Do as we say...

It's been comical enough to see Con whip Jay Hill making the media rounds this week claiming to want the current Parliament to be more congenial and less partisan. But the Globe and Mail's followup on the official languages committee helps to highlight Hill's central role in the gridlock which he claims to abhor, as it was Hill himself who pushed for confrontation when even the former Con chair wanted to resign in order to keep the committee running:

After the opposition ousted official languages committee chair Guy Lauzon two weeks ago, the Conservatives barred their MPs from running to replace him - effectively shutting down the committee.

Yesterday, the Tories met with opposition whips and agreed to reopen the committee. Mr. Lauzon resigned from the committee, so a new chair can be chosen from the Conservative MPs...

Mr. Lauzon said he offered to resign when he was voted out by the opposition two weeks ago, but Conservative whip Jay Hill persuaded him not to.

It's certainly for the best that the committee is now being allowed to get back to work. But it remains to be seen whether the supposed attempt to work with other parties will be limited to allowing Lauzon himself to resign, only to be replaced by another chair with equally little interest in allowing real debate.

And the news on that count doesn't appear to be getting better. Any lingering doubt as to whether the Cons' constant standoffishness was primarily based on individual committee chairs or a product of top-down party discipline now seems to have disappeared - and it'll be essential to make sure that the blame for any continued contempt for democratic process is placed directly at the top where it belongs.