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Canadian Government Loses Vote, Stays in Office
In a parliamentary system, when a government loses on a major vote, it is customary for it to resign, and the nation has an election. There is no hard and fast rule over what constitutes a major issue, although budgets count as major whereas adjournments for lunch aren't. Otherwise, it is largely up to the government to decide when its credibility is sufficiently on the line to make a matter one of confidence. Earlier this week, the Canadian government lost a vote that the opposition claimed was a big deal, and the government claims it was not. It was, and Prime Minister Paul Martin should resign.
One doesn't need to know all the details of the never-ending scandal involving kickbacks to the ruling (minority) Liberal Party and government contracts to follow what happened. The government lost a vote 153-150 on the following as quoted in Paul Wells' blog at Maclean's website:
The First Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, presented on Thursday, October 28, 2004, be not now concurred in, but that it be recommitted to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts with instruction that it amend the same so as to recommend that the government resign because of its failure to address the deficiencies in governance of the public service addressed in the report.
In French, it may sound a bit different, but it clearly states that the government should resign, and this was endorsed by a majority of the Canadian House of Commons. Prime Minister Paul Martin has said he will let the opposition call a vote of "no confidence" next week over the budget. The opposition has told him "no" (or "non") and have chosen to start a campaign of non-cooperation (like skipping Committee meetings to prevent a quorum) for force a confidence vote now.
With 308 seats in the House of Commons, the 99 Conservatives and 54 Bloc Quebecois MPs are one shy of a majority. To win a confidence vote, Mr. Martin would need not only every one of the 132 Liberals but also all 19 New Democratic Party MPs and three independents. He's got one independent (Carolyn Parrish), but David Kilgour wants action on Darfur in exchange for his vote, and Chuck Cadman of British Columbia is a cancer patient (as are Tory MPs Dave Chatters and Darrel Stinson). When the government's ability to win a vote on policy depends on the other side losing votes to tumors, perhaps it should yield to the inevitable.
© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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