Tuesday, November 14, 2006
"More importantly, though, I have realized that party politics - not just this party - is the problem."
In keeping with my recent (but not *that* recent - sorry about the prolonged absence) role as head of the Edmonton chapter of the Garth Turner Fan Club, I have to say that his announcement today is significant, for the following reasons:
1. It marks the first time at least in my lifetime that an independent MP has committed to exploiting his/her role to the maximum of his/her ability. Chuck Cadman, admirable character though he was, only ever wanted to continue as an Alliance/Conservative MP, a privelege of which he was robbed by a meeting hall full of insta-Conservatives. Carolyn Parrish continued to behave as a Liberal (that's capital L) even after being kicked out of caucus. Pat O'Brien's move to independent status represented nothing more than a protest against the Martin government's policy (if a policy it can be called) on gay marriage. John Nunziata searched around quietly for a new home after leaving the Liberals. David Kilgour was close, but he only took up life as an independent once he'd already decided to retire from public life. And I'm still not clear on what, exactly, André Arthur hopes to accomplish in Ottawa. But Garth Turner's aiming to show that, contrary to popular opinion, independent MPs can matter every bit as much as partisan backbenchers (this is known as "damnation by faint praise").
2. It marks the first time in recent memory that an MP has taken it upon himself to make a serious attempt to strengthen the role of MPs vis-à-vis the party, by moving a private members bill to give independents places on Parliamentary committees and to broaden their capacity to fund raise. The mini-revolt staged by Liberal MPs during the waning days of the Chrétien era (when Parliament voted to have committee chairs elected by secret ballot, effectively breaking party leadership's control over such matters) was nice, but this is far more substantial.
3. It is, so far as I can tell, the first time I've seen an MP argue that democratic reform is not exactly synonymous with proportional representation. By suggesting that what matters are individual MPs and their relationships with their constituents, Garth Turner is implicitly arguing (correctly) that PR as generally conceived would be hurtful to democracy. I'm forced to believe that many of his colleagues agree with him, or we'd have seen some sort of movement towards PR, but this is the most seriously PR has been challenged on the federal scene for as long as I can remember. I may yet live to see the day that a candidate saying nasty things about PR can expect the same sort of cheering section at election forums as those saying nice things about it now receive.
After Turner was kicked out of caucus, I found myself quietly speculating that he might wind up as this decade's most important backbench MP. If he pushes this as hard as he can, I think that title will be assured (especially if his private member's bill's number is drawn - I'd like to hear the parties' arguments against it).
Garth Turner's still wrong on tax reform, on the environment (though not *as* wrong as his former colleagues are), and on a host of other issues. But it's about damned time that at least one of our democratically-elected representatives was right about democracy.
Give 'em grief, Garth.
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In keeping with my recent (but not *that* recent - sorry about the prolonged absence) role as head of the Edmonton chapter of the Garth Turner Fan Club, I have to say that his announcement today is significant, for the following reasons:
1. It marks the first time at least in my lifetime that an independent MP has committed to exploiting his/her role to the maximum of his/her ability. Chuck Cadman, admirable character though he was, only ever wanted to continue as an Alliance/Conservative MP, a privelege of which he was robbed by a meeting hall full of insta-Conservatives. Carolyn Parrish continued to behave as a Liberal (that's capital L) even after being kicked out of caucus. Pat O'Brien's move to independent status represented nothing more than a protest against the Martin government's policy (if a policy it can be called) on gay marriage. John Nunziata searched around quietly for a new home after leaving the Liberals. David Kilgour was close, but he only took up life as an independent once he'd already decided to retire from public life. And I'm still not clear on what, exactly, André Arthur hopes to accomplish in Ottawa. But Garth Turner's aiming to show that, contrary to popular opinion, independent MPs can matter every bit as much as partisan backbenchers (this is known as "damnation by faint praise").
2. It marks the first time in recent memory that an MP has taken it upon himself to make a serious attempt to strengthen the role of MPs vis-à-vis the party, by moving a private members bill to give independents places on Parliamentary committees and to broaden their capacity to fund raise. The mini-revolt staged by Liberal MPs during the waning days of the Chrétien era (when Parliament voted to have committee chairs elected by secret ballot, effectively breaking party leadership's control over such matters) was nice, but this is far more substantial.
3. It is, so far as I can tell, the first time I've seen an MP argue that democratic reform is not exactly synonymous with proportional representation. By suggesting that what matters are individual MPs and their relationships with their constituents, Garth Turner is implicitly arguing (correctly) that PR as generally conceived would be hurtful to democracy. I'm forced to believe that many of his colleagues agree with him, or we'd have seen some sort of movement towards PR, but this is the most seriously PR has been challenged on the federal scene for as long as I can remember. I may yet live to see the day that a candidate saying nasty things about PR can expect the same sort of cheering section at election forums as those saying nice things about it now receive.
After Turner was kicked out of caucus, I found myself quietly speculating that he might wind up as this decade's most important backbench MP. If he pushes this as hard as he can, I think that title will be assured (especially if his private member's bill's number is drawn - I'd like to hear the parties' arguments against it).
Garth Turner's still wrong on tax reform, on the environment (though not *as* wrong as his former colleagues are), and on a host of other issues. But it's about damned time that at least one of our democratically-elected representatives was right about democracy.
Give 'em grief, Garth.
