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Negotiating in Parliament
Innisfil Enterprise
June 13, 2007
By Peter Van Loan, MP, York-Simcoe
One of my responsibilities as the Leader of
the Government in the House of Commons is to
negotiate with the other Parties. This
is especially important in a minority
Parliament, where the survival of the
Government requires the support of some of
the Opposition on any given issue.
To get things done, and pass legislation,
the parties will negotiate matters such as
how long debates will last, or what
amendments might the government accept.
A wide range of procedural matters can be
negotiated, from when to hold votes, to how
many speakers each party will have speak to
a Bill.
Some negotiations occur at our weekly House
Leaders' meeting, others through our staff,
or MP's like a Parliamentary Secretary and
the Opposition critics for that policy area.
This past week saw ample examples of
negotiation - especially as we were dealing
with the final stage of the Budget
Implementation Bill. It was important
that the Bill pass before we break for the
summer. Otherwise, some aspects of it
could be lost (the funding being
time-sensitive, tied to last fiscal year).
The items that would be lost through delay
included $1.5 Billion for the environment,
money for the health care patient wait times
guarantee, money to protect environmentally
endangered lands and funding for Canada
Health infoways.
Some time ago, we negotiated an agreement
with the Liberals to have the Bill passed by
the House of Commons and sent to the Senate
by June 5. But as soon as the Liberals
saw some political gain from delay, they
broke the deal and began to drag out the
debate.
As a result, we were compelled to go to the
Bloc Quebecois on June 11 to negotiate an
agreement on time allocation, and getting
the Bill passed. The agreement was
done on Monday, and the Bill passed Tuesday.
The Bloc kept their word.
There are distinct cultures to the Parties.
As noted above, agreements with the Liberals
mean little - they will readily break an
agreement if they see political opportunity.
Even trying to get an agreement with the
Liberals is difficult.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Bloc
Quebecois. While we disagree on many
policies, and dramatically disagree on their
objectives, the BQ do keep their
commitments. It is a point of pride
for that Party that they keep their word,
and always negotiate in a professional and
businesslike manner.
The NDP are somewhere in between.
While it is challenging to arrive at
agreements with the NDP - I would be
hard-pressed to point to occasions where
they had failed to respect a commitment they
made.
Overall, it is an unusual phenomenon to see
the different Parties disagreeing on issues,
but forced to work together to make the
place function. But that is the
practical reality. It is certainly
part of my daily reality in Ottawa.
And work - we are certainly doing that.
As a result of some of those negotiations,
the House of Commons is sitting until 10pm
each night this week and next. We've
go lots of work to do!
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