But Tory MP Goodyear disagrees, says Canadians are concerned about crime.
The Hill Times, January 28th, 2008
by Meghan Moloney
Backbench Conservative MPs are using private members’ bills as a tool to further the government’s agenda, especially in this Parliament, says an NDP MP.
"In terms of the present government, there are hundreds of examples of private members’ bills being used for a certain agenda. How many crime bills are on the table right now?" said NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North, Man.), who spoke at the Canadian Study of Parliament Group’s seminar on private members’ business on Jan. 23.
Ms. Wasylycia-Leis said although the government has no "master plan" to push crime bills, the use of exchanges when it comes to private members’ bills occurs often to fast-track certain issues. "I think what happens is like-minded individuals advancing an agenda through private member’s business to accomplish an overall agenda, to make a priority around an issue that is consistent with their own political agenda," she told The Hill Times.
However, she said the bills have an impact when they come together. "I would say that the end result, however it gets there, is an attempt to advance this issue on the political agenda and sort of to create the impression, which may not be founded on fact or in reality, that there’s this exponential growth in crime and in violence in our society that has never happened before, when in fact, everybody doesn’t live in fear and everybody may have concerns but may not want to go to the nth degree that the Conservatives are promoting, which is more criminal offences, more jails, more intervention, and protection measures and less and less on prevention and community enforcement."
Terence Moore, procedural clerk of the Private Members’ Business Office in the House of Commons, discussed the procedure of introducing private members’ business. He explained that MPs’ names are randomly drawn at the beginning of each Parliament to determine the order in which members can take up items for debate. If members are unavailable on their scheduled date in the order of precedence, they can request an exchange with another member. But, he said, if members don’t show up on their exchange date, their names get marked with a dagger and they are no longer allowed to request exchanges, though they may still participate in exchanges with other members. Mr. Moore said there have been 13 exchanges so far in the 39th Parliament, which he described as a lot. "Exchanges can be used to fast-track certain pieces of legislation," he said.
Conservative MP Gary Goodyear (Cambridge, Ont.) disagreed with Ms. Wasylycia-Leis, however, saying Canadians are concerned about crime and with good reason. "There’s a good focus on crime and justice issues because that’s the mandate of the government, the mandate given to us by the people of Canada," said Mr. Goodyear, chair of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. "Ultimately, with all the efforts that we do to give people options to make different choices, at some point in time, once people make the wrong choice and in particular recent violent offenders, it is time to be tough on that stuff and put victims of crime ahead of criminals. And that’s simple."
Mr. Goodyear said that although crime in general in his region of Waterloo is down by "a few percentage points," violent crime in particular is up by about 20 per cent. He added that crack-cocaine, in particular, is an "epidemic in this country" and that the charge made by Liberal MPs that the Conservatives are making a big deal out of crime is "ridiculous."
"We’re not about to continue the coddle-the-criminal trend that we’ve seen in the last decade. We are going to move towards a balance of locating and identifying folks that are coming up to making choices in their life, that are perhaps susceptible at that time level, and try to deal with the causes of crime and preventing crime," Mr. Goodyear said.
The seminar featured speakers Mark Audcent, law clerk and Parliamentary counsel for the Senate; Bill Fleury, director of the Office of Parliamentary Returns at PCO; Ontario Liberal Senator Mac Harb; Ms. Wasylycia-Leis; Mr. Moore; and former Liberal MP Peter Adams.
Mr. Moore said the public is given 48 hours notice when an exchange has been scheduled, adding that an MP would have until 6 p.m. on a Tuesday to request an exchange for the following Thursday. He said so far in the current Parliament, 295 private members’ public bills have been introduced in the House; 11 are on third readings; there has been one private bill introduced; there are 428 motions on the Order Paper, 11 of which have been dealt with; and there are 77 items on the order of precedence.
Mr. Audcent discussed the tools and methods Senators use to introduce private members’ business. He described the process as "the whistle on a kettle—if something is bubbling, it’s a chance for the system to let some air in and for members to point out things that need to be discussed." He also said he prefers the French translation of the phrase: "le sifflet de la bombe."
"It’s a fantastic system," he said. "We probably have the best statute system, it gives us a very high quality of legislative drafting."
In the seminar’s second session, Sen. Harb said most votes in Parliament follow party lines, which is why private member’s bills are important in the Parliamentary process. "You get the odd rebel, but that rebel gets punished. They basically get treated like a bad child," he said, adding that members who do not wish to vote against the government but who wish to effect change, introduce private members’ initiatives.
"I had to either sit and wait for a sunny day to come, or I had to be proactive," he said. "I believe each Member of Parliament who wants to make a difference can."
Ms. Wasylycia-Leis said private members’ business is part of the reason people get into politics in the first place—to make positive improvements. "You can get lost in the game, but we are here to effect change. Private members’ business is a way within that framework to put your own stamp on Parliamentary politics," she said.
The next CSPG seminar will take place on May 21.
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