Conservatives are strangely silent over the Emerson-Fortier affair. Shame. Still, there are some conservative voices speaking out.
“We think it’s inappropriate simply because parliamentary oversight is an essential component of representative democracy. Just as you can’t have taxation without representation, you shouldn’t be able to have spending tax dollars without representation.” Adam Taylor, Director of Research, Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation
I am a democrat who believes everyone in the House of Commons, including the cabinet members who make up the government, should be elected. They should sit in Parliament as they were elected. If they decide to change parties, they should go and get re-elected.
It would be a great idea for Mr. Emerson to do that, and hopefully he will decide thatâs the right course of action. Given his new high-profile and powerful position, one would expect voters would be impressed enough to elect him as a Conservative. But maybe not. Thatâs their choice.Garth Turner, Conservative Member of Parliament
Turner sums up the issue nicely for me ”Anybody who switches parties should go back to the people. To do otherwise is to place politicians above the people when, actually, it’s the other way around.”
Why, I wonder, is it so hard to find Conservative MP’s or party insiders willing to speak out, on record? Unfortunately its not at all hard to find “conservatives” who are willing to look the other way.
Breaking Policies, Breaking Promises
Today lets dig in a little deeper as to why some Conservatives are up in arms over the Emerson and Fortier cabinet and senate/cabinet appointments.
One has to think back over the history of political conservatism in Canada to really appreciate the anger some Conservatives feel. It might surprise the left-er side of politics in Canada, but within my party are a large number of true democrats – those that believe principle and process are more important than power itself, for what is power without principle?
Principle – its an old-fashioned notion, but one many Conservatives subscribe to, and one that all Conservatives ought to aspire to.
The appointments of Fortier and Emerson go against the very essence of what the Conservative Party purports to define itself as – an ethical force in Canadian politics. These appointments are offensive to many members of the party who hail from the founding parties – Reform / Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative parties. Over the course of many years, Canadian conservatives worked on developing policy proposals designed to bring ethics, accountability and improved democracy back to Canadian politics. At local and regional policy meetings, and at national policy conventions, thousands of conservative Canadians drafted, refined, amended and voted for these policies.
Unfortunately, Prime Minister Harper, himself an early Reformer and leader of the Canadian Alliance and now Conservative Party of Canada, in his very first official act of leading the country has chosen to ignore principle and ignore the will and spirit of the party.
Broken Policies
What Mr. Harper has done is violate the trust of democrats within the Conservative party and has broken in whole or in part 4 established party policies (ratified at the March 2005 policy conference):
2. Ministerial Accountability – a fundamental component of Parliamentary government is Ministerial accountability to Parliament.
[While “technically” the Minister remains accountable for their actions, being unavailable for Question Period goes against a long established parliamentary tradition—one which also serves as one of the few sometimes unscripted opportunities for the public to see what politicians are doing.
The new Minister of Public Works does not sit in the House of Commons, and at present, doesn’t even sit in the Senate.
Fundamentally this policy has been broken, for true accountability comes at the ballot box and this person has not been elected, chose not to run of his own accord, and for all we know, won’t run again.]
7. Free Votes – A Conservative Government will restore democratic accountability in the House of Commons by allowing free votes.
[The Minister of Public Works will not be able to cast a vote in the House of Commons, denying Canadians the right to understand where this individual stands on all issues of the day, not just those over which his Ministry has control. This is of legitimate concern to all Canadians, since as the Minister acts as a full member of Cabinet, his point of view will be expressed in conjunction with all matters which Cabinet considers, not just the matters which affect his Ministry. Voters did not elect this person to represent any view on any matter.]
9. Senate Reform – will support the election of senators
[Stephen Harper’s first action of his prime ministership – appoint an unelected senator and then grant that person a cabinet position.
Lets not forget to mention that the appointee wasn’t even running in this election and is a highly visible party insider to which Stephen Harper is owed a debt for past service. Now that’s accountability even the Liberals can be proud of (and Conservatives would, rightfully so, howl to the moon if another party tried this dandy trick).]
15. Reform of the Federation i) ... the need to alleviate the alienation felt by the citizens of the West
[Yet Harper decided to appoint a Liberal as a Conservative cabinet minister, when voters in that riding overwhelmingly rejected the Conservative candidate in elections held only two weeks ago. 82% of the voters in Vancouver Kingsway voted against a Conservative candidate; since the tempest started, two polls (Ipsos Reid, The Mustel Group) have been held in the province, one of which targeted Vancouver Kingsway voters specifically.
Each poll clearly underscored the anger felt in British Columbia. Vancouver Kingsway respondents had this to say: 76% would not vote for David Emerson as a Conservative candidate; two-thirds said they were in favour of an immediate by-election.
Mr. Harper’s reaction to the controversy which he caused?
"I expected some of the superficial criticism I've seen," Mr. Harper told The Vancouver Sun in an interview.
Mr. Harper might believe the criticism to be superficial while sitting back there in his comfy office in the Langevin Block, but no doubt he’d react differently if he saw the cross-partisan anger here on the ground. Western (or more accurately ‘Canadian’) alienation – yes, what Stephen Harper has done has helped set back respect for government almost as much as Trudeau’s famous finger.
Broken Promise
In addition to substantially breaking 4 party policies, Mr. Harper also broke a specific campaign promise he made. On January 12th, in a televised french-language one on one interview on Radio-Canada, Stephen Harper was asked (paraphrased from the translation):
Q: What if your party is unsuccessful in electing members from the Montreal area? What will you do? Will you appoint someone to cabinet to represent Montreal?
Stephen Harper, smiling as he replied: “No. Cabinet positions should only be filled from the ranks of elected parliamentarians.”
Source: Radio-Canada – visit the January 12th link on the calendar, the relevant portion of the interview is approximately 43.45 into the interview.
Link to interview (CBC English language service has a short clip highlighting this too)
Promise made, promise broken.
For many years both Reform/CA and the Progressive Conservative parties worked diligently while out of power to craft policies and strategies designed to enhance the legitimacy of our democracy, to reduce the so-called “democratic deficit” we observed under a Liberal government in power too long, to improve government accountability and to get Canadians engaged with their system of government again.
Instead, on the first day of Stephen Harper’s government, Canadians have been again reminded why they mistrust those who govern.
Shame.