Canada’s dysfunctional Parliament has all but shut down as the Conservatives have, quite rightly, filibustered over the Liberals’ refusal to release documents regarding a so-called “green slush fund.”
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In September, MPs from the Conservative, Bloc Quebecois and NDP demanded documentation regarding Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a now-defunct federally-funded arm’s length body that gave taxpayer money to new green companies.
Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer asked Speaker Greg Fergus to rule the Liberals in contempt of Parliament for not responding to that request, as they are formally required to do.
There’s a precedent for this in what happened in the Ontario Legislature in 2012. Former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty had a minority government and was ordered by a committee of the Legislature to produce documents relating to the costs of cancelling two gas-fired generating plants. Opposition politicians questioned the Liberals’ estimate of $230 million to cancel the two plants and requested “all correspondence” relating to the controversial cancellations.
McGuinty’s Energy Minister, Chris Bentley, refused to do that, citing commercial confidentiality. (The provincial auditor later said the cancellations cost about $1 billion.)
Ontario Speaker Dave Levac, a Liberal, acted with integrity. Like all good Speakers, when he donned the tricorn hat, he was unafraid to rule against his own party. The rights of Parliament are greater than the rights of any party. Levac ruled there was a prima facie case of contempt.
At the height of the dispute, McGuinty shut down the Legislature and resigned. Bentley resigned later that year.
Parliaments that follow the Westminster model are governed by precedent. Fergus also sided with the Opposition parties.
“The House has clearly ordered the production of certain documents, and that order has clearly not been fully complied with. The Chair cannot come to any conclusion but to find that a prima facie question of privilege has been established,” Fergus wrote in his decision.
The Opposition parties are correct in demanding the Liberals obey the will of Parliament. Fergus should give the Liberals one more opportunity to produce the documents. If they fail, he must bring down the hammer and declare them in contempt. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should look to McGuinty’s precedent, and either resign or call an election.
To do otherwise is an insult to Parliament and the people it represents.