By weakening the authority of the U.S. House Speaker, the ‘Never Kevin’ caucus has been trying to legislate changes that run parallel to the demands at the basis of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Capitol Hill. Back in the 1800s, a similar Speaker vote required more than 100 rounds to reach a majority. That may be happening again. It gives democracy a black eye. 

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on January 9, 2023.

OTTAWA—Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. The message has come across loud and clear to aspiring American House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was eventually elected on Jan. 7 House Speaker on the 15th ballot.

The Republican establishment choice was so sure he would get the job that his staff already address him as speaker and his furniture has been moved into the office.

But even as he limps across the finish line, he will be weakened, the Republican caucus will be in tatters and the institution of Speaker will be considerably diminished.

This Washington circus is proof positive that a republican system is not always the best form of governance.

It just so happens that the American Republicans have fractured into the kind of government one gets when the solidarity of parliamentary caucuses is replaced with a system where each representative stands alone.

In recent years there has been much attention in Canada paid to constituent assemblies, where Members of Parliament are expected to ignore party promises and simply reflect the views of constituents.

In Canada, that political division breaks upon geographic lines, with Alberta and Saskatchewan becoming increasingly isolated in their moves to the right.

In the United States, constituents are not defined by a geographic area of governance. They rally round a cause, and work politically to elect those who will simply espouse it their cause.

In the case of Republicans who will determine McCarthy’s fate, they don’t really believe in government. Some are even rabid supporters of the Jan. 6, 2021, attempt to overtake the Capitol Hill Building and overthrow the Congress.

These extremists are able to pursue agendas as they see fit with no regard to caucus cohesion or the fact that their actions are leading to a weakening in public belief in democracy.

It was the first time in a century that the nominated speaker was not elected on the first ballot.

And the chaos on the floor of the House has been largely driven by the rump group in the Republican party that actually appeared emboldened by the situation.

“Freedom caucus” speaker nominee Byron Donalds of Florida characterized the mess as “an invigorating day for America.”

To the rest of the world, watching this debacle unfold, it appears as though the American political system is broken.

There does not appear to be a way to build consensus and collaboration in government where the importance of internal political solidarity has been blown up.

Instead, the current focus appears on handcuffing colleagues and breaking down the structures of government, including the power of the Speaker.

In a parliamentary system, there are moments when one’s personal point of view runs counter to the majority or to the direction charted by the leadership. In some instances, there is an irreconcilable internal division.

One good example in the case of the Liberals was the internal split over the Meech Lake Accord. It caused serious caucus rancour and eventually contributed to the defeat of a constitutional package that would have seen Quebec sign the Canadian Constitution.

On the caucus side, one quarter of Liberal members split from the leadership and voted against the accord. In the end, the agreement failed to receive endorsement from all the provinces.

But at the end of the day, the parliamentary system places a focus on solidarity and nurtures the importance of consensus within political parties.

Even in the British meltdown that faced Boris Johnson, his parliamentary caucus was quick to come together.

His successor suffered the ignominy of being turfed within months. But the British political system did not unravel.

In the United States, it feels as though the political system is unravelling.

The members of this freedom caucus seem to revel in the chaos that they have created.

On the Canadian front, the so-called 2023 “Freedom Convoy” has been cancelled.

One of the reasons cited for the cancellation was Ontario legislation that included heavy financial penalties for illegal convoys.

The only political party in Canada that supported the convoy was the Conservative party, but even that party has moderated its previously supportive rhetoric.

In the United States, it almost appears that the Group of 20 Republican Congresspeople is actually trying to bring down their own majority.

By weakening the authority of the Speaker, the “Never Kevin” caucus has been trying to legislate changes that run parallel to the demands at the basis of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Capitol Hill.

Back in the 1800s, a similar Speaker vote required more than 100 rounds to reach a majority.

That may be happening again. It gives democracy a black eye.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

The COVID-19 story could spawn sympathy for the president. More likely, it will simply reinforce Donald Trump’s disastrous response to a world pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 of his fellow citizens.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on October 5, 2020.

OTTAWA—The twists and turns in the upcoming American election are never ending.

Just when we thought we had seen everything, the president, his spouse and high-ranking staffer, Hope Hicks, have all tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Not only will this stop the Trump campaign in its tracks, it will return COVID-19 front and centre to the national agenda, which is just where the Democrats would like it to be.

The markets reacted badly to the news of White House contagion, but that may have as much to do with pre-election confusion as confidence in U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic prowess.

If any American tuned into the first official presidential debate last week, they could be forgiven for feeling distressed about the state of the American body politic.

Borrowing from his television experience on The Apprentice, Trump hectored and bullied Joe Biden, but for the most part the wily Biden did not bite.

Trump himself had created such low expectations for “Sleepy Joe” that a measured, passing performance by Biden was viewed as a win across the country.

Couple that with the confusion about whether Trump will even accept the outcome of the election if he loses, and you have a recipe for chaos, something that world markets always reject.

