The Liberals are moving to take control of House of Commons committees now that they’ve secured a majority government, a move that will allow the governing party to control of the agendas of the 25 House of Commons committees.
The move will allow the Liberals, for example, to shut down attempts by the opposition to have the Commons ethics committee question Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne about a potential conflict-of-interest involving his spouse who is employed by the proponent of a government-backed high-speed rail project.
Liberal MPs on that committee right now are engaged in a filibuster that has stretched for 17 hours to prevent any such investigation.
But having control of House of Commons committees will also give Liberals more control over everything from the kinds of topics committees choose to study to the witnesses they hear and, as a result, can be a powerful way of controlling the entire agenda of Parliament.
Government House leader Steven MacKinnon said in a social media post Tuesday that the Liberals will seek to change the standing orders, the rules that govern the Commons, to ensure they have the most votes on committees.
“Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government are determined to work constructively both in the House and in parliamentary committees,” he said.
MacKinnon will hold a press conference Wednesday morning to address the issue.
Conservatives sent supporters a fundraising email Tuesday evening arguing that Prime Minister Mark Carney is “going to use his majority powers to make life easier for his government.”
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The email asked for donations to help Conservatives “stop Carney from stacking the deck and continuing his cynical power grab.”
“He’s going to stack the deck on committees to shut down investigations into his scandals, conflicts, and waste, because he thinks no one can stop him,” said the email. “Since 1867, the founding of our country, committees have reflected the results of the ballot box, not a manufactured majority. But now, Carney is trying to reset the balance of power on committees to limit his opposition.”
The standing orders of the House of Commons, though, cannot be changed until the three winners of the April 13 byelections — all of them Liberals — formally take their seats in the House of Commons.
That has not yet happened yet though they are expected to be sworn in and take their seats in the days ahead.
The process of verifying byelection results and swearing in MPs is a process involving Elections Canada and the Speaker of the House of Commons and can typically take between one and three weeks after a byelection.
But once those byelection winners are sworn in, the Liberals will move from 171 seats in the House — one shy of a majority — to 174 seats. Majority governments traditionally hold a majority of seats on House committees.
Because the Liberals won a minority in last April’s election, MPs agreed to form committees with four Liberals, four Conservatives and one member from the Bloc Québécois.
MacKinnon is proposing that most committees will now have seven Liberals, four Conservatives and one Bloc member.
The standing orders are typically agreed upon unanimously, but MacKinnon’s proposed change will require a vote in the House. He said he intends to give notice of a motion in the coming days.
The byelection results, combined with five opposition MPs who crossed the floor to the Liberals in recent months, have pushed Carney’s party over a threshold it could not reach in last year’s election.
The Liberals won 169 seats last April, shy of the 172 needed for a bare-bones majority.
Canada hadn’t had a majority government since 2019, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were reduced to a minority in an election.
– with files from The Canadian Press
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