{"id":293746,"date":"2016-05-19T19:01:50","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T23:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T15:27:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:27:49","slug":"parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memo to Canadian Parliamentarians: you\u2019re doing it wrong. If you want to see what a proper Parliamentary dust-up looks like, Google your friends in the Korean<\/a> and Taiwanese<\/a> legislatures. Now, that\u2019s<\/em> how you scrap.<\/p>\n

In comparison, yesterday\u2019s Justin Trudeau House of Commons fracas \u2013 no, let\u2019s downgrade that to kerfuffle \u2013 doesn\u2019t rate. That\u2019s not to say it doesn\u2019t matter, but more on that later.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re glued to the real world and missed your parliamentarians behaving like children (again), allow me to explain: Prime Minister Trudeau, upset at NDP MPs for delaying a vote on the assisted-suicide bill he\u2019s been ramming through Parliament, ran into a crowd of said NDP MPs to \u201crescue\u201d Conservative whip Gord Brown so that the vote could proceed.<\/p>\n

In so doing, he utterly destroyed NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau with a blow so savage it\u2019s a miracle she\u2019s even alive. At least I think that was the NDP\u2019s talking point. For what it\u2019s worth, the NDP also allege Trudeau uttered a muddled fuddle duddle in their general direction.<\/p>\n

Of course, it didn\u2019t quite happen that way. Justin Trudeau inadvertently elbowed Brosseau in the chest when he grabbed Brown. He had no idea she was there. For a man who pays meticulous attention to his physicality it was a clumsy misstep. There\u2019s no certainty he swore, either.<\/p>\n

But why he was there in the first place is certainly a valid question.<\/p>\n

What are we to take away from this sad display? A few things.<\/p>\n

Memo to Ruth Ellen Brosseau: you were a punchline when you were elected to Parliament as the Honourable Member from Las Vegas. You\u2019ve done a lot of hard work to change perceptions since then. Don\u2019t undo it by serving as the punchline here. If the prime minister accidentally chops you in the chest, the answer is stand up and be counted in the House.<\/p>\n

As for the rest of the NDP: grow up. Blocking Brown by continually getting in his way? Really? Is that what last year\u2019s election taught you? The road to oblivion is paved with childishness.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unfortunate, because there\u2019s a serious point in all of this. There\u2019s a reason Justin Trudeau flipped his perfectly-coiffed lid.<\/p>\n

The Liberals this week found out that Parliament is hard. With an \u201copposition\u201d who, like, opposes the government and stuff. And the Liberal instinct has so far been to scream \u201chow dare they!\u201d, as if they have a divine right to govern unopposed.<\/p>\n

Their more considered response hasn\u2019t been much better.<\/p>\n

Freaked out by almost losing a vote (on the Air Canada Public Participation Act) on Monday, the Liberals had by Thursday tightened the House of Commons procedural screws so hard, proposing to put the adjournment of the House entirely in government hands, with no debate.\u00a0 Even rough and tumble Conservatives were heard uttering their \u201csafe\u201d word. To mute insult to this injury, the Liberals also proposed strict limits for opposition motions before the summer recess.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t supposed to be this way.<\/p>\n

By the time Trudeau got his elbows up the Liberals had already compromised their election promises on the use of omnibus bills and time allocation in Parliamentary debates. While not chocked full like a Harper budget bill, the Liberals\u2019 maiden budget effort still had plenty of extras in addition to the main course. And while not yet a trend, multiple uses of time allocation, including on debate for the extremely sensitive assisted-suicide bill, has Trudeau harkening back to the dark era he spent an entire election campaign condemning.<\/p>\n

The Liberals are finding out the real world isn\u2019t as neat as an election platform. Plus ca #realchange, plus c\u2019est pareil.<\/p>\n

And so the biggest loser in all of this is Justin Trudeau. When your entire appeal is sunny ways, you can\u2019t be the one throwing shade on your foes. When you\u2019re fronting feminism events at the United Nations you can\u2019t afford to accidentally elbow a female MP. And when you promise to respect Parliament, that respect has to extend to any procedural \u201ctricks\u201d the opposition might have up their sleeve.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing about promising to be more Catholic than the Pope; you get held to a higher standard. And if your patience runs out, you need to go to the corner for a timeout until you calm down, not rush to the floor and manhandle your colleagues.<\/p>\n

