Corey Hogan

Opinion Our most visible accountability tool has drifted from its purpose. Parliament should use the Standing Orders debate to fix it. Liberal MP Corey Hogan rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press) Like (I’d wager) most Canadians, question period was not part of my daily diet before being elected to the House of Commons in April last year.

Recently, it was reported that the Government of Canada set a target to reduce program spending by 15% over three years. That’s a big target. But it’s possible. I know, because I led a team that did that at the Government of Alberta. Before I was an MP, before I worked in higher education, I was a public servant. From 2016 through 2020, I served as head of Alberta’s cross-government communications department, Communications and Public Engagement (CPE).

Internal correspondences obtained through FOIP show that in the weeks leading up to the May 9 pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Calgary, administration worked to ensure it wouldn’t be permitted. On April 29, the university issued a directive, which isn’t publicly accessible, that explicitly prohibited encampments and overnight protests, despite a long history of overnight encampment protests at UCalgary.