(Ottawa) The pandemic has sounded the death knell for the traditional way of working in Parliament. The Trudeau government passed, Thursday evening, with the support of the NDP, a motion aimed at perpetuating the hybrid model (virtual and in person) that appeared during the health crisis, to the great displeasure of the Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois… and a former Liberal MP, who did not go out of his way to say that this avenue seemed misguided to him.
“If you don’t want to work in Ottawa during parliamentary sessions, don’t run to be an MP. A hybrid Parliament made sense during COVID, but this model should never be permanent,” ex-Liberal cabinet minister Wayne Easter wrote on Twitter a few days ago.
“Agree 100%,” replied former MP and Conservative minister Lisa Raitt.
This is not the opinion of the Trudeau government, however.
The Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Mark Holland, said in tabling the motion last week that it was an “important moment for Parliament” sending the signal that the place is open to all , including anyone with children who is looking for a better work-life balance.
In the past year, there has been a new normal that ensures not only that the government is accountable, but also that MPs have the flexibility to be in their riding […] The new rules worked well and were used responsibly.
The Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Mark Holland
The motion sponsored by Mr. Holland was approved Thursday evening, with the support of the New Democratic Party (NDP).
Disgruntled Conservatives and Bloc members
The Trudeau government had previously tabled a motion to limit debate, also adopted thanks to the NDP, arousing the ire of the Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois.
In one camp as in the other, we assure that we are not against the hybrid model as such.
Rather, it is the way the Liberals have chosen to proceed that makes them cringe.
“The government is choosing to impose major change without working to achieve an all-party consensus. Usually, it would be done by consensus, but because this time they have a coalition partner, they go there by vote, ”laments the conservative Luc Berthold.
The Conservatives would have liked to add a deadline to the motion, so that it would be valid until one year after the election of the next government, he explained, agreeing that the preference would have been to “do as all the other parliaments, to stay like this and introduce technology in stages”.
His Bloc colleague Alain Therrien remembers for his part having told Mark Holland “that we were not against the hybrid mode, but that we had to discuss it”. On his wish list: ministers present, a maximum of 40 deputies in virtual mode, among other proposals.
“He didn’t come back to see me, Mark,” regrets the parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois in the House.
Elected officials point out that virtual work disproportionately disadvantages Francophones.
Because they are the ones who encounter interpretation problems more frequently in virtual mode, the sound not being optimal for the interpreters – many of whom have also fallen in combat during the pandemic due to injuries. auditory.
“We are the ones who suffer the most consequences. There are meetings all the same, but sometimes, there are meetings just in English, ”regrets Luc Berthold.
The NDP fervent of the hybrid model
The odds of the motion passing were pretty good, as New Democrats have always liked the hybrid model.
It must be said that 13 of the 25 MPs in the party represent ridings in British Columbia. The weekly round trips between the western province and the federal capital are therefore longer than those of many elected officials in Ontario or Quebec.
That’s what Gord Johns, MP for Courtenay–Alberni, on Vancouver Island, told Wayne Easter.
“I have a huge amount of respect for you, Wayne, but it’s easy for you to say that as a former MP from Prince Edward Island. […] My last FOUR trips from Vancouver Island to Ottawa have taken over 20 hours [plutôt que 11 au total] due to flight disruptions,” he said.
To the New Democrat as well as to the others who brandish this argument, Alain Therrien presents this one: “When you present yourself in the federal elections, it seems to me that you know that you are going to go to Ottawa. »