The Liberals, trying to decide who should represent their efforts at democratic reform, have made a couple of surprising choices.
First, an ethics commissioner so widely respected that both other national parties want him to resign for incompetence.
And second, a party-switching MP turned Minister for Democratic Renewal who, on my reading of Hansard, hasn't yet so much as answered a question in the House related to that file. (On EI and other human resources issues she's given plenty of "I don't know yet" and "Of course I don't think what I used to" answers. Personal reform, by all means. Liberal renewal, I'll grant. Democratic reform, let's not kid ourselves.
The other main change highlighted by the Liberals is a change in the whip structure on votes - but then it should also be obvious that there's a strong incentive to loosen party reins in a minority government setting in hope that opposition parties will do the same. We'll see how long the whips stay off if the Liberals get another majority, but I wouldn't expect it to last long.
And that's apparently Paul Martin's grand democratic achievement. Now think what could get done if there was a real reformer leading the charge.
No comments:
Post a Comment