If Parliament was one of the penitentiaries Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have so much time for, it would be described as under a pre-emptive lockdown.
The first five years of Harper’s prime ministerial tenure were consumed with the business of ensuring the survival of a minority government.
Navigating a fragile Conservative ship through the shoals of an opposition-dominated Parliament required unflagging attention, as did keeping the ruling party on permanent election footing.
In no small part, Harper survived that risky period by putting iron-clad controls on his cabinet, his caucus and the civil service apparatus at his disposal.
But those who expected such controls to be relaxed under majority rule should think again.
Instead, it is the turn of the opposition parties to see their already shortened parliamentary wings clipped by the government majority.
Less than two weeks into the fall session, the new Conservative order has already become a central fact of the life of the new Parliament.
In the Commons, the first major piece of legislation brought forward this autumn — a mega-bill dealing with law and order — is being force-fed through the House under government-imposed time limits.
Given the speed with which the government reached into its majority arsenal to curtail debate, it will likely not be the last time closure is used to speed contentious legislation through Parliament.
The technique stands to become to the majority government what repeat prorogations of Parliament were to the Conservatives in their recent minority days.
As for question period — the main stage of the opposition parties — it has never been more aptly named.
Since Parliament reopened, former industry minister Tony Clement has been asked more than 30 questions about his role in the dispensing of G8 summit-related largesse to his riding but has failed to provide a single answer.
MPs have done better on other fronts. They were treated to a description of the global economic challenges last week . . . but it was British Prime Minister David Cameron who delivered it.
For its part, the government has been keeping its fiscal cards close to its chest. So far, even basic opposition queries as to the timing of the fall fiscal update have failed to elicit a specific response.
There is no guarantee that the update will be presented in the Commons.
Finance minister Jim Flaherty delivered the 2010 installment in a speech to the Mississauga Chinese Business association.
The Conservative majority has also been flexing its post-election muscles in parliamentary committees.
Some of them are morphing into star chambers for the government; places where the Conservatives come to settle partisan scores.
In one instance, Elections Canada and other officials are being hauled in to discuss Conservatives charges that the NDP accepted illicit union contributions to finance its June convention.
In another, the Conservatives want rival journalists working for Sun Media to testify about the CBC’s ongoing battle with the Information Commissioner over access to the corporation’s records.
For most MPs, this is a first ever brush with a majority government. The awakening is especially rude for the rookie New Democrat official Opposition. It is immensely more toothless in its newly elevated status than when it was in fourth place in the Commons’ pecking order.
But an opposition reduced to thumb-twiddling impotence also means a much less challenging parliamentary environment for the Prime Minister.
In the same position, Harper’s predecessors devoted a lot of their energy to the federal-provincial front and the unity trenches.
But Harper faces no immediate secessionist threat in Quebec and on his watch First Ministers gatherings have become a fading memory.
The major challenges currently facing the federation are very much external. It is no accident that the Prime Minister is spending more time on the international scene.
Be it by design or because circumstances impose it on the government, the energy that the Conservatives no longer have to spend on keeping Parliament on their preferred track will eventually be redirected to a more muscular policy agenda.
But expect MPs to be the last to find out.
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
The first five years of Harper’s prime ministerial tenure were consumed with the business of ensuring the survival of a minority government.
Navigating a fragile Conservative ship through the shoals of an opposition-dominated Parliament required unflagging attention, as did keeping the ruling party on permanent election footing.
In no small part, Harper survived that risky period by putting iron-clad controls on his cabinet, his caucus and the civil service apparatus at his disposal.
But those who expected such controls to be relaxed under majority rule should think again.
Instead, it is the turn of the opposition parties to see their already shortened parliamentary wings clipped by the government majority.
Less than two weeks into the fall session, the new Conservative order has already become a central fact of the life of the new Parliament.
In the Commons, the first major piece of legislation brought forward this autumn — a mega-bill dealing with law and order — is being force-fed through the House under government-imposed time limits.
Given the speed with which the government reached into its majority arsenal to curtail debate, it will likely not be the last time closure is used to speed contentious legislation through Parliament.
The technique stands to become to the majority government what repeat prorogations of Parliament were to the Conservatives in their recent minority days.
As for question period — the main stage of the opposition parties — it has never been more aptly named.
Since Parliament reopened, former industry minister Tony Clement has been asked more than 30 questions about his role in the dispensing of G8 summit-related largesse to his riding but has failed to provide a single answer.
MPs have done better on other fronts. They were treated to a description of the global economic challenges last week . . . but it was British Prime Minister David Cameron who delivered it.
For its part, the government has been keeping its fiscal cards close to its chest. So far, even basic opposition queries as to the timing of the fall fiscal update have failed to elicit a specific response.
There is no guarantee that the update will be presented in the Commons.
Finance minister Jim Flaherty delivered the 2010 installment in a speech to the Mississauga Chinese Business association.
The Conservative majority has also been flexing its post-election muscles in parliamentary committees.
Some of them are morphing into star chambers for the government; places where the Conservatives come to settle partisan scores.
In one instance, Elections Canada and other officials are being hauled in to discuss Conservatives charges that the NDP accepted illicit union contributions to finance its June convention.
In another, the Conservatives want rival journalists working for Sun Media to testify about the CBC’s ongoing battle with the Information Commissioner over access to the corporation’s records.
For most MPs, this is a first ever brush with a majority government. The awakening is especially rude for the rookie New Democrat official Opposition. It is immensely more toothless in its newly elevated status than when it was in fourth place in the Commons’ pecking order.
But an opposition reduced to thumb-twiddling impotence also means a much less challenging parliamentary environment for the Prime Minister.
In the same position, Harper’s predecessors devoted a lot of their energy to the federal-provincial front and the unity trenches.
But Harper faces no immediate secessionist threat in Quebec and on his watch First Ministers gatherings have become a fading memory.
The major challenges currently facing the federation are very much external. It is no accident that the Prime Minister is spending more time on the international scene.
Be it by design or because circumstances impose it on the government, the energy that the Conservatives no longer have to spend on keeping Parliament on their preferred track will eventually be redirected to a more muscular policy agenda.
But expect MPs to be the last to find out.
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
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