On priorities

In the absence of any evidence that the NDP's new caucus will be anything but a strong opposition to the Harper Cons, Kady goes hunting for a story based on the fact that an NDP anti-floor-crossing bill - having been introduced for the sixth time - is finding its way into the order of precedence earlier than it has in the past. But let's ask quickly what might have changed since previous sessions.

In the previous sessions discussed by Kady, the NDP has had no more than 37 MPs, representing approximately 1/9 of the House of Commons (and I'll guesstimate 1/8 of the MPs who might actually be presenting private members' bills). Which has meant that it's only been able to advance a very limited number of bills - and has had to choose its process carefully in doing so.

Needless to say, floor-crossing has seldom been a top-of-mind issue for the party compared to economic, social and environmental issues at the core of its values. And perhaps more importantly, there's been no prospect of getting such a bill passed in the absence of support from any other party, while other private members' bills have succeeded in passing the House of Commons where they've had support from the Libs and Bloc.

In contrast, the NDP now has three times as many slots with which to advance private members' bills as before - so it stands to reason that it's able to plan for a greater number of its bills to advance. Which means that the logical inference would seem to be that banning floor-crossing fell into the tier of legislation just below the top priorities in past sessions, but made the cut now that opportunities to advance legislation are less scarce.

Moreover, in a majority Parliament, there's not much of a difference in the likelihood of passing floor-crossing legislation compared to other bills the party could present. In fact, the Reform roots of such a bill may give it a better chance of passing than the bills that have been advanced earlier in minority Parliaments with opposition support - making for a strategic reason to pursue it now but not before.

In sum, there are obvious explanations as to why the NDP might be moving ahead with a floor-crossing bill other than. And given that six months under the media microscope haven't yet produced a shred of evidence of discord in a caucus which was supposed to be ready to crumble at a moment's notice, we should be all the more skeptical of any attempt to assume the worst.