You're not the boss of me-e-e!

Senate passes crime bill. - Céline was not impressed:

...There were more fireworks among the Liberals when Ms. Hervieux-Payette told the leader that some Liberal senators did not like the Tory crime bill and were threatening to amend it, clearly challenging his leadership.

Mr. Dion told his Senate leader, according to an insider, that this was unacceptable and that the bill must pass. Even Mr. Goodale got into the act in an attempt to talk her out of it...

Well whatever the motivation, thank you for passing this important legislation.

Charlie Angus vs. the Senate

Great debate going on at MDL right now. Charlie makes a good point that all these Senate junkets are accountable to no one.

Way to go Charlie!

Interview available here. Watch Charlie take on the Liberal Senate.

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And in other Hill news, Dion is hot for an election (although he may be the only one):

Fife noted, however, that the divisions over calling an election call run deep in the Liberal Party. He said senior Liberals such as Ralph Goodale, Michael Ignatieff, and Bob Rae don't want an election right now.

"One senior member of parliament said to me, either we're going to get (Dion) to change his mind or maybe we're going to have to push him off the ledge," Fife said.

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Update: Going to take a bit of time off. 'Family Day' weekend and all. Enjoy.

Maybe I'll bake some cookies.

Liberals walk out on vote

CTV's Graham Richardson has just reported that the Liberals walked out of the commons before the vote on the Senate.


CBC says the bottom line is that there won't be an election over this vote.

I would say that the bottom line is actually that they were tired of sitting on their bottoms!

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Update: Liberals walk out of of Confidence Vote on crime bill - CBC

4:25 Update: CTV - Tories table crime bill motion, Liberals walk out.

4:35 Motion passes as Grits abstain - Globe

Do you smell an election?

David Akin was just on CTV commenting after the opening of today's Question Period about the likelihood of an imminent election.

His thoughts were that if Duceppe makes a deal with Harper regarding aid for the forestry industry, then perhaps the Bloc will support the budget, which is a confidence motion.

And if the Government and Dion can find some common ground on Afghanistan, perhaps that confidence motion could be passed.

Which leaves the Senate-Crime confidence motion. My hope is that the plodding Liberal Senators finally become aware of the growing level of animosity and frustration among the population and even among certain provincial leaders, and do the right thing for the safety of Canadians.


So perhaps there may not be an election this spring after all; especially in view of the fact that there would be very little benefit to anyone.

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Update: O.K. I could be wrong - Harper ready to ask GG to pull plug: Post.

Federal budget will be tabled Feb. 26 - CTV.

Don Martin - Liberals a party of unhappy families.

Chantel Hebert - Rookie Dion still looks like he's not ready for prime time

...While Harper, Layton and Duceppe are already electioneering, Dion is looking like he is auditioning for the part of Hamlet...

Ouch!!!

Senator 'concerned' about raising age of consent

Did anyone else see Liberal senator Sharon Carstairs on Mike Duffy Live tonight?

Please! I need to vent.

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Related: Tories threaten election over crime bill - CTV


Halls of Macadamia - Hey Steffi...

ChuckerCanuk - Liberal Senate: "Don't You Raise That Age of Consent!"

Senate in the cross-hairs

From this morning's Globe - Harper would back Jack Layton's bid to have a referendum on the Senate (H/T National Newswatch).

His preference is for reform with elected members:

The idea was broached by NDP Leader Jack Layton on the weekend. Tory Senator Hugh Segal has also put forward the notion of a nationwide plebiscite.

“If it came to the House, it would be hard not to support it,” a source told The Globe.

Sources were quick to add, however, that the Prime Minister's preferred route is to elect members of the Senate. Mr. Harper has already introduced a series of bills designed to overhaul the Senate.

( . . . )

“It's a 19th-century institution that has no place in a modern democracy in the 21st century,” Mr. Layton told his party's organizers on Sunday.

“It's undemocratic because [senators] are appointed by prime ministers who then are turfed out of office. But these senators end up leaving a long shadow of their continued presence in the legislative context.”

