An opportunity to rethink federal support for official language communities
OTTAWA—In the last year, Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has led cross-country consultations on the next multi-year action plan for official languages. While the outcomes of that consultation are expected later this year, we believe the time is right for a more fundamental review of how the Government of Canada supports official language minority communities. […]
House leaders brace for jam-packed, late-night legislative push in final ‘high-octane’ weeks of spring sitting
PARLIAMENT HILL—In the last legislative push before the House rises for the summer, the government wants to wade well into the debate on the suite of marijuana legislation, pass the budget bill, introduce new legislation on political financing and anti-terrorism, and implement contentious new rules on how the Commons works, despite resistance from opposition parties. […]
Note to MPs: it doesn’t have to become ‘silly season’ on the Hill
The wind-down of a parliamentary session before the summer break has notoriously garnered the reputation as “silly season” on Parliament Hill when governments rush to get through their budget implementation bills and line up and knock out a number of other legislative priorities to pad their productivity records while the opposition parties take every opportunity to slow […]
Senator pushing to resurrect sit-downs with House over controversial bill changes
An Independent Senator is trying to bring an out-of-use procedural tool back into style, to make sure Senate amendments to government bills get a fair hearing in the House. Sen. Diane Griffin (Prince Edward Island) is working to build support in the Upper Chamber to take a closer look at the use of conferences between […]
Feds move for four weeks of House midnight sittings, NDP says it’s ‘not very family friendly’
PARLIAMENT HILL—When MPs return to the Hill next week they will be burning the midnight oil as the government tries to push its legislative agenda through the House before the summer recess, but the New Democrats are saying the schedule is “not very family friendly.” “Thinking of the fact that we have young mothers in our caucus, and given […]
Sajjan didn’t need to burnish his brand with fiction
OTTAWA—Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan knows the danger of self-inflicted wounds. He recently maimed himself when he went against his own brand. Nothing his political opponents will try is likely to have the same impact on his political career as his own recent self-aggrandizing. When Sajjan came into politics as a decorated military veteran and hard-nosed […]
Opposition parties signal readiness to get to business in House, saving delay tactics for rule-changes motion
With the Procedure and House Affairs Committee filibuster behind them, opposition House leaders say they’re ready to back off of continued delay tactics and get back to debating legislation at least until the government’s unilateral rule changes are introduced. “Now we’re talking about legislation at this point,” Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen (Portage-Lisgar, Man.) told The […]
Ministry asks $30 per minute for data, despite Brison’s order to drop ATIP fees
The federal immigration ministry is asking up to $30 per minute to process a public request for immigration data, despite the Liberal government’s directive last year to waive extra fees for access to information requests and commitment to making government information open by default. One advocate of government transparency said the $30-per-minute proposed charge thwarts the intent […]
Liberals abruptly shut down House Affairs Committee filibuster after more than 80 hours of stalling tactics, Conservative MP Reid yells ‘that’s bullshit!’
PARLIAMENT HILL—The Liberals shut down the more than 80-hour filibuster at the Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning which was launched a few weeks ago in reaction to the government’s attempts to speed up a study on proposed changes to the House rules and opposition MPs reacted angrily to the move. Liberal MP Larry Bagnell (Yukon), chair […]
Chagger says time allocation to be used ‘more often’ by Liberals to pass legislative agenda
PARLIAMENT HILL—The Liberals say they will now use time allocation to get their legislative agenda moving, after earlier promising not to use the heavy-handed procedural tool to limit debate. “I have an important responsibility to ensure that there is meaningful debate, also that we are advancing that legislative agenda,” Government House Leader Bardish Chagger (Waterloo, […]
