Government accountability withers behind closed doors

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/06/2020 (2117 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The problem with shutting down important democratic institutions, such as the legislative assembly, during a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, is governments can get used to not being held accountable.

The novel coronavirus outbreak has left elected officials across the country with no choice but to shutter or substantially curtail operations to help contain the spread of the virus. Some have used online meeting tools to conduct business; others have sat sporadically with reduced attendance in the house.

In Manitoba, after the Pallister government unveiled its budget March 19, the legislative assembly shut down for almost seven weeks (with the exception of one special sitting day April 15).

The shutdown was the right thing to do. Manitoba closed schools and many businesses after the virus took a foothold in the province in late March.

As the spread of the virus slowed in May, MLAs returned to the chamber for once-a-week meetings. They imposed limits on the number of members in the house and adhered to strict social-distancing rules. They only sat four days in May.

Even though Manitoba has begun reopening broad sections of the economy this week after substantial progress in containing the virus, the Pallister government has decided to shut down the legislature. Instead of extending the sitting beyond a scheduled adjournment to make up for lost time, government has decided to close shop until sometime after the summer. (The next scheduled sitting is Oct. 7, according to the sessional calendar.)

That means for the next four months, government will not face questions from the Opposition in the house.

They will not debate any of the 46 bills still before the legislature, including a climate change bill, regional health authority reform, and important amendments to the City of Winnipeg’s Planning Act. There will be no public hearings at second reading on any bill, and no reports tabled in the chamber.

None of the 100 hours of “estimates” (where opposition members ask ministers a wide range of detailed questions at committee) will occur. No private members’ bills will be introduced.

All of which is shocking, considering Manitoba is in the middle of a pandemic and the economy is buckling under one of the worst downturns in decades. The province is facing a massive deficit, requiring billions in new borrowing, and government will be making some of the most critical decisions in recent history over the next few months.

Yet, Premier Brian Pallister and senior political aides — including former Tory campaign manager David McLaughlin, recently hired as government’s top bureaucrat — will make those decisions behind closed doors, away from the spotlight of question period and the daily proceedings of the house.

They will govern through executive order and avoid accountability. They will hide.

Pallister and the house leader, Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen, justified winding up the house last week by saying the opposition doesn’t have anything credible to ask.

The premier called NDP Leader Wab Kinew’s questions “dull and repetitive;” Goertzen said Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont should think of better questions to ask.

“I hope whenever this house does come back for a sitting, and in his regularly scheduled time, the member opposite might use the time he has away to try to bring forward more questions that are relevant to the interests of Manitobans that are happening at that time,” said Goertzen.

The Opposition NDP hasn’t helped make the case for an extended sitting. In March, they blocked the introduction of the 2020 budget for a week and used procedural delays — during a pandemic — to stall the business of the house.

However, the quality of the Opposition — perceived or otherwise — is irrelevant when it comes to assessing the importance of legislatures (whose role in Canada’s parliamentary system has diminished substantially in modern-day politics).

Legislatures are an important part of democracy. By refusing to extend the sitting to make up for lost time, Pallister is using the pandemic as an excuse to erode the role of the legislature further. He’s growing accustomed to governing from his office without having to face the scrutiny of the legislative assembly.

As the pandemic goes on, it appears he wants to keep it that way as long as he can.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca