On Parliament Hill

Most political observers would agree that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Government recently had a very bad week.

While the media coverage of Justin Trudeau has focused on his inadvertent elbow to the chest of NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau, the buildup to that moment has received far less coverage. I think it is important to discuss the series of events that led up to the unfortunate incident in the House of Commons.

For some time now, the actions of Justin Trudeau have been increasingly antagonistic. Gone is the promise of sunnier ways, replaced by an increasingly aggressive tone where the Prime Minister runs roughshod over the opposition.

So what led up to this unusual show of aggression that we all watched countless times on the nightly news?

First, Prime Minister Trudeau and his Liberal Government unilaterally decided that the rules of Parliament needed to be changed in their favour. Known as motion 6, the changes proposed would grant the government unprecedented new powers to control House business.

In addition to changing the rules within Parliament, the Liberal Government has also unilaterally decided that Canada is in need of electoral reform and is proposing to change the way we elect our government. This would forever change democracy in Canada, again in favour of the Liberal Party. To make matters worse, the Prime Minister is refusing to consult with Canadians in the form of a national referendum. Jason Kenney noted, “Nothing could be clearer, the Liberals are trying to rig the system by and for the Liberal Party.”

Another strong-arm approach used by Justin Trudeau since gaining office is the ploy of limiting debate. In just six months, the Liberal government has cut off debate on four different bills, including on May 18th, the date of the incident, when he decided to end debate on Bill C-14 – the government’s legislation on physician-assisted suicide.

After cutting off debate, the bill was due for a crucial vote. The vote was delayed by less than one minute, but still the Prime Minister decided to take matters into his own hands and marched over to the opposition whip and physically pulled him through a crowd of MPs that were impeding his progress. In the process, the Prime Minister inadvertently elbowed Ruth Ellen Brosseau in the chest.

It was an ironic twist to a long and painful week for the government. The Prime Minister had continually manhandled democracy and capped it off by, according to the Speaker, manhandling a fellow MP in the House of Commons.

Perhaps Rona Ambrose summed up the whole affair best when she said, “The government doesn’t want a government and an opposition. They want a government and an audience.”

Time will tell whether the Prime Minister’s recent actions stem from a sense of entitlement or simply poor judgement resulting in conduct unbecoming of a Prime Minister.