Conservatives Found in Contempt of Parliament
Harper’s Conservatives have distinguished themselves as the first government in Canadian history (and Commonwealth history) to be found in contempt of parliament. Actually there were two findings of contempt and almost a third. Considering all of the games the Conservatives have played with parliament over the last several years, and their repeated lack of cooperation with the rest of the democratically elected members, this is not surprising.
Other than the resulting election, it’s unclear how this finding can truly impact a change in our procedure for dealing with the Conservatives’ abuses. This finding ought to be a serious call on Canadians to remove this government from the power it has perpetually mishandled.The issues behind the contempt findings are two-fold but based on the same problem: the Conservatives wouldn’t release the proper information to parliament concerning costs of Conservative crime bills and the desired purchase of F-35 fighter jets. The CBC explained (21 March 2011)1
“The dispute between the Conservatives and the opposition parties over the cost estimates has been dragging on since the fall of 2010.
The original request to the government, asking to see detailed cost breakdowns for the jets and on the impact of corporate tax cuts and crime bills on the federal treasury, came from the Commons finance committee….
The opposition argued that once a government announces its intentions publicly, on bills or other matters, the information is no longer protected by cabinet confidence.
It continued to push the Conservatives for the estimates, and some were provided on Feb.17, but the dispute ended up in the hands of Speaker Peter Milliken.
He ruled there appeared to be a breach of privilege, which put the matter back in the hands of MPs to decide the punishment.”
A Globe and Mail article (9 March 2011)2, wrote:
“House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken ruled on Wednesday that, “on its face,” the government withheld information from a parliamentary committee, and that International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda may have misled the House.”
and cited Milliken:
““There is no doubt” that the government had failed to comply with a parliamentary committee’s demand for costs related to the Conservatives’ crime bills, Mr. Milliken concluded. “This is a serious matter that goes to the heart of the House’s undoubted role in holding the government to account.”
Considering this all started in 2010 and wasn’t resolved until months later (though a ruling of contempt is not exactly a fruitful resolution), that’s a very long time for parliament to be bickering over how to get their work done. It is however, consistent with Conservative delay tactics (like this or this)for upsetting parliamentary procedure.
On the same issue, The Toronto Star (9 March 2011)3noted
“In a highly-anticipated ruling, Milliken on Wednesday said that this government’s stonewalling was “unsettling.” Worse still was the refusal to provide an explanation for denying a perfectly legitimate request… Milliken also ruled against embattled International Aid Minister Bev Oda, who is accused of lying to Parliament with a tortured explanation of a political decision to deny funding to a long-standing charitable organization, KAIROS, that often disagreed with Conservative policies.”
At the beginning of this post I mentioned “almost a third” ruling of contempt. I was referring to the 2009/2010 issue of the Conservatives’ mismanagement of the Afghan detainee documents. The Conservatives were almost found in contempt then as well. They delayed and played games with parliament right up until the last minute when speaker, Milliken forced them to comply, explaining that
“No exceptions are made for any category of Government documents, even those related to national security. Therefore, the Chair must conclude that it is perfectly within the existing privileges of the House to order production of the documents in question. Bearing in mind that the fundamental role of Parliament is to hold the Government to account. . .”
One would think the Conservatives would have taken that chastising and public disgrace to account and shaped up to work properly in our democratic framework. Instead, they managed to eke out a strange compromise of document vetting. This was not fully in-line with what Milliken’s ruling required, but the other parties hesitantly agreed to try and see how it worked for the sake of cooperation and preventing the shame of a disfunctional parliament and contempt finding.
Unfortunately, the Harper Conservatives continued with their games, and to this day, still have not properly released the documents in question. This shows ultimate disrespect for the will of the Canadian people that elected all the MPs. Kate Heartfield writes more about this in the Ottawa Citizen (1 April 2011)4
Thomas Walkom wrote in the Toronto Star (25 March 2011)5 about this subject as well.
“Canadians who questioned Ottawa’s handling of Afghan prisoners were treated as traitors. Richard Colvin, the veteran diplomat who testified to this mistreatment, was savagely and personally attacked [link mine].
At one point, when it looked like his government might be defeated, Harper simply shut down the Commons.
The contempt motion on which the government fell Friday related specifically to the government’s refusal to tell elected MPs the full cost of its programs. That refusal in itself demonstrates the Conservatives’ profound disdain toward the only democratic national institution we have.
Yet it is also part of a pattern. This government is willing to sacrifice Canadian soldiers to bring democracy to Afghanistan and Libya. But it cavalierly dismisses democracy at home.”
Every time we’ve seen a scandal erupt within the Conservatives they either single out one of their own and publicly “flog” him or her, drawing attention away from the party as a whole, or they point fingers at the other parties. They never appear to accept the responsibility of their own actions and improve or change their manner of operating.
With the Conservatives’ unapologetic disrespect for our institutions, it’s time that voters restore respect to our democracy and move Harper’s Conservative party out of power.
