Elizabeth May first gained my respect by trying her damnedest to slow down the first of Harper's omnibus sell-out budgets, knowing she couldn't win, but hoping the public might wake up. She even proposed alternatives, but of course the Harperites wouldn't hear of altering one word of that assault on democracy and abuse of parliament.She stands up for what she believes is right, not profitable or politically expedient. She actually tries to defend our poor wounded country's institutions and is willing to work cooperatively for the common good.
She is the only living, sitting politician that I can say is truly admirable.
The following are two articles from her
website. Once again she is trying to stop Harper's abuse of power and offering possible ways to improve things. All Harper, along with the NDP and Liberals too much of the time, can do is attack and tear down. He does nothing constructive.
If some miracle happened and May became leader of a combination of Green, Liberals, and NDP, what a country we could have.
Canadian democracy – pulse found!
On Thursday, May 9th, 2013
The
essence of Westminster Parliamentary democracy is that all MPs,
including the Prime Minister, are equal, all are elected to represent
their constituents, and that, even though a Prime Minister with a
majority government can gather up all the levers of power, the
Parliament is ultimately supreme. All of this relates to Canada’s other
distinguishing feature—that we are a constitutional monarchy. None of
this applies to the US system of government, in which checks and
balances prevail and the Executive is directly elected.
Parliamentary
democracy in Canada has been on the ropes for awhile. The Prime
Minister does not act as ‘first among equals’, but increasingly like a
Roman Emperor. The Prime Minister and his cabinet do not respect
principles of the supremacy of Parliament, but act in arrogant and
unaccountable ways—denying Parliament key information, even information
as essential to good government as basic background to fiscal decisions.
Fundamental
to these dangerous trends is the rise in control of MPs by political
parties. The political party overlay on Westminster parliamentary
democracy is a relatively new and growing phenomenon. Not until the late
1960s did the name of the candidates’ political party appear on the
ballot. Simultaneous with that development, the Elections Act was
amended to require the leader’s signature to verify that a candidate was
properly from the party claimed. A seemingly innocuous change has led
to the ability of leaders of political parties to use the threat, that
nomination papers will not be signed, to keep their MPs in line.
And
the role of leaders of parties has started to ape the US system to such
an extent that federal (and provincial) election campaigns are run as
though the ballot choice was the election of a Prime Minister (or
Premier). We do not elect Prime Ministers in Canada, but this confusion
is undermining the essence of representative democracy.
Compounding
these trends, which to greater or lesser degree pre-date Stephen
Harper’s administration, we now have the political arm of the Prime
Minister’s Office (PMO) reaching into previously off-limit areas. The
PMO operatives are bullying the civil service into corrupting the policy
making process with blatant spin and doctoring of evidence.
When
Kevin Page, Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), spoke on
April 4 at a Green Party sponsored lecture at UVic (well worth watching
in its entirety on Youtube: http://www.andrewjweaver.ca/video_an_evening_with_kevin_page),
he noted that ‘every Parliamentary institution is under assault.’ His
two take-away messages: that the control of the public purse must return
to the House, and that decisions must be based on evidence.
The Court Ruling
For
a while, knowledgeable commentators have taken to pondering if Canadian
democracy has a pulse. Then on April 22 and 23, two unrelated events
took place, quickening the pulse of Canadian democracy.
The first
was the ruling of the Federal Court of Canada on the lawsuit launched by
the PBO. Kevin Page refused to accept the refusal of the Clerk of Privy
Council, shamefully telling the PBO that none of what he wanted was
available; accepting commands from the PMO and denying that the impacts
of the falling of the axe must be transparent to MPs and to Canadians.
And
so Kevin Page went to court. The court ruled that the PBO was within
its mandate to request information about the impact of the cuts in the
2012 budget. The Federal Court confirmed the supremacy of Parliament,
the right of each MP to have access to information: about where the
budget cuts landed and what effect they have on government programmes.
