Canadian Government Executive - Volume 26 - Issue 01

January/February 2020 // Canadian Government Executive / 19 GOVERNMENT Because of the minority government, the Liberals will have to seek the support of at least one opposition party—either the NDP, Bloc, or Conservatives—to get each of their bills through in the House. They could, in theory, work with a different op- position party on each bill. In the last cabinet shuffle following the October 2019 election, Mr. Trudeau (Pap- ineau, Que.) appointed Mr. Rodriguez as his House leader. Mr. Rodriguez is from Que- bec, is fluently bilingual, and has previously served in three minority parliaments. The House leader’s office has organized training sessions for MPs who have not served in minority Parliaments, which are being conducted by the House leadership team’s elected and staff officials. To assist MPs in their work in commit- tee and the Chamber, Mr. Rodriguez has brought in a number of new staffers, in- cluding Izabel Czuzoj-Shulman, as senior adviser for parliamentary affairs; Trevor Harrison as senior adviser for parliamenta- ry affairs; Rob Jamieson, as a senior adviser; Jean-Luc Plourde, as a senior special assis- tant for parliamentary affairs; Simon Ross, as a press secretary; Lynda Bouraoui, as an executive assistant; and Samar Assoum, as a special assistant for parliamentary affairs. Liberal sources told The Hill Times they are trying to keep a smooth working rela- tionship with all opposition parties to avoid any conflicts in the House and committees, as only one untoward incident could poison the relationship with other parties. “All it takes is one unpleasant incident in a committee or in the House and it could cause bad blood or a ripple effect, and it ruins the relationship between the govern- ment and the opposition,” one senior Lib- eral told The Hill Times. These sources said the party is especially keeping a close eye on committee work, which is considered the “heart and soul” of parliamentary work through which all bills are reviewed, debated, and analyzed in detail. This is also the forum where MPs sometimes can have testy exchanges. “Politics is what it is. People get emotional sometimes during some discussions,” said Wayne Easter (Malpeque, P.E.I.), a veteran nine-term Liberal MP and chairman of the powerful Finance Committee. “Some peo- ple get defensive; some people get offen- sive. That’s part of the human race, and it’ll happen at committees, and I think the big thing is not to take yourself too seriously.” He said one key principle that he has tried to follow throughout his close to three-decade long parliamentary career is to respect the political views of his col- leagues on the other side of the aisle. He said he never takes differences with his col- leagues personally, which has helped him to keep a cordial relationship with other Parliamentarians. “You’ve got to learn not to take things per- sonally,” saidMr. Easter. “Politics is an honour- able profession. And people have their differ- ent points of view. And it’s because of those differences that I think you, at the end of the day, strengthen what’s being promised.” Mr. Easter, who in the past served as a cabinet minister, and in three minority Par- liaments, said committee work is important in majority governments, but it becomes even more important in minority govern- ments because opposition parties outnum- ber the government, and the governing party needs to make compromises to ac- commodate the will of other parties. The Finance Committee is one of the most important committees as it deals with budgetary measures, and anything that in- volves money is deemed a confidence mea- sure. In a minority Parliament, an election can be triggered at any time if the govern- ment of the day loses a confidence vote. Based on the pre-budget consultations, the Finance Committee not only makes recom- mendations for measures to be included in the federal budget, but also conducts a de- tailed review of the budget after it is tabled. “Standing committees’ [work] is impor- tant in any Parliament, I don’t think they get enough credit for what they do,” said Mr. Easter who served in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 minority Parliaments. “That’s where the real work gets done. Yes, government policy gets implemented, but I think they’re probably even more crucial in a minority Parliament because you have to get a com- ing together of a cross section of folks on the committee in order to in order to get some- thing through.” Mr. Easter, who was also the chair of the same committee in the last Parliament, said he has total confidence in the Liberal House leadership team’s ability to get priority bills through this minority government. Two-term Liberal MP Ken Hardie (Fleet- wood-Port Kells, B.C.), who is serving in his first minority Parliament, said he’s con- fident that his party will have an effective working relationship with the opposition parties and will get its legislation passed. Mr. Hardie, who is a member of the Fisher- ies and Oceans Committee, said new MPs with no prior experience in minority Parlia- ments are getting advice from the MPs who in the past served in those Parliaments. “Oh, yes, and we’ve been getting that kind of advice,” said Mr. Hardie. “I won’t go into the details. But I think that again, and speaking only for the Fisheries Committee, we made as Liberals…a huge effort to be very collaborative in the last Parliament, and I think that, too, was reciprocated by Conservatives and NDP Members. So, the operating conditions, if you will, of Fisher- ies and Oceans is already set up to do well, and to succeed.” He said he’s not worried serving in a mi- nority Parliament, or in a committee where the opposition MPs outnumber the govern- ment. Mr. Hardie said if there’s any tricky is- sue during the course of a meeting, Liberal MPs can consult each other during breaks to fine-tune their strategy or reach out to the House leadership for advice. He said the Liberals did that in the last Parliament when they had a majority government, and will do it again. “It’s one of those, you know, very dynamic things that if we see situations coming up where we’re going to have to, even right during a meeting, call a timeout and dis- cuss what’s going on, that provision is al- ways open to us and there will always be somebody there that can come in and give us some quick advice on the spot if neces- sary,” said Mr. Hardie. “And we did that a few times in the last Parliament. So, I’m sure that that would be the same here.” Abbas Rana is the assistant deputy editor of The Hill Times. This article was first published on February 10, 2020 on hilltimes.com and is reprinted here by permission. The top Liberals who attend the daily meetings are Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez; Deputy House Leader Kirsty Duncan; Parliamentary secretary to the Government House Leader Kevin Lamoureux; Chief Government Whip Mark Holland; and Deputy Whip Ginette Petitpas Taylor. They’re joined by some senior Government House Leader’s Office staffers. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade