"Reformers believe that the duty of elected members to their constituents should come before their obligation to their party."
– 56 Reasons Why You Should Support the Reform Party of Canada
The above quote was used as my byline for my April commentary which was entitled Muzzling our elected representatives.
With the recent resignation of MP Brent Rathgeber from the federal Conservative caucus, I would love to devote this column to a discussion of the rights, in fact, the obligations of an MP/MLA to speak out and support their constituents. I congratulate MP Rathgeber for standing on his principles but won’t write specifically on that topic since I have already expressed similar concerns in my previous article.
Let’s however look at the broader picture – the shambles in our federal parliament.
Firstly, it is actually somewhat ironic that the Conservative government proposed and passed Bill C-27 – the First Nations Financial Transparency Act which requires band councils to disclose the salaries and expenses of their leaders yet the Conservative caucus would not accept MP Rathgeber’s private member’s bill which would have required that the salaries of all civil servants earning over $188,000 in salary and expenses be published. The amendment to raise the ceiling on civil servant salaries and expenses to $444,000 makes Rathgeber’s bill almost meaningless.
We also have Senategate, where several senators have their fingers in the cookie jar, running up huge expense claims and filing for housing allowances where they aren’t allowed. Their very appointments are even in question based on the province they are supposed to represent. Now I’m not sure I agree with the rules but they are the rules. We all know that Mike Duffy came from Prince Edward Island and Pamela Wallin came from Saskatchewan, and they probably represent those provinces very well, but the fact is they haven’t resided in those provinces for most of their working careers. For all intents and purposes it could be argued that they represent Ontario.
Generally speaking, I believe that the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has provided a refreshing break from years of Liberal arrogance and scandal but they have created scandals and overspending of their own. The excessive spending on the Huntsville gazebo amongst other things, all supposedly for the G8, G20 summit was perhaps the first indication that this government was not accountable for the taxpayers’ dollar.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has certainly demonstrated his aptitude as a control freak which is fine if he has a plan, but the continual micromanaging is sometimes beyond belief.
The next federal election may be very interesting unless Harper’s party can turn things around in the next two years. If the Obama administration denies TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline application it could be a different scenario in 2015.
The current majority is not that wide and with the apparent popularity of Justin Trudeau and the parliamentary skills recently demonstrated by Thomas Mulcair anything could happen – we could easily be back to a minority government situation in Canada.
It will be very interesting to see what the pending cabinet shuffle will bring to the federal political arena. Will the Conservatives continue with their hateful attack ads? Will they be able to balance the budget in 2014 or 2015? Will they be able to put the current political turmoil to bed and get on with a more positive agenda? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
Ken Allred is a former alderman and MLA for St. Albert.
