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In a statement to the press Leader of the Opposition Michael Ignatieff claimed that this is the first time that a committee has ever produced a report of the government being in contempt of Parliament. I would not claim to be an expert on Canadian political history, but as far as I know he is right. We are treading on an unprecedented path.
The next step is for the House of Commons to debate and then vote on a motion of contempt. If the House finds the government in contempt then the issue will be put to the people of Canada in a general election. It will be up to the Canadian people to decide how much they care. In a way, if the motion passes the resulting election would be a referendum on Parliament itself.
Conservative MPs were quick to blame partisan politics for the report produced by a committee dominated by the opposition. There may be an element of truth to that, there may be a lot of truth to that, and there may be no truth to that. It is impossible to be certain really; it is not easy to guess the motives of strangers. But at the end of the day if this was merely a matter of partisan politics it wouldn’t have gotten this far.
Parliament as an institution has been in decline for generations. The most obvious culprit is the Prime Minister’s Office. There has not been a Prime Minister in decades that has not increased the power of the PMO at the expense of Parliament (and Cabinet). I have my own theories about why the public and Parliamentarians have allowed the Prime Minister to become so powerful, but that is a topic for another post. The more pressing issue now is if Parliament is relevant enough for the public to want to save it.
If the government is returned with roughly equal strength then any illusion that Parliament can hold the government to account will be vanquished. It will be demonstrated once and for all that even a minority government can flaunt the rules of Parliament without any consequences. Parliamentarians will be proven to be impotent and pointless, mere functionaries of the political party apparatus.
I don’t really want the Liberals to win the next election and any of my regular readers won’t be surprised if I say I don’t want the Conservatives to win either. I want Parliament to win though, because Parliament is still an institution worth saving. It is the primary vehicle in which we check the power of the executive and put a restraint on the accesses of government. Without a Parliament that can stand up for it self, our very liberties will become vulnerable.
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9 comments:
This contempt nonsense reflects far more badly on the Liberals than on any other party. Pat Martin gets the worst hit of any individual reputations. If the contempt label couldn't be appied to the Liberals for Adscam, what good is the contempt process?
The fact that this mess has got this far is better understood by accepting two very real points.
The first is a simple pragmatic counting of votes. The opposition has more.
The second and more serious issue is that there is no basic code of behavior that is subscribed to in the commons. The rule of Machiavellian dirty tricks trumps everything. It is this lack of both veracity and ethics that makes this scheme by the coalition so dangerous.
melwilde
Are you kidding me!We know this is a pure show,look no further then Pat Martin,what a joke.
Jeff,
You are confusing the issue. Adscam wasn't a violation of Parliamentary rules nor was it part of a conflict between the executive and legislative branches. It was purely an abuse of power. In this case Parliament and the public actually did a good job of holding the government to account.
Anon,
It would not have gotten this far if the Speaker of the House hadn't made the ruling he did. Given his reputation and the fact that he is retiring I doubt that he is guilty of playing a partisan game.
mike d,
I am not denying that there is a partisan game involved here, but that isn't the issue. Parliament as an institution has traditionally been able to restrain the executive. Regardless what you think of the particular issue, the greater issue is that ability to restrain.
I think the fact that the Speaker is retiring is exactly why he made this partisan ruling.
Hugh, I'm a big fan of Canada's parliamentary traditions and institutions, and I say that so that you won't think my next comment intends any disrespect to our great heritage. What the Liberals did with Adscan is contemptible in every way. What the Conservatives did to deserve "contempt of parliament" just feels arcane in comparison. And it feels manufactured by the opposition. And people can see that for what it is.
Jeff,
Parliament asked for cost estimates and the government said no. That is not arcane. That goes to the heart of what Parliament is meant to do.
Hugh, you're right. The Liberals and their coalition allies have been successful in engineering contempt of parliament against the Conservatives. Would you agree with me that Jean Chretien swatted away similar opposition requests?
I don't know of a particular example but I will take your word for it that past Liberal governments have behaved in a similar way. But just because they got away with murder doesn't mean that the Conservatives should. In fact if past governments had gotten away with it, that just demonstrates that Parliament has truly been degraded.
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