The Liberal government is considering proroguing Parliament to gain control of House of Commons’ committees and more easily push through legislation if the party wins all of the three by-elections taking place on April 13, two Liberal Party sources say.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has been navigating a difficult minority Parliament that has limited its ability to control committee agendas and passage of legislation.
Membership on committees is decided by the number of seats each party has in the Commons after a general election. In a minority Parliament, the Liberals can be outvoted on committees by a combination of Conservatives and Bloc Québécois, and legislation can be delayed for months, as happened with the government’s budget implementation bill.
The Prime Minister’s Deputy Chief Staff, Braeden Caley, said there were no plans to prorogue Parliament after the by elections, saying Mr. Carney is “laser-focused on fast action across all of government to build our economy strong.”
In a statement Tuesday, Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon also said Ottawa won’t prorogue as ”we work towards a Spring Economic Update that builds a stronger, more independent, more competitive Canadian economy.”
A Liberal sweep of all three ridings would bring the party’s seat count to 173 in the 343-seat House of Commons, which is one more than a bare majority. This would prevent the opposition from defeating the government in a confidence vote.
But even with a majority, in order to restructure Commons’ committees, the government would still likely need to turn to prorogation, a procedure that ends the current session of Parliament and releases MPs from their parliamentary duties, including committee appointments.
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If the Liberals win the three by-elections, the sources said, one option being looked at carefully is for the government to have a short prorogation, come back with a new Throne Speech and revamp the committee system. Another option is to prorogue in September, the sources said.
The Globe and Mail is not naming the two sources because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
A third source said the government could also try to change the standing orders on committee membership without prorogation. But the government official said the Conservatives and Bloc would put up a political fight and likely mount a filibuster to keep the current committee standings that were set after the general election last April.
The Globe is not naming the official, who did not want to publicly discuss the government’s parliamentary strategy before the April 13 vote.
Reordering the party standings on committees without prorogation would require a motion approved by the House of Commons. In order to win such a vote, the Liberals would need 173 votes – one more than a bare majority. If the Liberals only have 172 seats following the by-elections, such a motion could result in a tie, in which case the Speaker, by tradition, is required to vote in favour of the status quo and it would not be approved.
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Former Liberal House leader Don Boudria, an expert in parliamentary procedure, said the simplest way to get control of the committees is to prorogue.
“Prorogation would cause the committees to be reconstructed because nobody would be a member of any committee,” he said. “So, the safe view in my opinion is to have prorogation and, secondly, a motion to change the proportionality behind the committees before the committees are reconstructed within 10 days.”
The by-elections are being held to replace empty seats after the departures of former cabinet ministers Chrystia Freeland, and Bill Blair. A third by-election was made necessary after the Supreme Court of Canada granted an appeal from a Bloc Québécois candidate who lost the riding of Terrebonne by a single vote to Liberal Tatiana Auguste.
In recent months, the Liberals have persuaded three Conservative MPs and one NDP MP to cross the floor, but they still need the three by-election wins to have a slim majority.
Two other senior Liberals say there are also active discussions to appoint the Prime Minister’s principal secretary, Tom Pitfield, to the Senate with a mandate to get legislation passed quickly. The Globe is not naming them because they are not authorized to speak publicly about internal party matters.
The sources said Mr. Pitfield has indicated that he would like to become government leader in the Senate, with a seat at the cabinet table. Mr. Pitfield’s spouse, Anna Gainey, is a former Liberal Party president and sits in cabinet as Secretary of State for Children and Youth.
Mr. Caley also said the Prime Minister has “full confidence” in Sen. Moreau and there are no plans “at all for a change to the excellent work he is doing as Government Representative in the Senate at this important moment for Canada.”
Mr. Pitfield’s father, Michael, was appointed to the Senate by then-prime-minister Pierre Trudeau after serving as Clerk of the Privy Council.
In 2014, then-Liberal-leader Justin Trudeau expelled all Liberal senators from the national caucus, forcing them to sit as Independents. When the Liberals were swept into office with a majority in 2015, Mr. Trudeau ended the tradition of having the government representative in Senate attend cabinet meetings.
The current government’s representative is Quebec Senator Pierre Moreau. He manages the government’s legislative agenda but is not a member of cabinet and cannot attend meetings.
The Senate finance committee released a report earlier this month that said a return to a cabinet position for the government’s Senate leader would strengthen co-ordination between the two parliamentary bodies.
“Restoring the Leader of the Government in the Senate to the cabinet table could enhance communication, improve legislative planning, and give the Senate a stronger voice in setting realistic timelines for reviewing BIAs [budget implementation acts]”, the report said.
There are currently eight Senate vacancies. But there is no indication whether Mr. Carney would keep the appointment system under Justin Trudeau, which was intended to choose non-partisan and independent senators. Under Mr. Trudeau, would-be senators were recommended by an outside panel, but the decision was still up to the prime minister.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to state that three Conservative MPs have crossed the floor to join the Liberals.