Would even a reformed, elected Senate serve any purpose? A few days ago I commented that I'd prefer to see the Senate remain, but only after major changes. Now I'm not so sure.

What exactly is the value of the Senate? It's an expensive rubber-stamp machine, and even more expensive when it deliberately holds up legislation for political purposes. Why do we need it?

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Related - Shocking editorial in the Star! One legislative chamber in Parliament is enough.

According to a parliamentary report "only four bills ... have actually been defeated (by the Senate) in the past several decades, with all of these defeats occurring in the 1990s." On issues where the Senate has tried to assert itself – free trade and GST – ultimately both happened anyway. The Senate holds committee hearings when Parliament is in session, and even has its own Question Period. Yet its proceedings are perfunctory. In sum, its accomplishments are insubstantial.

Its cost is not. For the 2005-06 fiscal year it cost $76,526,904 to run the Senate, a figure roughly equivalent to a sponsorship scandal each year. That is too high a price for work that culminated in nothing of substance – a cost which will remain year after year and likely increase with time. That money could obviously be better spent elsewhere, or maybe never collected in the first place.

( . . . )

Moreover, having a duplicative body would likely make it more than twice as cumbersome for laws to pass as they do now – promoting increased lobbying, horse-trading and government largesse. Cost would, of course, increase. The same parliamentary report states that "the cost of an elected Senate would likely be quadruple its present cost."

Quadruple the cost??? O.K. Let's have that referendum, Jack.

A referendum on abolishing the Senate?

Jack's idea is certainly worth considering! (H/T National Newswatch)

Who's Standing up for Ontario?

This morning, the Sun's Angelo Persichilli asks the very question that I did a few days ago - Who'll Stand Up for Ontario?


Persichilli argues that if the Atlantic MP's feel that they are standing up for their provinces by opposing the budget, then all Ontario MP's, regardless of political stripes, should be standing up for Ontario by supporting the budget, since Premier Dalton McGuinty supports it himself. (I would love to be at a family dinner with Dalton and David talking politics these days!)

Angelo also takes a shot at Dion's self-proclaimed attributes of consistency and clarity:

Dion said in 2004 there was no fiscal imbalance but in 2006 (May 5 -- Mike Duffy Live) he said that "we need to have a clause of this kind that gives a safety net to Ontario." Is that clear? Doesn't sound like it.

Moving on to the topic of the Senate approval of the budget now. Remember Senator Terry Mercer saying this? -

"I think you'll find that senators from Nova Scotia, such as myself, from Newfoundland and Labrador, and probably from Saskatchewan, will all vote against it and I don't think we'll be alone," Mercer said.

"If we care to mount a full-fledged campaign with our colleagues, I think we can defeat this bill."

Assuming that he is referring to Ontario Senators among others, I wonder how he expects them to look their fellow citizens "in the eye" as he claims he is worried about in his own province.


Meanwhile, Mercer doesn't seem to be on the same page as Liberal Senate leader Celine Hervieux-Payette, who assures us that:

"In my view, based on past experience, the likelihood is high that the budget implementation bill, notwithstanding its many failings, will pass in the Senate following a thorough examination," she said.

Dion said in the release that the Senate has a "responsibility to conduct a thorough review" of the budget bill.

"I am confident that in the spirit of sober second thought that characterizes the Senate, honourable senators on both sides of the aisle will undertake that review in a measured and professional fashion," he said.

The release seemed worded to avoid suggesting that Dion is telling the senators how to vote.

Yeah, right.



So, how's that campaign going, Senator Mercer?

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Update: Great column here by Lorne Gunter - Atlantic Premiers Hooked on Cash. (H/T to reader Jenna)

Linked to this post: NB Tory Lady - I have managed to hold off an election - Dion.
Great post and a fantastic blog! She had me chuckling with this one.

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Monday Update: Fantastic column The Chronicle Herald by Dan Leger - The Atlantic Accords: Time for Truth-telling.

Also please check out Thomas Courchene's "When enough is enough". (Globe)

More here. Lots of different opinions on a complex issue.

Following Monday Update: Harper right to break vows.

Ottawa doesn't have a magic pot of gold.