My end of session roundup of queer MPs
continues with Liberal MP Scott Brison, whom I spoke with after QP late last
week.
Q: What was your highlight of the fall
sitting?
A: It’s hard to find highlights when you
have a prime minister and a government with so little respect for Parliament. This
is a government that disrespected parliament when it had a minority, so its
behaviour has become even more egregious now. Committee have become rubber
stamps and basically branch plants of the minister’s office. That’s very
frustrating. The highlight I’d have to say of the fall session been the
exemplary performance of Bob Rae. Question Period doesn’t even begin until Bob
Rae asks his questions, and there’s no Member of Parliament in any party who
comes close to Bob Rae in terms of parliamentary skills, oratorical skills or
sense of humour. The guy has raised the bar in terms of parliamentary
performance, where the bar had been lowered significantly by Conservative
disrespect.
Q: And the low point?
A: I’ve found finance committee this fall
to be particularly frustrating, given that it used to be an important committee
that conducted vital and serious work on public policy on behalf of Canadians,
and it has been reduced to a rubble Conservative partisanship, which is a real
shame. We just participated in pre-budget consultations, and are involved now
in the writing of the report, and I feel that the Conservatives did not listen
to the witnesses who took their own time and resources to participate in what
they believe to be a meaningful process. The Conservatives are in a very
partisan way, rendering that meaningful input into what I fear will be a
meaningless report, basically an echo of what the Minister of Finance wants to
hear, not an echo of what Canadians actually said to us.
Q: What do you plan on doing for the
holidays?
A: We’re going to visit Maxime’s parents
for a couple nights prior to Christmas, and we’re returning to Nova Scotia on
the 24th. We intend on hanging out in Cheverie, and spending some time
together with family. I’ve got a lot of books that I want to get caught up on,
there’s some new books out that I want to read, and hopefully see some movies.
