OTTAWA, December 16, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At the time it seemed too good to be true—and it was. A month ago Liberal MPs voted with opposition parties in the House of Commons to make private members bills votable. This week they used a parliamentary committee to overturn the will of the House.
The turnaround means that a measure that would have greatly democratized the House, permitting the concerns of backbench MPs to come to the fore on a regular basis, now again languishes at the bottom of the Parliamentary agenda. Scott Reid, one of two Ontario Canadian Alliance MPs, called the move “a giant step backward when it [comes] to democratizing Parliament.” Alliance House Leader John Reynolds, from B.C., accused the Liberals of acting in contempt of the House, citing Parliamentary authorities that say, “Committees receive their authority from the House itself and the authority of the House overrides that of any committee. A committee is bound by, and is not at liberty to depart from, the Order of Reference [from the House].” For related coverage see: MAJOR SHIFT IN CANADIAN POLITICS: ALL PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BILLS VOTABLE https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/nov/02110703.html LIBERAL MPs DEFY PRIME MINISTER TO ELECT COMMITTEE CHAIRS https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/nov/02110607.html