I wanted to start by thanking the residents of Calgary Shepard for placing their trust in me again to serve them in our nation’s Parliament. I will work hard to live up to the trust placed in me and to continue my work on behalf of constituents. I want to thank my volunteers, supporters and donors for their support and help during this past general election. I especially want to single out Tyler, Jim, Alyssa, Cheyenne, Cole, Alexy and Bud for the countless hours they spent helping me secure votes in the riding. My musings on the results of the federal election nationally will have to wait for another day. At the riding level, I was humbled to receive 44,411 votes which is similar to my 2015 results despite the drop in voter turnout from 67.9% to 63.8% in this election.
In the last Parliament, I served as the elected national conservative caucus chair for close to two years. This included the resignation of a Tory leader, a leadership campaign, and of course the pandemic that forced our caucus meetings into Zoom as well as hybrid formats. As I informed the conservative caucus in June 2021, should a federal election happen before the Fall session were to resume, I would not be seeking a second term. I made a promise to caucus members in 2019 that I was seeking one term to transform the role and make significant changes. I believe I accomplished much of that agenda and I strongly believe that a new person should take on the role. And no, I am not changing my mind.
In the last Parliament, our caucus had voted yes on two of the provisions in the Reform Act of Canada. The first, to elect our caucus chair and the second to take the power away from the Tory leader to remove caucus members. Caucus then elected not to be able to review its leadership and to appoint an interim leader in cases of incapacitation, resignation or death. I want to briefly outline why I will be voting yes on all four Reform Act provisions this time and why I am encouraging all of my colleagues to do so as well.
From my perch as the outgoing caucus chair, voting yea on every Reform Act provision makes it easier for the caucus chair to carry out the legal duties. It is also easier to preserve the traditions, practices and conventions built around these four organizational votes. Having an elected caucus chair is better than one who is appointed. It gives that person a mandate to protect and encourage the role of backbenchers within our caucus and in the decision-making process. The elected caucus chair also sits at the planning and priorities committee chaired by the Tory leader as an equal, giving advice and overseeing the agenda to ensure caucus members obtain the much needed information they need, and also to ensure that caucus remains the final clearing house before decisions are made public. This has not always been perfect or adhered to consistently, but it is made easier with an elected chair. The caucus chair is also responsible for caucus retreat organization, serves as a sounding board for parliamentarians looking for work-related advice and communicates regularly with the Tory leader to ensure that they are aware of the mood of the backbench.
The conservative caucus also elected in 2019 to retain the ability to expel members of the caucus. We should retain this power again. We should be held accountable to our peers within our caucus and not to the leadership. The caucus in general has greater wisdom as a group than any single individual and is better able to weigh a wide range of consequences and benefits from any ejection. In the last Parliament, I chaired the meeting called for the expulsion of the Member from Hastings-Lennox and Addington. While the law was clear on the triggers for an expulsion vote, it did not provide an outline of how it should work in practice. Since this was the first time this Reform Act provision had been used I was tasked with creating a fair process, and I believe I succeeded. I believe the caucus would be well served by using that first use as the model for any such future expulsions. Any missing process or improvements should be added on by future chairs. It should now be easier to conduct such tense and difficult meetings.
The third vote is to determine whether the caucus should retain the ability to conduct a leadership review. While the caucus elected to not hold this power in 2019, it should vote yea in 2021. We have provisions within the Conservative Party constitution for the membership to do a review at the next convention following a general election where we are defeated nationally. This is a reasonable provision and it does not exclude the possibility of the conservative caucus retaining the power to do so. As parliamentarians we not only have a responsibility towards our constituents but also towards our supporters as well as the conservative membership to hold our own accountable for their decisions. I have called these the circles of accountability and most of our decision-making is made to try and find the sweet spot where the majority of people we are accountable towards would be satisfied with our conduct as well as decisions including constituents, voters, supporters, etc. This accountability must also include factors outside of our work such as family, personal conscience and friend networks. The provisions in the Reform Act to kick-off a leadership review are clear, transparent and public. That should temper the enthusiasm for anyone wishing to undertake this process except in situations where the necessity of the act outweighs the potential damage to our conservative movement.
The last recorded vote to be taken by the caucus will be to determine whether it should retain the power to name the interim leader in cases of death, resignation or incapacitation of the current Tory leader. Again, we should vote yea. In 2019 there was confusion between the two caucus meetings held on a Thursday whether a Tory leader who had resigned could stay on as the interim until his successor could be chosen by the membership of the Conservative Party of Canada. It would have been easier for the caucus chair and for the conservative caucus to have simply named the interim leader under the provisions of the Reform Act without having to balance competing desires of various individual MPs, the party constitution and unclear past practices. Speaking as an outgoing chair, it would be easier for the next elected chair in the 44th Parliament to simply refer to the Reform Act and conduct the vote as required by law. It is simpler and easier to proceed in this manner without having to consider competing forces both inside and outside the caucus. Those energies can then be better directed towards selecting an interim candidate that meets the desires of the various factions within our conservative caucus.
As a final thought, I want to express how honoured I was to serve as the conservative chair in the 43rd Parliament. I ran on the desire to transform this parliamentary caucus officer role into something more substantial, and to do so I had to run against David Sweet, who was the incumbent caucus chair from the 42nd Parliament. I want to express my gratitude here toward David for his goodwill and advice during the past two years. I often relied on his wisdom on procedure and caucus management. He was gracious and patient. Every caucus chair should be so fortunate to be able to rely on a colleague with decades of experience on Parliament Hill. He retired in this past federal election and Parliament is worse off for it.
So, once again, I am going to be encouraging every Tory caucus member to vote yea on all four recorded votes. Every recognized parliamentary caucus in Parliament should strongly consider the provisions of the Reform Act and every MP, whether a cabinet minister or a backbencher, should strongly consider voting yea on all four recorded votes. I understand that in the past these votes were sometimes rushed in other caucuses and backbenchers should fight hard here to be able to fairly consider these parliamentary powers. They will make your time in Parliament that much better and more productive.
Thank you for your service! Brenda K. Oswald
Cher Tom,
Je veux simplement te dire à quel point j’ai été honoré de débuter ma carrière politique à Ottawa avec toi en 2006 pour me guider dans cette grande aventure.
Depuis, tu as gravis tous les echelons pour devenir un incontournable de notre famille politique avec de grandes responsabilités dont tu t’acquittes avec professionnalisme et brio.
Je sais que le meilleur reste à venir pour toi et pour notre mouvement conservateur, le Canada en a grand besoin 🇨🇦!
Amitiés,
Steven Blaney