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Finally, the Bickersons take a break

It was a long time coming, but the first session of the 41st Parliament finally yielded a highlight a couple weeks ago.It adjourned.
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It was a long time coming, but the first session of the 41st Parliament finally yielded a highlight a couple weeks ago.

It adjourned.

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan performed the much-needed mercy killing of this long-running episode of The Bickersons at 3:14 p.m. on a dank, dark, dreary afternoon devoid of any real cheer in the nation’s capital.

How badly did we need this break?

The atmosphere was becoming so toxic, some were starting to grumble about the quality of the Christmas light display on Parliament Hill.

But as fleeing MPs clogged the road to the Ottawa airport on Thursday evening, were they bidding adieu to what some very smart, very experienced Ottawa hands were calling the worst parliamentary session in recent memory?

From inside the stifling Ottawa bubble, it often seemed that way. For Canadians peering in from outside, it may have seemed even worse.

What pierced the bubble in recent weeks?

There was NDP MP Pat Martin’s profanity-laced tirade at the Conservatives as the government moved to shut down debate on the federal budget

There was Liberal MP Justin Trudeau’s pithy analysis of Peter Kent’s job performance, calling the environment minister “a piece of s---.”

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae weighed in on a Twitter dust-up between young Liberals (where they learn to fight amongst themselves at such a tender age) with his own tweet: “What bulls--- is this?”

Then he reminded everyone why Trudeau blew his cool, accusing Kent of “scurrilous hypocrisy” by banning opposition MPs from the Durban climate change conference, then admonishing them for not attending.

Perhaps you would remember the Conservative smear campaign against Liberal Irwin Cotler in Mount Royal, where pollsters falsely pushed the rumour that the MP was about to resign.

If not, perhaps you will recall Van Loan’s defence, that this was Conservative “freedom of expression.”

No one really apologized for any of this because Parliament means never having to say you’re sorry.

It was a session during which, to be fair, the government did what it said it would do, from introducing an omnibus crime bill, to killing the Wheat Board, to legislating more seats for Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec, to moving to kill the long-gun registry.

But it did it all in such a heavyhanded fashion that it became entangled in court challenges and fights with provinces, ignored opposition amendments and shut down debate.

They surprised us only by correcting problems no one knew existed, such as hanging flags on condo balconies or the wearing of niqabs at citizenship ceremonies.

When the people of Attawapiskat needed immediate help, the Conservatives sent an accountant.

But has Parliament become dysfunctional? NDP House Leader Joe Comartin, a parliamentary veteran with a working knowledge of almost all Commons tactics other than feigned hyperbole, says it is probably no more dysfunctional than other majorities he has seen over 11 years.

But he said he is concerned about the Conservative move to send more parliamentary committees behind closed doors and the government’s affinity for closure and time allocation. “It does not bode well for democracy,’’ Comartin said.

His Liberal colleague, Marc Garneau, said he believed Conservatives are determined to move Parliament “further and further away from the notion that the 308 people elected by the people of Canada are supposed to be the voice of this country.’’

Opposition frustration? Most likely.

But Canada’s 308 MPs should peer south of the border, where consecutive Gallup polls have shown approval of the U.S. Congress at 13 per cent, a historical low. Only one in five says most incumbents should be re-elected.

Here, at least legislation passes. There, the frustration is that nothing gets done.

Van Loan warned against similar gridlock here, and lauded his party for getting things done.

But for Canadians, the worry should be that if the House of Commons doesn’t raise its game, no one will care.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer for the Toronto Star.