A Parliament about nothing

I'd planned to post on the meager legislative accomplishments of the Cons over the last year, but apparently Le Devoir (helpfully translated by Macleans) got there first:

Of the 61 pieces of legislation the Conservatives introduced in the House over the last 12 months, 33 were recycled from the previous session of Parliament; and as of right now, 18 of those 33 bills are either at the same stage or further away from being made law than they were before prorogation … Counting the three bills that are set to be granted royal assent Wednesday afternoon, the Conservatives will have passed a meagre 11 bills through Parliament over the past 12 months.

Now, it's worth noting that the translation isn't exact, as Le Devoir's numbers include bills introduced in the Senate as well as the House, and exclude budget and appropriations bills. Though of course the latter give rise to issues of their own, as the Cons rammed through major changes under the cover of confidence legislation at the same time as they were choosing not to bother advancing bills which might face a full debate.

But the trend of bills going nowhere does look to be a major story for the year - and one that has only become all the more clear late in 2010. The Cons introduced nine House bills fitting Le Devoir's criteria after October 5, and most of those were rolled out with major PR campaigns. But a grand total of one of them was advanced at all in the final two months of the fall session, and that only to the second-reading vote to send it to committee.

So the pattern of the Cons seeing Parliament primarily as a source of PR material rather than an institution intended to actually pass bills or otherwise debate public policy was more stark than ever at the end of 2010. So it shouldn't come as any surprise if they do choose to pull the plug on yet another session in order to be able to introduce the same bills all over again.