Posted on 09/27/2001 5:28:19 AM PDT by somena2001
PM accused of idling Parliament Liberal MPs frustrated: 'Government should clear the plate and say we're going to deal with national security'
Jane Taber
National Post
OTTAWA - Jean Chrétien came under attack yesterday from his own caucus members and opposition MPs, who accused the Prime Minister of rendering Parliament irrelevant during the terrorist crisis.
Liberal MPs, some of whom are very frustrated, sat through another weekly caucus meeting in which there was little or no information about the government's plan in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Instead, an MP read a poem about peace while others debated whether an Arab-Canadian art exhibit in Ottawa should have been postponed. Mr. Chrétien said it should not have.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is being criticized for ignoring Parliament during this crisis. For example, he chose a Toronto fundraising dinner full of well-heeled and partisan Liberals, rather than the House of Commons, to discuss his meeting on Monday with George W. Bush, the U.S. President.
There has been no central message as Cabinet ministers announce policy initiatives on the fly. Elinor Caplan, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, used a scrum instead of the House to quickly tell reporters that she is fast-tracking plans for secure identity cards. Then she rushed off to her waiting limousine.
Debate in the House this week has not involved the attacks either. Yesterday, as Air Canada and Bombardier let go thousands of workers, the business of the House involved the second reading of Bill C-33, legislation involving the Nunavut Waters and Nunavut Surface Rights Tribunal Act.
As well, some House of Commons committees have not yet been struck and may not meet until next Tuesday, three weeks after the attacks occurred. Those that are meeting, however, are dealing with issues such as the Oceans Act, a proposal on assisted human reproduction and a study of human rights, development and other matters in Colombia.
This while committees were up and running in the United States and in Great Britain within a day or so of the terrorist attacks.
Though the official Liberal line is to blame the opposition for delaying the start of committees -- apparently the Tories did not submit their list of committee members to the Liberals on time -- Liberal insiders say that was not the case.
Stan Keyes, a Liberal MP from Hamilton, reacted strongly when the Prime Minister suggested the opposition was behind the committee delays, insiders say.
"That's a lot of crap," he apparently said to applause from some of his caucus colleagues.
Another Liberal MP, who asked not to be named, said the fundamental issue "revolves around why Parliament was not summoned back immediately and why there has not been some summary statement or state-of-the-union-type address in the Commons."
The MP said that in "some tangential ways" caucus members tried to articulate those concerns in caucus to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.
Later in question period, Joe Clark, the Tory leader, urged the Prime Minister "to put members of Parliament to work against terrorism today in the committees of Parliament."
He also called on the Prime Minister to report to the House about his meetings with Mr. Bush rather than to a fundraising dinner.
But Mr. Chrétien remained non-committal, accusing the Tory leader of attacking the government and praising the Bloc Québécois and the NDP for acting responsibly.
Said Mr. Clark: "I frankly don't understand why he is taking this attitude and why he is failing to draw Parliament into this common front. He had a golden opportunity yesterday when he came back from Washington.
"In this Parliament, Mr. Chrétien is not involving other parties and is not proposing anything that other parties might be able to come around," he added outside the House.
James Moore, the Canadian Alliance transport critic, said the government is not acting responsibly. Parliamentarians are simply wandering around after question period, he said, without committee work to do although Canadians have many questions.
"Here we are and it took us six days for the House to come back, seven days for the Prime Minister to have his first Cabinet meeting. It will be three weeks, at the earliest, before the transport committee will resume," Mr. Moore said.
"You just shake your head. The government should clear the plate and say we're going to deal with national security issues right now ... The Finance Minister [Paul Martin] should be working on a budget ... We should be acting as though we are in the state of an international crisis."
A proud nation and it's people are terrible things to waste.
Sheep! Canadians are nothing but a bunch of sheep!
Who Needs 'em
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