On non-opposition

Blogging Horse points out one piece of news from today's mini-budget vote that deserves far more attention than it's received, as Stephane Dion apparently threatened Ottawa-Vanier MP Mauril Bélanger with expulsion from the Lib caucus if he dared to oppose Harper's government:

Meanwhile, CBC News has learned that Ottawa-Vanier Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger wanted to stand up and vote against the economic statement.

But Bélanger was informed that he would be expelled from the Liberal caucus if he voted against the motion instead of abstaining, sources told CBC News.

Although Bélanger was in the House for question period, he was not present for the vote.

What's particularly interesting is to note the contrast between and the Libs' initial strategy on the throne speech. After all, one of Dion's closest confidants within the party publicly floated the trial balloon of having only the Libs' front benches vote against the speech for show, while back-benchers would abstain to avoid actually bringing down the Cons' government:

Wilfert's proposed tactic to avoid defeating the government would have Dion and other front-bench Liberals vote against the throne speech while the majority of the 96-member Liberal caucus remain in their seats, abstaining from a vote.

There's no apparent reason why the Libs couldn't have looked for a way to make a similar strategy work on the fiscal update. While the Libs' sole excuse for failing to oppose the Cons in full is rooted in a desire to avoid an election, that doesn't offer any justification for Dion's threat to Bélanger. After all, Bélanger - and potentially dozens of other MPs who wanted to be on the record standing up to Harper (assuming any others can be found in the Libs' caucus) - could easily have voted their conscience while avoiding an election using the partial abstention strategy which Dion's braintrust had already contemplated.

But when it came down to the question of whether MPs could vote against the Cons based on an honest belief that Harper is steering the country in the wrong direction, Dion not only wasn't willing to listen to Bélanger in the least, but apparently saw a direct threat as the best means of dealing with the situation.

Of course, Dion's action can only make it all the more clear to Bélanger and any other Libs who genuinely want to oppose Harper that their principles have no place within the party. And it doesn't figure to be long before Canadian voters start asking themselves the point in having an official opposition where actually opposing the government is seen as a dismissal-worthy offence.