Post by bot on Mar 10, 2011 0:47:05 GMT -5
Speaker hits Tories with two more contempt rulings
JOHN IBBITSON
Globe and Mail Update
Wednesday, Mar. 09, 2011
Speaker Peter Milliken has found the Conservatives in contempt of Parliament, handing powerful ammunition to opposition claims the Harper government’s autocratic behaviour represents an abuse of power.
The ruling is only “on its face,” and a Commons committee will spend next week deciding what action to take. But the Speaker’s ruling -- the third finding of contempt against the Tories in one year -- represents a powerful rebuke to a government that has repeatedly claimed the right to protect information on the basis of cabinet confidence.
The Liberals asked Mr. Milliken to rule on whether International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda misled Parliament when she said she did not know who had altered a document that deprived a foreign-aid group of funding. Ms. Oda later told Parliament that it was she who had ordered the document be changed.
Ms. Oda later responded to the ruling in the House of Commons, promising to co-operate fully with the committee’s review. “If some were led to conclude that my language implied that the department and I were of one mind on this application, then I apologize," she said.
The Liberals also accused the government of failing to provide sufficient information about the costs of its law-and-order program in terms of expanded prisons.
Liberal MP Scott Brison agreed to take the Speaker’s ruling to committee for consideration. But his motion directed MPs to bring back their final recommendation to the House on Monday March 21, the day before the Conservatives bring down the budget.
The deadline ensures that the third week of March will be singularly tumultuous, and may well lead to the minority government's fall -- if not on the question of the budget, then on the question of contempt.
JOHN IBBITSON
Globe and Mail Update
Wednesday, Mar. 09, 2011
Speaker Peter Milliken has found the Conservatives in contempt of Parliament, handing powerful ammunition to opposition claims the Harper government’s autocratic behaviour represents an abuse of power.
The ruling is only “on its face,” and a Commons committee will spend next week deciding what action to take. But the Speaker’s ruling -- the third finding of contempt against the Tories in one year -- represents a powerful rebuke to a government that has repeatedly claimed the right to protect information on the basis of cabinet confidence.
The Liberals asked Mr. Milliken to rule on whether International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda misled Parliament when she said she did not know who had altered a document that deprived a foreign-aid group of funding. Ms. Oda later told Parliament that it was she who had ordered the document be changed.
Ms. Oda later responded to the ruling in the House of Commons, promising to co-operate fully with the committee’s review. “If some were led to conclude that my language implied that the department and I were of one mind on this application, then I apologize," she said.
The Liberals also accused the government of failing to provide sufficient information about the costs of its law-and-order program in terms of expanded prisons.
Liberal MP Scott Brison agreed to take the Speaker’s ruling to committee for consideration. But his motion directed MPs to bring back their final recommendation to the House on Monday March 21, the day before the Conservatives bring down the budget.
The deadline ensures that the third week of March will be singularly tumultuous, and may well lead to the minority government's fall -- if not on the question of the budget, then on the question of contempt.