Evidence of meeting #23 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was prorogation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
It's over 30.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
That's wonderful. Thank you.
Mr. Booth, do you want to answer that too?
Director of Strategic Policy and Canadian Secretary to the Queen, Machinery of Government, Privy Council Office
It's approaching 30.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Thank you for your many years of service.
You've seen a few prorogations in your days, I guess.
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
Yes.
Director of Strategic Policy and Canadian Secretary to the Queen, Machinery of Government, Privy Council Office
Yes.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Is the one that's in question here the most controversial you've seen?
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
No.
Director of Strategic Policy and Canadian Secretary to the Queen, Machinery of Government, Privy Council Office
No.
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
No.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Historically speaking, if you look at many prorogations, are there not always some differing opinions about why they occurred?
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
I can't be sure on this, but I'm fairly certain to say, yes, you're correct.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Okay. Is there anything that stands out as unique about this particular one?
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
From a convention perspective, there is nothing at all.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Thanks.
Mr. Sutherland, you mentioned widespread consultation. I'm very interested in this, because I know as a member of Parliament in the governing party, we went through quite an extensive consultation process, and I'm confident that I only saw one fraction of what was actually going on.
Could you give us a bit more detail on how widespread that consultation process was leading into the new Speech from the Throne?
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
I can speak most to the consultation that occurred within the public service.
What you would have seen is every government department engaged with chipping in ideas as to the sorts of thematics or signature items that might help give life to the Speech from the Throne. That would have kicked in late August, early September, and then you would have seen a lot of iteration between PMO and the Privy Council Office.
On top of that, I think Minister Rodriguez spoke to the public dimension of the consultations that occurred as well.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Thank you. That sounds very extensive.
You also talked about the new Speech from the Throne profoundly affecting the government's agenda, and I wonder if you could give us a little more detail on that. How and where specifically did the agenda shift, keeping in mind your previous comment, which is a good one I think, that there's always some degree of continuity and change in any new Speech from the Throne?
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
I think with some of the areas.... It's hard, because the Speech from the Throne is a governing template—there are a lot of things in it—so I will almost certainly miss a few things.
We saw with it, of course, COVID and the issues around building back better. We saw a commitment to clean energy that I think is quite remarkable. As well, I think you saw imbued in the Speech from Throne, and subsequently in the mandate letters, Black Lives Matter, and the concern around equity and fairness that has been moving to the fore in the Canadian agenda in recent months. I think you can chart its genesis from the Speech from the Throne, the mandate letters and, as well, the fall economic statement.
As well, of course—and this is where continuity comes in—with regard to indigenous reconciliation, there was some sharpening of that in the Speech from the Throne, and subsequently in the mandate letters as well. There's an interesting continuity in the Prime Minister's personal commitment to indigenous reconciliation that was reinforced both in the speech and in the mandate letters.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Thank you for that.
One would think that, from a common-sense perspective, for a government that was elected shortly before coming into this 100-year crisis, essentially abandoning any commitments that were in a previous platform....
What I'm trying to get at here is that it just wouldn't make sense to the general public if the government didn't have some continuity in its new Speech from the Throne. Wouldn't you say that's true?
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
I would agree with that.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
In essence, the new Speech from the Throne updated the platform commitments but applied them to the new context, which was a global pandemic.
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet (Governance), Privy Council Office
That's very nicely put.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
We can maybe wrap it up there. Thank you, Mr. Turnbull.
I especially want to thank our witnesses.
Please send our best wishes and regards to Mr. Shugart. We are hoping that he has a very speedy recovery. I know that all the members appreciate all the time he has spent, and the good work that he's done. We hope to see him back soon.