Overruled

Yesterday's news that the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology has rejected Maxime Bernier's phone deregulation plan passed largely without comment. But it's worth pointing out not only based on the substantive effect, but also for its political ramifications:

NDP Industry critic Brian Masse (Windsor West) called today’s vote to overturn the Conservatives’ local phone deregulation decision a victory for consumers.

“We now have the opportunity for all areas of the telecom sector to be examined and improved in terms of quality of service, consumer rights, job protection, foreign ownership, and innovation,” said Masse. “Ordinary Canadians’ voices will be part of the process, instead of Minister Maxime Bernier's favourite lobbyists.”...

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology passed a motion, which is to be reported back to the House today, demanding that “the Minister of Industry withdraw the order varying Telecom Decision CRTC 2006-15 and table in Parliament a comprehensive package of policy, statutory, and regulatory reforms to modernize the telecommunications services industry.”

For consumers, it's certainly a plus that Bernier's choice to overrule the CRTC isn't going unchallenged.

That said, the political context bears some discussion as well. After all, it's clear that the Cons are looking for an excuse to go to the polls. But with a number of their crime bills looking likely to pass as soon as the Cons bring them forward and C-30 appearing to be the last reason the Cons would want to provoke an election, they may instead need to try to compile a list of small perceived slights to justify going to the voters.

Of course, calling an election on such a weak excuse might well reduce the Cons' chances of reaching their hoped-for result. But it seems entirely likely that the Cons' fallback position to force an election is to present a laundry list of every time the opposition parties have teamed up against them.

Which may result in some danger to the opposition, as each vote in the Commons or on any committee may have far greater ramifications than just the issue at hand to the extent that it may serve as part of the Cons' excuse. But at the same time, that could also provide an opportunity to make sure that the motions themselves contain something that can be used to make the Cons look all the more unreasonable for challenging the will of the majority.