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Challenges to virtual sittings not insurmountable, say MPs, experts, but reforms should reflect House’s diversity
By Beatrice Paez April 9, 2020
Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez says the House could resume sitting virtually within the next four weeks and says the House Speaker's team is working on it.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, pictured on March 24, 2020, at the emergency sitting of the House, where a small contingent of MPs across parties convened to pass the feds’ emergency COVID-19 legislation. The House administration is in the process of assessing how to convene Parliament virtually, with an eye towards setting it up within four weeks’ time. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
In the absence of daily televised parliamentary sittings, many MPs have been consigned to the sidelines of the pandemic, operating largely behind the scenes as they tend to constituency issues and keep tabs on the federal government’s evolving and unprecedented response to the coronavirus. But the looming prospect of convening the House virtually holds the promise of bringing greater scrutiny, say experts and current and former MPs, though there’s much to debate over which aspects could—and should—be swiftly adapted to the digital age.
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