Kady O'Malley Bio

As the Victoria Day parliamentary recess wraps up, there's really, truly nothing on the official Hill agenda for today -- all the better to store up the necessary physical, mental and psychic energy that will be required to survive the mounting frenzy of legislative catch-up leading up to the summer break, really. 

Courtesy of the Notice Paper, we can, at least, get some idea how the government intends to proceed with the still theoretical Canadian Pacific back-to-work legislation, should its intervention be required when the House returns next week. 

Although the details of the bill itself are not yet available, judging from the time line proposed in the accompanying time allocation motion (which, I should note, is technically not actually a time allocation motion, per se, but would have the same effect), a repeat of last year's NDP-led filibuster against the Canada Post back-to-work bill seems all but impossible: just three and a half hours will be allotted to debate: two hours for second reading, an hour at committee of the whole and a final half hour for third reading, followed by a 30 minute bell and a vote. 

Then again, should the aforementioned opposition parties choose to dig in their collective heels, there are always means by which the business of the House can be delayed, or even preempted entirely, although in the end, Walsh's Law applies: it's just math. Ultimately, the government can win every vote, provided that it maintains the support of a majority of MPs. 

Still, with the omnibudget bill about to go under marathon-style committee review, the copyright bill about to begin the final legislative leg of its journey through the Commons and, of course, the clock ticking down on the deadline for the main estimates, which must be passed by June 23rd when the supply cycle runs out, every sitting day counts. 

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Former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj is back in Ottawa, although not, at least as yet, as a duly, if belatedly, elected Member of Parliament, although that does seem to be his ultimate goal.

Wrzesnewskyj will make himself available to the media at Liberal Party headquarters at 1 p.m. ET, where he will provide an update on the court challenge that culminated -- at least so far -- in last week's decision by an Ontario judge to declare the results of the 2011 election in Etobicoke Centre null and void.

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After days of playing coy on how it plans to reform the employment insurance system, the government, it appears, is finally ready to share the details with Canadians.

Later this morning, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley is set to hit the stage at the National Press Theatre for an "important announcement," and although the official advisory is maddeningly vague on the topic du jour, the government has made it clear, albeit via back channel communications with media, that she will unveil at least part of the Conservative vision for a more efficient regime, thus putting to rest, at least in theory, the increasingly dire, if wildly contradictory stream of speculation, informed and otherwise, that has dominated the discussion thus far.

Then again, if the recent slow-motion reveal on Old Age Security changes is anything to go by, if the government harbours hopes of regaining control over the conversation, it already has its work cut out for it. It turns out that giving notice -- via leak or unexpected prime ministerial musings in Davos -- of one's intention to move forward on a particular file with no accompanying context on what one intends to actually do almost always results in apocalyptic worst-case-scenario-izing by an apprehensive public, which immediately seized upon and lovingly nurtured by one's political opponents.  Mobile-friendly text feed available here or hit the jump for the full CoveritLive experience.

After days of playing coy on how it plans to reform the employment insurance system, the government, it appears, is finally ready to share the details with Canadians. 

The Prince and Duchess continue their whirlwind cross-country tour with a visit to Regina, where they will tour the legislature, meet with provincial and local leaders and present another  round of Jubilee medals before heading off to First Nations University to "recognize the importance of First Nations culture and traditions in defining Canada's national identity" by taking in a performance by an Aboriginal drum group and learning about heritage preservation from youth leaders and FNU alumni. 

This afternoon, Environment Minister Peter Kent will lead the couple on a tour of Ground Effects' ElectroPure water treatment facility before they retreat behind closed doors for private meetings with the Governor General and Prime Minister. (Separately.) 

Finally, after enjoying an evening concert at the RCMP Depot Division Drill Hall, the Prince and Duchess will be bid farewell at the "official departure ceremony." 

Also out and about today: Official Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair tours Saguenay - Lac-St-Jean, where he will hold a press conference with union leaders to lament local job losses, meet with Alma Mayor Marc Asselin and show his support for locked-out Rio Tinto employees before heading to a party event. 

Meanwhile, in Montreal, New Democrat MPs continue holding parallel universe budget consultations. 

Fresh -- at least, one hopes -- from his weekend of international summiteering, the PM heads to Toronto to meet up with the visiting Windsors -- Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and their accompanying retinue -- at a War of 1812-commemorating military muster at Fort York, with Defence Minister Peter MacKay and his chief of defence staff also expected to be in attendance. 

Back on the Hill, a serene silence appears to have settled in for the day, if not necessarily the duration of the Victoria Day respite from parliamentary business, with just one press conference listed on the itinerary for today, courtesy of the Canadian Psychological Association, which is seeking support for the upcoming launch of the Defeat Depression campaign. 

As the Peace Tower clock ticks down to the Victoria Day adjournment, the skeleton crew of MPs relegated to Friday House duty will spend the morning debating an NDP motion that calls on the government to "officially apologize in the House of Commons to the South Asian community and to the individuals impacted in the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which passengers were prevented from landing in Canada," although given what went down the last time the PM attempted to deliver retrospective regrets for the incident in question, it seems unlikely to succeed. 

