St. Albert’s MP is predicting a hot-under-the-collar but legislatively-light fall session in Canada’s House of Commons.
“My experience is the longer these things go the more the heat gets turned up and the less productive the session ultimately becomes. I think that last fall was bad, this spring was worse and I’m not hopeful that it’ll be anything but more hot when we get back,” said Brent Rathgeber on Friday.
A federal election is expected in fall 2015, and Rathgeber, who sits as an independent, said as the vote looms the partisanship in the House is likely to ramp up, frustrating those looking for meaningful debate.
He predicts the session, which is scheduled to start Sept. 15, will sit for the full-time, despite some suggesting they could finish early.
Rathgeber also expects foreign affairs will dominate discussion as international crises rage in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
“The world is as unstable now as it has been in my lifetime,” Rathgeber said.
While the government isn’t legally required to ask Parliament before committing Canadian troops to an action, Rathgeber said it’s becoming more common for the matter to be put to a vote.
After more than a decade in Afghanistan with debatable results, Rathgeber said Canadians might not be thrilled to send soldiers overseas.
“Canadians, I think, are still leery and still war-weary from the protracted Afghan mission which lasted way longer than it was intended to and cost way more money and way more lives than anybody could have predicted or wanted,” he said.
Outside of foreign affairs, he predicted a light legislative agenda for the fall, with the government’s anti-prostitution bill and Michael Chong’s Reform Act to be the hot topics.
The prostitution bill is a response to the Supreme Court’s ruling last December and purports to target johns rather than sex workers themselves.
“I support the bill in principle. There are some details in the bill that are very, very troubling,” Rathgeber said.
An amendment was made at the committee level fixing a hole that Rathgeber and others pointed out that would have meant child prostitutes could be charged for prostituting themselves where children could be present – a logical problem since a child prostitute is by definition a present child.
“I take some credit for pointing out that there was either a drafting error in the original bill or they didn’t think this through,” he said.
Chong’s Reform Act, which aims to restore some power to backbench MPs, has garnered great interest and should be voted during this coming session.
Rathgeber said the debate on parliamentary reform is needed.
“It’s an interesting debate, it’s an important debate, I’ve always believed the bill would fail,” he said. In his opinion there’s no reason for the prime minister’s office to throw its support behind the act.
That’s OK, he said, because it’s part of convincing politicians, journalists and Canadians in general that there needs to be a power shift.
“We’re playing the long game here,” he said.
Rathgeber plans to table a few private member’s bills this fall and in the spring session.
One is his bill looking for more oversight of the Communications Security Establishment Canada spy agency, which he’ll be consulting with a technical expert on in the coming weeks.
“I don’t expect it’s going to pass, I don’t anticipate it’s going to come up for debate given we’re a year away from dissolution but, like Michael (Chong)’s bill, it’s about changing opinions and changing minds,” he said.
He also is working on drafting two other private member’s bills, one to introduce balanced budget legislation at the federal level and the other to vet government advertising.
The balanced budget legislation – inspired by Alberta’s legislation – will likely be tabled in the spring as Rathgeber wants to put some “more teeth” in it than the provincial legislation has.
He’s hoping to table his bill on government advertising before the House rises for winter break. The idea behind it is to mirror a vetting process from Ontario that ensures government advertising is informational and not partisan advertising – the difference between telling people how to recycle versus telling people how great your government’ recycling program is with no instructions.
He has no issue with advertising for information, he said, but does with partisan advertising under the guise of government communications.
Rathgeber’s book Irresponsible Government is scheduled for release this week.
