A bad day for the Liberals: "We look like fools"

The Liberals were trying to be clever. Their plan was to put the following motion to a vote in the House of Commons that could, under some circumstances, be interpreted as endorsing abortion as part of the “full range of family planning, sexual and reproductive health options” to be included in the government's G8 maternal health initiative:

1. That, in the opinion of the House, the government’s G8 maternal and child health initiative for the world’s poorest regions, must include the full range of family planning, sexual and reproductive health options, including contraception, consistent with the policy of previous Liberal and Conservative governments and all other G8 governments last year in L’Aquila, Italy;
2. That the approach of the Government of Canada must be based on scientific evidence which proves that education and family planning can prevent as many as one in every three maternal deaths; and
3. That the Canadian government should refrain from advancing the failed right-wing ideologies previously imposed by the George W. Bush administration in the United States which made humanitarian assistance conditional upon a 'global gag rule' that required all non-governmental organizations receiving federal funding to refrain from promoting medically-sound family planning.

The Liberal crafters of this motion assumed the NDP and Bloc Quebecois would vote with them on this motion and that, it being a minority government, the motion would carry. The Liberal crafters assumed the Conservatives would vote against it and then political opponents could accuse the Conservatives of having voted against “the full range of family planning, etc.”, a charge which would likely extend to accusing the Conservatives of being sexist, paternalist, anti-women, etc.

On her blog, Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, a doctor who argued vigourously in favour of the motion, had, earlier in the week labelled the vote a “day of reckoning” on the issue.

It was indeed a day of reckoning — for her own party.

Though it was an automatic whipped vote for the Liberal caucus because it was their motion — a whipped vote being one that all MPs are required to be in the House for and to vote as the party instructs — 13 Liberal MPs were absent and three — Paul Szabo, Dan McTeague, and John McKay, all from the Toronto area — voted against the motion. Szabo, McTeague, and McKay have all had a long history of voting against abortion when presented with the opportunity. Some of the absent Liberals included MPs like Albina Guarnieri, who have also historically been uncomfortable with any further extension of abortion access.

The motion was defeated 144-138. Had the absent Liberals showed up to vote in favour, it would have easily passed. Remarkably, there was, after the vote, much confusion about whether or not it was a whipped vote. Some said, yes, they'd been whipped. Others, like B.C. MP Keith Martin – he was there and voted in favour of the motion — did not know it was a whipped vote until told it was by reporters this morning.

And so the Liberals ended up with some tremendous egg on their face. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff seemed to concede as much after emerging from the weekly closed-door meeting with his caucus. ““I would have preferred a different result and we have some internal caucus issues to work out,” he wryly observed.

Privately, Liberal MPs said that the 90-minute caucus meeting was not a happy place with MPs directing their frustration at Ignatieff, his staff, and party whip Rodger Cuzner. It would have been Cuzner's job to make sure all of his MPs knew it was a whipped vote and to make sure they were all in their seats and ready to vote “Aye”. Ignatieff would not say what punishment would be in store for the Liberal MPs who did not vote the way they were supposed to, saying only that Cuzner would decide on that.

“We look like fools,” one Liberal MP said privately.

Not surprisingly, the Conservatives, emerging from their weekly closed-door caucus meeting across the hall from the Liberal caucus in Parliament Hill's centre block, were pleased with the turmoil among the red team.

“Mr. Ignatieff tried to divide Canadians. It turned out that he ended up dividing his own party. A very bad for the Liberals yesterday,” said Ottawa-area Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre.

“It was just a cynical motion to try to create some havoc in Parliament and really, they're not focusing on what Canadians are interested in,” said Bob Dechert, a Conservative MP from Mississauga, Ont. “That was simply a motion to try to disrupt Parliament and I don't think it served any purpose whatsoever.”