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Kady O'Malley

While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Kady O'Malley.

Is this how the current minority parliament ends? Not with a bang, but a privilege debate?

Is this how the current minority parliament ends? Not with a bang, but a privilege debate?

There is, of course, always the chance that, at some point over the next day or two, a cross-aisle deal will be struck to extract the House of Commons from the current deadlock over a potentially precedent-setting privilege case. This could be via an all-party consensus to wind down the current debate and proceed to a vote on whether to send the matter to committee for further review, or, less likely but still mathematically possible, with a closure motion that would accomplish the same thing, but would require the government to secure the support of at least one other party.

  • 2024-10-07
  • — iPolitics
Latest privilege standoff highlights potential risk of production orders

Latest privilege standoff highlights potential risk of production orders

As far as high-stakes political drama goes, it doesn’t (yet) have the same sense of urgency as a non-confidence vote targeting an embattled minority government.Even so, the slow-rolling standoff over parliamentary privilege playing out on the floor of the House of Commons right now definitely deserves a spot on the radar for exposing the unintended consequences of what has become an essential tool for MPs exercising their democratic due diligence: namely, the power to order the production of documents.

  • 2024-09-24
  • — iPolitics
Could an opposition-backed call to turn over docs to the RCMP make it harder for the auditor general to do her job?

Could an opposition-backed call to turn over docs to the RCMP make it harder for the auditor general to do her job?

It was billed by its backers as a show of parliamentary force in a minority setting: A motion adopted during the final days of the spring sitting — initiated by the Conservatives but supported by all three opposition parties, whose combined votes easily overrode the objections of the Liberals — that ordered Auditor General Karen Hogan, along with the government, to turn over “all files, documents, briefing notes, memoranda, emails or any other correspondence” related to Sustainable Development Technology Canada to the House of Commons law clerk, who would provide it “forthwith” to the RCMP.

  • 2024-09-24
  • — iPolitics
The supply and confidence deal is dead. Can the minority Liberal government still control the House agenda?

The supply and confidence deal is dead. Can the minority Liberal government still control the House agenda?

Before digging into exactly how last week’s decision by the New Democrats to pull the plug on their supply-and-confidence agreement with the minority Liberal government — which somehow managed to be both surprising yet inevitable — it’s worth noting that, despite party leader Jagmeet Singh’s repeated assertion that the move makes the chance of an early election “more likely,” that’s not actually true.

  • 2024-09-11
  • — iPolitics
Could an opposition-backed call to turn over docs to the RCMP make it harder for the auditor general to do her job?

Could an opposition-backed call to turn over docs to the RCMP make it harder for the auditor general to do her job?

It was billed by its backers as a show of parliamentary force in a minority setting: A motion adopted during the final days of the spring sitting — initiated by the Conservatives but supported by all three opposition parties, whose combined votes easily overrode the objections of the Liberals — that ordered Auditor General Karen Hogan, along with the government, to turn over “all files, documents, briefing notes, memoranda, emails or any other correspondence” related to Sustainable Development Technology Canada to the House of Commons law clerk, who would provide it “forthwith” to the RCMP.

  • 2024-07-23
  • — iPolitics
Fine print of the NSICOP foreign interference report suggests ‘naming names’ could be trickier than it sounds

Fine print of the NSICOP foreign interference report suggests ‘naming names’ could be trickier than it sounds

It’s been just over a week since the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians went public with what would instantly become the most widely-read report to emerge from its closed-door proceedings over the course of its seven-year history: A 92-page overview of exactly how foreign states like China, India and Russia have attempted to meddle in Canadian politics at virtually every level of government — particularly, although not exclusively, by “leveraging relationships with influential Canadians,” including parliamentarians, some of whom, it warns, may have knowingly assisted them in their effort.

  • 2024-06-11
  • — iPolitics
MPs have ordered a key ArriveCAN contractor to appear before the House of Commons next week. What happens now?

MPs have ordered a key ArriveCAN contractor to appear before the House of Commons next week. What happens now?

It may have been overshadowed by the two-and-a-half minutes of twilight that briefly engulfed the precinct yesterday afternoon, but a few hours after joining the throng of staffers, tourists, downtown office workers and other assorted passersby that gathered on Parliament Hill to watch the solar eclipse, MPs ensured that Apr. 8, 2024 a lasting spot in the annals of Canadian parliamentary history: For the first time in more than a century, the House of Commons has summoned a private citizen to the face the Chamber over his refusal to answer questions at committee.

