Ian Shugart, a former clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the cabinet, was appointed to the Senate last fall after a career of nearly 40 years in government, including 30 years in the public service.
On Tuesday afternoon, having battled health challenges over the past several months, he belatedly rose in the upper chamber to deliver his maiden speech as a senator.
As his topic, he chose restraint.
“Last week in this place, many honourable senators spoke about the risks to democracy in our country. Today, I would like to add what I hope might be a useful contribution to those observations,” Shugart said. “I am going to speak about the idea of restraint — an idea, a discipline, that has proven essential in our constitutional and institutional development.”
Sen. Ian Shugart, former clerk of the Privy Council, says politicians must embrace limits on their authority for the good of democracy. (The Canadian Press)
Restraint isn’t very exciting. That’s sort of the point. And on any given day in Parliament, it might not seem to be much in evidence.
But it is also, quietly, one of the forces that holds a democracy and a country together. Restraint — self-imposed or forced on politicians by voters — is often what allows political systems to continue functioning.
Although Shugart said he hasn’t read it, his appeal to restraint will be familiar to readers of How Democracies Die, a brilliant and worrisome book released in 2018. Authors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt celebrate the virtue of “forbearance … the idea that politicians should exercise restraint in deploying their institutional prerogatives.”
“Without forbearance, checks and balances give way to deadlock and dysfunction,” say Levitsky and Ziblatt, both professors of political science at Harvard.
Speaking to his fellow senators, Shugart cited three examples of restraint.
Profiles in forbearance
He noted how then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau chose to negotiate constitutional reforms with the provinces and compromise to complete a deal — despite the fact that he had the legal power to proceed unilaterally.
“Colleagues, I have to ask if either of the main party leaders today would practise that restraint,” Shugart said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford reversed course on his government’s controversial use of the notwithstanding clause in response to public backlash. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)
Lastly, Shugart encouraged his colleagues in the upper chamber to resist (or continue resisting) any urge they might have to block legislation sent to them by the House of Commons.
The newly independent Senate has mostly disciplined itself to date. While it is now amending legislation more often than it used to, it has not yet refused to pass legislation or insisted that the House bow to its demands for changes.
How it might interact with a different government remains an open question. But Sen. Peter Harder made a similar argument in 2018 when he suggested the Senate should be very reluctant to stand in the way of legislation passed by the House — in part because someday, in the face of truly egregious and anti-democratic legislation, an independent and respected Senate might be a valuable safeguard.
Shugart’s comments about the Senate attracted the most attention this week, but the value of restraint extends far beyond the upper chamber.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks with reporters about the debt limit vote on May 30, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. A partisan game of chicken over the debt limit brought the U.S. to the brink of default. (Mariam Zuhaib/Associated Press)
Levitsky and Ziblatt were focused on the American political system — a system that is, by its design, much more susceptible to deadlock and dysfunction. But no system is impervious to institutional excess.
A government — especially one with a majority in the House — could go to extreme lengths without actually breaking any laws. It could use closure to ram legislation through the House with a modicum of debate, or prorogue Parliament for long periods of time. It could pass unconstitutional laws and then use the notwithstanding clause to override the courts.
A determined opposition — particularly when the governing party doesn’t have a majority — can also do a lot to slow down or block a government’s agenda. And one party or government’s drastic measures can ultimately lead another one to follow suit, or even up the ante.
But Shugart also has in mind questions of public policy and the agendas that governments implement.
“I’m not saying that governments should just be pablum and that they should not act on principle. Far, far from it,” Shugart said in an interview this week after his speech.
He suggested that governments might ask themselves a question before acting: “Will this be consensus-building in this country or is it going to deepen division?”
Restraint goes hand in hand with tolerance
In theory, public opinion should limit what politicians are willing to do (or able to get away with). Ford’s retreat on the notwithstanding clause is a good example of that — especially if the backlash causes Ford, or other premiers, to hesitate before going so far in the future.
But the American experience suggests that partisanship and polarization can make a sufficient number of voters willing to accept almost anything.
Levitsky and Ziblatt link forbearance with “mutual toleration … the understanding that competing parties accept one another as legitimate rivals.” After surveying the partisan rhetoric that preceded and then dominated Barack Obama’s time as president, they concluded that “rising partisan intolerance thus led to an erosion of institutional forbearance.”
Shugart’s concerns also extend beyond institutional and policy matters and into the national discourse — and the risk that more and more voters will retreat into partisan echo chambers.
“We’ve got to find, again, how it is that we dialogue with each other,” he said.
Rioters attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Political polarization encourages partisans to see their rivals as enemies — and that can have dangerous consequences. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
In this way, restraint in word might be just as important as restraint in deed.
While the problems in Canadian politics may seem minor compared to what How Democracies Die describes, Canada is hardly immune to extreme rhetoric or to politicians (encouraged by the destructive incentives of social media) who seem to feel relatively unrestrained in what they can say about their opponents.
Shugart said he worries that a lack of real dialogue will diminish trust in governments and make it increasingly hard to act on the problems that confront the country. But if parties and their supporters begin to view their counterparts as enemies, it also becomes much harder to hold a democracy together — and much easier to justify anti-democratic or destructive behaviour.
“Honourable senators, whether it is what we say to or about each other, or how we learn again to listen and dialogue with others who don’t share our outlook, or how we guard the health of our institutions — we need to re-learn the virtue of restraint,” Shugart said Tuesday, wrapping up a speech that clocked in at a relatively restrained 10 minutes.
“Canada is a big, diverse country — geographically, socially, culturally, economically and philosophically. For each of us, for parties and for institutions, restraint may begin with acknowledging that our point of view — legitimate as it is — is not the only point of view.
“We have benefited from restraint in this country and, in these times, we need it again. May we all find it within ourselves to practise restraint.”
Politics in a democracy is often full of passionate intensity — and for very good reasons. But Shugart’s message is a vital one. In the midst of so much intensity, we need forbearance to hold things together.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
