MPs the guardians of responsible government

My latest in the Guelph Mercury.
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This year, like the last, has so far been a big one for Canadian democracy.

Not in the sense that said democracy has generated particularly sensible legislation — surely you’ve seen the deficit projections — but rather that the Canadian parliamentary system has itself been reaffirmed, on the advice of political expediency.

It all began with what, at the time, must have seemed like a good idea. The Conservative government’s pitch to eliminate public financing for political parties was designed to nail a closed-for-business sign to the front door of Liberal party headquarters. The Tories’ massive fundraising advantage would have transformed the next federal election campaign from a communications war into a communications genocide, and with that, Conservative ascendancy would have become Conservative hegemony.

Spark begat fire, and Canada was soon poised for mixed ministry — that is, coalition — government; the first of three recent events to reacquaint Canadians with their parliamentary democracy.

Mixed ministry government

Coalition government has a stunted and inauspicious record in the Canadian context. Absent the pre-Confederation Great Coalition of reformers, blues and liberal-conservatives, the only mixed ministry to take power federally was that of Robert Borden’s Union government of Tories, Liberals and Independents. The Union government fell apart after the First World War.

The closest thing to coalition government since that time was when the Trudeau-led Liberals were propped up by an accord with the NDP between 1972 and 1974, though no ministries were awarded the latter.

But what makes this latest round of coalition-building especially remarkable is that the notion wasn’t even floated until well after the election cycle.

Notwithstanding the protestations of certain Conservative spin-masters and erstwhile strategists, the power of the executive can change hands whenever a viable alternative government is ready to take the helm.

The Liberal-NDP coalition, though stillborn, was a reminder to Canadians that parliamentary government is a fluid and dynamic and organic exercise; and that it is a process driven by members of Parliament.

Choosing a leader

Speaking of which. Michael Ignatieff’s accession to the helm of Canada’s so-called natural governing party was, in a throwback to the days before massive party conventions, orchestrated by his Liberal caucus colleagues.

Though it may be fun for anti-Liberals to feign incredulity at the elitism of it all, it is profoundly democratic for a parliamentary caucus to fashion a leader of its choosing, and it was refreshing to witness.

For a party to select its leader by way of caucus consensus makes the leader more accountable to the too-often powerless MPs of his own party, placing elected members of Parliament before the unelected partisans who dominate large party conventions.

Ignatieff’s rise to the top is more legitimate because it was driven by caucus, not less so.

Conscience before party

What’s more, the new caucus-centric Liberal party has shown in recent days that party unity can be ultimately underlined — not undermined — by the dictates of flexibility and prudence.

Ignatieff permitted the six Newfoundland and Labrador MPs in his caucus to vote against the most recent Conservative budget and was widely panned for it. His critics charged that the “one-time” dispensation amounted to a failure of leadership.

The truth is, Ignatieff skilfully pegged three birds with the same stone by indulging the Newfoundland dissenters.

First, the new Liberal leader preserved the moral support of his caucus. That’s the stuff successful premierships are made of.

Second, placing a tangible asterisk over the Liberals’ support for the budget was a good way to meaningfully criticize Tory stewardship of dominion-provincial relations and the economy. Stéphane Dion’s repetitious remonstrations rang hollow because they bore no democratic content; this one does.

And from the perspective of electoral strategy, the Liberals are wise to postpone a bid for power until the economy’s vital signs start improving.

No need to confuse the electorate as to which party drowned, in a vast pool of red ink, the sacred cow of balanced budgets.

This past year’s political calendar has been positively studded with intriguing parliamentary manoeuvre. The would-be coalition, the selection of a new Liberal leader by that party’s caucus, and the willingness of Ignatieff to permit a bloc of MPs to vote according to conscience, all point to one important principle: the primacy of members of Parliament.

After all, members of Parliament are the raw material of parliamentary democracy. They are the fulcrum around which our system operates, and they are the guardians of responsible government.

And they just might be staging a rally.

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Matt Bondy, a former member of the Mercury’s Community Editorial Board, is a graduate student and writer living in Waterloo. He invites your correspondence at m.j.bondy@gmail.com.