Reform leader Preston Manning says he will make one last pre-election effort to have his party and caucus named the Official Opposition in the House of Commons.
On April 9, he will ask speaker Gilbert Parent to allow a vote among Opposition MPs to decide who will be Official Opposition in the final weeks of the parliamentary session.
Parent has said in the past that the party which wins the second-most seats in an election has the right to be the Official Opposition until another party acquires more seats.
Read Also
StatCan stands by its model-based crop forecast
Statistics Canada’s model-based production estimates are under scrutiny, but agency says it is confident in the results.
Now, it is a tie.
A defection of one MP from the Bloc QuŽbecois last week has left both parties with 50 Commons seats.
The BQ won more seats in the 1993 election and was named Official Opposition with the perks of more Question Period time, prominence and money.
“The majority of Canadians are embarrassed and frustrated by the fact that a party dedicated to the break-up of Canada is recognized by this house as Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition,” Manning wrote to the speaker last week.
He said he will ask for a vote if at least 10 non-Reform opposition MPs indicate to him by April 7 that they support Reform as opposition.
While several independent MPs have suggested they support the idea, Reform critics dismissed it as pre-election grandstanding.
New Democratic Party leader Alexa McDonough said her nine-member caucus will not support Reform.
The two-member Progressive Conservative caucus, in a political struggle with Reform over which will be the main conservative opponent for the Liberals, are also unlikely allies.
No demands with position
Manning said Reform would not take the extra parliamentary funding and bigger offices that would come with the new status.
“Our sole interest in this change of status would be to ensure that Canada has a federalist official opposition,” he wrote. It would give Reform more power and position to hold the Liberals accountable.
He said a vote would give other opposition MPs from English Canada a chance to show their support for a federalist opposition leader.
“If NDP, Tory and independent MPs fail to support this initiative, Reform will simply continue to act as the government’s federalist opposition in the House of Commons,” he said. “The final say on this matter will belong to Canadian voters in the next federal election.”
