OTTAWA (Staff) – The Reform party has lost its bid to win under House of Commons rules what it did not win at the 1993 ballot box – status as the official opposition to the government.
Last week as a new session of Parliament opened, speaker Gilbert Parent affirmed the separatist Bloc QuŽbecois as official opposition.
It qualifies the party to ask more questions in the House of Commons, to receive $200,000 in additional Commons research funding and to hold the vice-chair position on Commons committees.
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Although the BQ won two more seats than Reform in the 1993 election, the two parties now are tied at 52 each due to resignations.
Six byelections in late March, three of them in Quebec, could change the count.
For the moment, though, Parent said he would stick with the Bloc because it has been the second party for the past two years.
Challenge repeated
“I must conclude that in the case of a tie during the course of a Parliament, incumbency should be the determining factor and the status quo should therefore be maintained,” the Speaker ruled Feb. 27.
If the March 25 byelections leave the parties tied, Parent can expect another challenge from Reform.
