House of Commons committees off to scrappy, skeptical start

The Liberal government came to powerpromisingto strengthen Parliamentary committees.

But so far, committeesaren't doing much at all, thanks to an emerging battle over how much power MPs from the NDP, Bloc Qubcois and Green parties should have.

It's a fight thatthreatens to curtail the early ambitions of Justin Trudeau's government, starting with the ability ofMPs to influencenext spring's federal budgetthrough finance committee hearings.

It also nearly thwarteda special joint committeeto advise the government on legislation forassisted dying, in response to the Supreme Court's striking down of afederal lawlast winter.

Last week, the government requested asix-month extensiontocomply with the ruling. Thecommittee needs to move fastandreport by Feb. 26.

And then there'sthe committee that oversees the work of allothers including the Liberals' planned committees on national security oversight and electoral reform.

Thatbogged down this week whena parliamentary secretary turned up at the procedure and House affairs committee, in apparent contravention of a Liberal promise, and it became clear New Democrats lacked faith in the Liberals' vows of change.

Bloc blocks consent

With time short before Christmas break, Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc on Thursday attempted to bypass regular channels andget unanimous consent in the Commons for two things:

• Proposed membership of the Commons finance committee.
• Terms for setting up thespecial House and Senate joint committee on physician-assisted dying.

When the voice vote was held, calls from the corner whereBloc MPs sit denied unanimous consent for both.

"We want to sit on thecommittee.We have things to say," BQ MP Rhal Fortin told reporters, arguingrules should change to allow other MPs to do more than justobserve. "We can observe on TV," he said.

"There are 10 [BQ] members representing over onemillion persons in our ridings.I think those million persons are Canadian too and they have the right to be heard in that Parliament."

"The Bloc Qubcois clearly was unhappy with the election result on the 19thof October," LeBlanc said in a scrum of his own. "They knew what the rules were."

LeBlanc said, however,the Liberals were open to giving the Bloc more opportunities to speak.

When the government House leader rose to try again on Friday, the assisted dying committeewas no longer blocked by the Bloc.

But the bid to get afinance committee up and running so it could hold cross-country budget consultations in January was denied again.

Secret ballots pickchairs

"Better government starts with better ideas," the Liberal election platform read, pledging secret-ballot elections for committee chairs and an end to ministers or parliamentary secretaries directingcommittees.

But the Liberals have their majority. And when translated into a percentage of committee seats, that meanssix on the 10-member committees namedso far. The now-opposition Conservatives have three, the now-third party NDP only one.

These are very, very early and sunny days, but I've been in five different Parliaments and I've seen that sunny ways lead to stormy ways- NDP MP Charlie Angus

The Official Oppositionhas chaired some committeesin the past, like public accounts andethics.

But with the new secret ballot elections,would Liberalsback an opposition MP for chair?

The BQ doesn't even sit on committees because it doesn't haveofficial party status. (That requires12 MPs. They have only10.)

Same goes forGreen Party Leader Elizabeth May,a party of one.

Any MP can attend publiccommittee meetings and speak. But only memberspropose motions, vote or write reports and recommendations.

'This is not going to work, man'

Only one committee, procedure and House affairs,met thisweek. Its members, setby party House leaders, have 10 sitting days from the start of a new Parliament to form the other committees. (Five days now remain.)

The chair was electedlast Tuesday bysecret ballot, as promised.

But trouble began when LeBlanc's parliamentary secretary, Kevin Lamoureux, turned up: not as a voting member, but sitting at the table (as any MP has a right to do).

"Given that the government says they want to do more work by committee, where members can be more and more independent, I fail to see how his presence today supports that goal," NDP vice-chair DavidChristopherson said, while acknowledging Lamoureux had switched seats to position himself in a less-influential spot.

"I'm sorry. This is not going to work, man." he said.

"I have a vested interest in this particular committee," Lamoureuxexplained, later addinghe wasn't sure what role he was supposed to play now.

"I'm here to complement the members who are on the committee, and nothing more than that," he said.

"The fact of the matter is you're here to ride shotgun on behalf of the PMO to make sure this committee does exactly what the prime minister wants. And guess what? That's the way it was the last time," Christophersonsaid.

'I would love to trust you all'

And so it went, bogging down over who'd serve onthe steering committee to setthe committee's agenda. Amotion specified five members: the chair, the vice-chairs and two more Liberals.

Christopherson proposed an amendment:only oneLiberal, meaning the steering committee would not be dominated by government MPs. He said it shouldmake decisions by consensus, not majority votes.

A second New Democrat, Charlie Angus, turnedup tobackChristopherson. (He, like the parliamentary secretary, wasn't on thecommittee.)

"Mr. Lamoureux, it's great to see you in the House. It will be great to see you off this committee," Angus said.

"I would love to trust you all," Angussaid."These are very, very early and sunny days, but I've been in five different Parliaments and I've seen that sunny ways lead to stormy ways...."

Angus said he was tired of partisanship and wanted to ratchet it down. But:"we're not going to build the peaceable kingdom out of here," he said.

Andthere was no peace. The committee met for two hours but couldn'tformits steering committee.

Speaking to CBC News Friday, chair Larry Bagnell wasn't surprised. "I've seen it before," the veteran Liberal MP said.

Even if they had passed other motions, he said such as the one that typically allows party whips to name members to other committees it's not clear the Bloc would have allowed that to pass the Commons, either.