I've spent some time recently chronicling the saga of Canada's Parliament, and of Stephen Harper's Conservative Party, currently forming the government. Tonight, I want to tell you the latest, and talk about an unprecedented day in Canadian history, what it all means, and where we go from here.
Follow me below the fold for a tale of Parliamentary privilege and procedure, lying politicians and those unwilling to share information.
As this story from the Globe and Mail describes, today was an unprecedented day in Canadian political history. House of COmmons Speaker Peter Milliken ruled on two separate and distinct questions of parliamentary privilege, and in both cases, found the Government, and one of its Ministers in a prima facie breach.
The first case involved the story of Minister Bev Oda, the Minister for international Cooperation, responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency. This case which I outlined in my diary Canadian political scandal for dummies involved misleading Parliament and a House of Commons committee about a decision not to fund an international aid agency, Kairos. The Speaker's ruling indicated that there was enough doubt about the Minister's honesty to rule a breach of privilege exists. Therefore, he found a prima facie case of breach of privilege by Minister Oda, the necessary step before the House will determine if contempt of parliament has occurred.
This ruling, in itself, is relatively rare in Canada's history. Speakers are not often called upon to make such rulings, and even more rarely do they uphold the case.
In the OTHER ruling of the day, Speaker Milliken also ruled that there was a prima facie case that the Government had committed a breach of privilege in refusing to produce documentation regarding the projected costs of the government's crime bills, as well as the cost of Canada's participation in a joint procurement for F-35 fighters with the US Air Force. The Government had claimed that this was a Cabinet confidence, as these matters had been considered by the Government in their deliberations. In his ruling today, the Speaker ruled that their eventual partial disclosure was alarming, in that they did not even offer justification for refusing to release all the information requested. He upheld the Parliament's unfettered right to require the production of information and documentation from the Government.
So, what happens next? Now that the Speaker has ruled, the House has passed motions referring both cases to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to review, standard procedure in these cases. However, in both cases, time limits have been placed on when the committee must report its recommendations and findings. In the documentaiton case, that deadline is Monday March 21st, in the Oda case, March 25th. Once the committee has reported their recommendations, they will be put to a final vote in the House.
There are two other very important factors to consider here. The first is the minority status of the government, as Stephen Harper's COnservatives lack the majority of seats in the HOuse of Commons. This prevents them from unilaterally shooting down any sanctions issued by the committee. It also opens up the possibility of this becoming an issue of "confidence" in the House, which could lead to the Government falling, and an election being forced. The other important factor is the timing of the Federal Budget, another confidence vote in the government. The Minister of Finance is scheduled to present the Budget in the House of Commons on March 22nd, the day after the committee is required to return its report on the first contempt proceeding. Yes, timing is crucial here, as one rumour is that opposition parties would rather defeat the Government on an integrity issue than allow it to present a Budget which could include many "goodies" for its supporters.
Basically, Canada is in the middle of a "constitutional crisis" with its government teetering on the brink of defeat. This could have been easily avoided if the Government had respected parliamentary oversight, and maintained its integrity.
Stay tuned for more updates from me as this story unfolds.