Outwardly, opposition MPs say they are disappointed but not surprised by Tuesday’s ruling, but behind the scenes, some members of Parliament are angry.
They believe Scheer, Parliament’s judge and referee, is favouring the Conservatives. The question is whether this anger will bubble to the surface as it did in Nova Scotia in 2010.
Tuesday’s ruling involved Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, who tried to use his right as an MP to seek information from the government.
Cotler asked in writing how many groups the Finance Department consulted as it wrote up the budget. The department responded saying it met with “countless” organizations.
The response was a non-answer, Cotler said as he asked the Speaker to step in because he said refusing to answer his question breached his rights as an MP.
“If this were allowed as a response, it would make a mockery of our written questions process,” argued Cotler.
But Scheer refused to intervene. He ruled the government had provided an answer, said it wasn’t his role to determine how accurate or appropriate the answer was.
It was another disheartening ruling for the opposition. In just the past two weeks, Scheer rejected Green Party Leader Elizabeth May’s attempt to limit the scope of the omnibus budget bill and declared out of order an NDP motion that would have forced the government to stop stonewalling the parliamentary budget office.
Scheer is the Conservative MP for Regina-Qu’Appelle but must be impartial in his role as Speaker. This impartiality is so enshrined that House rules say the actions of the Speaker “may not be criticized in debate or by any means” unless an official motion is moved against the Speaker.
Because of this, criticizing the Speaker is deeply taboo. But some opposition MPs say there is a widespread belief he is under the influence of Conservative House Leader Peter van Loan.
“He’s got the robes and the ranch, but van Loan makes the rules,” one MP said.
The MP said Scheer was given the benefit of the doubt until he ruled last fall that Cotler did not have his privileges breached by Conservative calls to his riding that falsely said he would retire.
Others disagree, and say the jury is still out.
NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen and Liberal House Leader Marc Garneau said Tuesday that they have full confidence in Scheer.
But interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae has pushed the bar in recent weeks with some light criticism of the Speaker.
In Nova Scotia, the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives went into outright revolt against then provincial Speaker Charlie Parker in late 2010.
Parker had repeatedly blocked opposition questions, sparking them to publicly declare they had lost confidence in him. Shortly after, Parker resigned as Speaker to join the NDP cabinet.
He was replaced by Gordie Gosse, a gruff but well-liked NDP MLA from Cape Breton.
Federal Liberals in particular were wary about Scheer, who they saw as “Harper’s boy.” They tried to prevent him from becoming Speaker.
Speakers are elected through an anonymous poll of MPs. There were six Conservatives and one NDP Member up for the nomination. One person is knocked off after each round of voting.
The vote came down to Scheer, veteran Conservative MP Lee Richardson and NDP MP Denise Savoie.
The Liberals lobbied the NDP to back Richardson, who they saw as the better candidate. With the Conservative caucus divided, a united opposition could have pushed one candidate to victory.
The NDP largely ignored the Liberals. Richardson was knocked off the ballot and a united Conservative caucus lifted Scheer to victory over Savoie.
One NDP MP said the Liberals went “ballistic” after the vote, but the NDP saw little advantage to Richardson over Scheer and preferred to support one of their own.
Original Article
Source: the chronicle herald
Author: PAUL McLEOD
No comments:
Post a Comment