Tuesday, August 17, 2010

On cooperative measures

It's difficult to disagree with Bruce Hyer's planned motion to permit legislation to have multiple sponsors (including from across party lines) as a means of encouraging cross-party cooperation. But the proposal looks all the more worthwhile when placed in a bit more context.

The most obviously underlying issue is that of the relative power of MPs and parties - which doesn't figure to change substantially based on the ability to present legislation differently. And that's particularly true as long as a hyperpartisan government continues to order its MPs to do as they're told to maximize perceived partisan advantage, undermining both individual MPs' freedom and the sense that it's possible to work across party lines to get anything accomplished.

But that's where Hyer's motion may serve as a useful means of challenging the status quo in perception even if it doesn't change much in substance.

After all, it's not hard to anticipate that each and every bill presented by two or more opposition parties will be met with the Cons' consistent attack on a phantom coalition. But there's little reason to think Canadians will see that as a reasonable response, especially in as innocuous a setting as agreement on a single piece of legislation. And that means that if Hyer's motion succeeds, it may serve not only to empower individual MPs to work together, but also to defuse the Cons' scaremongering just in time for Canadians to decide whether they want a change.

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