Outside the Chamber, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler launches "Iran Accountability Week," which, according to the advisory, is part of a "sustained advocacy campaign to draw attention to the human rights abuses suffered by the Iranian people at the hands of Ahmadinejad's regime." 

Meanwhile, the PM heads south to convene with his G8 counterparts at the US presidential equivalent of Harrington Lake, Camp David. After the two-day session wraps up, it's off to Chicago for the 2012 NATO conference. 

With just one day to go before the Commons empties out for the Victoria Day constituency week don't-call-it-a-break, the finance committee is set to spend a second day ensconced in super-sized briefing sessions with departmental officials. 

Also on the omnibudget agenda today: the promised C-38 subcommittee has officially been struck, and will meet this morning for the traditional pro forma election of the chair, and, presumably, the not-always-quite-so pro forma passing of routine motions, thus setting the stage for the real work to begin when the House returns after the Victoria Day constituency week. 

UPDATE: Oh, apparently, they're going to get down to business right now -- as in, as we speak -- according to the audio feed that I was canny enough to tune in for the aforementioned routine motions. First up: a panel of three (3) ministers: Joe Oliver (natural resources), Keith Ashfield (fisheries) and Peter Kent (environment), not one of whom were listed on the notice of meeting, which is -- not the most auspicious start to what the government pledged would be a transparent and open omnibudget overview process.  

Before we get started, my apologies for the lateness of today's post -- blame it on last night's extra-late-night Committee of the Whole. 

 That's right, it's time for another edition of Parliament After Dark, otherwise known as Committee of the Whole: Main Estimates Iteration.  

Recap:  He came, he saw, he .... said pretty much the same thing that he's been saying all along on the need to keep everyone involved in the procurement in the loop, including disclosing full life-cycle costs, while following the rules and exercising appropriate due diligence in all matters.

And as soon as Auditor General Michael Ferguson wrapped up his third F-35-related opening statement since the release of his report, committee members followed his example, and performed what amounted to the live-action equivalent of a highlight reel for the next hour or so. 

Government MPs did their collective level best to get Ferguson to give a probationary thumbs up to the much-vaunted 7 Point F-35 Generic Fighter Jet Action! Plan, which he has consistently declined to do on the not unreasonable grounds that he hasn't yet gotten to evaluate how well it worked, what with the future being in the future, and not now,  as well as confirm that no money has been spent, which he once again pointed out, albeit politely, is not, in fact, the case. 

Meanwhile, on the opposition side of the table, members made similar efforts to get Ferguson to endorse their talking points with similarly limited success, although the AG did defend himself -- or, more accurately, his office and the numbers that it used to provide the report -- against the implied suggestion from Deputy Defence Minister Robert Fonberg that he'd muddled the math somehow. 

Not surprisingly, that sparked a request -- not a motion, but a request -- from the NDP that Fonberg, too, be invited to make a third appearance before the committee at a future date in order to respond to AG's response to his response to the report. 

(Aside to Public Accounts committee planners: Is there any practical reason why you can't simply invite Fonberg and Ferguson back to the table for a joint session? Sure, it's a wee bit unorthodox, but not unprecedented -- check the transcript from this very committee's past investigation into the RCMP pension scandal, and you'll find plenty of examples of simultaneous appearances by not-entirely-friendly witnesses.) 

After the F-35 Q&A wrapped up, Ferguson spent the second hour doing his best to assuage opposition-held -- or, at least, claimed -- concern that the voluntary cost-cutting exercise undertaken by the Office of the Auditor General will have a catastrophic impact on his oversight powers, which he maintains is simply not the case. In fact, his office actually requested that it be stripped of the requirement to audit the financial records and performance reports of various agencies -- including Parks Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency. 

He did, however, seem taken aback by one contention put forward by lone Liberal MP Gerry Byrne -- namely, that at least two regional development agencies, FedNor and ACOA,  are plotting to eliminate internal auditing services to save money, an alleged initiative on which his office has, it seems, not been consulted, and one that would raise flags as far as potential risk areas. 

Finally, parliamentary secretary Andrew Saxton managed to circumvent a potentially contentious NDP-backed motion to study the OAG-related provisions of the omnibudget bill, which left the opposition side grumbling in frustration over the move to preemptively impose in camera secrecy on the next scheduled meeting. 

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Apparently -- or, at least, one hopes -- now fully recovered from the unexpected medical procedure that forced him to postpone last week's scheduled appearance, Auditor General Michael Ferguson returns to Public Accounts this morning to face a third round of questionson his office's less than glowing review of the F-35 procurement process -- at least, for the first hour; during the second, he's expected to turn his attention to the main estimates, which have to be reported back to the House by May 31. 

