As the countdown towards the summer break ticks closer to zero, opposition parliamentarians tend to test out different obstruction tactics. In politics, parliamentary misbehaviour and partisan gamesmanship are expected. As Politico first reported, some Liberal observers, including MP Scott Simms, allege that this year’s silly season began on May 23 — the day David Johnston released the findings of his controversial review of foreign interference.
In the intervening days, the opposition has employed a variety of procedural delay tactics. Poilievre stated that the Conservatives would “use all procedural tools at our disposal to block the budget from passing, including 900 amendments, lengthy speeches, and other procedural tools that are in our tool kit.” The Conservative demands — a timeline for a balanced budget, stopping future carbon levy increases — were obvious non-negotiables, and fallow ground for engagement. Day after day, the official opposition has delayed procedural votes and submitted needless points of order.
These tactics are not limited to the Conservatives, silly season spans partisan lines. Each year, pundits bemoan the subterfuge. This spring, journalists have focused on two salient issues in their editorializing: the climate crisis — its importance having gained prominence through Ottawa’s poor air quality — and the issue of foreign interference. These issues are indeed pressing and important: weeks of parliamentary foot-dragging have, of course, thwarted opportunities for sober debate and policy action. However, a few weeks of diminished legislative productivity is not the primary institutional threat.
Democracy is intrinsically fragile. In the United States, debt ceiling stand-offs offer a contemptible example of ritualized political gridlock. The consequences of a default on the national debt are significant. Waiting until the eleventh hour to raise the ceiling places the livelihoods of Americans, and the health of the national economy, at risk. The debt ceiling was created by Congress in 1917. Over the past century, a troubling social norm has developed. Debt ceiling stand-offs have become a fixture in American politics. In 2011, the ceiling was raised only two days prior to the date that the Treasury had estimated the borrowing authority of the government would end. Following the passage of the act, a major credit risk researcher, Standard & Poor’s (which has since changed its name to S&P Global Ratings), downgraded the credit rating of the U.S. government for the first time in the nation’s history. Policy-makers, and the American public, have been socialized into expecting these games of congressional brinkmanship, which incur significant social and economic costs for the American people.
In Canada, the procedural delay tactics that are employed by opposition parties during ‘silly season’ are constantly at their disposal. Silly season is not an amusing display of hijinks: it is a warning. Parliament can descend alarmingly quickly into gridlock and near-total dysfunction. Silly season reveals that social norms, alone, restrain opposition parties from engaging in this level of obstruction year-round. Policy-makers are constrained by their fear of public dissatisfaction, but norms are subject to erosion. The true danger of silly season is that it will not be contained to the post-Victoria Day legislative period. Parliamentarians could adopt this culture of obstructionism at any time. Canadians might gradually adjust themselves to the ‘new normal,’ and a lower standard for inter-party cooperation. Parliamentarians are toying with Canada’s long-term legislative productivity.
The principles of democracy must be defended. In all liberal democracies, political representatives who defend the long-term interests of voters are threatened by demagogues who cater to voters’ short-term preferences. Spillover effects from silly-season-era tactics could submerge our political processes.
Is this good governance? The health of our democratic institutions hangs by a thread. Every ‘silly season,’ policy-makers are holding up the razor blade.
