British Columbia MP Chuck Strahl, former House leader for the Canadian Alliance, figures it’s time to move beyond the party’s leadership crisis to talk about the real issues of real Canadians.
“My hope is that tomorrow, we can talk about the agriculture crisis that is seizing the Prairies right now,” the Fraser Valley MP told a July 19 news conference as he announced the decision of 12 dissident Alliance MPs to try to create a separate parliamentary caucus.
Strahl said opposition politics have been hijacked by endless controversy over the year-old leadership of Stockwell Day. The decision to form a new parliamentary caucus, containing some one-time Reform and Alliance stars including former deputy party leader Deborah Grey and former finance and foreign affairs critic Monte Solberg, was a major blow to the attempts by the Alliance to rebound.
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CA House leader John Reynolds called it a “declaration of war” by the rebel MPs against the party.
“It is obvious they intend to form their own party,” he said.
If House of Commons speaker Peter Milliken agrees to their request to be recognized as a fifth opposition group, the CA dissidents will be known as the Democratic Representative Caucus. They will ask for a part of the Canadian Alliance opposition budget and the right to ask daily questions in Parliament.
“There are times in public life when we are faced with tough choices,” Strahl told reporters as other CA rebels MPs looked on in agreement. “This is one of those times.”
The announcement capped a wild week for the Canadian Alliance, which won more than one quarter of the popular vote, 66 seats and official opposition status in the election eight months ago. It has since fallen to fourth or fifth party status in public opinion polls.
- Day offered at a July 14 caucus meeting in Calgary to step down as leader three months before a leadership convention. He did not say whether he will be a candidate. It was the latest reversal on an earlier offer to resign, which was later rescinded.
- CA national council decided July 19 to establish a committee to decide when a leadership convention can be held. It may not be until next year.
- Prince Albert Alliance MP Brian Fitzpatrick, who had joined the dissidents in early July by calling for Day to resign, announced July 19 he was leaving the dissidents to ask for entry back into the 53-member CA caucus.
- Caucus officers suggested the rebels can return if they apologize for their disruptive behaviour.
Meanwhile, Alliance popular support has fallen sharply and the Progressive Conservatives, while fifth in the House of Commons, have become the second most popular party in public opinion polls. Alliance officers blame the criticism of the dissidents for the collapse in popular support. The dissidents blame Day.
“Canadians are tired of that turmoil in (Day’s) office and all that is associated with it,” said Strahl.
“Tomorrow when you ask about Mr. Day and his problems and whatever crisis might be enveloping him that day, I will say that is really a problem for him and his caucus to deal with.”
The dissidents said they are not leaving the Canadian Alliance. This summer, there will be a CA debate about whether their memberships should be revoked.
The application for caucus status will not be decided until Parliament reassembles from its summer break Sept. 17.
