Ruling lets hard-right Conservative backbenchers act out in House.
by Samantha Bayard
OTTAWA, April 23, 2013 (Straight Goods News) — The rebellious Conservative backbench got a boost today from House speaker Andrew Scheer's ruling on an appeal from anti-abortion Conservative MP Mark Warawa (Langley) who had complained his party whip was "muzzling" him.
Scheer explained that while he takes advice from party whips, he is not obligated to do so and can recognize an MP who stands up to speak at any time.
"The right to seek the floor at any time is the right of each individual Member of Parliament and is not dependent on any other Member of Parliament," said Scheer. "If members want to be recognized, they will have to actively demonstrate that they wish to participate. They have to rise in their places and seek the floor."
Nathan Cullen expects the Speaker's ruling to expose cracks in the Conservative caucus.
The ruling will expose more cracks in the government side of the House than the opposition. As NDP House leader Nathan Cullen said, "It put the onus back on their members that if they are being shut down by their party, if they seek to speak in the House in the future, the Speaker may recognize them."
"I’m not sure what to expect because the Speaker has clearly said to Mr Warawa and the others if they’re earnest in their determination to speak in the House of Commons during statements, he will afford them that opportunity if they rise."
Doing so, however, has obvious risks for MPs. "I would imagine with this type of Prime Minister and his level of control, if you see a number of Conservative backbenchers all rising against the wishes of their Whip and their House Leader and the Prime Minister then there would probably be other consequences within their party. But that’s for them to decide," said Cullen.
The Liberals would introduce a motion requiring the speaker to recognize MPs in alphabetical order by party and would allow them to switch the roster if they want to trade with others. "It’s our intention to bring a motion before the house that we think will offer a common sense modern way to democratize the House of Commons and let members speak their minds and speak to their constituents," said Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour).
Dominic LeBlanc supports the Liberal motion on member statements.
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said the Liberal motion isn’t useful. "It changes nothing. But, you know, if the idea is of making it clear that the order is not something predetermined by others, we have no problem with that. But, frankly, the person who drafted that doesn’t know a lot about procedure in the House of Commons. That’s exactly what parties do now," said Mulcair.
About Samantha Bayard
Samantha Bayard is a young journalist living and working out of Ottawa. She has been a contributor to the Straight Goods News family of websites since 2009. She is an avid cyclist and lover of animals.
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