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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 25, 2021.

Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Last week, Liberal MPs on the Commons health committee talked and talked to filibuster a meeting about what the committee would do with its last seven meetings before the summer.

The stalling was organized because opposition MPs wanted one of those meetings to be devoted to having officials explain another kind of stalling: the governments refusal to hand over piles of documents about how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled.

Its been obvious since those documents were first requested last October that the government didnt really want to hand over the papers.

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But now, there is, in the eyes of the Liberal government, an end in sight: just a few weeks to go. They can run out the clock.

There is a crazy mix of time pressures at the close of a minority Parliaments sitting, especially when the session seems destined to end soon because an election is expected.

The Liberal government is rushing to push through key bills they want passed into law before a widely expected fall election, but they are also doing their best to run out the clock on various opposition-initiated orders and studies like the request for pandemic documents.

If the Liberals can stall until Parliament rises, an election will (probably) be called in the fall, and the motion demanding the government disclose documents will die. Home free!

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Thats just one example. Liberals MPs have in recent weeks filibustered at the defence committees hearings into sexual misconduct by top military commanders and the procedure and house affairs committees review of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus decision to prorogue Parliament last August.

It really is the Liberal festival of filibusters, said Conservative House Leader Grald Deltell.

It is not entirely new. In minority Parliaments, opposition parties in the majority can vote to hold hearings or demand documents, and governments sometimes seek to obstruct them.

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Stephen Harpers Conservatives filibustered committees in 2008, before Mr. Harper declared Parliament dysfunctional and called an election. In 2011, Mr. Harpers government fell on a motion declaring him in contempt for failing to deliver documents detailing the costs of corporate tax cuts, crime legislation and F-35 fighter jets then won a majority in the following election.

So the Liberals can say that Conservatives did it, too. Which is like saying you have become the thing you used to criticize.

At the health committee, the government has said the request for documents will cover a million documents, but provided about 8,400. Where are the other 992,000? asked New Democrat MP Don Davies.

Last week, opposition MPs proposed agendas for the last seven meetings of the session, including one where senior officials would be asked to explain the failure to provide the documents. Liberal MPs filibustered. In a pandemic, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner noted, the government wont disclose documents on things such as vaccines and procurement of personal protective equipment.

At the defence committee, Liberal MPs have blocked efforts to have the chief aide to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan testify. On Monday, opposition MPs presented a motion requiring the committee to present a final report to the House of Commons by June 9. Liberals filibustered.

In the procedure and house affairs committee, theres a double dose of hypocrisy. There, MPs are conducting an inquiry into Mr. Trudeaus reasons for proroguing Parliament in August, which upended the progress of bills and committee studies, like inquiries into the WE Charity affair. (The Commons ethics committee, after many hours of delays, is supposed to report on a revived WE study this week.)

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The funny thing is that the committee is studying prorogation because, back in the 2015 election, Mr. Trudeau criticizing Mr. Harper for being unaccountable promised prime ministers would have to explain their reasons for proroguing.

The government has provided written reasons, but opposition MPs, believing it had more to do with cutting off parliamentary scrutiny, pushed for Mr. Trudeau to appear in person to explain it. Liberal MPs filibustered for months. The Liberals were using stall tactics to cut off a study of stall tactics, to avoid Mr. Trudeau having to explain the thing he promised that PMs would have to explain.

I am aware there is a certain crushing irony, said New Democrat MP Daniel Blaikie.

But finally, there is now a little hope of movement at that committee. Mr. Trudeau probably still wont testify, but maybe there will be enough co-operation so MPs can actually write their report about prorogation. Theres an election bill the Liberals want to pass before summer, and it has to go through that committee.

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Liberals seek to run out the clock on parliamentary disclosure - The Globe and Mail