Opposition House leaders want new special committee to take over Commons rule changes study, vow to continue filibuster against Libs’ plan to ‘unilaterally rewrite’ playbook
PARLIAMENT HILL—Conservative and NDP House leaders want the government to set up a new House committee to study its proposed sweeping changes to parliamentary rules and say they will continue to filibuster the Procedure and House Affairs Committee in the meantime. Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen (Portage-Lisgar, Man.) and NDP House Leader Murray Rankin (Victoria, […]
Feds expect to roll out findings of internal review on Phoenix pay system this summer
Senior-level officials who are responsible for Public Services and Procurement Canada’s problem-plagued Phoenix pay system will find out this summer if they will be receiving performance pay for the time leading up to Phoenix’s rollout, but they are on track to take home similar benefits for this past fiscal year, despite still having 284,000 pay transactions behind […]
House Affairs Committee puts filibuster on pause once again, as House leaders negotiate behind scenes to end standoff
PARLIAMENT HILL—The Procedure and House Affairs Committee paused its filibuster Monday afternoon against the government’s proposed sweeping changes to House rules while the Liberal, Conservative, and New Democrat House leaders talked behind closed doors to end the standoff. Deputy Government House Leader Arnold Chan (Scarborough-Agincourt, Ont.) told The Hill Times that it’s the “best way” for the two sides […]
Opposition parties not ready to give up filibuster as Liberals set for pre-summer legislative push
PARLIAMENT HILL—Opposition House leaders say the government continues to do a “poor job” of moving legislation forward and promise to continue to filibuster the Procedure and House Affairs Committee over changes to the House rules, saying it will be “the No. 1 thing” they’re focused on. MPs return to Ottawa this week with seven more House weeks scheduled until June […]
Liberals’ sweeping reform ideas seen as not all bad, but many say they swing power to PMO
Opposition MPs say a few of the ideas put forward in the Liberal government’s discussion paper on reforming the House’s Standing Orders are good, but many would weaken the opposition and strengthen “centralized” government control. “There’s some interesting ideas in here, but the balance would swing the pendulum of power in Parliament even further towards […]
Liberals won’t commit to meeting platform promises on transparency by next election
The government’s lead on Access to Information Act reform isn’t making any promises to change the law before Canadians go to the polls again in 2019. Treasury Board President Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.) wouldn’t commit to completing before the next election the changes to Canada’s access to information regime that the government has promised—including opening […]
MPs are right to stand up for the House, but they shouldn’t overplay their political hands
Something happened the other day at the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. The normally buttoned-down Conservative MP Scott Reid lost his temper with the Liberal majority MPs on the committee and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals of “ramming through whatever the fuck they want.” He quickly apologized and the meeting carried on, but the outburst, which was […]
Opposition parties say their ongoing filibuster a protest against Liberals’ ‘political thuggery’
PARLIAMENT HILL—Four days of filibustering the Liberals’ attempt to expedite House rule changes was a product of Conservative and New Democrat backroom collaborative efforts to present a “unified front” in the face of what the opposition called “political thuggery” from the Liberal government. In interviews with The Hill Times during and proceeding the initial four days of […]
Opposition MPs declare ‘war’ over feds’ efforts to ram through sweeping changes to House rules, ‘we’re filibustering to protect the right to filibuster’
PARLIAMENT HILL—Opposition MPs spent nearly 15 hours in the basement of Centre Block on Tuesday, holed-up in a committee meeting room filibustering the Liberal government’s attempt to expedite a study on possible sweeping changes to how the House of Commons rules, and the saga is set to continue on Wednesday too. After going through much of […]
Information czar barely keeping up with complaints, despite 30 per cent budget boost to battle backlog
Canada’s information commissioner has barely managed to put a dent in the backlog of complaints about the government’s handling of access to information requests, despite receiving a 30 per cent budget increase for that purpose earlier this year, statistics from the commissioner’s office show. It hasn’t been for lack of trying; the office of commissioner Suzanne Legault […]