The Liberals should remember this the next time the opposition does its job in the House of Commons. They can\u2019t \u2013 and mustn\u2019t -whip out whatever procedural means justify their ends. Four years of that will see them end up on their backside on the opposition backbenches.<\/p>\n

They should govern themselves accordingly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0<\/em>discussion, and send in your own submission. Here is a<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>on how to do it. |\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ? <\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0<\/em>et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memo to Canadian Parliamentarians: you\u2019re doing it wrong. If you want to see what a proper Parliamentary dust-up looks like, Google your friends in the Korean and Taiwanese legislatures. Now, that\u2019s how you scrap. In comparison, yesterday\u2019s Justin Trudeau House of Commons fracas \u2013 no, let\u2019s downgrade that to kerfuffle \u2013 doesn\u2019t rate. That\u2019s not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":293398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[],"class_list":["post-293746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nParliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Memo to Canadian Parliamentarians: you\u2019re doing it wrong. If you want to see what a proper Parliamentary dust-up looks like, Google your friends in the Korean and Taiwanese legislatures. Now, that\u2019s how you scrap. In comparison, yesterday\u2019s Justin Trudeau House of Commons fracas \u2013 no, let\u2019s downgrade that to kerfuffle \u2013 doesn\u2019t rate. That\u2019s not […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Policy Options\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-19T23:01:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-28T19:27:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-trudeau.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vkurzawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@irpp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@irpp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"vkurzawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/\",\"name\":\"Parliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-trudeau.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-19T23:01:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-28T19:27:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#\/schema\/person\/caa28d6bbc41d147877478e79aa84e6e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-trudeau.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-trudeau.png\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":700},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Parliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/\",\"name\":\"Policy Options\",\"description\":\"Institute for Research on Public Policy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#\/schema\/person\/caa28d6bbc41d147877478e79aa84e6e\",\"name\":\"vkurzawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/000fc191cb4be23411c2528f5429f16b0d72633aac55540779eff4743edb6867?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fpolicyoptions.irpp.org%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fsimone-blog%2Fimages%2Fmysteryman.png&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/000fc191cb4be23411c2528f5429f16b0d72633aac55540779eff4743edb6867?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fpolicyoptions.irpp.org%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fsimone-blog%2Fimages%2Fmysteryman.png&r=g\",\"caption\":\"vkurzawa\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/author\/vkurzawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Parliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Parliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it","og_description":"Memo to Canadian Parliamentarians: you\u2019re doing it wrong. If you want to see what a proper Parliamentary dust-up looks like, Google your friends in the Korean and Taiwanese legislatures. Now, that\u2019s how you scrap. In comparison, yesterday\u2019s Justin Trudeau House of Commons fracas \u2013 no, let\u2019s downgrade that to kerfuffle \u2013 doesn\u2019t rate. That\u2019s not […]","og_url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/","og_site_name":"Policy Options","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org","article_published_time":"2016-05-19T23:01:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-28T19:27:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-trudeau.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"vkurzawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@irpp","twitter_site":"@irpp","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"vkurzawa","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/","name":"Parliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-trudeau.png","datePublished":"2016-05-19T23:01:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-28T19:27:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#\/schema\/person\/caa28d6bbc41d147877478e79aa84e6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-trudeau.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-trudeau.png","width":2000,"height":700},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/05\/parliament-is-hard-and-justin-trudeau-is-mad-as-hell-about-it\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Parliament is hard, and Justin Trudeau is mad as hell about it"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/","name":"Policy Options","description":"Institute for Research on Public Policy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#\/schema\/person\/caa28d6bbc41d147877478e79aa84e6e","name":"vkurzawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/000fc191cb4be23411c2528f5429f16b0d72633aac55540779eff4743edb6867?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fpolicyoptions.irpp.org%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fsimone-blog%2Fimages%2Fmysteryman.png&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/000fc191cb4be23411c2528f5429f16b0d72633aac55540779eff4743edb6867?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fpolicyoptions.irpp.org%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fsimone-blog%2Fimages%2Fmysteryman.png&r=g","caption":"vkurzawa"},"url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/author\/vkurzawa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295229,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293746\/revisions\/295229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293746"},{"taxonomy":"article-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-status?post=293746"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-category?post=293746"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=293746"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-tag?post=293746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}