In fact, the court ruled this information should be available to any
back-bencher.
Thanks to Kevin Page, the right of any MP, and the
PBO itself, to access documentation about government finances has been
confirmed. The court went on to find that Page had not fully demanded
the information after the clerk said he couldn’t have the information.
So, on that technicality, it might appear Page lost. But the right to
access that information has led the acting PBO to demand the
information.
The SO31 ‘Game’ – Not
The very next day, the
Speaker ruled on a recent complaint by Mark Warawa, Conservative MP from
Langley, BC. To understand his complaint, you need to know that for 15
minutes every day in the House of Commons, there is something called
Members statements (under Standing Order 31, so sometimes called
“SO31s”). An SO31 allows a member 60 seconds to make an uninterrupted
statement. They are usually about events in the riding, or eulogies for
recently departed local heroes. Lately, the Conservatives have mis-used
the opportunity for prepared attacks on the NDP claiming they want a $21
billion carbon tax.
Each party whip coordinates which MPs are
going to make their SO31s. Apparently, the Conservative whip also vets
(and censors) the statements. One day, Mark Warawa was told his
statement was unacceptable and his chance to speak was withdrawn. He did
something unprecedented in the life of Mr. Harper’s reign. He
complained to the Speaker.
Over a few weeks, many MPs supported
the complaint, making the case that MPs have the right of free speech.
Of course, I spoke in support of Warawa’s complaint, but so did about 7
other Conservative MPs.
The Chief Government Whip argued that the
Speaker was a mere ‘referee’ and that the party leader and his
operatives were like the coach with the right to decide which players to
play.
On April 23, Speaker Scheer’s ruling supported the right of
free speech. He completely rejected the sports metaphor and confirmed
that only the Speaker has the right to recognize MPs. The convention of
the party whips in giving the Speaker a list of MPs to call on was only
adopted to assist a previous speaker who had difficulty remembering
names (or so goes the story).
The Speaker’s ruling confirmed the
absolute right of Members of Parliament to free speech. And it is the
duty of the Speaker to maximize that right of free speech. The Speaker,
similar to the PBO court ruling, went on to find that Mark Warawa had
not tried to speak, by catching the speaker’s eye and trying to get the
floor. As such, the Speaker found his rights had not been infringed.
Nevertheless,
two rulings, back to back have confirmed the absolute right of free
speech and of the right of all MPs to have fiscal information essential
to the role of the Parliament as a whole to govern.
We have a pulse!
Elizabeth May Tables Bill Targeting Excessive Party Discipline
On Thursday, May 2nd, 2013
Green Leader Elizabeth May held a press conference today on her new Private Member’s Bill called An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (local endorsement of candidate).
“On
this day, two years ago, I was elected as Saanich-Gulf Islands’ Member
of Parliament. In two years, I have seen the noxious effect of party
discipline on our democracy,” said May.
The Bill amends the Canada
Elections Act to require that, where a political party has an electoral
district association in a riding, a prospective candidate for the
riding must have their nomination papers signed by the chief executive
officer and by one board member of the electoral district association in
order to stand as that party’s candidate.
Currently, the Canada
Elections Act requires the leader of a political party or their
designated representative to sign the nomination papers for a
prospective candidate.
“The law now gives party leaders the power
to refuse to allow a sitting MP to be a candidate for that party in a
future election. It has become an undemocratic tool for discipline and
control over MPs,” said May.
“We recently witnessed the attempts
of brave members of the Conservative caucus to assert their speaking
rights. It is time to loosen party discipline and curb the ‘team
mentality’ of which Gordon O’Connor was so proud,” said the Green
Leader.
“With this in mind, I have put forward a legislative
solution to end the current climate of fear in caucuses and ensure that
MPs are not subject to the harsh sanction of being thrown out of caucus
and denied the chance to stand for their constituency due to a leader’s
ire,” concluded May.