Who Will Keep Tabs on the Tories?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has just embarked on four years of Conservative majority government in which the party has considerable leeway to shape the country how it sees fit. It's been said that due to the lack of checks and balances in the Westminster system, when a Canadian government has a majority in both the House of Commons and the Senate, they have more power than just about any other western democratic government . As Canada returns to majority rule after seven years of minority government, it's worth reviewing the institutions we now rely on to hold the government to account.

The Opposition

Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition is the first check on the government's executive and legislative power, but the NDP, along with the Liberals, Bloc Quebecois, and Green Party, can do next to nothing to block the passage of legislation or to challenge decisions made by the cabinet. This doesn't mean they're entirely stripped of recourse. Opposition MPs can utilize the filibuster, a procedural mechanism in which the opposition extends debate on a bill for as long as possible, preventing it from coming to a vote. This is not a tactic that opposition parties can legitimately employ with any regularity.

The most fundamental check falls to the opposition's research, (rhetoric) and overall determination to hold the government's feet to the fire. Whether it be on the floor of the House of Commons, on the ground in local ridings or, most importantly, in the more general court of public opinion, opposition parties must engage Canadians by offering a distinct and visible alternative to government policies. While the NDP caucus has many rookies, there are handful of MPs, both Liberal and NDP, who are up to the task of providing a foil to the Tories' excesses. Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae and NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair will no doubt prove to be two of the loudest and fiercest combatants in the House, while Parliamentary veterans such as the NDP's ever-quotable Pat Martin and the Liberal's seasoned former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler are more than capable of backing up their leaders.

The Senate

Conservative senators make up a majority of the upper chamber (holding 55 of 105 seats, along with two seats held by Progressive Conservatives). Combined with the Senate's reputation of rubber-stamping anything that comes from the House, we can expect little in the way of meaningful legislative oversight. The Senate does have the power to reject bills, but you could count on one hand the number of times that's happened in the past two decades. Unfortunately, the Senate isn't likely to put up much of a fight. It is disheartening for Canadian democracy that the most we can hope for from this unelected chamber of parliament is 'sober second thought.' Legislation like the omnibus crime bill could benefit immensely from a careful and critical review.

The Provinces

Thanks to the Fathers of Confederation, Canada has a federal system of government that divides powers between Ottawa and the provinces, meaning important areas of jurisdiction including education and healthcare are the responsibility of the provinces. We expect the provinces to flex their muscles, for example, in the negotiation of any new health accord where the Tories are hard pressed to win any fundamental changes to the character of Canada's public health care. The provinces are also able to launch constitutional challenges over the validity of legislation passed by Parliament, meaning that such Tory initiatives as Senate reform could be met with stiff opposition (ahem, Quebec). A lot of the consternation between the provinces and Ottawa stems from who's in charge in the provincial capitals, and with six different provincial or territorial elections underway right now, the dynamic of these inter-governmental relations that will unfold is unclear.

The Judiciary

The justice system provides the best avenue for the public to keep the government's legislative agenda in check. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (a point of pride for Canadians of myriad backgrounds and political orientations) continues to be utilized by various individuals and groups to fight actions perceived as unconstitutional. No less than three important social issues are set to make their way to the Supreme Court over the next year: Vancouver's safe-injection clinic, InSite, will argue that the federal government doesn't have the right to end its operation; Gloria Taylor, a B.C. woman with ALS, will argue that assisted suicide ought to be legal; and sex workers from Ontario will contend that the Criminal Code's laws against prostitution puts their lives at risk. The fate of these important issues ultimately lies with the nine men and women who make up the Supreme Court.

Since Harper has been in power, he has appointed two new justices to the Supreme Court both of whom legal observers agree upon being moderate, sensible, and worthy judges. But Harper will have the opportunity to appoint as many as five more justices to the top bench, and all eyes will be on whether he make selections based on merit or tacks right and stacks the bench with judges who will defer to the wishes of Parliament. The Supreme Court must avoid becoming blatantly politicized, a troubling reality that now grips the Judiciary in the United States. Political appointments could have far reaching consequences for the willingness of the court to be active in challenging government policies and legislation.

The Media

The exercise of the free press is integral to holding truth to power. With the other more formal checks muted in a majority situation, so the media goes so democracy will go. A majority situation requires a lot more hard work from reporters in uncovering unsavoury stories, through access-to-information requests or doggedly working their sources, that otherwise might have never seen the light of day. The current crop of Hill reporters are a relatively straight-shooting bunch, notably the Toronto Star's Susan Delacourt and Bruce Campion-Smith; Postmedia's Mark Kennedy; The Globe and Mail's Gloria Galloway, Steven Chase, and Steve Wicary; CBC's Hillwatcher non-pareil, Kady O'Malley; and Canadian Press' Joan Bryden and Jen Ditchburn. The 'three question rule' the Harper government set for reporters during the 2011 election campaign was met with barely a whimper. The press cannot role over so easily again.

Reporting is one thing, but what fills the Op-Ed pages of the country's newspapers is quite another. Nearly every major newspaper in the country endorsed the Conservatives in the last election (the Toronto Star being a notable exception). The editorial boards of the National Post, the Globe and Mail, and the Postmedia papers all tend to be centre-right to varying degrees in their coverage of the national capital, to say nothing of the Tory apologists in the Sun chain of tabloids. Which isn't to say these papers are Tory sycophants – indeed, far from it. Nearly every editorial board in the country has criticized to death the Tories' tough-on-crime agenda, and the Canadian Forces' involvement in Libya received a healthy amount of critical attention from the Post in particular. Still, as the Op-Ed pages are among the most read opinions in the country each day, their power to shape the confines of political discourse, influence public opinion and force issues into the public sphere to be debated and discussed can't be discounted. If the Tories maintain their contempt for the media, they must face serious push-back from the country's editorial boards. It might not matter much this early in a term, but a death from a thousand paper cuts will be an important check on power over the next four years. It is the duty of journalists and editors to rise to the occasion should the government fail to use its governing mandate responsibly.

Origin
Source: the Mark