Liberals commit to open committees amid flak for moving several behind closed doors

The liberalist government's domiciliate leader says he's committed to ensuring parliamentary committees run in public, after Conservatives cried defile this hebdomad when Liberals used their new majority to move several committees behind closed doors.

"The fundamental role of parliamentary Commons committees, standing committees, is to hold the government accountable, to probe government spending, indeed to approve government spending in advance," Steven MacKinnon said Friday. "That work is work that I very much respect."

The government House leader went on to say that committees are "incredibly vital" to parliamentary business, and that he would work with the opposition to keep "committees transparent, open and doing their work in public as they mostly always have."

Since the Liberals secured their majority in the House of Commons they have moved to take control of committees, using their increased power to take a number of them in camera where there are no reporters, cameras or transcription. 

This has happened at four committees in the last week including ethics, health, science and transport, making it impossible for opposition MPs on those committees to discuss publicly what happened behind closed doors.

Conservatives have been calling the move anti-democratic, saying it has led to a number of probes into government spending being shut down. 

Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer raised his party's concerns again Friday, saying the Liberal government was acting in a way that is "completely undemocratic."

"This is incredibly disappointing, but it is once again just another proof point that Mark Carney is not special, he is just another Liberal," Scheer said.  

"He is doing the same things that Liberal governments always do when they have the power, and that is to block investigations into their own scandals." 

Liberal use of closed committee hearings completely undemocratic, Scheer says

Scheer says the Liberal government was only able to take control of committees when it went from minority to majority after a number of MPs crossed the floor, which he said is not what Canadians voted for in the last election. 

"This is an abuse of power that flows out of backroom deals and secret negotiations rather than power that was granted at the ballot box, so it's even worse that the Liberals are using their majority this way," he said Friday. 

MacKinnon said the House of Commons has been going through "a period of adjustment" since the Liberals secured their majority, and that "adjustments will need to be made on both sides" to improve how Parliament and committees work. 

The government House leader warned that if Conservatives continue to show up at committee with no other agenda than to "impede or obstruct," it is "going to provoke a counter-reaction." 

"I think the Conservatives in particular might have some thinking to do with respect to how they approach committees in this situation, and I think, in fairness, the government needs to consider how it may always, or virtually always work transparently and in public."

Senior writer

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