Only time will tell if Canadian democracy can be restored.

Retiring Commons clerk Audrey O'Brien sees hope for a better Parliament

Audrey O’Brien finally sees light for Canada’s democracy.

O’Brien, the first female clerk of the House of Commons, had a ringside seat in Parliament for 10 years — what she calls a dark decade of fierce partisanship that placed political interests ahead of “anything parliamentary.”

“The personal quality of the attacks and the rhetoric in the last Parliament were really distressing and it ended up creating an environment that was toxic, as much for members of Parliament as for anybody else,” says O’Brien, who will officially retire Dec. 31.

There were darker periods in Canada’s parliamentary history — but they came well before television entered the House of Commons in 1977 and calmed things down.

Stories abound of fisticuffs and scuffles in the aisles, with injured MPs being carried out, says Ned Franks, professor emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston. A notorious paper fight broke out in the 1890s when an opposition member wadded an ink well in a ball of paper, striking and nearly knocking out a minister.

Clerks have dealt with it all.

“The clerks at the table are the invisible part of the House. They are anonymous and unknown to the public. They are there to make sure the show goes on, not be part of the show,” says Franks.

O’Brien became clerk in 2005. Paul Martin was prime minister and a succession of minority Parliaments followed until the Conservatives’ 2011 majority win.

That decade was an unruly time. MPs reasserted their ancient parliamentary privileges, demanded documents, called witnesses. The Prime Minister’s Office centralized power even more. Strident partisan politics chipped away at the rules, traditions and public trust of the institution.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/retiring-commons-clerk-audrey-obrien-sees-hope-for-a-better-parliament

O’Brien watched, for example, as time limits were imposed on legislative debates, more committee business was done behind closed doors, free debate was squelched by prepared scripts, omnibus bills were crammed with sweeping legislative changes, and rude and raucous question periods were dominated by contrived answers that often had nothing to do with the question.