Private Members' Bills don't mean much for debate

My column this week on Loonie Politics looks at some of the arguments being made in the debate on assisted dying, and the claims constantly made that Parliament has been seized with this issue since the Sue Rodriguez decision, and the number of private members' bills placed on the Order Paper in those intervening years as the justification. I show how that simply isn't the case because of the rules of Parliament, and what needs to happen for there to be a real debate.

Pay attention to QP

My column this week on Loonie Politics takes umbrage with a recent CBC Sunday Edition essay that calls for reporters to boycott QP rather than to give MPs and their antics any airtime, figuring that the "observer effect" is at work and depriving them of said observation will force a change in their behaviour. As you can expect, I show why this thinking is not only wrong, but suggest the way to actually have an impact on the way that MPs interact with the press with respect to QP.