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Liberals close ranks as gun registry vote nears
Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Most Liberal MPs appeared to be closing ranks behind Prime Minister Jean Chretien in support of the federal gun registry Monday, turning a deaf ear to opposition appeals to deny further funding to the troubled program.
"You've either got to stand with the team and with the family or you don't," said Hamilton MP Stan Keyes, chairman of the Liberal caucus.
He acknowledged a handful of backbenchers were still wrestling with the question of how to vote Tuesday evening, when the Commons will be asked to approve $59 million in additional funding for gun control.
But with the Liberals enjoying a 41-vote working majority in the House, it would take dozens of defections for the government to lose the vote.
"There are not dozens, and there is no risk of the need of a snap election being called on this issue," said Keyes.
The gun registry has been under attack since Auditor General Sheila Fraser delivered a scathing indictment of cost overruns in December.
She estimated the registry, originally budgeted at $2 million, will actually have cost $1 billion by the time it celebrates its 10th anniversary in operation in 2005.
Some critics consider that a low estimate and claim the real figure could be double the amount predicted by Fraser.
But Chretien warned his caucus, at a closed-door meeting last week, that he considers the vote on continued funding for the registry a confidence matter.
That means, by implication, that a defeat for the Liberals could force an election call that nobody wants.
The prime minister has also signalled that any dissidents who refuse to toe the party line could be expelled from caucus -- a threat that apparently dampened opposition to the $59 million in supplementary spending estimates.
"My anticipation is that the estimates will carry very well," government House leader Don Boudria predicted Monday.
Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, who has spent weeks working to get recalcitrant Liberal backbenchers onside, also sounded optimistic.
"What I sense around the table in caucus is that there's good support for the policy," said Cauchon. "People understand what has to be done."
John Williams, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee and longtime spending watchdog for the Canadian Alliance, appealed to Liberals not to be cowed.
"Liberal members who are not prepared to stand up and speak on behalf of their constituents are wimps," said Williams. "That is why politicians have a bad name in this country."
He insisted the spectre of a snap election was an empty threat and suggested that, if the government lost the vote, Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson could simply accept Chretien's resignation and ask another Liberal to take over.
"She could call on Paul Martin, I'm quite sure he could form a government if he wanted to."
The former finance minister, widely seen as the front-runner in the race to succeed Chretien at a leadership convention set for November, wanted nothing to do with the Williams scenario.
"Paul will be in the House for the vote, and as a matter of confidence he will naturally be voting with the government," said Scott Reid, a spokesman for the Martin leadership campaign.
A half-dozen Liberal MPs have been critical of continued funding for the gun registry -- Roger Gallaway, Joe Comuzzi, Paul Steckle and Rose-Marie Ur of Ontario, John Efford and Lawrence O'Brien of Newfoundland.
Comuzzi said Monday he had not decided whether to vote against the spending estimates or simply miss the vote _ a tactic that would likely allow him to avoid expulsion from caucus or other disciplinary action.
"I'm having a difficult time," said Comuzzi. "I'm in a real dilemma."
Gallaway and Steckle said last week they were mulling the same options. Neither had any comment Monday.
Efford's office said he was in his riding and wasn't expected to return to Ottawa for the vote. There was no word from O'Brien and Ur.
The Alliance and Conservatives were expected to vote solidly against further funding for the registry. The NDP had not made up its mind, while Bloc Quebecois strategists said they were leaning toward supporting the funding request.
© 2003 Bell Globemedia Inc.
