Why did Government House Leader Paul Calandra damage his credibility by interfering in the election of the Speaker? It may not be the most high-profile role, but the government house leader does important work and needs support from both sides of the legislature.

I should come clean. I was the house leader during the McGuinty-Wynne minority government and I have been watching the antics at Queen’s Park with both fascination and horror.

But before turning to all that, what exactly does a government house leader do?

The house leader is responsible for setting the legislature’s agenda and ensuring that the government’s legislative program is passed. As a result, they work very closely with the opposition.

Beyond that, the house leader also plays a key role in caucus management. For a government to survive, they need backbenchers to vote the right way, say the right things and stick together, even during the toughest times. And the only way to do that is to ensure that they are relatively happy.

As governments age, keeping backbenchers happy becomes more difficult. Although some may disagree, politicians are actually human beings. Just like the rest of us, they have hopes, dreams and ambitions. They wouldn’t mind a promotion. They tend to have views on the issues of the day and have a list of things that they want to accomplish in their job, particularly for their community.

Life at Queen’s Park can be tough. Others get appointed to cabinet instead of you. Your ideas get ignored by those in charge or worse — by their wet-behind-the-ears staff — and you often find yourself making little progress on your plans for your riding. As the months and years pass, you start to get grumpier and less worried about toeing the line.

By the second term, keeping folks happy is a monumental task and those in charge, including the house leader, need to spend more and more time trying to soothe ruffled feathers.

Enter the Speaker’s election battle. Under the current rules, members choose a Speaker through a secret ballot — the only time that they can do what they want without those in charge knowing.

I recall electing Speakers. Although it was easy to guess whom the premier favoured, we were all left to our own devices. It was the one time that we all felt truly independent, and it allowed everyone to let off a bit of steam.

The only unwritten rule — you were expected to vote for a candidate from your own party (if there was one).

For some bizarre reason, the Ford government decided to throw all this out the window. Even though Ted Arnott had been an excellent Speaker, they seemed to encourage government MPP and former Cabinet Minister Nina Tangri to run for the job — unofficially portraying it as a consolation prize for being dropped from cabinet.

Although much of this was behind the scenes, Calandra took the extraordinary step of publicly endorsing her candidacy. Not only was that interfering in the independence of the process, but as Arnott is also a Progressive Conservative, it was demonstrating disloyalty to a colleague.

It didn’t stop there. If you believe the New Democrats, Calandra tried to bully them into supporting Tangri by threatening to withhold Deputy Speaker positions and committee roles.

We all know what happened. Enough PC MPPs refused to play ball and Arnott was elected Speaker. And if you believe unnamed sources talking to QP Briefing, Ford and Calandra’s response was to read the caucus the riot act and strip away a number of privileges — punishment for voting for a member of their own party.

READ MORE: Ontario PC caucus punished after Ford’s pick loses Speaker vote: sources

Do Ford and Calandra not get it?

The government is already fighting a major battle on the health-care front. We could be looking at a strike in our schools this fall, inflation is eating up people’s savings and government spending can only continue at the current “drunken sailor” pace for so long.

Tough days are ahead, and they need their backbenchers to hang together and grin and bear it when difficult decisions need to be made.

You also need an opposition that is somewhat cooperative and willing to make the legislature work.

Yet through their antics, Ford and Calandra have thrown a ton of goodwill away just when they needed it the most and they did it by pitting two MPPs from their own party against each other.

This has nothing to do with Arnott or Tangri. I have known Ted Arnott for close to 20 years and he is an exceptional parliamentarian and individual of great integrity. I don’t know Tangri but I am sure that she is very capable.

No, this is about a house leader and premier who appear politically tone deaf. Not the best harbinger of things to come.

John Milloy is a former MPP and Ontario Liberal cabinet minister currently serving as the director of the Centre for Public Ethics and assistant professor of public ethics at Martin Luther University College, and the inaugural practitioner in residence in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science department. He is also a lecturer in the University of Waterloo’s master of public service program. John can be reached at jmilloy@luther.wlu.ca or follow him on Twitter @John_Milloy.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.

Milloy: Has the premier and his house leader sown discord in their own ranks?

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