Everyone knows how nasty Trump is but even his usually demure partner Melania was negatively in the news last week. She was quoted in a series of tapes, aired Thursday, claiming that migrant children who were separated from their parents were receiving better care in detention than they got at home.

The tapes were purloined by a former aide to the first lady, promoting release of her self-explanatory book entitled, Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady.

The book written by Stephania Winston Wolkoff joins tomes that have been penned recently by Trump family members and well-known journalists.

All are highly critical of the president, but nothing seems to dent his popularity with the all-important base.

By all accounts, Trump followers are motivated, even messianic. They may well represent the “basket of deplorables” that Hillary Clinton unfortunately characterized in a speech which ultimately cost her the presidency.

In retrospect, she was probably right. People who refuse to wear masks, say the coronavirus is a hoax perpetrated by political elites and Bill Gates, and claim that China created the virus to attack the United States, are the most ardent supporters of the president.

And he returns the favour, ignoring health protocols on mask-wearing to the point where his entourage pointedly removed their masks during last week’s debate.

Trump also went so far as to promote not-so-subtle support for white supremacists during the broadcast. When he was asked to call them out, he claimed they were only working to fight the far left, which was really responsible for the racial division and violence plaguing the United States.

But there is another twist on the road to the Nov. 3 election whose outcome we cannot predict.

Because the president will be under a two-week quarantine, it could free up his team to manage the messaging by targeting electoral districts where a 1,000-vote switch could make the difference.

While he still has access to his Twitter account, the quarantine may provide some breathing space to Republican spin doctors. There aren’t many left, but the party has deep pockets and the Trump family also has plenty of access to cash.

Since he spends so little in taxes (according to The New York Times in 2016 and 2017 his federal tax bill was $750 annually) he should have some money to flood the airwaves.

The newspaper plans to publish his tax returns for 2018 and 2019 later in the campaign, sending more bad news in the direction of the Trump campaign.

Unlike Canada, there is no limit on American advertising spending during a campaign.

And in the United States, a bare majority of the voting population voted in the last general election.

With the social isolation required by the pandemic, and the huge spike in mail-in ballots, electoral college votes can be decided by very small margins.

Trump supporters appear to be the most motivated.

Biden is running ahead, but no one is excited by his ticket, with the possible exception of the nomination of Kamala Harris as vice-president.

The COVID-19 story could spawn sympathy for the president.

More likely, it will simply reinforce Trump’s disastrous response to a world pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 of his fellow citizens.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

By Sheila Copps

First published in The Hill Times on November 12, 2018.

OTTAWA—Last week’s midterm elections reinforced the reality of the United States as a deeply divided nation.

The voting population appears to be split down the middle. Divisions are even more stark when it comes to race and the urban-rural divide.

With only two Senators elected per state, predominantly Republican rural areas become disproportionately important in that Chamber.

With the same number of Senators representing Rhode Island and California, it is much easier to get a majority of seats via a minority of voters.

And the unfettered spending in the American political system begs the question of what really constitutes a democracy.

But significant Democratic Congressional gains will definitively change the flavour of the second half of President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

The comfortable Democratic majority will position the president to blame his own failures on political gridlock, with enemies poised to poison his tenure.

If anyone thought midterm challenges would moderate the president’s vitriol, it took only a single day to abandon that notion.

With the sacking of attorney general Jeff Sessions, and the revocation of press credentials for CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta, the White House was quick to let the world know that it would be nasty business as usual.

And Trump has every reason to repeat his divisive tactics. Notwithstanding all the negativity of the past two years, he is still scoring big with his base and bringing other recalcitrant supporters on side.

One woman interviewed during a voting day exit poll specified that she was voting for the policies, not the person. Her belief was that the president’s character was irrelevant as long as he supported positions favourable to her views.

Others are simply happy with the economy and believe the president can take some credit for that.

A positive economic benchmark may not last forever, as all indicators are pointing to a slowdown amidst international uncertainty and some potential for inflation.

Trump’s bitter trade disputes with China, Canada, and even Europe, will also effect the stability of the international economy, which could spell trouble.

The post-election Sessions’ firing is probably the clearest sign that the Russian investigation carried out by Robert Mueller looms as the largest threat to Trump’s hope for reelection.

With the Democrats regaining control of the House of Representatives, they will have a number of opportunities to dig deeper into the financial labyrinth of the Trump family fortune and its potential relationship to foreign powers.

The Democrats have secured a comfortable majority in the House, with new, younger female and minority faces poised to lead the charge.

One of Trump’s most effective slogans has been “Clean the swamp.” Those three little words imply that getting the dirt out of Washington will be his first priority. Instead, it may be his dirt that is about to be excavated.

The noose is tightening around the president’s neck. That is the only explanation for the firing of his attorney general. His next move could be to work with an increased Republican Senate majority to put an end to the Mueller investigation.

