Here’s the thing about the Conservatives’ behaviour over the past 72 hours or so.
The government announced a relief programme a number of days ago, without detailing the required legislation.
Then various public servants went to work drafting that legislation, knowing that in a
The government announced a relief programme a number of days ago, without detailing the required legislation.
Then various public servants went to work drafting that legislation, knowing that in a
minority situation, it would have to be negotiated with the opposition parties, who could stymy quick passage by denying unanimous consent.
Then the PM and Cabinet undoubtedly approved the draft for purposes of that negotiation.
Then the PM and Cabinet undoubtedly approved the draft for purposes of that negotiation.
The draft was then timely circulated in confidence to the opposition parties for comment and response, in the usual way of any high stakes negotiation.
As anyone who has ever conducted such negotiations knows, it is rare for any party to put forward as their opening position that which they hope to get at the end of the negotiation. One typically asks for more than one expects to get, and bargains backward from there.
Likewise, any adult counterparty to a negotiation, upon receipt of a draft proposal, analyses it, and comes back with a counter-offer, stating principled reasons to back that up. And so it goes.
An adult counterparty in @AndrewScheer’s position, under current circumstances, would have called the PM up and said, “Look, we all want a deal here, but provisions a, b, and c of your draft will never get unanimous consent. We’ll send you a counterproposal shortly.”
Instead, in this case information about the 1st draft was conveniently leaked to the reptilian Robert Fife, no doubt by Conservative actors, perhaps with senior @CPC_HQ leadership connivance. Fife then gleefully ginned it up for consumption by the usual coterie in the Twiterrati.
Then in steps one @ScottReidCPC, an otherwise obscure MP of modest achievement, declaring that he’s going to breach the all party agreement limiting House attendance to an agreed list of MP’s apportioned in accordance with party standings, and deny the unanimous consent.
Next steps in the remarkably charisma-less @PierrePoilievre from his basement somewhere near Ottawa, frothing at the mouth on Twitter in support of Mr. Reid. @AndrewScheer acquiesces in all of this.
At this pt, the Cons have never responded at the negotiating table, preferring to have their lead drama kings speechify to the grandstand about how the very foundations of parliamentary democracy are under attack (which ‘attack’, of course, can easily be repulsed by 1 ‘nay’).
Meanwhile, 🇨🇦Canadian families, workers, and business peope are enduring the most anguish produced by any crisis since the FLQ affair of 1970. Unlike the one death there, 100’s are sick and dying here and the economy is crashing.
But the Conservatives continue to play their partisan game, thinking it a good look.
It would have been perfectly fair for them to make their points behind closed doors in an adult negotiation, and the government would certainly have accommodated those concerns.
It would have been perfectly fair for them to make their points behind closed doors in an adult negotiation, and the government would certainly have accommodated those concerns.
But no, the Conservatives had to act out their drama, thinking they were ‘winning’. In fact, all they have succeeded in doing is to cement the public’s perception of their party as completely tone-deaf, which is exactly what led them to electoral defeat last time round.
One will happily debate another time whether the government’s first draft was actually ‘unconstitutional’ or ‘unprecedented’ in nature (it wasn’t), but suffice to say for now that the Conservatives could have saved the country much agony by acting with maturity and judgment.
They didn’t, and this will be remembered.
