Commons committee finds government in contempt, could trigger election
Posted March 21, 2011 12:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A House of Commons committee has passed a report recommending the Harper government be found in contempt of Parliament.
But the minority Conservatives may yet dodge a formal finding of contempt before an election, which could be triggered by votes related to Tuesday’s budget or a Liberal non-confidence motion on Friday.
The committee’s 12-page report is to be tabled in the Commons later today and, ordinarily, MPs would be asked Thursday whether they concur with it.
With all three opposition parties in agreement, there is no doubt the report would be adopted, making the Harper government the first in Canadian — or Commonwealth — history to be found in contempt.
However, the government has some procedural tricks up its sleeve that could postpone a vote on the report for a week or more. It has larded the order paper with eight other reports that may need to be dealt with first.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin said it won’t make any difference if the Tories use a procedural trick to avoid an inevitable citation for contempt.
“I think that damage has been done,” Martin said in an interview.
“If they dodge the bullet by procedural stunts, they’re still gonna wear contempt.”
The report condemns the government for refusing to fully disclose cost estimates for its tough-on-crime agenda, corporate tax cuts and plans to purchase stealth fighter jets. It does not recommend any sanctions be imposed.
The contempt finding “is sanction on its own,” said NDP MP Yvon Godin.
Tory MP Tom Lukiwski served notice that the his party’s committee members will file a minority report.
He called the opposition’s majority report “nothing more than a political statement.”
“We the government fundamentally and profoundly disagree.”
If the government successfully delays adoption of the report in the Commons, it will force the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois to decide if they want to trigger an election before formally finding the government in contempt. A contempt citation would be a potent cudgel with which to beat the Tories during a campaign.
Liberal finance critic Scott Brison said the government will only be proving its disrespect for Parliament if it tries to avoid a formal finding of contempt.
“Clearly, the Harper regime will do everything it can to escape accountability,” he said, noting that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has suspended Parliament twice in the past to avoid being held to account.
“So we can expect any level of dirty tricks and shenanigans to try to escape accountability this time. We would hope, however, that the Harper government would learn from the work of this committee and from the Speaker’s ruling that it has to start respecting Parliament.”
The committee is separately considering a possible contempt citation against International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda for misleading Parliament. It is to consider a draft report on that issue Tuesday and report to the Commons by Friday.
The contempt issue went to the procedure and House affairs committee after Speaker Peter Milliken delivered a historic double rebuke to the government earlier this month.
Milliken ruled that Parliament has an absolute and unlimited right to demand documentation from the government.
He said the Harper government fell short of meeting MP demands for material on cost projections for a sheaf of legislation.
As the committee began its deliberations last week, the government delivered thick binders of documents on the cost implications of its various crime bills. Opposition MPs dismissed the 11th hour delivery as too little, too late.
Milliken also ruled that Oda breached parliamentary privilege by providing confusing and misleading explanations for an altered document that denied funding to a church-based international relief agency.
The document contained the addition of a handwritten “not” which reversed a bureaucratic endorsement of the funding.
Oda originally said she didn’t know who added the word “not.” She told the committee last week it was done by her chief of staff and apologized for the unintentional confusion.
Her explanation got short shrift from opposition MPs who signalled their intention to find her in contempt as well.
