Running scared

The CP's story on the recent chaos in Parliament includes mention that the Cons have moved the NDP's opposition motion to Friday, with much less time allocated for debate than would be the norm. But while Jack Layton considers the move to be punishment for the NDP's refusal to let Con MPs from Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland off the hook for betraying their home provinces, I wonder whether it also involves a much more positive sign:

New Democrats are livid that the government abruptly changed the timetable for debating an NDP motion to revive the Clean Air Act. Instead of receiving eight hours of debate Thursday, it will now get only a couple of hours attention Friday.

Layton said the motion was bumped to punish the NDP for insisting on a recorded vote Tuesday on the budget implementation bill. The vote embarrassed some Altantic and Saskatchewan Tory MPs who were compelled to support the budget despite vicious opposition in their home provinces.

"Canadians should be furious at this," said Layton of Wednesday's machinations.

"It may seem like inside parliamentary procedure but what it is is arrogance. It is a rejection of the dignity and respect which is owed to parliamentarians, it's childish and it's completely unacceptable as far as we're concerned."

While there's likely at least a grain of truth to Layton's criticism, it's worth noting another possible reason for the Cons' move. By pushing the debate to Friday and giving it less time in Parliament, the Cons would accomplish one added goal in forcing the debate into the well-known Friday dead time for news reporting - and thereby reducing the amount of talk about the environment which might otherwise take place over the long weekend.

That kind of move would be no less undignified and disrespectful than one made solely out of spite in response to the budget vote. But it would also hint at some serious underlying weakness for the Cons: surely they wouldn't bother trying to push the debate into a lower-exposure slot unless they feared its outcome.

The problem for the Cons is that while they may be able to limit the amount of debate on this particular motion, they don't have anywhere near the power to dictate that C-30 won't be a dominant political issue if the other parties decide otherwise. And if the opposition can continue cooperating on C-30 as it is elsewhere, there's all the more reason to think that the Cons' current weakness will lead them to capitulate on the bill if it's the focus of enough attention.