Liberal Majority Electoral Reform Committee

Electoral Reform Committee announced today: Liberal Chair. Six Liberals, three Cons, 1 NDP.  Elizabeth May and one Bloc sit in but no voting rights. 

That's likely 9 to 1 against adopting any form of proportional representation.

For a preview of how 9 to 1 committee dynamics work, take a look at last week's Finance Committee vote, same numerical party makeup as above, as they debated a motion to "compel" KPMG to account for hiding Canadian tax dollars offshore.
How'd that work out for us?

Last word goes to PM Justin Trudeau : "A good political party that has the right kind of platform or program for Canadians should be able to make any system work."

Presumably especially one that guarantees Liberal majorities forever.

Thursday update :
G&M : Only proportionality will fix our democratic malaise
Chantal Hébert, Star : Electoral reform deck appears stacked by the Liberals to fail
Coyne, NaPo : On electoral reform: Are the Liberals conning us, again?
Fingas, Leader-Post : Trudeau's urge to control — just like the Tories
CBC May 13 At Issue Panel : Electoral Reform
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Steve : Fresh muzzles all round for everyone!

According to Jane, Steve has a new initiative to protect the Cons from their own appallingly bad ideas.

Twenty-six committees, comprised of three senators and six MPs each, will vet "proposed legislation, regulations and even ideas" before they hit daylight or an uninitiated Con MP's lips. Under the watchful eye of John Baird and his former chief of staff, Rick Dykstra - both Mike Harris alumni - and with the parliamentary secretary from each ministry serving as the committee chair, the idea is to identify C.R.A.P. ideas - like gutting the census and building sports arenas in Con-convenient places - before they can set the curtains on fire.

"These permanent committees have a mandate to provide a new layer of troubleshooting ... to flag potential policy land mines to cabinet, catch issues that may fly in Ontario but won’t play well in Western Canada, help with communications strategy and reduce the dependence on ministers receiving advice from bureaucrats sitting in Ottawa."

Screw the policy making; let's ignore the already muzzled people who have spent their professional lives making policy and just troll for better PR in the Bushlands .

Mr. Harper asked several of his senior caucus members – Mr. Dykstra, ... Marjory LeBreton, the leader of the Government in the Senate; and former House leader Jay Hill – to work on the initiative."

That would be the same Jay Hill, now replaced as House bully by John Baird, who previously oversaw the implementation of the Cons dirty tricks manual, aka the Cons Guide to Chaos, for destroying the parliamentary committees.
You know, the same all-party parliamentary committees these new Steve-appointed Con committees are so obviously intended to eventually replace.
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Parliamentarian of the Year

Liberal Chair Yasmin Ratansi struggled to maintain order at the Government Operations Committee yesterday after Transport Minister John Baird, flanked by the Ministers of Asbestos and Creationism, showed up uninvited as witnesses in place of their staff.

Here Baird accuses the Chair of not knowing her job and lectures her on committee procedure in his trademark bullying pugnacious tone.

But it is Baird who is wrong here. He is correct that the rules allow him to sit in on committees as an MP if he likes. What he cannot do as a witness is raise motions and points of order, yet he does so repeatedly while bashing the Chair for not knowing the rules.

Later on at a Macleans gala, Baird received the Parliamentarian of the Year Award in a vote responded to by 202 out of 308 of MPs.

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