LeBlanc, really should – have expected.
mo
Kady O’Malley: Liberal legislative meltdown is an early lesson for Trudeau and his government | National Post
