Interesting, this: a Progressive Conservative Senator, in a Conservative plurality Senate, gets a bit shirty with a Conservative Government:
“Opposition MPs voting together can stop this abuse [ie omnibus budget Bill C-9],” Mr. Murray said. “Non-government supporters in the Senate should be able to round up enough votes to do so if the opposition parties in the Commons, again, fail in their duty.”
And this: Bill C-232, an NDP-sponsored private Members bill, makes it through the HOC and to the Senate where several Conservative Senators seem ready to break ranks and allow the measure to pass. So does Bill C-311, although far too late to do any good, and I suspect that one will die in the upper house, but whatever...
And this: MPs from both the Grits and NDP break with their party's over the auditing of MP expenses.
And this: Stephen Harper is unable to stop Rob Bruinooge from introducing a go-nowhere non-abortion abortion private members Bill that will nevertheless be debated and which the Tory leadership has promised to flee as though running from a skunk.
Is something changing in Ottawa? Are we finally, through some combination of exhaustion in the PMO and the Tory's slow slide in the polls, getting the kind of minority government we should have got four years ago?
Yea for Democracy?
Actually, you're a bit off on your assessment, BCL. Murray is an independent Progressive Conservative senator, the same affiliation as Senator Elaine McCoy is, so he is not a member of the "Conservative" caucus.
ReplyDeleteOopsie! Well, the point still sorta holds.
ReplyDeleteHe still has a vote.
ReplyDeleteStill.. as BCL says, the example of elected or appointed officials doing what they think is "Right" and not just what is politically expedient is an example worth commenting upon.
ReplyDeleteGood post.
Better action no the part of Murray.
If the government believes in it's legislation, put it out there.. and if it fails, then live with it.
Thats democracy.
And if the electorate support the bill that the opposition shoots down - they'll pay at polling time.
And if the electorate doesn't - well, again, that's democracy.
The ends don't always (and in fact seldom) justify the means.
As I said on my blog Scott. Murray doesn't have Progressive Liberal after his name or Progressive Dipper after his name, he has progressive "Conservative" after his name. conservative as in a Mulroney type of Conservative. Like as in not Liberal or NDP.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm with Rob on this. This move is a move in the right direction.
As opposed to Steven Harper's deflowering of democracy?
ReplyDelete