In the hybrid system, a corporal’s guard of MPs from each party, masked and socially distanced, physically attended each day’s sitting while most members tuned in remotely from their homes, offices or wherever they happened to be. They were able to ask questions, to join debates and, once the bugs were out of the technology, to vote.
By the time MPs went home for the summer (and an anticipated election), they had become familiar, if not comfortable, with the changes born of necessity. Most seemed to feel the system had worked as well as could reasonably have been expected in such unprecedented circumstances. But there was no clamour to make the digital experience permanent.
Jenny Kwan, the NDP member for Vancouver East, said the hybrid system was “the best that we could do. There were times you would spend so much time getting everything functioning technically, and by the time you do, you have no time to do the actual work.”