On showing up

The gap between Canada's federal parties in terms of basic issues like attendance and proposed legislation has been pointed out plenty of times before. But the Globe and Mail's latest analysis shows that one trend in particular only looks to be getting stronger with time:

The Liberals, perhaps still uncomfortable in the role of opposition, have the worst voting attendance record – accounting for 43 of the 50 MPs who missed the most votes in the past two years. They also had a high number of dissenters.

The Conservatives, determined to hang on to power, exerted the firmest grip over their members, not only making sure few members miss votes but also keeping most backbenchers silent and not tolerating much voting against the grain.

The NDP and the Bloc Québécois both scored high in attendance. The NDP also had the most free-minded backbench, with more than two-thirds of its caucus dissenting at least once from the majority party line.

So what's particularly striking about the Libs' attendance record? Keep in mind that the party currently holds only 25% of the seats in the House of Commons - yet based on the Globe's analysis, it boasts 86% of the worst attendance records among MPs.

That means that well over half of the Libs' caucus stands out compared to other MPs for sheer failure to participate in votes in the House. And even better, it means that despite the gap in overall seats between the parties, the NDP and Libs are effectively even in the number of MPs among the top 258 in attendance - with the Libs leading by only a count of 34-33.

And all this while the Libs' previous excuses for poor attendance records (particularly the '06 leadership race) are obviously no longer operative.

Mind you, it's true enough (as Aaron Wherry notes) that better attendance alone likely won't fix all of the problems currently ailing Canada's parliamentary system. But it surely can't help matters if MPs themselves send the message that they can't be bothered to show up. And the Libs are by far the worst offenders when it comes to devaluing the work of Parliament on that front.

[Edit: Corrected math in party standings.]