  • 2024-04-09
  • — iPolitics
Latest pitch to overhaul election laws could make it harder to keep tabs on the party fundraising circuit

Latest pitch to overhaul election laws could make it harder to keep tabs on the party fundraising circuit

Heads up to anyone with a penchant for tracking the party fundraising circuit: It may be about to get a lot harder to keep tabs on where and when party leaders are hitting the hustings.Buried in the package of proposed changes to the Canada Elections Act that made its debut appearance on the floor of the House of Commons last week is a provision that, if adopted in its current form, would repeal the law that requires parties to provide advance notice of all upcoming fundraising events featuring the party leader or other high-profile attendees — interim leaders, leadership hopefuls and sitting cabinet ministers — that at least one person would have had to contribute at least $200 to attend.

  • 2024-03-26
  • — iPolitics
Process Nerd: What happens to the ArriveCAN committee probe(s) now?

Process Nerd: What happens to the ArriveCAN committee probe(s) now?

As has been noted on more than one occasion in this corner, a lot can happen in a week — or, in this case, five sitting days, which is how long ago Process Nerd posted her admittedly speculative overview of what to expect from the midwinter committee circuit, in which she saw no indication that GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND ESTIMATES (OGGO) members would be wrapping up their self-assigned investigation into the ArriveCAN app anytime soon.

  • 2024-02-13
  • — iPolitics
What’s next for the Senate-amended farm fuel bill and two other backbench battles to watch

What’s next for the Senate-amended farm fuel bill and two other backbench battles to watch

“A very unique and, perhaps, tortuous process.”While conceding that he’s hardly an objective, impartial observer, it’s difficult to disagree with interim Liberal House leader Steven MacKinnon’s off-the-cuff take on what lies ahead for Conservative MP Ben Lobb’s backbench pitch to expand the existing carbon tax break for fuel used on farms, which is now back on the House of Commons to-do list after a prolonged — and politically high-charged — journey through the Senate.

  • 2024-01-31
  • — iPolitics
By the numbers: How MPs ran out the clock on the now-wrapped fall sitting

By the numbers: How MPs ran out the clock on the now-wrapped fall sitting

“There is no unanimous consent. We are going out in style for Christmas.”So noted assistant deputy speaker Carol Hughes as she settled back into the chair following Conservative MP Garnett Genuis’s failed bid to keep the House of Commons in session for at least one more day — which, it’s worth noting, also marked the 19th time that day that an MP had risen with such a request, only to have it shouted down before they could even get the first sentence out.

  • 2023-12-21
  • — iPolitics
Can the Conservatives really keep the House of Commons sitting until Christmas?

Can the Conservatives really keep the House of Commons sitting until Christmas?

Before diving into the question posed by the headline — spoiler alert for the impatient: the answer is “almost certainly not” — it’s worth rewinding to last Wednesday, when, as iPolitics editor Marco Vigliotti reported at the time, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took the rare step of temporarily opening his party’s weekly caucus huddle to reporters so he could unveil their plan to “ruin (Justin Trudeau’s) Christmas” — unless, that is, Trudeau and his government agreed to repeal the federal carbon tax.

  • 2023-12-12
  • — iPolitics
What’s going on with the (latest) privilege complaint against the speaker?

What’s going on with the (latest) privilege complaint against the speaker?

Gazing out at his fellow MPs from his front row seat at the front of the chamber on Monday afternoon, Deputy Speaker Chris d’Entremont took a moment to reflect on an exchange with his predecessor, Bruce Stanton, during which he asked whether it was a “tough job,” and if he “would be making any decisions.”

  • 2023-12-06
  • — iPolitics
What happens when a backbench proposal shows up in a government bill?

What happens when a backbench proposal shows up in a government bill?

Last week, Process Nerd took a closer look at the parliamentary fine print last week to determine exactly what happens when a backbench bill undergoes a rewrite on the floor of the Senate. This time around, let’s flip the script to explore another potential procedural pitfall for private members’ business: namely, a move by the government to introduce legislation with provisions that are suspiciously similar — or, in some cases, identical — to proposals put forward by individual MPs.

  • 2023-11-28
  • — iPolitics