PUBLICATION:
The
DATE:
2004.12.11
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
Opinion Pages
PAGE:
F1
ILLUSTRATION:
photo
of ROGER GALLAWAY
BYLINE:
CHIP MARTIN, FREE PRESS COLUMNIST appears Saturdays.
COLUMN:
A WEEK IN POLITICS
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DEMOCRATIC
DEFICIT JUST GROWS DEEPER
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So
much for Prime Minister Paul Martin's talk of empowering backbench MPs.
It's
bullying as usual on Parliament Hill.
Just
ask Roger Gallaway, the maverick Liberal who represents Sarnia-Lambton.
A
year ago, Gallaway was excited about Martin's promise to enhance the role of
ordinary MPs and make the cabinet more accountable to them.
"It
will be a profound shift in culture," Gallaway said of the prospect of
backbenchers able to break free of the requirement they toe the party line on
all votes.
A
student of parliamentary procedure, he'd been unhappy at the trend toward
centralizing power in the Prime Minister's Office and in cabinet.
A
year later, however, it seems all the talk was just that.
Gallaway
tried to have the House of Commons vote on government spending estimates that
called for about an additional $80 million to continue the controversial
national firearms registry program, which has already consumed about $1 billion
in tax dollars.
He
said he supports a firearms program, but he can't back pumping more money into
this one when Canadians are no safer than before and many gun owners refuse to
comply with it.
"This
thing is out of control," Gallaway said, adding he was "simply
exercising a constitutional right" to vote on proposed government spending.
It's
what MPs are elected to do, after all.
But
he was criticized and some observers suggested he was promoting a non-confidence
vote.
Gallaway
scoffed, saying his motion dealt with an estimate, not an actual appropriation.
No non-confidence here, he said.
In
cabinet, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan was reported to have likened
Gallaway to Mississauga-area MP Carolyn Parrish, who was expelled from the
Liberal caucus after criticizing Martin.
Publicly,
McLellan linked Gallaway's plan to the 15th anniversary of the slaying of 14
women at
"I
would be disappointed if anyone (proposed scrapping the program) -- particularly
disappointed when that person comes from the government and the Liberal
Party," McLellan said.
She
used political correctness to correct Gallaway's politics. It was a convenient
gambit, but the underlying message was to toe the government line.
Days
later, Martin said his government will introduce legislation to legalize gay
weddings in civil ceremonies.
His
Liberal MPs are being told they can vote the way they want, but cabinet
ministers must back the plan.
The
message is clear: voting against Martin's plan will be career-ending for
ministers and, by implication, career-limiting for those who aspire to cabinet.
On
the firearms issue, Gallaway and Martin talked, but Gallaway later insisted the
prime minister didn't lean on him.
Martin
didn't need to; McLellan was doing his dirty work -- just as Martin supporters
worked so long to undermine his predecessor, Jean Chretien.
This
is the same Paul Martin who, upon becoming party leader and prime minister in
late 2003, unveiled his goals in a slick booklet entitled Making History: The
Politics of Achievement."
In
it, Martin addressed the need to reform democratic decision-making this way:
"The current system isn't good enough in
"In
effect, the command-and-control systems of centralized authority in
"Too
many Canadians have thus come to see MPs as the representatives of
Gallaway
said many of his constituents, good law-abiding people, are unhappy with the gun
registry and he was acting on their behalf.
Ultimately,
when it appeared his motion was doomed to fail, Gallaway withdrew it, lashing
out at those who don't share his concern for fiscal responsibility.
"I
just think there's a lot of stupid people on the front bench," he said,
referring to the Liberal cabinet.
Deputy
Conservative Leader Peter MacKay insisted Gallaway had "caved in" to
pressure from his party.
Gallaway
supporters such as Liberal MPs Paul Steckle of Huron-Bruce and Rose-Marie Ur of
Middlesex-Kent-Lambton were unavailable for comment, anxious apparently to stay
below Martin's radar.
The
only logical conclusion to draw from the Gallaway episode -- and the looming
same-sex marriage vote -- is dissent still isn't tolerated within the Liberal
party.
Culture
shift, indeed.