And indeed, Dimitri Soudas, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, sent out a mass-distributed email yesterday drawing attention to the Liberals' rebuff of Dhalla's bill. "They are voting against the (private member's bill) of MP Ruby Dhalla! Their own bill!" Soudas's email said.Now, it's true that within the Cons the type of independent thought which would allow an MP to present a private member's bill without blessing from on high has been thoroughly demolished. But there's no reason why the Cons' decision that mere democratic representatives have no right to try to present legislation based on what they see as best for their constituents would be binding on any other party.
Apparently, though, that isn't how Soudas sees it. Instead, the Cons' official line is that any bill introduced by a member of a given party automatically becomes "their own bill" - such that a failure for the party to agree with each and every bill introduced by one of its members is supposed to be seen as evidence of internal strife within a hive-mind rather than legitimate disagreement among members of a party which can represent different interests.
And the sad part is that it'll probably work on the Libs: it wouldn't be at all surprising if Michael Ignatieff decides that allowing MPs to present bills which aren't party-sanctioned will cause more trouble than it's worth if any internal disagreement is met with scorn like Soudas'. But it's worth pointing out just how hard a party which once claimed to value MPs as individual representatives is working to grind down what little independence remains - and asking whether Canadians in general (and the remnants of Reform in particular) agree with the action.
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