EVEN in a political city where weirdness has become commonplace, where leadership vacuums lead to lots of political freelancing, it was an amazing scene.
The gun registry controversy has split the governing Liberals in two and created an odd Parliament Hill dynamic. The Liberals need the usually hated Bloc Québecois to salvage the program.
The scene unfolded in the House of Commons last week when renegade Liberal MP and Paul Martin supporter Roger Gallaway rose with a “question of privilege” – an arcane parliamentary complaint that somehow their rights as peoples’ representatives have been eroded.
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Usually, this is a way opposition MPs appeal to the speaker to censure a government member and government members do the reverse.
This time, Gallaway was accusing Liberal justice minister Martin Cauchon of abusing the Commons by keeping the gun registry program running even though Parliament last December indicated it was not prepared to keep funding the registry in the face of massive cost over-runs.
Cauchon was defying that decision by taking money from elsewhere to keep the registry running, said Gallaway, a southern Ontario Liberal. “The minister is breaching our privilege because of his disobedience to the order of the House and his refusal to comply with the Commons wish to deny him money.”
Opposition MPs from the Canadian Alliance, New Democratic Party and Progressive Conservative Party could scarcely believe their ears. They officially oppose the registry and its $1 billion price tag but rarely get a chance to see the governing party wear its internal divisions on such a public sleeve.
To make matters worse for the Liberals, Gallaway’s extraordinary speech was publicly supported by some traditional Liberal dissidents on the gun issue including new agriculture committee chair Paul Steckle and vice-chair Rose Marie Ur.
And adding insult to injury, this week the government is going to force quick approval of changes to the gun registry legislation to allow creation of a streamlined registry system. Some Liberal MPs are expected to vote against the decision.
The BQ will side with the Liberals, although not on the motion to halt debate.
Still, the spectacle of Liberals, who are renowned for their discipline in power, exposing their internal conflicts is astounding. In part, it is the leadership politics of the party that has given Martin supporters a chance to lambaste and embarrass Chrétien supporters even though the former finance minister was part of the government that approved all the gun registry cost increases.
In larger part, it is a reflection of the national split over the fact that even gun registry supporters are uneasy about the cost over-runs condemned late last year by the federal auditor general.
Cauchon continues to insist, correctly, that the majority of Canadians support gun control and registration.
But in the volatile atmosphere of a Parliament filled with lame duck, challenged or absent leaders, parliamentary support for the program cannot be taken for granted.
Government spending estimates in March will be the next test of support if gun registry funding is included.
