Politicians are revolting
Backbencher revolts mean healthy democracy
Whether you are a smirking Tory, a gleeful Liberal or a pouting Alliancer, you should appreciate the Democratic Representative Caucus. The rejection of the Canadian Alliance’s party discipline by 12 MPs represents an important element that is missing from Canada’s parliamentary democracy – the backbencher revolt. The dramatic moments when small groups of backbench government MPs or MLAs decide they will not put up with their party’s bullying anymore and take their own stand on an issue of the day.
Modern parliamentary politics is known to stifle the ability of politicians to represent the interests of the people that elected them, but the discipline and loyalty demanded by parties here in Canada go far beyond any other jurisdiction.
No group of backbenchers can be blamed for this collective spinelessness – the current crop is simply the latest in a long line of victims of the Canadian system. Every parliamentary democracy uses party whips and discipline to cajole, bribe or threaten party members into toeing the line. It’s only in Canada that the combination of this discipline and a cadré of brainwashed and frightened backbench MPs and MLAs produces an almost clear sheet for party politics.
Everywhere else, in Britain, the Commonwealth and beyond, backbench revolts are an accepted political reality. Before Tony "the third way is my way" Blair’s first election, up to one-third of a British government’s MPs would brave the punishment and vote against their party at some point during a term. Even the fearsome discipline that Blair’s Labour party maintained in its first term is starting to fray because of decisions to cut benefits to single mothers.
British MPs pay a price for these revolts, but they also, on occasion, force ministerial resignations and changes in government policy – events that give a whiff of legitimacy to the phrase parliamentary democracy and a purpose to the existence of backbench MPs and MLAs.
The formation of the Democratic Representative Caucus by Canadian Alliance, née Reform Party, MPs is no surprise. Raised in a party that promised its elected representatives greater freedom to vote and speak, the 12 caucus members could not adjust to life in a traditional political party.
One of the pillars of the Alliance was that it would have a more mainstream party structure and discipline system than the ragged Reform Party. According to the united alternative’s marketing strategy, this discipline and right-wing unity would defeat the arrogant Liberals of Jean Chretien. All the marketing strategy produced, however, was a party difficult to differentiate in style and substance from the Liberals or the Conservatives.
The unity pillar crumbled before the party even chose a leader. Then they chose a leader trained by the Alberta Tories – a party whose discipline rivals that of the federal Liberals. Eight months in to the endeavour, the Reformer old guard could not take it any more and triggered Canada’s largest parliamentary revolt.
Smug Liberals will deny that their party’s discipline is oppressive. In the next breath they will claim that the chaos in the Alliance could never happen to the Liberals. The denials are thin. The claims are valid. The brutal public execution of John Nunziata’s political career for voting against the 1996 Liberal budget is a daunting warning to any Liberal backbencher considering rebellion.
The powers that be in the Liberal party would like to keep it that way, but rebellions do not require forming a new caucus or voting against a confidence bill over the GST. They simply need to happen more often. Sure, rebellions might embarrass the government a little, but they also bolster Canadians’ confidence in their democracy by creating the feeling that the folks we vote for, ministers or not, have the potential to make a difference.
MPs and MLAs must understand that most voters cast their ballots for the party, and balance this with the responsibility to rebel against the chaffing reins of that party when told to vote for legislation or initiatives that they or the majority of their constituents find personally repugnant. It is a difficult balancing act, but, at the moment, Canadian politicians barely stand on two feet, let alone walk a tightrope of any kind.
The Liberal backbenchers in Ottawa should be enjoying a relaxing summer. They have a large majority in the house, and their main opposition is imploding on the front pages of the newspapers. And, the dark clouds of a recession are still only hovering on the horizon. Maybe nothing can put a damper on that rosy picture, but the Democratic Representative Caucus should put a little prick in their democratic conscience. |
