Heading back to the House

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This article was published 10/10/2021 (1174 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba MPs are headed back to Parliament Hill after an election in which all 14 incumbents were re-elected, with a fall session that will likely echo debates held in the House of Commons this spring.

“There’s a sense that everybody wants to resume tackling the big issues that are important to Canadians, and I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be,” said Liberal cabinet minister Dan Vandal, who represents Saint Boniface-Saint Vital.

In the House, Vandal said the Liberals plan to wrap up agreements for affordable daycare, and implement policies that will incentivize more Canadians to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

He argued a policy last week that requires public servants to get immunized likely won’t cause too many Manitobans to lose their jobs, because so many have already gotten a shot.

“I’m not anticipating a lot of disruption. I think we just need to follow the science,” said Vandal, arguing more lockdowns would be much more disruptive than the public service needing to replace staff who refuse vaccination.

MPs have yet to meet at the internal committee that sets rules for the House of Commons, but the Bloc Québécois have already called for a policy that bars any unvaccinated MPs from the chamber.

Provencher MP Ted Falk, a Conservative, is the only Manitoba MP who won’t say whether he’s been vaccinated, and his office didn’t respond to an interview request. A policy that bans unvaccinated people from air and rail travel starting Oct. 30 could force unvaccinated MPs to drive themselves to Ottawa.

In any case, MPs will also have to consider that policy, and also decide whether to continue hybrid sittings that include virtual appearances.

NDP MP Niki Ashton hopes to keep that option, so she can keep in touch with issues across her vast northern riding, while still visiting Ottawa for key votes. Her party plans to push the Liberals to go beyond their platform pledges, and faster.

“There’s no question the NDP has significant leverage,” said Ashton.

Ashton was easily re-elected in the Churchill-Keewatinook Aski riding, despite Grand Chief Arlen Dumas endorsing her Liberal opponent. “The results of the election spoke for themselves; we received resounding support from First Nations and Métis communities,” she said.

Conservative Marty Morantz held onto the hotly contested riding of Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley, where an administrative error prompted a recount.

Now focused on Ottawa, Morantz is hoping to focus on the cost of living, employment and managing the deficit.

“There’s a lot of storm clouds on horizon, economically,” he said.

Morantz said some employers are struggling to hire workers, which he said is in part due to fears over COVID-19, but could be due to a need to ramp down certain pandemic supports. He’s concerned about the rising cost of food and gas, as well as other countries starting to raise their interest rates.

“If interest rates go up, it will translate into increased debt servicing costs, which will directly affect the federal government’s ability to sustain social programs,” he said.

Morantz had tabled a private member’s bill to change tax rules for charities, which would likely have been debated this fall. Instead, it got scrapped as the Liberals called an election, and all MPs will have to enter the draw that occurs at each new parliament, which decides when they can table a private bill.

“It’s not just the cost of an election, but the time that has been wasted, essentially,” he said.

Ashton echoed that concern, saying that desperately needed infrastructure might have been built in recent months if the government focused on ramping up its spending commitments.

“There is not one person I spoke to during this campaign, in our part of the country, that said life is getting better,” she said.

For example, issues around reconciliation and climate change have become more urgent, after a summer where communities started searching residential-school burial sites and Manitobans faced severe wildfires much earlier than normal.

“We have a prime minister who’s built his brand on commitments to reconciliation, and we’ve seen promise after promise broken,” said Ashton, citing Justin Trudeau’s surfing vacation during the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

All three MPs said they hope the House sits soon. After the 2019 election, the Liberals waited six weeks to finally bring the Commons back for seven sitting days. After that came the Christmas break, the Wet’suwet’en railway crisis, dozens of Canadians killed in an Iranian plane crash and then the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trudeau has pledged to announce a new cabinet this month, and it won’t occur while Gov-Gen. Mary May Simon is out of the country, Oct. 17 to 21. Vandal said he’s hoping to remain in cabinet, after two years as the government’s point man on issues in the territories as northern affairs minister.

The Commons should sit shortly after, and the government plans to reintroduce legislation it had killed when it chose to call an election, such as banning anti-gay conversion therapy and regulating online broadcasting.

It’s unclear how long this government will last. During an election debate, Trudeau mentioned that minority governments tend to end around 18 months, but he walked back that comment when asked if he was threatening yet another election.

Vandal argued it’s entirely possible MPs could work together up until late 2025.

“I hope it last four years, actually. There’s a lot of work to do and some huge issues to make progress on.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca