The Health Committee Motion is not that big of a deal

I read the motion in question and the Terms of Reference for the Health Committee of the House of Commons and they align.  The motion does not demand the Committee to do anything it would normally not do.  That is why the Liberals decided not to make the motion a matter of confidence because it is not a confidence matter.

Everything in the motion could have been presented in whole or in part at the Committee itself and it would have decided on whether to proceed but the Conservatives decided to put it all in a House motion to generate some headlines.  Since that is usually what Opposition Parties do with Opposition days in the House that should surprise no one.

So the motion will be passed tomorrow and then it will be up to the Health Committee to actually action it.  That pretty much guarantees that this will disappear from the headlines for quite some time because the first order of business for the Committee will be figuring out how to implement the motion.  That will mean all sorts of procedural maneuvering by the various parties and I am certain that the media and Canadians will be hanging on every word uttered during those proceedings.  (Hint they won't be)  

Also keep in mind that the composition of the Health Committee will remain the same and it will be chaired by a Liberal.  That means the Liberals will form a coherent block while the Opposition Parties will be split and if the Opposition Parties try to push the Committee beyond its Terms of Reference the Chair can squash that effort without a vote.

The demands of the motion are largely routine.  Although an argument can be made about the timing of the demands there is nothing there that really stands out as being egregiously unreasonable.

We are already seeing some pushback on some of these demands.  The companies that were contracted to manufacture PPE in Canada have already made their concerns known and I believe they will not stop.  When it comes time to actually decide whether to invite representatives of these companies to the Committee the Conservatives may find that they no longer have the support of the other Opposition parties on the Committee to force the companies to appear.  Or at the very least a compromise may be reached to allow them to appear in camera and to have their testimony sealed to protect their property.  Of course, that would deny the Conservatives any opportunity to twist that testimony into another scandal.  You know, because the mail clerk, of a given company, is Justin Trudeau's third cousin, twice removed, so that was the reason that company received a contract.

With regard to the demand for documents the Committee can demand any documents they want but the timing of when they are delivered is usually determined through negotiations between the House of Commons staff and Departmental staff.  If the Opposition parties demand so many documents that it will take two or three weeks to produce them then that is how long it will take.  The motion stating that the Department has to produce them in "seven days" is grandstanding.  Further the Committee cannot overturn Cabinet Confidence so the documents will be the usual documents that are generated by Departments in the course of their work, which are boring.  Then again, the point is not to gain those documents but to complain yet again about not receiving the documents that the Conservatives believe exist that will incriminate the government.  They do not exist but that will not stop the Conservatives from claiming they do and that the government is covering them up.

I for one would love to see Dr. Tam being interrogated by the Conservative members of the Committee and the subsequent reaction of Conservatives at large to that interrogation.  I can think of nothing that would undermine the Conservatives among non-aligned voters more that that.  If it came down to who Canadians trusted more, Dr. Tam or Michelle Rempel Garner, I know who would come out on top by a large margin.  (Hint:  Dr. Tam)  Giving Dr. Tam three hours in which to explain how Public Health responded to the pandemic would not go well for the Conservatives, particularly since both the NDP and the Bloc would probably not be as confrontational as the Conservatives probably would and the Liberals would take the opportunity to allow Dr. Tam to highlight the success of the response.

The House of Commons motion that will be voted on tomorrow is not that big of a deal.  It was never a confidence motion and the only reason why some in the media actually indicated that it might be was to generate clicks.  The motion is only the beginning and how it all shakes out will be decided in the coming weeks by the Committee itself.  In all likelihood it will not all go the way the Conservatives hope.