The Globe and Mail has, as expected, weighed in with all Liberal guns blazing in the form of an editorial, Saturday – “Mr. Khan’s crossing," found at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070106.EKHAN06/TPStory/Opinion/editorials , and a column today (9 Jan 07) by pundit Jeffrey Simpson – “Welcoming Khan makes a mockery of democracy,” found at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070109.wxcosimp09/BNStory/National/home
Both betray a profound ignorance of parliamentary democracy and Canadian history.
While it is almost certainly true, as the Good Grey Globe insists, that most Canadians vote for a party leader and team rather than for a specific candidate, ignorance is not an excuse for upending the Constitution.
Constitutionally, parties do not matter; in fact they do not even exist. Remember the CCF, the Créditistes, Progressive Conservatives, and Social Credit? All were Canadian political parties which elected MPs during my voting life. Parties are transient things which provide a convenient but not vital way for a would be government to convince the sovereign (the people) that it can govern with parliament’s confidence.
The electors sent Mr. Khan to Ottawa as their representative – nothing more or less; not as a Liberal or a Conservative; and certainly not as a member of ‘Team Martin’ or such silliness. Mr. Khan did nothing wrong by deciding to join the government’s caucus, and neither the electors nor the press have any legitimate complaints. He is representing his constituents according to the best traditions of Edmund Burke – which is one helluva lot more than one can say for most of the other 307 MPs in the House of Commons. He is offering them his best judgement in pursuit of their best interests and those of the nation. If the electors don’t like that – and being as they are typically ill educated, ignorant Canadian electors I am certain they will not – they can reject him if he offers himself again.
While I, personally would prefer a purely political convention which would require members to sit as independents for a wee while after they abandon one caucus and prior to joining another there is no valid Constitutional reason why such a thing should exist. Calling for a by-election to get the voters’ views on a member’s choice is, quite simply, silly – even juvenile.
One, but only one, of the things which keeps Canada mired in a mid-19th century sort of proto-democracy is the rigidity of our system of party discipline. It could change if more and more MPs thought for themselves – rather than acting as drones in the Harper, Dion, Duceppe or Layton ‘teams’ – and broke party ranks often on any matter, including (save for cabinet ministers) matters of confidence.
So: Bravo, Mr. Khan, for striking a small, albeit self serving blow for democracy in Canada! And Hiss and Boo, Grope and Fail for making a mountain out of a molehill.