Now for a few days in the mountains, at a site to which the Internet has not yet penetrated, where the only television remains focused on ESPN, the newspapers are a couple of days old, and even telephones are a rationed luxury. A good place to lose touch with the ebb and flow of events while regaining perspective.
Among the other virtues of this retreat is that I shall almost certainly hear none of the depressing news from Canada. It is one thing to read that democracy is being aborted in Uzbekistan, another to see it murdered north of our own border.
“Murder” is an extreme word, and it remains possible that the corpse will revivify, yet no other word really fits. The foundation of the parliamentary system is that the government must have the confidence of a majority of the popular house. If it does not, it must resign or call new elections, serving only as a caretaker until a government with majority backing succeeds it.
Prime Minister Martin has altered those rules and thus, by his sole decree, given Canada a new, unprecedented form of government, one in which only an intermittent majority is needed to retain the reins of power and, in the interludes, the minority administration is free to utilize the full resources of government to regain its position. Mr. Martin needed only a week after losing his majority to buy a new one. A future P.M. might need a little more time. The effective principle now is that the ministers must retain only their own confidence, not that of the House. From there the descent from elections to plebiscites is an easy one.
What is most truly appalling, however, is not the discarding of Westminster rules but the indifference of the Canadian political class to the Liberal Party’s massive corruption. The news emanating from the Gomery inquiry ought to have been a shock on the order of Watergate, leading to the swift desertion of the P.M. by legislators unwilling to be tainted by acquiescence in scandal at the once-in-a-century level. Instead, the Liberals and the New Democrats (the latter used to call itself the “party of conscience”) closed ranks to defend the kleptocracy. The government crisis turned into an occasion for extracting cash and policy concessions in return for votes. When the Prime Minister’s chief of staff was tape recorded offering a plum appointment in exchange for an abstention on the budget vote, he was quite unashamed, and there was no outbreak of fury among the media elite.
However much ordinary citizens may be outraged by blatant corruption, it is evident that it doesn’t particularly bother 50 percent of the Canadian House of Commons. The other 50 percent may not deserve a lot of credit either; the Conservatives and Bloc Quebeçois have promised not to undo any of the spending commitments made by the non-majority government. They seem to lack confidence that the voters will throw the rascals out unless assured of the payoffs that the rascals offered. So one side rallies behind corruption, while the other lacks the courage to reject it.
Canadians are, I imagine, too “civilized” to fill the streets in protest against the Liberal usurpation. There won’t be a Maple Leaf Revolution to go with the Orange and Cedar varieties. Protest may in any case be premature. Possibly the eventual Gomery report will prod the consciences of a few of Mr. Martin’s current allies, the government will concede an election, and the outcome will convince the next generation of politicians that honesty and adherence to constitutional principles are the best policies. That isn’t the way that I would bet at the moment, but hope is not extinguished.
We’ll see how matters stand when I get back in touch with the world.
Further reading: David Frum, “For Martin and Stronach, It’s Lose-Lose”
Mark Steyn, “A Constitutional Coup”
Andrew Coyne, “Proof There Are No More Rules”
David Warren, “Belinda Stronach”
Ever since Sir John MacDonald (and probably before), Canadian politics has been corrupt. Lord knows MacDonald shook down the CPR for campaign cash. MacKenzie King would, and did, do anything to keep in power, including block inquiries into his government's corruption. And Brian Mulroney's government was a bucket of sleaze. Still, I can't recall a Canadian government bribing opposition members in order to keep in power--not because of any inherent honesty, but because Canadian governments usually have had a firm majority and didn't need to bribe the opposition.
Canada has neither an honest government, nor freedom of speech. And the chattering classes are so much co-conspirators with the Liberal Party they cannot bring themselves to call for a change in government. Sadly enough, even if the government fell, there is no guarantee the Conservatives would be able to form a majority after the next election. They'd have to have a de facto alliance with the Quebec separatist Bloc Quebecois, led by a former Communist, a marriage made anywhere but in heaven.
Posted by: Bruce Allardice | Tuesday, May 24, 2005 at 11:34 AM