The Canadian Scene.

• Position: CPA Activities

New Ontario Speaker

On July 11, 2018, Ontario MPPs elected Progressive Conservative MPP Ted Arnott as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Elected on the first ballot, Arnott sought the role alongside Progressive Conservative MPPs Randy Hillier, Jane McKenna and Rick Nicholls.

The MPP for Wellington-Halton Hills was first elected to the Assembly in 1990 and has served continuously since. A former Deputy Speaker, Arnott has been on the Assembly's Presiding Officers team for 13 of the past 15 years.

In remarks to MPPs prior to the vote, Arnott noted he had past experience in the Chair and had sat in the House as a government member, an opposition member, and a third-party member. "I have 'seen it from all sides/" he said. "I have sought to be fair and impartial and demonstrate appropriate respect for all members while seeking to maintain decorum in the chamber."

Replacing outgoing Speaker Dave Levac, who did not run for re-election in the recent general election, Arnott told his colleagues he looks forward to serving the House just as he has served his constituents. "I'm well aware of the challenges and the responsibility that's entailed by being the Speaker and I truly want to be fair and impartial as I discharge the duties of this office," he said.

A graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, prior to his own election Arnott served as executive assistant to former Waterloo MPP Jack Johnson from 1987-1990.

CPA Canadian Regional Meeting

From July 22-27, 2018, parliamentarians from across the country gathered in Ottawa for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association's 56th Canadian Regional Conference.

Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Meeting

On July 22, the CWP Canada steering committee met to participate in a half-day strategic action workshop. Guided by strategic planning facilitator Vicki Lass, CWP chair Laura Ross said the workshop was necessary to help the organization focus on turning its discussions into action. The goal was to build a list of action items so that each delegate could work on one to help the CWP fulfill its mission to "assist Canadian women and girls to discover their political potential experience the fulfillment of a career in public service and create a better society."

Among the participants, goals included: creating a digital campaign school to help women in rural or remote communities, changing media portrayals of women leaders, focussing on economic barriers that discourage or prevent women from participating in politics, and preventing partisanship from diluting what CWP wants to achieve.

Although CWP envisions women as equal partners in the Canadian Parliament and provincial and territorial legislatures, participants noted that 'equal partners' does not just mean 'equal numbers.' There has to be respect, engagement, and meaningful collaboration.

Ms. Lass talked about the concept of a tipping point when creating a movement--the point where there's a critical mass and the movement doesn't take as much effort to sustain itself. She advocated mentoring one woman to help expand the movement. Saskatchewan MLA Nadine Wilson noted it's also important to mentor boys to help them become good men who support women.

Ms. Lass explained that in transforming words into action it is important to share success stories in your constituency, participate in networking activities, and broaden outreach efforts. She led participants in a goal choosing activity which looked at ease of implementation and impact. In order to get some 'quick wins' to build a movement, immediate goals should be ones with high impact and high ease.

She concluded by suggesting the CWP "create a repository" to share stories and wins with all women, while being careful about over-emphasizing 'war stories' regarding things like social media trolls or discrimination that can discourage people. Ms. Lass highlighted that when using social media to share success stories, visual media (such as Instagram) are especially effective. "People remember 80 per cent of what they see, 20 per cent of what they read, and only about 10 per cent of what they hear," she said, adding that visual posts produce 650 per cent higher engagement than text only posts.

A business meeting in the afternoon included a report on a Regional Outreach program in Yukon by MLA Geraldine Van Bibber, a presentation on the new CWP Canada web site, and reports on the chair's visit to CPA International events.

On July 23, following opening remarks by the Chair, the CWP business session began. Ms. Ross, CPA Executive Committee Chair Emilia Monjowa Lifaka and CWP Canada secretary Remi Bourgault officially launched the group's new web site. Other notable business included:

* Northwest Territories MLA Julie Green volunteering to head up CWP Canada's social media accounts

* A review of how CWP Canada used strengthening funding from 2017-2018 to create banners for all provinces and territories to bring to events and the new website

* Reports from Ms. Ross and Ontario MP Yasmin Ratansi on news coming out of international meetings they attended on behalf of CWP Canada

In the day's first session, Ms. Lifaka spoke of her mandate as CPA Chair to increase the number of women parliamentarians in the Commonwealth. In order to promote women's leadership, she said it is imperative to continue using successful strategies (leadership training programs, promoting women's economic empowerment, implementing or expanding a successful quota system, education) and encouraging new innovative strategies. She also mentioned plans to create a CPA and CWP Awareness Week in March each year. In a Q&A session following her presentation, Ms. Lifaka was asked about best practices to encourage women's participation in parliamentary politics. She explained that while there are plenty of promises for new conventions and supports, instruments of implementation are lacking. She also contended that a quota system is important when women do not have the same resources as men (seats reserved for only women to compete).

In a second session, Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer spoke of how #MeToo and social media are affecting municipal politics. Ms. Veer recounted Sheldon Kennedy's story of abuse because it had become Red Deer's community story and greatly influenced how the city has responded to #MeToo. She suggested that social media offers opportunities and challenges simultaneously. She was not an early adopter, but she has increasingly used it to deliver information as mayor in a timely way. Greater accessibility of officials means there is greater accountability. However, it also removes the formality of government. Ms. Veer explained that some people think a tweet is a formal request. She also noted how sometimes it can give credibility to what would otherwise be coffee shop gossip.

Part of the challenge of #MeToo for legislators is that it can undermine rule of law (the burden of proof). It is also nearly impossible to both take all accusations seriously while still providing due process. Red Deer's community response has been built around several principles: supporting individuals who disclose; establishing a culture of respect; adopting (and enforcing) a code of conduct; establishing whistleblower legislation and/or ethical protective mechanisms; and empowering the bystander. This final principle is attributed to Sheldon Kennedy's story and requires a cultural response (everyone suspected the abuse, but no one said anything that could have stopped it.)

During a Q&A session, Ms. Veer outlined how she handles abuse on social media by explaining the use of a tiered response. If there are egregiously offensive posts by a user, she blocks them--especially if there's a pattern. For lesser offenses, she will respond, note her objections to the language or tone used and say she will not comment on the post or thread further. Instead she encourages the user to contact her office formally if they want to discuss it further. Usually other thread readers will support her. In a third tier of posts, she will respond to misinformation (particularly in cases of public safety) even if it's disrespectful.

During a third session on "Evolution of Ethics in Parliament," Senator Raynell Andreychuk noted that parliamentary privilege is an important concept to understand when examining ethics within parliament. Parliamentary privilege in Canada dates from 1867, but ethics and conflicts of interest were not talked about much then. Respectability was assumed by genteel gentlemen: "My word is my honour."

Senator Andreychuk suggested that context (time and culture) is important in defining conflict of interest and ethics. It depends on the people you're serving and their value...