Shields responds to PM resignation

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Bow River Riding MP, Martin Shields has voiced his thoughts and concerns regarding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement of his intent to resign and step down as leader of the Liberal Party. 

The announcement came Jan. 6 during a press conference. Simultaneously, Trudeau announced Parliament will be prorogued until March 24. 

“The sad part about it is that he is shutting the House of Commons down now, which means committees … are disbanded,” said Shields. “It is not only the House of Commons that does not start here at the end of January, but also committees cannot meet as well … he has really shut down all forms of our democracy at the federal level.”

Shields explained the conservative opposition is calling for an election, which is not possible while the government is at a standstill. 

During the prorogue, the Liberal party will have to come to a conclusion as to whether Trudeau will resign, and who would replace him in that circumstance. 

Additionally, the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers and other executive staff remain in their roles. Unless new spending or laws are required, they are permitted to continue business.

During prorogation, all parliamentary activity comes to a halt. The legislative agenda will be reset once government resumes in March. Opposition will have the option to revive old activity through motions, though there is no guarantee that will occur. 

If the current government falls and an election is called, ongoing legislation could be abandoned entirely. 

“The struggle that we have had for months (is) that the government could have been functioning and not debating a particular motion that could have just produced documents that we had asked for,” said Shields. “For the last three months, we have been debating a motion about a board that had spent a lot of money that the Auditor General said there were a lot of ethical problems where there is no money. All we were asking for was the unredacted documents, which the Speaker had said, and all the opposition parties voted in favour of, but that had not been produced.”

Shields said the federal government has not been functioning because the Liberals have not been following the directions of the Speaker.

The plan for when government resumes is for non-confidence votes to take place. Shields added discussions with the NDP and Bloc Quebecois parties suggest this will be the case, which will trigger an election.