But the Democrats have already laid down a marker. As soon as the Sessions axe was dropped, key Democrat leader Chuck Schumer warned that any move to derail Mueller would throw the country into a constitutional crisis that could result in Trump’s impeachment.

The majority control now enjoyed by the Democrats in Congress will give them all the tools they need to dig deeper. They have already asked for the production of all documents related to Sessions as they intend to investigate his firing.

Sessions’ former chief of staff has been named as his replacement. He is a bellicose anti-Mueller opponent, who has already been warned to recuse himself from interference in the Russian special investigation.

The defiant tone that Trump exhibited in the presidential press conference signals that his war with the media will not end any time soon.

The decision to revoke CNN credentials will also prompt a backlash from other media outlets. At the same press conference, Trump verbally dressed down two black female reporters, including a PBS journalist who has become one of his favourite targets.

Trump is also facing renewed calls to produce his tax returns. He now says they are too complicated and that people simply will not be able to understand them.

But the major Congressional shakeup last week guarantees that these issues will now take centre stage.

Washington’s mid-course correction will make politics uglier. It’s hard to believe it could get any worse.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

By Sheila Copps

First published in The Hill Times on October 29, 2018.

OTTAWA—Politics used to be fun. The House of Commons was partly theatre where all were encouraged to make their point, often with props.

Now-deceased New Democrat Member of Parliament Jim Fulton once slapped a stinking dead salmon on the desk of prime minister Brian Mulroney to highlight mismanagement of the Pacific fishery.

After hours was a different story. Progressive Conservatives, Liberals, and New Democrats would get together and share a beer over at the National Press Club across from Parliament.

Some even enjoyed close friendships across party lines.

Former Conservative minister David MacDonald officiated at the wedding of Liberal minister Ethel Blondin-Andrew and was the domestic partner of New Democrat leader Alexa McDonough for a brief period.

My public relationship with Newfoundland minister John Crosbie was stormy. In private, we were friends, and I still get his Christmas card every year.

Links were nurtured by a love of politics and a mutual belief that public life was the best way to improve lives.

Last week, hundreds of friends joined former prime minister Jean Chrétien to celebrate the launch of his new book.

Ever the organizer, Chrétien scheduled the event to coincide with the 25th anniversary of his rise to power in 1993.

My Stories, My Times is vintage Chrétien. His memoirs are sprinkled with humour, and intimate backroom glimpses into what made this very unique politician tick.

Throughout the autobiography, there is evidence of the funny bone that Chrétien often used to connect to difficult subjects.

He could always hammer home a serious message via a joke. One of the most memorable was his response to separatist claims that the country could be broken up in a simple majority vote “You don’t break up a country because someone forgot his glasses at home, “ was vintage Chrétien.

Of course, there were melancholy moments. The internecine warfare which marked his last two years in power were not pretty.

But by and large, Chrétien’s time was a period when politics was fun and all political parties shared a common bond.

Chrétien explores the issue of partisanship in a chapter entitled “Political Foes and Friends.”

Decrying the current extreme partisanship in the United States, he tells the story of two foes who became his unlikely friends. One was former Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, whose tribute graces the book’s front cover.

The other was Pierre Bourgault, the father of the Quebec independence movement and founder of the Rassemblement pour independence nationale.

Although the two had opposing visions of Quebec and Canada, they respected each other greatly and shared a common love of public policy debate.

Nowadays, it seems as though rational discussion has been replaced by the viciousness of the anonymous twitter world.

People tweet before they think. The level of rancour in parliamentary debate is unprecedented. Likewise, the odious nature of political criticism has become the norm. It is not uncommon to witness tweets wishing death upon the recipient. President Donald Trump constantly refers to his opponents as evil.

It used to be that politicians would have a few hours to reply to critiques raised in the daily news cycle. Now, they have only seconds. Thoughtlessness has replaced prudence in the way the political world speaks. Twitter has infected the body politic in a deadly way.

Just last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested the upcoming campaign would get downright ugly.

My sense is that in the world before instant communication, most politicians liked each other and some were also friendly with journalists.

Of course, there are moments when politicians and journalists butt heads. That is as it should be. Good reporters are necessary and skilled adversaries. But they are just doing their job.

The current firestorm brewing in America is an offshoot of the new political norm where politicians score points by promoting hate and discrediting real news.

Hate the Democrats, hate the migrants, hate the media is the dominant primary run-up theme. Anti-Trump critics are now subject to bomb attacks that have been foiled in multiple states.

Yet Trump is still tweeting about what he calls fake newsmakers like CNN. He is increasing the temperature through tweets that promote hatred of his opponents.

Trump’s chief spokesperson continues to blame the media, and deflects any criticism that serial bombings might have been encouraged by the continuing drumbeat of loathing emanating from the White House.

In the face of bomb threats and twitter speak, politics today certainly does not seem to be as much fun as it was during Chretien’s time.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.