We recently took a trip to Ottawa for my mom’s 85th birthday.
One of the things we wanted to do for the kids, who had never been to our nation’s capital, was get them into the Parliament buildings for a bit of a tour.
I know, kind of dull stuff for kids, perhaps, but after all, those majestic buildings overlooking the Ottawa River are the seat of our government and an icon of Canadian history. They will thank me later.
We were much obliged to our Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach and, in particular, his assistant Ben Tassel for accommodating us. That is not a partisan acknowledgment, by the way, Bachrach just happens to be NDP and our current MP. I am sure a Conservative or Liberal MP would do the same for visiting constituents.
The lowlight of the tour was the ironically named Question Period. During this daily (except Friday) House of Commons 45-minute session, no substantive questions are asked and no substantive answers are given. It is basically political theatre, and very bad theatre at that. On April 17, when we attended, the “honourable” Leader of the Official Opposition Pierre Poilievre stood up time and again to ask the same question in different ways and trot out his many juvenile campaign slogans and personally attack the prime minister.
Someone asked afterward if he was allowed to say some of the things he said. The answer is yes.
Stuff that I couldn’t print in this newspaper because it would be considered libel is fair game in our most venerable of institutions. It’s ridiculous.
And all the while, the members of the Opposition are cheering and jeering and shouting down the member who is trying to give a non-answer to the non-question to the point the speaker has to rise and ask them to stop. At one point, Poilievre commented on the budget being as if the adults had gone away and left the destructive teens to blow the place up. I don’t remember the quote exactly, but it was something along those lines.
If he was suggesting he and his Conservatives are the adults, a more ironic statement has rarely been made given the shameful way they behave in the House.
I know we’re all a little sick of Trudeau and the Liberals (who don’t generally behave any better), but if this guy is supposedly the alternative we are in deep trouble.
The idea of Question Period (formally known as Oral Questions) is good. It’s an opportunity for the Opposition to hold the government accountable with spontaneous questions, but it doesn’t really serve that, or any purpose I can see.
As long-standing a tradition as it is, perhaps it is time to simply cancel Question Period. Maybe the 45 minutes could be used to actually accomplish something.