To the Editor
Within a week or so, this current 41st Parliament of Canada will adjourn for the final time. Sometime during the summer, the House of Commons will be “dissolved” for a national election on October 19th.
I hope Canadians will make the renovation and renewal of how we govern ourselves a prime election issue!
When Justin Trudeau won the Liberal leadership two years ago, more open, rejuvenated governance for Canada was a key part of his platform. And despite the disadvantages of being the “third party” in the House of Commons, he has still managed to move the yardsticks.
His first step was to require all his MPs to pro-actively disclose all their travel and hospitality expenses. The information began to be posted quarterly on the Internet for anyone to scrutinize. Once the Liberal Caucus set this example, all other MPs followed suit and such regular disclosure is now in the rules of the House of Commons.
Secondly, Mr. Trudeau presented a Motion and a Private Member’s Bill to upgrade transparency in all government operations.
For example, he wants the House of Commons’ secretive management board (the “Board of Internal Economy”, as it is called) to be made open to the public. Its deliberations on how the House of Commons is administered and how Parliamentary money is spent should not be kept behind closed doors.
More broadly, across the whole of government, Mr. Trudeau wants much greater public access to all information and he wants the data to be available in accessible electronic formats. He would also give the Information Commissioner the authority to issue binding disclosure orders to all government departments and agencies.
Letting the sunshine in would have a positive effect. Knowledge is power. Broad-based access to information is fundamental to democracy. It is the right of the governed to have as much knowledge and information as those who govern them.
That’s why we also need a competent, reliable national census. We need scientists and researchers who are unmuzzled and encouraged to discuss their work. We need the right to dissent, debate and disagree, free from intimidation or reprisals. In short, Canadians need to have all the facts, and we need to make decisions based on hard evidence, not guess-work, prejudice or ideology.
Mr. Trudeau’s third initiative was about the Senate.
Given all the recent controversy, some Canadians are calling for Senate abolition. But the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled unequivocally that that would take unanimous provincial consent for a full-fledged constitutional amendment.
At the very least, opening such a debate would embroil the country in a decade of constitutional turmoil, while other issues - the economy, jobs, the environment, healthcare - get pushed off the agenda.
So what can be done without going down that rabbit-hole?
Mr. Trudeau has committed himself to a new, transparent, objective process for selecting independent people of the highest quality and integrity to serve in the Canadian Senate - avoiding partisanship and patronage and thus making the Senate the genuine independent review body envisaged by Sir John A. Macdonald.
And to show he is serious, Mr. Trudeau required every sitting Senator appointed by a Liberal Prime Minister to withdraw from the Liberal Caucus and serve out their terms as full independents.
We have a strong example, in the Mike Duffy scandal, about why this is important. Part of that scandal is Mr. Duffy’s obnoxious spending, but equally serious are the internal machinations in the Prime Minister’s Office to try to cover-up and whitewash the whole affair.
If Senators were truly independent - and not under the political thumb of the PMO - it would be far less likely that the Prime Minister’s staff would be cutting $90,000 cheques and trying to meddle with a forensic audit.
So on the disclosure of MPs’ expenses, greater government transparency and Senate reform - Justin Trudeau has led the way in the current Parliament more than anyone else. For the future, he will build on these initial steps to accelerate the process of transformative change.
The Parliament of Canada must earn the public’s respect every day. It must be restored as a meaningful institution where the debates and votes really matter, where genuine responsibility is shouldered and accounted for, and where MPs are effective voices for their constituencies in Ottawa, not merely mouthpieces for Ottawa back home in their constituencies.
Ralph Goodale
Member of Parliament Wascana
