Don't feel
bad.
Most people
in Newfoundland and Labrador have no idea how our political system works.
Self-described
experts.
Reporters.
Pundits.
Very often
hopelessly lost when discussing even the most basic points about our political
system.
The real
problems start when the politicians and, as it turns out, the public
servants supporting the House, have no idea what they are talking about.
Like, say,
the briefing
note handed to the House of Assembly management committee last week
that included these statements:
· "A travel budget of $42,100 is allocated to the Official Opposition Caucus for Leader’s Travel in the 2018-19 Budget.
· While the funding is provided to the Leader, it can be utilised by caucus members and caucus staff to travel when authorised by the Leader.
· Mr. Ches Crosbie, as the Leader of the Progressive Conservative caucus effective April 28, is effectively the leader of the Official Opposition Caucus. However, as Mr. Crosbie is a nonelected member, resources cannot be provided to him.
· When the leader of a caucus is unelected, mechanisms need to be found to allow the caucus to operate. The Official Opposition caucus has advised that MHA Paul Davis is designated as Leader of the Official Opposition caucus for administrative purposes.
· This is necessary as only a public officer may hold signing authority required for all financial, human resources and administrative matters relating to the caucus. However, resources assigned to the Leader are not provided to Mr. Davis.
· A request was received by the Speaker on April 30, 2018 from the Official Opposition Caucus requesting the House of Assembly Management Commission to consider a policy change that would allow members of the caucus and staff to access this funding (see Attachment 1)."
Ches Crosbie
is the leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party. He does
not have a seat in the House of Assembly. Therefore, he cannot be the
head of a group of members in the House of Assembly. His status as party
leader outside of the House has nothing to do with anything.
Crosbie is
not a member of the legislature at all, thus the statement in the briefing note
that Crosbie is a "nonelected (sic) member" is simply
ridiculous. Just to make sure there is no confusion about this, we need
look no further than the definition used by the House of
Commons of what a caucus is:
Members of the House of Commons belonging to the same political party, often together with their counterparts in the Senate, are collectively referred to as that party’s parliamentary caucus.
Members of
the legislature.
Not a member
of the legislature equals not a member of caucus, which also means NOT Leader
of the Opposition as far as the House business is concerned.
The
definition of a party leader used by the House of Commons - and
Newfoundland and Labrador since 1855 - is someone selected to lead the party in
the legislature and in an election campaign. "Those so chosen are
either already Members of Parliament or are expected to seek a seat in the
House of Commons as soon as possible."
That last
bit is important but we'll get back to that.
So what is
David Brazil in this case?
Well, he is
the Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly. He is not
the temporary or interim Leader Opp any more than Tom Marshall or Beaton Tulk
were interim premiers. They had the job, legally and
constitutionally. They get to do the job. Period. The fact
there is some other guy outside the House who leads the party is irrelevant as
far as the House is concerned. Until Ches Crosbie is Crosbie MHA, his
status for the conduct of legislative business is "invisible."
Whatever the
Conservative does within its own corner of the House is entirely its
business. Onlt the members of caucus should run the caucus, the same way
that the House members collectively govern themselves. There are no
outside forces, unelected and unaccountable, who should tell them what to
do.
And if the
current House of Assembly administrative practices don't let Brazil do the job
he holds, then the policies are out of whack and need to be changed very
quickly.
As for
Ches, well, Crosbie needs to get his ass into the House of Assembly
without delay. Let Brazil or Hutchings or one of the other party faithful
in the House resign so that the boss may get a seat. That's what traditionally
happens in every legislature that uses the Westminster system. It happened last
in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1987. That's actually the last time a
party found itself in this spot. The difference these days is that
Crosbie will only have to wait, at most, about 90 days to take the job of
opposition leader. There's no reason for the Tories to avoid a
by-election since every seat they hold is a safe one for them. So let
them get on with it.
The same
principle applied to Earle McCurdy when he was the NDP leader and didn't have a
seat in the House. The fact the NDP didn't insist on either sitting
member giving up her seat for the boss says a lot about their disregard for the
people of the province or their own internal problems but that's another
matter.
Incidentally,
the policy mentioned in the briefing note on this subject merely refers to a
general principle used to allow party leaders some administrative discretion
when spending the money. It doesn't create the nonsense in the rest of
the note about Crosbie's imaginary status as an unelected member. In that
respect, Crosbie has the same status as anyone else in the province, which is
to say he has no status in the legislature at all.
Period.
Brazil
should get down to the business of exercising the job he has. If anyone
quibbles about it, then it becomes a question of privilege. And all that should
be in the few weeks until Ches gets elected to the House.
Period.
Where there
is an issue that needs serious attention is in the House support staff who
evidently have no idea what they are doing. Things are pretty bad when the
ignorance of fundamental principles extends to the Clerk of the House -
herself a former Clerk of the Executive Council - and the Legislative Counsel,
both of whom signed off on the briefing note and all the jibberish it contains.
These are
the folks everyone else looks to for guidance. If *they* have no idea
which end is up, then the whole place is in danger of going up on the
constitutional rocks, if we haven't already run aground a few times.
But that's a
story for another time.
-srbp-