The committee is also set to deal with a motion from NDP MP Lysane Blanchette, which would see the committee study the provisions of the omnibudget bill that opposition parties have described as a "gutting" of the AG's power, although if memory continues to serve, those particular changes -- which would transfer oversight responsibilities to an outside auditor, thus reducing the AG's workload -- was actually based on recommendations from the Office of the Auditor General itself. 

Speaking of the omnibudget bill, NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen will hit the National Press Theatre to unveil the "next steps" in "ensuring proper oversight" of what his party insists on referring to as a "Trojan Horse" bill. According to the headline on the advisory, the plan involves "bringing the budget to Canadians."  So -- some sort of cross-country Big Orange Tent bus tour? Stay tuned!

So I've been working on a followup to last night's post, and while I'm not quite finished yet -- blame it on my hummingbird-like tendency to get drawn down tangential but oh so fascinating garden paths -- there is one salient figure that I want to drop out there as a teaser of sorts. 

Remember how I said that averaging out the number of in camera meeting hours per day was -- not really terribly useful, as far as a comparative tool, given that it provides no useful context on why a committee might have sequestered itself from the public eye? Well, I stand by it. 

However, given that certain corners are quoting that story as evidence that this government is actually more transparent than its predecessors, I thought it might be worth engaging in a similar calculation, but with a bit of a tweak to the formula. 

Instead of averaging out total in camera hours by number of days in a session, as CP did -- calendar days, no less, not sitting days -- why not compare what percentage of time a particular committee -- Public Accounts, let's say --  spent behind closed doors during that last Liberal-controlled majority government in 2004, and the strong, stable national majority that calls the shots at the committee table these days?  

After a record-breaking seven days of second-reading debate, the House of Commons will get its first opportunity to show its approval -- or, in the case of the opposition, disapproval -- of the general principles underlying the omnibudget bill, which will be voted upon later this evening prior to being whisked away to committee for a more extensive survey of the fine print. 

Given the controversy that has accompanied the bill throughout its initial sojourn in the Chamber, there's at least an outside chance that the vote itself may be a livelier than usual expression of democratic will -- although the rules no longer allow an obstreperous opposition  party to delay a vote indefinitely by simply refusing to heed the call of the Bells, there are, of course, other procedural tools that can be employed to demonstrate frustration with the process. All of which is to say that it may be worth keeping an eye on the place to see what, if anything, goes down. 

Full disclosure: When I first came across today's Canadian Press take on in camera committee meetings, I admit that I feared the worst.  

"Oh, great. Here we go again," I grumbled -- to myself, as well as the twitterverse. 

"Yet another attempt to mathematically quantify the comparative rates of in camera committee meetings during majority parliaments past. That's just what we needed." 
 
Luckily, however, my grumpiness was, it turns out, unwarranted: the full story (if not, alas, the headline) makes it crystal clear that this is much more than a statistical exercise: you simply can't just add up the total number of hours -- or even, as the writer has done, work out the average minutes per week -- that committees spent behind closed doors, and come to any meaningful conclusion.  

The question, after all,  isn't which governments have racked up the longest cumulative stretch of time sequestered away from the public. 

Barring a last-minute procedural skirmish on the floor of the House of Commons, the parliamentary clock will run out on second reading debate of the omnibudget bill later today, although the vote to send it to committee won't be called until Monday. 

Outside Parliament, a group of local doctors will "assemble on the Hill" to lodge their collective objection to changes to the Interim Federal Health Program. 

As noted last week, thanks to an unexpected -- but always welcome -- burst of intercaucus collegiality at Ethics, the NDP managed to garner sufficient support from the government side  of the table to call embattled Old Port of Montreal CEO Claude Benoit to committee to account for the somewhat eyebrow-raising expenses filed on behalf of herself, other senior managers and members of the board of directors.

Benoit's testimony was followed by a one-hour session with the chairman of the board himself, Mulroney-era cabinet minister Gerry Weiner. 

Due to an unscheduled -- but not, given the circumstances, entirely unexpected -- show of procedural force by the budget-split-negotiation-spurned Official Opposition yesterday afternoon, which resulted in the scheduled business of the House being preempted by a series of increasingly meta-seeming dilatory votes, today's NDP opposition day has been postponed until next Wednesday.

Why? 

According to a somewhat frazzled Peter Van Loan, who gave notice of the supply day switch yesterday evening, the government is committed to give the Commons the full six days allotted for second reading debate of the omnibudget bill -- in the interest not only of parliamentary democracy, but also, presumably, the preservation of the now familiar PMO-issued talking point that this is the longest such debate to be held in twenty years, and quite possibly ever, since apparently, that's where the lucky/less  Conservative research staffer charged with coming up with that figure stopped looking. (And really, who can blame him/her?) 

In any case, the move triggered surprisingly little outrage from the opposition benches, but who knows what mischief may be planned for today's outing? Keep a watchful eye on the House and a shell-like ear tuned to the sound of the bells would be my advice, as one never knows when shenanigans may arise.