The parliamentary show begins in two weeks and what a show it might be.
On June 2, Canada’s newest crop of MPs will gather in Ottawa for the opening of the 41st Parliament and for close to one-third of the House of Commons members, it will be a new experience.
The May 2 election flushed more than 100 MPs out of the system and ushered in that many newbies including 57 rookie NDP MPs from Quebec.
It is the greatest parliamentary upheaval in almost two decades, since the Reform party and the Bloc Québécois rose in the regions, the Liberals swept Ontario and a majority Progressive Conservative government was reduced to two seats, one of them held by a rookie.
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Oddly, the first order of business for these rookies who never have felt the whip of discipline in the House of Commons will be to elect a new speaker whose job it will be to herd the parliamentary cats through more than four years of majority government.
At least two prairie MPs – Saskatchewan’s Andrew Scheer and Manitoba’s Merv Tweed – likely will be in the running June 2.
The next day Canadians will get their first glimpse of Conservative priorities in the first majority government in almost a decade when the Throne Speech kicks off the session.
The speech will likely be heavy on law and order, but perhaps with a tip of the hat to a couple of rural issues – a promise to end the long gun registry and to begin work on dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly.
However, the outlook for quick movement on either of those issues is unlikely at best.
The government probably will use the June session to push through a package of crime bills and then adjourn for the summer.
It will give the rookie MPs a few months for some basic political science 101 training before they have to take up their new roles full time.
More importantly for the government, it will allow new cabinet ministers a few summer months to get accustomed to their departments and files before being subjected to Commons questioning.
And that’s the other crucial piece in the new parliamentary puzzle. This week, prime minister Stephen Harper will announce his new cabinet that likely will include at least a half dozen rookies at the cabinet table.
Four ministers, three in Quebec and one in British Columbia, were defeated May 2 and senior B.C. ministers Chuck Strahl and Stockwell Day retired. Harper has some senior holes to fill.
Few in the agriculture community expect Gerry Ritz to be moved as agriculture minister but cabinet shuffles inevitably produce the unexpected.
But whoever holds that position after this week, the rural expectation will be that after yet another display of political fidelity to the Conservative party, it had better start to deliver on issues such as the gun registry, the CWB (although clearly many who support the CWB single desk also voted Conservative), rural broadband, health care and farm programs
Expect the real rural policy move-m ent in the autumn when MPs return to Parliament Hill and the first days of the next four years plus begin to unfold.
